Lack of scalps isn't good for Wallabies as World Cup campaign approaches Try in vain: Forward Will Skelton crashes through the England defence to score at Twickenham. THE Wallabies have never headed into a Rugby World Cup year with such a losing season behind them or one that has flushed out so few resonant winning traits. The 42 per cent success rate of six victories from 14 Tests is ugly but it is the latter aspect that is far more concerning. If there had been a signpost victory over the New Zealand All Blacks or an utterly dominating facet of play to emerge, the mood could be far more upbeat around Michael Cheika's team. The Wallabies have traditionally finished their spring tours on a resounding high but even that fell flat with yesterday's 26-17 fizzer against England at Twickenham. There have been seven World Cups and the Wallabies have always had a winning year preceding them until now. Cheik-list all the problem areas that the coach and his team have to fix in the sprint to October 3 when the serious Cup stuff starts against the same foe at Twickenham. Here we go ... dud scrum, no ability to find a way to win in the clutch final 20 minutes and devoid of an attacking kicking game. The Wallabies did score some wonderful tries among their 35 of this year, including the barrelling Will Skelton try when he skittled 400kg of English defenders yesterday. Unfortunately, conceding 33 tries with unreliable defence is a real issue. The defence is far from the consistent, imposing style that Cheika demands because even when Matt Toomua made a big turnover tackle in London yesterday the ball was fumbled right back by another Wallaby. Chris Robshaw of England intervenes as teammate Tom Wood clashes with Luke Jones of Australia. Winning one from seven Tests abroad this year is a dire stat heading to a World Cup in England where the northern powers play all the time. Coach Cheika is right to seize on the positives of his first tour and stress there were always going to be growing pains with a new style of play. It is not style that followers are worried about but the lack of nous and the team's hot-and-cold button within games. Remember the dumb 5m tap penalty against France (29-26), not calling quick channel-one ball in the butchered scrum of the final minutes against Ireland (26-23) in Dublin and ill-discipline penalties? Cheika's hard edge is good for the Wallabies but there is a long way to go. Bullocking outside centre Tevita Kuridrani (pictured) made a huge mark as the biggest improver of the year, prop James Slipper had his finest Test campaign, halfback Nick Phipps had a standout tour and Bernard Foley proved himself a true Test flyhalf and goalkicker of skill. Sub Quade Cooper showed how quickly he could adapt to a different style. You want Skelton's best 10 minutes in every Test but you get the set-piece liabilities too. Outside of the All Blacks, the gap between the northern and southern hemisphere powers has closed with this Cup being played in England. South Africa lost to Ireland (29-15 at Lansdowne Road) and Wales (12-6 in Cardiff) over the past month as well. The drama of Australia's ""pool of death"" clashes against Wales and England just to reach the quarter-finals will be some of the most riveting, glory-or-bust rugby of World Cup history.