Neil Robertson reckons he must silence Ronnie O’Sullivan’s rowdy help early on Thursday afternoon of their Masters quarter-final.
The 34-year-old initially from Australia however now based mostly in Cambridge admits that clashes between the pair all the time have the texture of an Ashes-style rivalry.
Folks’s Champion O’Sullivan, going for a report seventh title at Alexandra Palace, is assured of raucous and partisan backing in his personal London again yard.
However Robertson thrashed the Rocket 6-1 in the identical match two years in the past, and can draw on these reminiscences regardless of two massive losses to O’Sullivan final yr.
And he’s sure that exerting an early stranglehold and stamping his authority on the match will quieten O’Sullivan’s followers and provides him the perfect likelihood of success.
Robertson, who gained the Masters 5 years in the past, stated: “It all the time appears like Australia in opposition to England within the cricket once I play Ronnie.
“You actually can really feel like you might be up in opposition to the gang taking part in him, particularly right here on the Masters on his house patch.
“And in case you are not prepared for it, then it might get to gamers that sort of help and affect them.
“It’s like in soccer when you go to Stamford Bridge or Outdated Trafford, you wish to preserve the gang quiet early so that they don’t have something to get enthusiastic about.
“In the event you can put stress on him right away then he can miss just a few they usually get pissed off.
“He’s the one participant the place the gang can affect you, and that’s the reason it’s all the time a unbelievable ambiance while you play him. I can’t wait.
“Regardless of the latest defeats, three or 4 of the titles I’ve gained I beat Ronnie alongside the way in which and I’m trying to win as many massive titles as doable now.
“We performed twice final yr, final season within the Welsh Open last which I let slip a bit actually, after which this season on the European Masters in Romania when he performed fantastically effectively.
“He was nearly unpayable that day, however I really feel as if I had gone into that match within the kind I’m in now, it might have been a unique story.
“I used to be off my recreation and he took benefit, he can do this to anybody. And within the Welsh Open I used to be 5-2 up, might have been 6-2, and he acquired on a roll when he has laborious to cease.
“I misplaced the plot going out to China and that frustration boiled over within the subsequent few occasions. I wasn’t actually capable of put issues proper as there weren’t the gaps within the schedule.
“And we had a run of 4 weeks the place when you have been struggling you missed out on some title and cash, sadly that occurred to me.
“However I practised actually laborious over Christmas, and in addition over in Norway on Kurt Maflin’s desk there the place I used to be spending time with my household.”
