Alternative tour urged

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33154, 19 February 1973, Page 22

Alternative tour urged

If the Springbok tour had to be cancelled, it would be essential to arrange a replacement tour, the All Black forward, A. J. Wyllie, said yesterday at his Omihi farm.

The New Zealand team which had just returned from the 32-match tour of Britain and France was a young one with great potential and it needed more international competition if it was to continue developing, he said. “It was a very good side or tour arid has the basis for developing into a great one. You have to have competition to improve.” Wyllie is one of two Canterbury players who have accepted invitations to return to Scotland in six weeks for an international seven-a-

side tournament and two invitation matches. He admits that the prospect of turning round in six weeks and flying 12,000 miles to Scotland does not now’ appeal to him quite so strongly as it did earlier, but he is still keen to play in the invitation matches and seven-a-side tournament. He considers that the tour recently completed was “very hard and too long.” He feels

that a tour of 12 weeks involving about 20 games would be much better in future. He was not prepared to voice an opinion whether France should continue to be included in the United Kingdom tour or have a separate tour of its own. “The standard of the combined sides we met in France was very good,” he said. Wyllie paid tribute to Mr Duff. “He did a great job in

-(moulding a young and relas (lively inexperienced side into 1 a strong unit.” i( Mr Duff said on his arrival r|that he would be surprised e iff New Zealand considered -I any further tours of 32 s i matches. There was no -Idoubt, he said, that the playsi ers had tired a lot in the last fortnight. j He said that the All Blacks r had the nucleus of a really i| good team for the future.