Wallaby coach’s lavish praise

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 38

Wallaby coach’s lavish praise

NZPA Sydney The Wallaby coach, Bob Dwyer, said yesterday that New Zealand’s 4-0 whitewash of the British Lions had confirmed the All Blacks as undisputed world rugby champions. “Before the Lions series I thought the All Blacks were the best team in the world and now I know they are,” said Mr Dwyer. “They were simply irrepressible in Saturday’s final test. “The thing that really impresses me about All Black forwards is that they are such magnificent ball players. People sometimes think of forwards as big, cumbersome oafs, but with them nothing could be further from, the truth.”

However, Mr Dwyer said he wouldn’t be losing any sleep between now and Australia’s one-off test against New Zealand in Sydney next month.

“As exciting as the All Blacks are, what happened in Auckland doesn’t really change things — we always knew how good they were,” he said.

Besides, Mr Dwyer said, his philosophy excluded worrying about anything: “Hl take things as they come and there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before we meet the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground. "First, we’ve got two tests • against the Argentine Pumas who played good controlled rugby to beat New South Wales on Saturday. We are going to have to be on the big improve to beat them.

“It's obviously going to be a close series. I’ve no doubt we’ve got the players to beat them; all we have to do is make sure we do it. “Then we’ll start concentrating on the All Blacks — they look like they are getting right to the top of their form and probably mean to peak against us on August 20.” Mr Dwyer expressed concern at the lack of drive shown by the N.S.W. forwards against the Pumas and he’ll expect more commitment from Queensland when it takes on the tourists next Sunday at Bally more. On Saturday, the N.S.W. pack lacked the fire of the likes of the Queensland flanker, Tony Shaw, who barrels in without asking questions. But it seems the former Wallaby captain may already be a lost cause as far as the national selectors are concerned.