England brings strong pack

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 72

England brings strong pack

PA Whangarei The England rugby team will be looking to its forwards, especially at lock, as a major source of strength on its tough seven-match tour of New Zealand. This was made clear by the England manager, Mr Derek Morgan, when the 29man squad arrived in Whangarei yesterday at the start of a tour which will include tests against the All Blacks on June 1 and June 8. England meets Ken Going’s North Auckland side in the opening tour match at Okara Park, Whangarei, on Saturday. Morgan said the forward pack brought to New Zealand would be far stronger than that in South Africa

last year when England suffered two heavy test defeats. “In South Africa we used John Scott, a No. 8, at lock and the other lock, John Fidler, was 38 years old. “Now we have the British Lion, Steve Bainbridge, back with us and we have newcomer, Wade Dooley, who is inexperienced at international level but is big and strong,” he said. Morgan said the England side had been badly hit by injuries and withdrawals and he was under no illusions about the the difficult task ahead. “I’ve seen the All Blacks play a lot of times, both in Britain and on film. They are very tough and very hard to beat,”he said.