Bigger trial for coach?

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 38

Bigger trial for coach?

PA Oamaru The All Black coach, Brian Lochore, sees heartache ahead as he selects an All Black team this week-end for the test against France. He said he expected it to become a tremendous challenge for the players — but heartache for their coach. With Colin Meads and Tiny Hill, Mr Lochore will choose a thoroughly new-look All Black team after Saturday’s national trial and will rely on intensive training to prepare it for the June 28 international. “We’ll be choosing the best available All Black side,” said Mr Lochore yesterday, mulling the absence from the French test of New Zealand’s 31 rugby rebels. The team will assemble next Wednesday and train for three days, hoping to compensate its inexperience through simple hard work. “Instead of having afternoons off for shopping or lying in bed, we’ll be working bloody hard training,” he said. “It’s not just the physical aspect but the whole question of mental preparation. “We’ve got to start at A and go right through to Z in our training. With an All Black team in that situation you would start about O. “We can’t take anything for granted. “It’s going to be one of the hardest weeks of my life. To the players it’s a tremendous challenge — to me, heartache.”