Kiwis ‘no good’

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 64

Kiwis ‘no good’

NZPA staff correspondent

Sydney Australia would win the second and third tests against New Zealand by up to 40 points on a dry ground, says Bob Fulton, one of the alltime greats of Australian rugby league. Fulton, coach of the Sydney premiership leader, Manly, wrote in his newspaper column yesterday that only the mud and slush of Carlaw Park last Sunday saved the Kiwis from a real massacre. “The selectors could pick Australia’s third best side and they would belt New Zealand,” he wrote.

“They (the Kiwis) have slipped badly since they lost Kevin and Howie Tamati and Clayton Friend from their side.

“The replacements simply did not measure up to standard for a test and the coach, Graham Lowe, has a heck of a job trying to make them even competitive against this keen, young Australian side.” Fulton is one of the few Australians to have represented his country at both rugby union and league, although his union representation was in the army side rather than the Wallabies.

However, because he was in the services, he is probably the only player in recent times to play both codes in back-to-back matches.

In 1968 he played for the Kangaroos against France on a Monday in a rugby league world cup match, then two days later fronted for the Australian Combined Services rugby union side against the touring All Blacks, which featured one of the greatest forward packs of all time including Colin Meads and Brian Lochore.

The Kiwis coach, Graham Lowe, yesterday dismissed Fulton’s comments, saying: “He’s got to write rubbish like that to sell newspapers.”

And Fulton’s views on the Carlaw Park league test were not shared by the Australian half-back, Peter Sterling, who was in the test side which beat New Zealand, 22-8, at Carlaw Park.

Writing his column in the “Daily Mirror” next to Fulton’s, Sterling said the Kiwis gave the Australians the “fright of our lives” in the first test.

“Don’t worry about the score of 22-8 in our favour, it was hard slogging all the way. They kept coming at us and we had to pull out all stops to get the money,” he wrote. “I thought they would be a weakened side without the fearsome Tamati brothers and the halfback, Clayton Friend. How wrong I was.

“With Mark Graham leading from the front and rangy . Hugh McGahan following suit, the Kiwis just refused to lie down even when we bolted to our commanding 10-2 lead.

“I also felt their new half-back, Shane Cooper, was a formidable opponent.”

But Sterling also had a warning for the Kiwis, adding: “I think there’s at least 25 per cent improvement to come from this Australian side, especially in attack.”