Rugby tests will be on ‘equal terms’

Press, 22 July 1986, Page 46

Rugby tests will be on ‘equal terms’

NZPA staff correspondent Hamilton Attempts to diminish the Australian rugby tour of New Zealand by blaming the banned Cavaliers for any All Black failure were destructive for rugby, said the Wallaby coach, Alan Jones, at Hamilton yesterday. Mr Jones said New Zealand and Australia would meet on equal terms in their coming test series, both disadvantaged by the withdrawal of key players but not substantially weakened by that. He said that attempts to excuse an All Black failure in the coming series by pointing out the absence of the Cavaliers were anachronistic. “There may be at-

tempts to undermine the status of the tour by constantly talking about the Cavaliers,” Mr Jones said. “Any attempt to portray the New Zealand team as second rate because of the absence of those players is an affront to the players Chosen. “That kind of attitude is immensely defensive and Immensely destructive of the tour from the point of view of rugby.” Mr Jones said the Wallaby team selected for the current tour was potentially stronger than the one . which completed a grand slam in Britain two seasons ago. Similar attempts could be made to disguise the Australians’ strength by pointing out the absence of seasoned players.

That wouid be misleading, Mr Jones said, because it ignored the skill and determination of the young players who had come to New Zealand. “If this talk of the Cavaliers evolves into a checklist of who is and who is not playing, we could bring up the names of Brendon Moon and David Cody and Andy Maclntyre and it would become farcical. “The exciting thing about the tour is that there are new faces and new names and hopefully there will be new performances.” The Australians will play Waikato in their first tour match at Hamilton tomorrow. They arrived in Hamilton early last evening and trained under floodlights at the Frankton rugby club.