It’s a plot—Alan Jones

Press, 2 September 1986, Page 1

It’s a plot —Alan Jones

PA Thames The Wallaby coach, Alan Jones, believes a plot exists to divide and unsettle his team in the wake of its walkout from two Thames hotels yesterday. He said radio reports claiming players were at loggerheads with the Australian mangement over a decision to quit the team hotels were intended to destabilise the side. Mr Jones led his team out of its hotels yesterday morning because he regarded the facilities — small rooms and communal showers — as inadequate.

Radio New Zealand later asserted that senior

Wallabies embarrassed by the walkout, had apologised to hotel staff for the touring team’s early departure. Mr Jones called the reports rubbish and said spurious stories of a rift within the team were intended to make trouble for his side. "Because we are in a position to threaten for the Bledisloe Cup, the sort of stories that are running today will run in an effort to destabilise and divide the team,” he said.

“There has never been argument or division in this team and any suggestion that someone is at loggerheads with the man-

agement is untrue. The management only exists in this team in total consultation with senior players and that consultation includes where we sleep and stay.”

Mr Jones led his team from its Thames hotels to new accommodation' in Pukekohe yesterday calling the Thames facilities inadequate for a touring side.

He said rooms were too small, beds too short and showers too few for a squad of 31.

“We are aware it is a country town so we are not expecting a Sheraton Hotel,” he said. “We only expect minimum conditions and any suggestion that we have grandiose notions about our own importance and where we should be staying are untrue.

“We had two showers and people sleeping two to a room which would

only accommodate one.” Mr Jones said he had taken his team from the hotels reluctantly and only after apologising to the staff and ensuring adequate compensation was made.

One Thames hotel manager described the Wallabies team as “prima donnas" with unrealistic expectations about accommodation in a small town. The team had been at the Brian Boru and Imperial hotels in Pollen Street. The Wallabies are due to play Thames Valley at Thames today. The Brian Boru Hotel manager, Barbara Doyle, blamed Mr Jones for the complaints.

“At breakfast this morning (Monday) the players themselves were very happy and they said it was the best breakfast they had had in New Zealand,” she said.