Lewis told to jump

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 40

Lewis told to jump

PA Wellington The Kiwi rugby league coach, Tony Gordon, has rubbished comments by the Australian captain, Wally Lewis, that senior test players wanted Howie Tamati to coach them. “Wally never' mixed with anyone on the tour. He was cold as ice and kept away from everyone including us,” he said yesterday. “How could he know what the players are thinking? “He should stick to his bungee jumping and worry about his Broncos (Brisbane Broncos club) side for next year rather than concern himself about us,” said Mr Gordon.

Lewis wrote in a newspaper column yesterday he was surprised with the omission of the Auckland prop, George Mann, and the retention of Mr Gordon.

“I guess we’ll have to show him when we’re over there (Britain and France) that we can play better than we did against his lot,” he said.

On Mann’s exclusion he said: “That is the thing about selection. Some will always miss out and there will always be controversy. “But the selectors are there to do a job and by the way, who says we need Wally Lewis to pick our team for us?

“We’ve managed quite

well without his help before, thank you,” the Kiwi coach said. Mr Gordon said he found it strange that Lewis would want to discuss the Kiwis, tour after he blamed the recent Kangaroo tour for the demise of his Broncos side in this year’s Sydney championship.

“He can blame the tour here all he likes, but the Broncos lost matches before they came here and they were comprehensively outplayed by Cronulla in the play-off. “So why whinge and worry about us,” Mr Gordon said. The Kiwis assemble next week for their 10week tour of Britain and France.