Tuqiri urges return to expansive rugby

[NewsBot]

Tuqiri urges return to expansive rugby

Australian winger Lote Tuqiri has urged his fellow backs to come out of their shells or face the prospect of ending their European tour on a negative note.

[JediKnight]

Well if Lote learnt how to pass it might be a start!

[Burgs]

Well said JK, expansive Rugby isn't "everyone pass it to me so I can kill the momentum just up the flat a bit"
Hoping that Stanners may have sat the boys down around a private screening of Coach's Force Try Highlights package, that should be all the inspiration they would need!

[Burgs]

Is anyone else thinking that perhaps Lote may want to look in his own backyard before pointing the finger at anyone else?
This Tour he is very much being selcted on reputation rather than performance for mine.
He has stated he wants more of the ball but when the opportunity arises he has generally failed to deliver, he wants more time at #13 when he clearly has failed to produce there and is not a Centre's bootlace.
Wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall next time Lote has to hold the crash pads!!!

Wallabies are off World Cup pace: Tuqiri

Thursday Nov 23 15:01 AEDT

Lote Tuqiri says the Wallabies will be no more than World Cup also-rans unless Australia's forward depth improves "markedly" between now and the tournament's kick-off next September.

The straight-talking winger has chosen the week of his 50th Test to air a long list of concerns he has for the Wallabies less than 10 months out from the sixth World Cup in France.

In a damning review of their seven-match European tour - which winds up with Saturday's Test against Scotland at Murrayfield - Tuqiri said the Wallabies barely deserved a pass mark for their performances over the past month.

The dual international, who was promoted to joint vice-captain for Australia's Test against Italy two weeks ago, also questioned team tactics, said the Wallabies focused too much on the opposition and identified a lack of belief as another factor undermining the team's development and results.

But Tuqiri's major concern lay with the pack.

"If we're serious about winning the World Cup, our forwards you know ... it's obviously known all teams around the world have got question marks on their forwards, so that's where we've got to improve markedly," he said.

"And I think they've improved. They've been playing for 80 minutes and they've had a crack and grinded results out.

"You can tell by some of the scrums last week and even against Italy the scrums later in the game were quite good for us, considering.

"But we've got to improve our depth there.

"If we want to win a World Cup, we're going to have to beat tier-one teams three weeks in a row - in the quarter-final, semi-final and obviously the final.

"If I was being honest, I don't think we're there yet to even challenge for a final spot at the moment."

Shooting from the hip, Tuqiri said Australia A's entertaining 44-20 win over Scotland A probably saved the Wallabies from flunking the spring tour.

"I think it's a pass mark. Only just though, only just," he said.

"It was a big boost last night - the style of play the boys played.

"Test match-wise, I thought we may have thrown the game away in Cardiff. Italy was a forwards game. Not a lot of the backs got involved. A win's a win, we still won the Test match.

"Last week, (losing to Ireland) was downright disappointing. You can't blame the conditions. We just didn't play to what we wanted to do.

"In the end, we may have got the game plan mixed up and got it wrong going into the game."

Tuqiri urged the Wallabies to start backing themselves "big time".

"Sometimes we may do a bit too much homework on the other team and play to their style more than going out and playing to ours and having a go," he said.

"We get caught up in all of that and sometimes go out with the wrong game plan. We need to concentrate on us.

"We should play to our strengths a bit more and see where we go from there, start getting the ball wide and using our backs, guys like Chris Latham.

"We've got guys coming through like Cameron Shepherd, who had a really good game last night, and Drew Mitchell, who scored a double.

"We've got a lot of depth in those positions. That's where our strength lies."

Tuqiri's provocative comments are sure to rankle his teammates but they may serve as the shake-up required.

"I'm confident we can get there. We've got the nucleus to do that," he said.

"There's a lot of improvement left in our team and this squad and I think we can get there.

"Quarter-finals, semi-finals are not beyond us at the moment, but we've just got to keep improving.

"We're training quite well. Putting it on the park is another thing.

"We've been talking it up but not delivering it on the pitch. That's something that has to change."

[travelling_gerry]

hope Connolly stamps on his toes.....

Maybe Lote should learn to play Rugby first before he tries the other stuff he probably cant even spell..