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Work to do Wallabies must still improve, says Macqueen
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Australia coach Rod Macqueen said the Wallabies would need to improve on their 41-29 win over New Zealand Maori on Saturday before they face the British and Irish Lions later this month. Macqueen said he was satisfied with Australia's five tries to two win but warned there was still plenty of room for improvement. "There were a lot positives to come out of this game but it's obvious we've got a lot of work to do," Macqueen said. "It wasn't a bad effort first up but we know we've got some areas to work on." Macqueen said he was especially pleased by the number of clean breaks his team made and the performances of the bench players but said the Wallabies lost their composure at times and made some defensive errors. "The good thing for us is we know what areas we have to work on," Macqueen said. "The Lions are obviously going to be a good side. You can't really tell a lot from last night (when they beat Western Australia 116-10) but they don't appear to have too many weaknesses. "They've got some harder games coming up so if they do have any weaknesses we might see them." Wallaby captain John Eales said the match against the Maori was a perfect build-up for the Lions series. The Maori had not lost a single match in seven years and their team included 11 All Blacks. "Even though it wasn't a test match, it was exactly like a test," Eales said. "We knew they were going to be hard and they didn't disappoint us but this was exactly what we needed." Maori coach Matt Te Pou said his players could be proud of their performance and he hoped they could be given more chances to play top opposition. "We were absolutely rapt with the chance to play Australia, these are the games we want," Te Pou said. "We were given the opportunity to play on the world stage and we like to play that kind of rugby. "We lost, but we've got no excuses. We came here to win, not to play marbles but full credit to the Australians, they're a very good side."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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