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Wholesale changes Australia, Lions say improvement needed
Updated: Tuesday June 12, 2001 8:24 AM
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- The British and Irish Lions and Australia's world champion Wallabies both claimed they had a lot of work to do before their upcoming three-test series after contrasting wins on the weekend. The Lions opened their 10-match tour with a thumping 116-10 win over Western Australia in Perth, while the Wallabies had to deal with somewhat stiffer opposition in their 41-29 victory over New Zealand Maori in Sydney. The Lions ran in 18 tries to establish a host of scoring records, but their coach Graham Henry said his team would have to play much better to beat the Wallabies. "I think we've got to be very positive about the result but there's no doubt we've still got a lot of work to do," Henry said. "We lost our shape at times and there were some bad options taken so we will have to try and get as much as we can out of this game to see where we can improve. "We've had a positive start but there's a long way to go. It was a six out of 10 performance." Keith Wood, who captained the Lions for Friday's match, said while his team had played well in attack, it was a worrying sign that they allowed a team of part-timers to score two tries. "We scored a lot of tries and did a lot of things well, but we're very annoyed about letting in the two tries," the Irish hooker said. "It's given us something we have to work on." While the Lions were rarely tested, the Wallabies had to work all the way to beat a pumped up Maori team that included 11 All Blacks. The world champions outscored the Maori five tries to two, but did not seal victory until replacement winger Graeme Bond touched down under the posts right on fulltime. Coach Rod Macqueen said he was satisfied with Australia's performance 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 had been impressed by the Lions' first match but said his team would benefit from playing a tougher opponent. "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 [the win over Western Australia] 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." New Zealander Henry did not see the Australian match live because the Lions were travelling to Townsville at the time but watched a recording after his arrival and said he was impressed by what he saw. "That was an impressive result against a committed and high quality opposition," he said. "The Maori are a very good side and it was a very good match." Lions hit by injuries ahead of second gameTOWNSVILLE, Australia -- The British and Irish Lions were on Sunday forced to make wholesale changes to their side for the second game of their tour of Australia after being struck down by injuries. England's Martin Corry was rushed straight into the team to play the Queensland Presidents XV in Townsville on Tuesday before he had even arrived in Australia and Scottish hooker Gordon Bulloch was named on the reserves bench just hours after he joined the tour. They were called into the squad after Scotland flanker Simon Taylor and England hooker Phil Greening both injured their knees in the first week. Taylor was sent home on Saturday night after hurting himself in Friday's 116-10 win over Western Australia while Greening, whose injury is less serious, has been given another week to see if his knee improves. England centre Mike Catt was unavailable for Tuesday's match because of a calf problem while Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jonny Wilkinson were not considered to give them more time to shake off injury problems incurred the long European season. Lions coach Graham Henry made 14 changes to the team that started against Western Australia, with only England centre Will Greenwood retaining his place. The Lions ran in 18 tries in their mismatch against Western Australia's amateur side but Henry said Tuesday's match would be much harder. The Lions were given Sunday off after their seven-hour flight from Perth the previous day was delayed by five hours, getting them into Townsville at 2 am local time. "We are expecting a much tougher test," Henry said. "There are 11 Super 12 players in the team so we know they'll be tough." Team -- 15-Matt Perry; 14-Dafydd James, 13-Will Greenwood, 12-Rob Henderson, 11-Jason Robinson; 10-Neil Jenkins, 9-Matt Dawson; 8-Martin Corry, 7-Martyn Williams, 6-Colin Charvis, 5-Scott Murray, 4-Jeremy Davidson; 3-David Young, 2-Robin McBryde, 1-Tom Smith. Replacements: 16-Austin Healey, 17-Mark Taylor, 18-Dan Luger, 19-Richard Hill, 20-Malcolm O'Kelly, 21-Jason Leonard, 22-Gordon Bulloch.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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