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Dunning's revival brief, predicts Loe
Greg Growden
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Former All Blacks prop Richard Loe has laughed off claims the Wallabies are now an international scrummaging force - instead labelling the front row as a bunch of duds.
Loe, who antagonised the Wallabies when he rearranged Paul Carozza's face in the 1992 Bledisloe Cup encounter in Brisbane, wrote in his New Zealand Herald column that he was astounded to be told of "the so-called resurrection of the Australian front row".
"I say so-called because, regardless of what people are saying and writing about their narrow defeat to the Springboks last week, I don't believe the Wallabies are any better off from numbers one to three than they have been for the past couple of years," Loe wrote.
"The Wallabies ¡¦ they've barely got three that could do the job. When the All Blacks meet the old foe in Melbourne, we'll still have a massive advantage up front - you can't even begin to compare the likes of Al Baxter and Matt Dunning with Carl Hayman and Tony Woodcock."
Loe was particularly surprised that Waratahs loose-head prop Dunning was being praised - especially when he was about to confront possibly the world's best scrummaging unit.
"They've been talking Dunning up in particular, saying he played superbly, and John Connolly said he came of age," Loe wrote. "To my way of thinking, any prop can play the first 40 and 60 minutes and keep up. The acid test comes in the last quarter, that takes its toll on any player in any position."
Loe said that in the final minutes of the Cape Town Test, the front-rowers, in particular Dunning "were quite lethargic and not doing much work at all".
"It's still a problem area for them. They haven't got depth, and they haven't got a good top-tier of players."
Loe doesn't even rate Rodney Blake, saying he looked "out of his depth" in the Australia A-Junior All Blacks match.
"Is there a good thing you can say about the Wallabies? If you're looking solely at the front row then, no, there is not."
Although the All Blacks have publicly praised the Wallabies pack, privately they do not place them on the same pedestal as established scrummaging countries, such as South Africa and some northern hemisphere teams.
The All Blacks regard the Wallabies as a cagey scrummaging outfit, who know how to overcome their inadequacies on their own feed by quickly getting the ball away from that area.
At least another former All Blacks prop, John Drake, had some nice words for the Wallabies yesterday. However he argues that the Wallabies' weak area may be somewhere else.
"I believe Australia will be a tough challenge in Melbourne," Drake wrote in the New Zealand Herald. "They're defensively sound and will make fewer mistakes than South Africa, but may not offer much in attack."
Within minutes of beating the Springboks 26-21 on Saturday, the All Blacks went into survival mode, reports Richard Knowler in Durban.
For every kilogram of weight lost during the Tri Nations match at Absa Stadium, they had to replace it with at least a litre of fluids to recover before next Saturday night's Test.
"We get weighed before the game and after the game to see how much fluid we lose. Myself, I lost a couple of kilos," inside-centre Aaron Mauger said.
The All Blacks will name their team tomorrow, and are expected to make up to five changes.
This story was found at: http://www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/ar...623824841.html
I know many of you will get peeved that a Kiwi has put this up but what do you think of the aussie front row? Have they really improved?
To be honest I really dont rate Matt Dunning and thought Rodzilla was better but I also didn't get to see the Junior AB's v Aust A any comments?