Carlos substitution 'huge boost'

SYDNEY - Wallabies wing Wendell Sailor says his team got a "huge boost" when All Blacks first five-eighth Carlos Spencer was substituted with 30 minutes remaining in the Tri-Nations test.

Sailor, who only played the last 10 minutes of the game, said in his weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph that the Wallabies deliberately targeted Spencer, who was replaced by Andrew Mehrtens.

"It was a credit to the guys who were out there to see him taken off. We targeted Carlos to try and wear him out. To see him come off was like a mark of respect to our team.

"With a class player like Andrew Mehrtens replacing him, it wasn't like we had the game in the bag, but it showed what we were doing was working."

Sailor said defence won the match for the Wallabies, with the All Blacks only able to score four tries against them in their past four games.

"We learned from that game. We learned to cut Carlos' time and not to give Joe Rokocoko, Mils Muliaina and Doug Howlett any space to weave their stuff."

The Telegraph headed its rugby coverage with the headline: Terrorism fears rock Tri-Nations.

Writer Peter Jenkins said Matthew Burke savoured a dream finale to his test career on Australian soil, "but the Tri-Nations series was left on the brink last night in a terrorism drama stretching all the way to South Africa".

After detailing the drama surrounding the All Blacks' trip to South Africa Jenkins said the match was one for Burke and the Wallabies "to clutch to their chests".

"There was more possession and more flair as conditions went from woeful to wonderful. There was more bite, as well as bark, in the pack and as usual the defence was almost impregnable."

The Sun-Herald newspaper headlined its back page Safe House, with the sub-heading Victorious Wallabies turning Homebush into Fortress Australia. Greg Growden said the Bledisloe Cup was gone, but the Tri-Nations was within Australia's reach after they played with "incredible courage and resolve".


In the same newspaper, former Queensland coach John Connolly wrote in his column that questions would be posed of All Blacks coach Graham Henry.

"His flat backline alignment is the first question mark he will be asked about.

"With players getting faster and stronger, defences will always have the advantage anyway, but the complete lack of depth meant that the likes of Joe Rokocoko, Mils Muliaina and Doug Howlett had little opportunity to show their wares.

"Henry will also have to answer for Carlos Spencer's performance, as well as the poor discipline, continual offside infringement and poor decision-making in the backs."

In Brisbane's Sunday Mail, writer Jim Tucker said an "inspired Wallabies outfit extracted sweet revenge for their waterlogged misery in Wellington last month" with a dominant victory.

"This wasn't water polo in a Wellington swimming pool. This was a collision on dry land and the Wallabies had the answers."

Tucker said questions were being asked before the test about an All Blacks side who had scored just two tries in 160 minutes of Tri-Nations rugby with a glut of possession.

- NZPA