The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 32

SPORTING LIFE 29 MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1998 Eottami fe wsfo odwddii RUGBY GREGGROWDEN AUSTRALIA ENGLAND led to Tune scoring his first, they were helped by their opponents being basically hopeless. There were still some blemishes in the Australian game, with hooker Phil Kearns in his 50th Test twice missing the mark with his lineout throws, while winger Joe Roff was not as prominent as every other member of the Wallaby backline. But these are minor quibbles, and should not detract from an evening of rare fun and frolic for the Wallabies. AUSTRALIA 76 (S Larkham 3, Tune 3, Horan 2, Burke, Gregan, Kefu tries; Burke 3 pen goals, 4 goals; Larkham 2 goals) bt ENGLAND 0. Referee: A Watson (Sth Africa).

Crowd: 26,691. The rest of the Test turned into a game of touch football, as England lost all semblance of formation, while their defence was non-existent. They even struggled in the basics, such as catching a pass in their own in-goal. By this time, everyone in the Australian team was hovering around the lolly jar, with Tune also enjoying a hat-trick of tries, and Larkham scoring two more in the second half. While Australia made no mistakes, played sensational rugby and were able to get away with crazy cross-field passes such as Matthew Cockbain's 25-metre looping throw which him the ball and he'd steam-roll over a couple of blokes.

"I also discovered different fitness levels are required at five-eighth. There were times when I was running back, and lagging behind the defensive line. I wasn't coming up in the line of the defence, which is just something I'll have to get accustomed to." Larkham was immediately in the game, and masterminded Australia's 33-0 lead at the break, after initiating the first try with a cut-out pass to No 8 Toutai Kefu, scoring the second following a Ben Tune chip-kick, and being involved twice in the lead-up to the third by Horan. Africa and New Zealand. So we will have to re-think a few of those moves." Larkham also believed there were several crucial areas in his play in which he had to improve.

These included his field kicking, determining who in the opposition he had to focus his defence on and his ball-handling skills. "Still, the most pleasing factor was that I didn't drop any balls, after spilling some in the lead-up training runs," Larkham said. "I thought the first half of each half was a good tester for me, even though Willie Ofahengaue helped me in the second half, because all I had to do was give realistic enough to explain that he will not get as much leeway when he plays some proper Test teams, including New Zealand and South Africa. "It is pretty hard to judge how I will go during the Tri Nations series when you are up against a much tighter side, that will perform for the whole 80 minutes," Larkham said. "When you come up against New Zealand and South Africa they are not going to ease up after 15-20 minutes, and they are going to be on you the whole time.

"Also, some of these plays we used tonight, we won't be able to get away with against South the disbelievers, shouting: "I told you so. I told you so." They talked about his astute passing, confidence with ball in hand, fine use of options, excellent combination with halfback George Gregan and inside centre Tim Horan, and his ability to break the line when he wanted to. The weakness of the opposition was taken into account, especially as England gave Larkham so much space to operate in, but the general consensus was that the experiment was a spectacular success. The only one casting doubts on it all was Larkham, who was Larkham was something special, and would immediately take to his new backline position. Eventually, Larkham proved Little wrong, scoring three tries rather than two, but elsewhere everything went to pattern.

He was named man of the match, and he was special, to the extent that at long last Australia may have found the man to replace Michael Lynagh in the crucial and contentious pivot position. Apart from the wailing over England's woe, the loudest noise made at Suncorp Stadium was by those in the minority who believed Larkham would make it at five-eighth. They came out of the shadows, and pointed at 76 0 Jason Little knew something. Shortly before kick-off in Saturday night's Wallaby walloping of Woodward's Wallies, Little told Stephen Larkham that, as the new Test five-eighth, he would score two tries and be named man of the match. Larkham thought, considering the tense circumstances, his teammate was just trying to relax him, spark him up.

No, Little knew 11 out Of 10 for a display of perfection i ii ft -Z 7 "IIWjgJU 11111 ii -r ZffU Cl-s tZ 19K 10 -7FSr THE Wallabies' sensational victory over England by 76 points is a time for Australian rugby to celebrate one of the game's most complete, dynamic, polished and satisfying Test victories. There were several penalties given away by the Wallabies for killing the ball, Phil Kearns managed to hit an English forward with a couple of his lineout throws and some kickable shots at goal were missed. A Japanese master potter, however, always puts a slight mistake in his best vases because perfection is boring. The occasional mistakes over 80 minutes of fast and clever play by the Wallabies fall into this category of highlighting the perfection of the finished product. The Wallabies, moreover, managed one of Test rugby's more difficult assignments by topping their 33 points in the first half with 43 unanswered points in the second, after the England coaching staff had the opportunity to talk to their players about strategies to slow the play.

Out of 10, this victory rates an 11. In the spotlight of the massive scoreline for the Wallabies, too, it is possible to forget that such a flogging for England (their worst defeat since their first Test, on January 26, .1871, a 20-a-side match against Scotland) was not predicted by many good judges of rugby. ENGLAND POSE SERIOUS THREAT, for instance, was the headline given to a piece written by an informed Australian rugby writer in another newspaper, of course. The article made the points also articulated by Roger Uttley, one of the England management team, that with a strong playing base (about 200,000 players) and a strong club system, England had the strongest playing depth of any rugby nation. The case was made, as well, that on form few of the apparently injured players would have made an England Test side right now, anyway.

sm Lifting moment NSW's occasion as the Waratahs win a lineout against Scotland omiMKd to taElkll Mao 1011 Stuart Pinkerton rises to the by Fiji late last month when they made the flight to Nadi and travelled for three hours by coach to Suva on the eve of the Test, engaging in the game without 10 front-line internationals, was forgotten in one afternoon at the SFS. After the loss and before Australia's record lacing of England in Brisbane, Waratah coach Matt Williams was asked if he thought any of his players had enhanced their representative prospects. Williams chewed it over and after pausing said: "Urn, no!" Before the game, he lauded flanker Michael Brial as a potential Wallaby captain and Manuel Edmonds as a prospective five-eighth, perhaps the pivot to take Australia to the 0 igiM Photo by TIM CLAYTON The Scots will train this evening from 6.30 against the Warringah Green Rats at Pittwater Park where British Lions five-eighth Townsend spent two seasons, -their objective tomorrow night's game against the Australian Barbarians at Panthers Stadium, Penrith. Williams said of Scotland: "They were powerful up front, defended magnificently, ran at us through the middle, nothing we didn't know Scotland would do." The Scottish XV for tomorrow's Barbarians game is: Derrick Lee; Hugh Gilmour, Jamie Mayer Ian Jardine, Alan Builoch; Duncan Hodge, Graeme Burns; Stuart Reid (c), Simon Holmes, Adam Roxburgh, Richard Metcalfe, Stewart Campbell, Mattie Stewart, Steven Brotherstone, Gordon Mcllwham. drugs, 'n' roll SPIRO zavos This line of reasoning set up hat as for practical purposes an unwinnable Test for the Wallabies.

A convincing victory along the lines, say, of the polished display in Sydney in 1991 (the harbinger of the subsequent World Cup triumph) would have been dismissed as unsatisfactory because of the lack of quality of the opposition. A scrambling victory like last year's against England, again in Sydney, would have been classed a loss, or even a "win" for England, by English commentators, because a depleted England were not put to the sword. The necessity, therefore, not only of having to in but to win in such a manner that the nature of the opposition is taken out of the equation, posed a significant psychological challenge for the Wallabies. UNDERDOGS have a tendency to bite back, as an over-confident but makeshift NSW Waratahs side discovered on Saturday when Scotland won comfortably against them. After playing themselves in for 20 minutes, rather like Sachin Tendulkar before launching himself into the bowling and hitting sixes around the ground, the Wallabies then scored at the phenomenal rate of about a point a minute.

The backs introduced more new angles to their running than Euclid ever dreamt of. The ineffable Stephen Larkham took us back to the days of Mark Ella, when an Australian five-eighth popped up several times in a movement to ensure its culmination in a try. This was a golden match for Australian rugbv. WORLD CUP FRANCE '98 "We were against a team which has been together for a month and which is playing in the World Cup finals in four or five days," assistant national coach Raul Blanco said. "The weather was unbelievably hot but the Australians still tried their-hardest against a quality opposition.

"We' didn't use the ball too well when we managed to get it from the Croatians and we learnt a good lesson." Blanco said the players had gained much from Venables's coaching over the past two years. "The Australian team has made a very big improvement under Venables and has come a long way," he said. "He worked in so many different ways with the players." After ending their normal summer season in April, the Australians were outpaced and El gOUOT)lDtDIJQ at the SFS on Saturday. handshake arrangement with the ACT Brumbies and a pre-season tour with Eddie Jones's squad led the Australian Under-21 tight-head to decline. Later this month, Williams and fellow NSW selectors Steve Lidbury and Alan Gaffney will discuss next year's Waratah squad.

Darwin and Pala'amo will be prominent in their talks. As the Scots extended their lead, outpacing NSW around the field and depriving them of possession, tackling powerfully in midfield through centres Rowen Shepherd and Cameron Murray and stifling NSWs attacks, Brial's frustration grew until annoyance became dissent. NSW needed inspiration not petulance. Sex and no rock Paris: Argentina had an unwelcome reminder of the Diego Maradona World Cup dope scandal on Saturday, just days before the 1998 finals start, despite care taken since to avoid a similar disgrace. One of their players tested positive for a banned substance in a recent in-house medical screening in Buenos Aires, team doctor Luis Seveso said.

The tests were introduced by Argentine coach Daniel Passarella when he took charge of the national team late in 1994. Seveso said on Saturday: "I gave several players anti-flu medication which could have caused all this hullabaloo." Seveso did not reveal the identity of the player but said he had no reason to believe he had done anything wrong. "I have no problems giving players such medication, which is prohibited in times of competition, 10 to 12 days before entering into competition," he said. Argentina start their Group campaign in a week with a game against Japan in Toulouse. In London, striker Teddy Sheringham has kept his place in the England World Cup squad after publicly apologising on Saturday for his antics in a Portuguese nightclub.

Pictures of the 32-year-old Manchester United player allowing Christian Warner to move to five-eighth with Australian Sevens representative Marc Stcherbina becoming inside-centre. By then the damage was done. Scotland wheeled NSW's scrum at will, eliminating the bruising charges of the Waratahs' back-rowers. The home side's plight was not aided by the presence of three loose-heads in the squad, with Cameron Blades required at tight-head and neither Fosi Pala'amo nor Ben Darwin of the young specialists there to counter the wheel. Coach Williams's concern was such that he discussed with Darwin the possibility of him joining the Waratah squad for the Scotland game, but a Swiss substitute Patrick Muller eventually levelled.

In Baiersbronn, Germany, South Africa concluded their preparations with a drab 1-1 draw against Iceland on Saturday. South Africa, who play hosts France in their opening group match on Friday, laboured through the match. They had just two shots on goal in the first half, one of them from striker Benedict McCarthy crashing into the net in the 37th minute. Iceland equalised in the 73rd minute through Stefan Thordason. In Ploiesti, Romania's switch from their critical fans in Bucharest paid off on Saturday when they beat Moldova 5-1 in their last warm-up match.

Some 8,000 local fans in Ploiesti, 60 km north of the capital, cheered the team a stark contrast to Wednesday in Bucharest, where they were booed and jeered despite beating Paraguay 3-2. A penalty from Gheorghe Popescu in the 32nd minute started Saturday's rout. In Brussels, a second-half goal by substitute Enzo Scifo gave Belgium a 1-0 win over Paraguay on Saturday. Belgium's first match in France, against arch-rivals the Netherlands in Paris on Saturday, promises to be one of the fiercest clashes of the tournament with rumours of potential violence between opposing fans. AAP.

Reuters World Cup. The flames died the longer the game continued. Edmonds was dumped on his trousers from a fend as winger Shaun Longstaff speared to the line for the first try after strong forward drives by No 8 Eric Peters and second-rower Stuart Grimes and was slow in marshalling his backline's advance to quell the Gregor Townsend-led Scots backline. Townsend took liberties wide of the ruck from Bryan Redpath's sharp service, initiating Scotland's second and third tries, aided and abetted by the lethal support play of fullback Glenn Metcalf, the third try completed by mobile second-rower Scott Murray. Edmonds grimly left the field with 10 minutes remaining, regulars through injury, another because of club duty and.

one because he was getting married. The Yugoslavs took an early lead through midfielder Branko Brnovic. But they seemed to play at three-quarter pace after that and, in the 83rd minute, PHILWILKINS SCOTLAND NSW 34 10 NSW's trail-blazing Waratahs of 1927 were cut down in their prime, 10-8, in the inaugural international against Scotland at Murrayfield and, 71 years later, the Scots are still making a haggis of NSW's rugby reputation. Three tries in an opening 1 6-minute squall, and an overall four tries to two and 34-10 larruping of a NSW team refurbished after eight players went to the Test squad, put the Scots in a bubbling mood for Saturday's first of two Tests at the Sydney Football Stadium. The Scots' 51-26 Test defeat outplayed by Croatians seeking to enhance their chances for a starting place in their opening World Cup match against Jamaica on Sunday.

Australia last played Croatia in 1992, when the Socceroos won the opener 1-0, lost the second 3-1 and played a scoreless draw in the third. The Socceroos lost Ned Zelic with an ankle injury and Robbie Enes with a virus before play started and were on the back foot from the opening whistle. Suker, who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid, has had trouble scoring recently but had little difficulty in converting a 14th-minute penalty after Socceroo keeper Zeljko Kalac brought down Mario Stanic. Speedy left back Robert Jarni created the second in the 37th minute when his cut back found the running Suker, who again left Kalac stranded. Three, minutes later, Robert Prosinecki weaved through the defence to give Croatia a 3-0 lead at the break.

The second half was just as merciless. Captain Zvonimir Boban needed two minutes to make it four; Suker succeeded with a second penalty in the 63rd for his hat-trick after Kalac was again penalised; substitute Ardian Kozniku and Boban then added the remaining two goals. It was Croatia's biggest win at international level, beating their 7-1 success Estonia, and lif I r- Terry Venables's reign as Australian coach ended on a low note as his Socceroos crashed to a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia in Zagreb on Saturday night. Striker Davor Suker's hat-trick humiliated an underprepared Australia as World Cup-bound Croatia ran riot at Maksimir Stadium in a match which had little meaning for the visitors. It was one of Australia's worst defeats, heavier even than the 7-1 loss to India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 6-0 thrashing by Brazil in the Confederations Cup final last December.

It was also an unworthy finish to former England coach Venables's two-year stint at the helm of Australian soccer. He now switches his attention to English club Crystal Palace. Under his stewardship the Socceroos played 23 matches for 16 wins, five losses and two draws, went agonisingly close to making the World Cup finals and displayed a style of attacking soccer lacking in recent years. But there was little to be gained from this "friendly" match, with the result of only academic importance, key Australian players ruled out and Venables having little time to work with the team before it took the field. The Socceroos had to contend with hot weather 33C and an even hotter Croatian lineup.

-2 drinking, smoking and embracing a woman in the early hours of the morning, less than a week before the start of the World Cup, provoked a furore in England when they appeared in a newspaper on Friday. Coach Glenn Hoddle said on Saturday he had given his star a telling off. "I am very disappointed with what he did, that goes without saying," he said. A subdued Sheringham appeared outside England's training centre on Saturday and said: "I would like to apologise for the problems my actions have caused. I accept there was a lack of professionalism by me in not realising how my actions were likely to be interpreted.

I intend to learn from the experience." England's first match in France is against Tunisia in Marseilles next Monday. In Paris, the Dutch team doctor has admitted that Denis Bergkamp's hamstring injury is much worse than first thought. "The injury has been far worse than estimated in the beginning but there has been no point getting the people in the Dutch camp too worried about Dennis," said Dr Frits Kessel. Bergkamp will miss the Netherlands' opening match against Belgium next Saturday and almost certainly their second game against South Korea on June 20. Reuters, AFP Net result Robert Prosinecki passes Australian goalie Zeljko Kalac to score Croatia's third goal.

Photo by reuters put the team in high spirits for their World Cup venture. In Basel, Yugoslavia were held to a 1-1 draw by a makeshift Switzerland side in their final warm-up match on Saturday. The Swiss were missing seven.