Wallaby coach goes on warpath

By WYNNE GRAY in Christchurch

Wallaby coach Eddie Jones has blasted an International Rugby Board suggestion to limit the number of substitutions for tests.

Instead of accepting a reduction from seven to four replacements, Jones believes rugby would be better served by allowing 12 interchanges from the reserves' bench.

The IRB proposal is set for further inspection this year and Jones said that next week he would sit down with Australian Rugby Union officials to offer a counter-proposal.

That discussion group is likely to include ARU chief executive John O'Neill, who was not with the Wallaby party who landed in Christchurch late yesterday.

O'Neill, who also missed the test in Dunedin last year, had to attend to family matters in Australia, an ARU spokesman said.

There was nothing sinister in his absence. O'Neill was not avoiding any potential heckling in New Zealand after the World Cup fiasco and staff on either side of the Tasman had been working well together on other projects, the spokesman said.

As most of the Wallabies chipped in with their forthright views about tomorrow's highly anticipated opening to the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations series, Jones attacked the game's global administrators.

"Any proposal to reduce substitutions needs to be looked at very closely," he said.

"It would definitely be a retrograde step for rugby.

"I think everyone wants to see a faster game.

"They want to see more ball in play and with the provision of substitutions we can do that."

Jones suggested that play should continue during injuries - as long as they were not spinal - with hurt players being assessed and repaired or replaced from an interchange roster.

"Otherwise we will go the opposite way of where we should be going.

"We need the game to be faster, not slower."

Already there was criticism of coaches waiting until the last few minutes to use their final permitted seven reserves.

But that was to insure against being caught with just 14 players.

"At the moment the rules lend to the problem, so what we should be doing is to change the laws to improve that situation."

The Wallabies reported with a full-strength, fit 22 who can all be involved in this test.

There is still doubt about the fitness of several All Blacks. Lock Norm Maxwell has struggled with a hamstring strain since the Hanmer training camp and must be an unlikely starter.

His place would go to Simon Maling, with Royce Willis moving into the reserves.

Jones pinpointed lineouts as the most vital area in the contest for possession. During the Super 12, teams gained about 77 per cent of their own throws, but the rate dipped a little at test level, where sides competed even more.

There is also some mystery about Taine Randell. He has been recovering from a strained calf and flew out of Christchurch on Wednesday night.

For some that indicated he had been ruled out of the test; for others his absence suggested nothing on what was a free day for the team.

Meanwhile, the debate grows about whether an All Black team based almost exclusively on one province can compete with the Wallabies.

Jones agreed that the results of the Crusaders would raise the expectations about further success, but in the same breath mentioned the difference between Super 12 and test rugby.

There was also the pressure from people throughout New Zealand who had demanded, as Andrew Mehrtens enunciated, a stop to Australia stuffing their trophy cabinet.

Five-eighths Mehrtens also disputed talk that New Zealand were just the Crusaders in black jerseys.

"We have to remove ourselves from that," he said. "We have to rid ourselves of that.

"We need to play differently. We talk about being New Zealanders."

The only way to combat that talk was to perform. Mehrtens said he was not about to go to John Mitchell and suggest he stand down because there were too many players from Canterbury.

"We want to represent the country. We are picked and want to do it."

The All Blacks talked as much about what had worked for the four other franchises as they did about elements of the Crusaders' fabric they wanted to use.

They analysed what tactics had worked best throughout the Super 12 competition and could be translated to test rugby.

Wallaby captain George Gregan accepted that all the Cantabrians were proven test players but, like his first five-eighths, Stephen Larkham, spoke about the jump from Super 12 to the pace, pressure and decision-making needed in internationals.