All Blacks told to remember 1983
The All Blacks will be reminded of 1983 when they head to Britain and Ireland later this week seeking their second grand slam, assistant coach Wayne Smith said on Monday.
A 35-man squad was named on Sunday for the four-test tour and, like their side 22 years ago, the All Blacks are fresh off a comprehensive demolition of a combined British and Irish Lions team in the New Zealand winter.
Smith, however, said the class of 2005 need only look at 1983 when New Zealand beat the Lions 4-0 then drew with Scotland and lost to England on their end of season tour.
"There is an understanding here that it will be bloody tough," Smith said on a teleconference call from New Zealand.
"I was involved in 1983 when we beat the Lions fairly convincingly and when we toured at the end of the year we drew with Scotland and lost to England.
"We found ... that the individual nations played with a ferocity and patriotism that we didn't quite expect.
"Patriotism is a hard thing to manufacture. It's in your bones and it's intangible and you can't mistake it.
"Each of the nations are going to want to knock us over ... (and) we have to go and realise that and ... set ourselves up for what will be bloody tough games."
Smith said the All Blacks had also been made aware that several of the Lions who lost the test series 3-0 earlier this year may have points to prove, while others who did not make the tour would also want to do well.
"There are some pretty strong players there. You look at someone like (Wales loose forward) Ryan Jones who made a huge impression over here and he might not be there (due to a shoulder injury).
Post a comment about this article
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.