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Tuqiri warns Wallabies
24/11/2006 12:51 - (SA)
Sydney - Outside back Lote Tuqiri has warned Australia they will crash and burn at next year's World Cup based on their alarming form in Europe, reports said on Friday.
Tuqiri, about to play his 50th Test against Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, said the Wallabies need to raise their standards to make a serious charge for the Webb Ellis Trophy in France.
"If we want to win a World Cup, we're going to have to beat tier-one teams three weeks in a row ... quarter-final, semi-final and obviously the final," he told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"If I'm being honest, I don't think we're there yet to even challenge for a final spot at the moment.
"I'm confident we can get there. We've got the nucleus here to do that and there's a lot of improvement left in this team.
"But we've just got to keep improving. We've been talking it up but not delivering on the pitch so that's something that has to change.
Asked to rate the current tour, he said: "It's a pass mark but only just."
Australia drew with Wales, scored an unimpressive win over Italy and lost 21-6 to Ireland.
Meanwhile former Wallaby captain Simon Poidevin said Australia coach John Connolly should resign if he plans to revert to conservative tactics for the World Cup.
Poidevin, along with former Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen, was a member of the recruitment panel which recommended Connolly to the Australian Rugby Union after the sacking of Eddie Jones.
But Poidevin was dismayed with the Wallabies' safety-first approach in their loss to Ireland in Dublin last weekend and believes there is no point in Connolly continuing if he wants to take the team down the minimum-risk path.
"I sense there is maybe a view out there that because we are a year away from the World Cup that we will go right into a traditional Connolly game," Poidevin said at a function on Thursday.
"I will feel very responsible if that's the case because Knuckles (Connolly) was brought into this team - he got there on his own merits - to clean out the culture because the culture was poor and I think he is struggling with that.
"But if he now wants to move into a conservative, 10-man, risk-averse game, I think he should fall on his sword.
"We can't do that. The Australian public will support the Wallabies playing the way they have historically."
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