The Gold Coast Bulletin

Kangaroos blasted for attitude at training

- PETER BADEL

KANGAROOS coach Mal Meninga has put his Australian stars on notice after blasting their attitude at training in the lead-up to tonight’s World Cup semi-final against Fiji.

The world champions will run on to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane under no illusions of the standards expected by Meninga, who admits a sloppy session on Tuesday represents the ultimate wake-up call.

Australia are expected to comfortabl­y dispose of Fiji, who they flogged 64-0 at the 2013 World Cup, but Meninga is far from satisfied with his side’s mental approach.

After a gruelling trip to Darwin, where Kangaroos players lost up to 3kg in their 46-0 defeat of Samoa, Australia bumbled their way through a training run that triggered concerns of a Fiji boilover.

“I wasn’t real happy with our session the other day,” Meninga said.

“It was our worst training session on Tuesday – we have some improvemen­t to do.

“There was a lot of dropped ball, a few mistakes. That is not the standards we want.

“I want to make sure every time we train, we train with the right intensity and the right execution ... that is part of the values every time we do something as Kangaroos.

“I understand we are on the back of a Darwin trip, recovery after takes a bit out of you, but we still need to train well.

“We have been tracking well and the players have been performing well but that session is a reality check to get us back on track.”

Roos pivot Michael Morgan is confident their worst training session of the tournament will remove any “rust”.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia