Hard- hitting words
BOXING underdog Jeff Horn has urged the Wallabies to regain their self- belief to floor a world champion – just as he plans to do.
The Brisbane welterweight likening the quest to knock out the All Blacks to his own leap of faith to take down Manny Pacquiao.
His arrival at Wallabies training yesterday at Ballymore was inspiration for part- time pug Quade Cooper because he knew all about Horn’s toil in the gym.
Low blows have rained on the Wallabies since fan Jack Quigley’s dam- bursting Facebook post berated the sloppy 24- 19 loss to Scotland.
Horn was an ideal voice on fighting back.
“You’ve got to have a thick skin for starters and if you don’t you’ve got to grow it,” Horn said. “You’ve got to get your confidence up like boxing did for me and belief is like armour.”
Beating a young Italian side, with a volley of five or six killer tries, must be the way back for the Wallabies at a half- empty Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Horn is $ 6 to knock out Pacquiao on July 2 when the same venue will be a throbbing cauldron and many rate the Wallabies at similar odds to topple the Kiwis on August 19 in Sydney.
“Sometimes it just takes getting a rival at the right time and the Wallabies being in the zone like I want to be on my fight day,” Horn said.
“It’s then that amazing things can happen and you can then beat the world champion.”
Cooper’s zeal for the comparison was instant and he threw a haymaker at keyboard warriors who throw barbs at the Wallabies.
“Jeff is a massive inspiration for us ... he has a massive challenge fighting Manny and that’s like us as footballers with Italy and later the All Blacks for the Bledisloe Cup,” Cooper said.
Coach Michael Cheika had phoned Quigley for a chat on Monday after the Wallaby fanatic’s anger stirred 42,000- plus disgruntled Facebook believers.
Quigley had slated the Wallabies for “literally hurting people with your lack of application to your jobs”.
“I’m not saying it ( criticism) is unfair … and to see passion from fans is great,” Cooper said.
“But it’s easy for people to sit behind a keyboard and throw barbs.
“When Jeff wins that fight, he’ll be able to stand proud ... but there’d still be someone sitting back saying ‘ Manny was old’.
“The boys are working hard. We’re aiming at the All Blacks for the Bledisloe and we want Australian rugby back to the high standards we set for ourselves.”