Double international tips ABS over Kangaroos
Dual code-rugby international Frano Botica reckons the All Blacks would be best equipped to win if an ambitious plan to play the Kangaroos is approved.
Botica is well placed to offer an appraisal on the subject, given he played seven tests for the All Blacks in the amateur era before jumping the fence to join English club Wigan on a professional contract in 1990.
Botica, 56, says that if the All Blacks wanted to be innovative against the Kangaroos they could load their team with loose forwards to ensure they have large, athletic ball carriers in action.
‘‘If the rugby union guys were playing league, they could put all their big loosies in as props,’’ Botica said. ‘‘You could even have a whole team full of loosies if you wanted to.
‘‘Or a player like Scott Barrett. Someone who is big and mobile. He doesn’t have to be six foot, six inches. Just a big boy who could truck the ball up.’’
Botica didn’t play in the historic two-match Clash of the Codes series between Wigan and premiership rugby club Bath in 1996 because he had shifted back to New Zealand to join the Auckland-based Warriors the previous year.
Wigan thrashed Bath 82-6 in the first fixture played under league rules, but Bath secured a 44-19 victory when the next game was governed by the rugby rule book.
Safety must be taken into consideration, says Botica. He isn’t in favour of rugby league players being compromised against union props who have spent all their careers honing their skills in the front row of scrums.
Because the set pieces in rugby are vital to the way teams structure attack and defence, the men from the 15-man code would have a clear advantage.
‘‘It will be easier for the union boys to change to league,’’ Botica noted. ‘‘The league guys will have to learn to lift in the lineouts, to jump and scrummage – which could be dangerous, especially for props.
‘‘In league they are built and train for different things. I think it would be easier for an All Blacks team to change, than the Kangaroo players.’’
Botica played seven tests between 1986 and 1989, spending most of that time sitting in the reserves watching Grant Fox at No 10 for the All Blacks.
At 26 years of age, and with rugby yet to turn professional until late 1995, Botica accepted a deal with powerhouse club Wigan.
He joined the Warriors in 1995, and later played rugby in Europe and a World Cup qualifying game for Croatia in 1990.