Monye: Put faith in me to bounce back
UGO MONYE has told how a church blessing has helped him put last week’s “absolute stinker” of a performance against Argentina behind him.
The Harlequins back filled in as a makeshift full-back at Twickenham last Saturday but was horrendously exposed by the Pumas’ incessant kicking game.
Committed Christian Monye was ultra-critical of his display and sought to gain strength from a service at his local church in west London last Sunday, ahead of this weekend’s visit of New Zealand.
Now, reverting back to his preferred position on the wing, the 26-year-old insists he is ready to bury the demons of his last display and is fully prepared for anything the All Blacks throw at him.
“I had an absolute stinker last weekend. It was probably the worst I have played in my whole career and I wanted to deal with it as quickly as possible,” Monye said. “I analysed the game on the Saturday night and I went to church on Sunday and that gave me strength. The service was all about healing – and I probably needed a bit of that on Sunday.
“Now I am confident, I have probably trained harder this week, I am more focused and I am happy to be on the wing this weekend. I am happy under the high ball, chasing and receiving. I think it is one of the strengths of my game. If New Zealand want to challenge me early in the game then I am happy for them to do that.”
Meanwhile, legendary All Black Dan Carter has pin-pointed fly-half Jonny Wilkinson as the biggest threat to his side tomorrow.
“I’ve got so much respect for Jonny – he’s a class player and is getting back to his best form,” Carter said. “He’s the player we have identified who can really steer and direct the English around.”
RUGBY IN BRIEF
Welsh try drought a ‘concern’
WALES: Shane Williams admits he is concerned by his side’s lack of tries this autumn.
Warren Gatland’s side have touched down just once in their two November Tests against New Zealand and Samoa, and scored only two tries at their Millennium Stadium home all year.
The Welsh will be looking to put that right when Argentina roll into Cardiff tomorrow, but Williams, Wales’ record try-scorer, admits he is a little worried by his side’s inability to turn possession into points.
“It is a little bit of a concern, we are creating things but we’re just not finishing off tries at the moment,” he said.
“We haven’t hit the panic button yet as we have players behind the scrum who score tries week in, week out for fun.”
Hines looks to make history
SCOTLAND: Australian-born lock Nathan Hines says Scotland are determined to re-write the history books against the Wallabies at Murrayfield tomorrow.
The Scots have not beaten Australia since 1982, losing each of their last 16 meetings.
But Hines, 32, who was born and spent most of his life Down Under, believes Andy Robinson’s men are geared to putting things right tomorrow.
“We can’t worry about 27 years of history,” he said. “All we’ve got to worry about is the game at the weekend. History is history, maybe we can make a bit of our own.”