Turner will try taking new approach
Rupert Guinness | February 13, 2009
WARATAHS winger Lachie Turner has no plans to play "the hero" this season, and intends on being more of a team player.
Turner's new approach smacks of the modest position taken by fellow Waratahs winger Lote Tuqiri, who declared last weekend that he has been told by the NSW coaching staff "not to score tries".
Much has been said of the potential of NSW's back line, especially the centres combination, which will be Timana Tahu at No.12 and Rob Horne at No.13 for round one against the Hurricanes in Wellington tomorrow.
To hear one winger say he doesn't want to be the hero they usually aim to be, and the other that he won't lead the try-scoring charge, could lead some to wonder just what has happened to the modern-day flyer.
This year's tournament kicks off with three games tonight, but the Waratahs leave Sydney this morning for Wellington, where their will start their campaign at Westpac Stadium - aka "The Cake Tin".
Turner, in his third year at the Waratahs, intends to show what he learned from what was an up-and-down season last year as a Waratah and Wallaby.
"I almost wanted too much from myself," he conceded. "I was trying to be the hero a lot of the time. I wasn't really relying on people around me. This year I am taking more of a team approach.
"I am trying not to do everything myself. I am trying to let other guys do stuff. Last year, I tried way too hard at the beginning. My confidence got a bit low, and I probably wasn't trying hard enough at the end of the season."
Saying that, there is still a bit of the old winger in Turner.
"I am feeling very fit. I am feeling fast. So maybe I will get a chance to open up. I am sure the guys inside me will give me a chance to go down the sideline," he said.
As for Tuqiri's new mission to not score tries but "get the ball, attract defenders, move infield if I wanted and try to create space further out", Turner's response was: "If Lote is not scoring tries, then he will be setting them up. At the end of the day, nobody cares who scores, just so long as we get the tries and the points. I don't mind if [forwards] Adam Freier or Tatafu [Polota-Nau] is getting them, or even Al Baxter ... well, let's not go too far!"
Clearly, Turner's faith is in the NSW backs, though.
"We have such a potent attacking back line, I am sure we are going to get plenty of chances," he said. "That extra experience from last year is really going to help us this year."
Turner concedes he has been taken aback by the low expectations in NSW this year, after the team lost the experience and strength of forwards Dan Vickerman, Rocky Elsom and David Lyons, all in Britain.
"I found that very surprising. I thought we would be outsiders travelling over there, but I didn't think we would be rank outsiders," Turner said.
"We are a couple of steps ahead of where we were this time last year.
"That is as much as you can ask for.
"Whether we are underdogs or seeded No.1, we don't really mind. We are going in with the belief we can win."
The Waratahs confirmed that Freier would take his place on the bench after recovering from a hamstring strain in last Thursday's trial, undergoing a fitness test yesterday.
Jeremy Tilse was also named as reserve prop, having earlier been bracketed with 2008 debutant Dan Palmer.
The Hurricanes - whom NSW beat in round one in Sydney last year and round 14 at Wellington in 2007, and will be without centre Conrad Smith (groin) and hooker Andrew Hore (ankle) - named Piri Weepu at No.10, not as halfback.
Their 22 also includes four players earning their first Super 14 caps with the side: starting hooker Dane Coles, his back-up Ged Robinson, second-rower Bryn Evans and blindside flanker Faifili Levave.
