/ 21 October 1999

STRAUSS SAYS BATEMAN SHOULD PLAY

AUSTRALIA’S Tiaan Strauss believes Wales have made a major error in not picking Allan Bateman, his friend and former rugby league teammate, for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against the Wallabies. Argentina’s Agustin Pichot was quoted at the weekend as saying Bateman should be in Wales’ starting line-up. Now Aussie number eight Strauss, who knows the Northampton star from their time together in rugby league with Australian club Cronulla, has also given the 34-year-old his backing. “I would love to see Wales use Allan because this year he hasn’t played that much,” said the former Springbok skipper, who will start for the Aussies at the Millennium Stadium in the absence of the suspended Toutai Kefu. “In the past he’s really played well for Wales and he’s been one of their outstanding players. It’s not for me to say but I would have loved to have seen him play. “I think a lot of Allan and I’m a very good friend of his.”