Catholic Rugby Tournament

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29801, 18 April 1962, Page 13

Catholic Rugby Tournament

r FHE sixteenth annual - 1 South Island Catholic Rugby football tournament will be held in Christchurch next week-end. Ten teams will take part and more than 230 players and administrators will be in the' city. AU matches will be played at Lancaster Park, beginning at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday. The final wiU be at 3 p.m. on Monday.

The tournament, which was first played at Invercargill in 1947 with five teams participating, has developed until it is the biggest of its kind in the South Island. The most successful side has been the Blenheim team, which has been victorious for

the last three yeans. Several of the players have had considerable experience in representative Rugby. Of the Blenheim team, L. Green, L Adams (two former New Zealand colts) and J. Diedrich are Marlborough representatives. The Greymouth side is expected to be very strong. The side won the West Coast competition last season and will contain at least seven representative players. Three well-known South Canterbury players, J. Cole, P. Angland and B. Gardiner, will lead the Timaru side. H. O’Neill, who has played 50 games for Southland, will

be in the front row of the Invercargill scrum and G. Groves, T. Ryan, and J. Forward, three representative players of some experience, will be the main forces in the Gore team.

The other visiting teams are unproven young sides but may be quite capable of causing an upset. The Christchurch Marist team, which showed its fitness last Saturday when it was narrowly beaten by University, should also be a strong contender. The side is young and will be under the capable leadership of the Canterbury representative forward, K. J. O’Sbannessey.