TARANAKI AGREES

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30405, 2 April 1964, Page 15

TARANAKI AGREES

Canterbury Will Get Shield Challenge

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, April 1. Canterbury, which will make a northern tour this year, will definitely be granted a Ranfurly Shield challenge against Taranaki. The president of the Taranaki Rugby Union (Mr G. Grace) told “The Press” today that Canterbury, which would play Taranaki as part of its normal tour, would be given a challenge.

The date would have to fit in with the other six unions which also would normally play matches against Taranaki.

Mr Grace, as the leader of the Taranaki delegation, found himself in a favoured position -at today’s meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union council.

Other unions wanting a shield challenge were seeking him out in an endeavour to press their claims. It was almost like bees clustering around a honey pot.

However, the Taranaki union has shown a refreshingly simple outlook on challenges. As far as Taranaki is concerned It will play every union with which it would normally play matches and also possibly will accept two special challenges. Although there are three tests against Australia in August, the Taranaki union is prepared to play shield matches on those days. “There is no reason why the normal representative

programme of our union should be changed because of test matches.

“We could lose players to a test on the day that a Ranfurly Shield match is played, but that should be no consideration at all when deciding on our fixture list,” said Mr Grace. He considered his main problem might be that other preferred unions which were seeking shield challenges would ask for dates when they were not affected by the test matches. Mr Grace said that Canterbury and Taranaki had had very good relations in the past and the shield challenge this year would merely be a continuation of that accord.

However, Mr Grace said that Wellington, also a union with which Taranaki had very close contacts, would not be granted a challenge for the match between the unions which normally was played at Hawera in July. For Ranfurly Shield purposes that match would revert to a date in August.