IRVINE KEY TO KIWI WIN

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30901, 6 November 1965, Page 17

IRVINE KEY TO KIWI WIN

[From

BRUCE MONTGOMERIE,

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.]

WIGAN. The New Zealand Rugby League team will be striving to avoid the humiliation of three successive test defeats when it meets Britain in the final match of the series at Wigan today.

Only two of the seven Kiwi teams who made full tours of England since 1907 have failed to win one test in a series. New Zealand has made only three changes from the side which lost the second test, 915, last month, but the most

vital of these has been the addition of the diminutive Canterbury half-back, R. S. J. Irvine. The Kiwi wings have been straved of possession in nearly ail of their matches during the second half of the tour. ' Record Still Intact So much so, that B. T. t Reidy, who equalled the New ■ Zealand try-scoring record held by V. A. N. Bakalich when he gained his thirtyfourth try for New Zealand against St. Helens on September 15, has had few opportunities since to break it. However, with Irvine at pivot, he may be placed in a better situation today, and if he and the other wing, F. R. Christian, can get a fair share of the ball, New Zealand could be dangerous. R. B. Tait, who has replaced P. J. Schultz at centre, . is also expected to be able to ■ make breaks on attack. He has . been in good farm during the > tour and has been far more . penetrative than any of the other inside backs. i Keeping Play Open But if New Zealand persist ’ in keeping the ball close, and concentrating on individual ! play, as it did in the first “ two tests, its prospects of t winning are slim. The second row forward, R. 1 Evans, has withdrawn from t the British team and has been • replaced by W. Holliday, who played in the first two tests. Evans failed to pass a fitI ness test on Thursday.