Strong Combined Against N.S.W.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31152, 31 August 1966, Page 17

Strong Combined Against N.S.W.

The Wellington stand-off half, T. Mataira, is expected to be the outstanding player in the combined WellingtonWest Coast-Canterbury under--15 Rugby League team to play New South Wales Marist at the Show Grounds on Sunday. Mataira was recently selected to captain the New Zealand team which will play the tourists at Huntly on September 11. He toured Australia with the schoolboy Kiwi team in 1964 when only 13, and last year captained The Rest against New Zealand. For the second year in succession Mataira was named as the “Player of the Year” at the annual schoolboys tournament. He was largely responsible for the Southern XIII having its first win for the Highland Fling Cup over the North for 10 years.

Mataira is one of six schoolboy Kiwis in the southern XIII. The others are the wing, E. Ngatuere (West Coast), who scored two tries in the inter-island match, and the forwards, W. Cooper (Canter-

bury), C. Gardiner (West Coast), T. Shadboit (West Coast), and R. O’Neill (Canterbury). The southern XIII is:—

M. Barker (Canterbury); D. Honey (West Coast), S. Scoringe (Canterbury), P. Allen (Canterbury), Ngatuere: Mataira (captain), R. Tukiri (Wellington); P. Jones (Canterbury); O'Neill, Shadbolt: P. Sturgeon (West Coast), Gardiner, Cooper. Reserves: J. Campbell (Wellington), W. Wright (Canterbury). The president of the New Zealand Schoolboys Council (Mr L. A. Stuart) said yesterday that he considered the New Zealand team stronger than that which toured Australia in 1964. “I would like to take this team to Australia. We would win every match,” Mr Stuart said.

Mr Stuart managed the schoolboy Kiwi team in Australia in 1964.

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