Uneasy Lies The Head

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31521, 8 November 1967, Page 19

Uneasy Lies The Head

THE selection of E. W. X Kirton ahead of M. A. Herewini for the first international against England last Saturday showed the parlous position in which test first five-eighths are placed. Herewini achieved some sort of record when he played six consecutive tests

at first five-eighths for the All Black: the position upsually has a tenure of two or three matches. Herewini and Kirton both toured the British Isles in 1963-64 but with B. A. Watt and Herewini getting most of the major games, Kirton never appealed as a test prospect. Between 1964 and 1967 in tests in New Zealand Kirton did not really get close to selection until this year when he was named as the emergency five-eighths for the jubilee test against Australia. In 1964, Watt and P. H. Murdoch were the first fiveeighths against Australia. Murdoch kept his place for the first three tests against the Springboks and then was supplanted by Herewini for the vital fourth test after South Africa’s fantastic win in the third test at Lancaster Park. Herewini kept his place for another five tests and became the only player in recent years to have played at first five-eighths through a full test series when he was chosen in all four tests against the Lions. Now Herewini has gone the way of all first fiveeighths.