WANGANUI XV BADLY DEPLETED Canterbury Expected To Have Big Win

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31769, 28 August 1968, Page 19

WANGANUI XV BADLY DEPLETED Canterbury Expected To Have Big Win

“The Press” Special Service

WANGANUI.

The refusal of the New Zealand Army to release five leading Waiouru players, including a former Junior All Black, H. P. Milner, has blunted Wanganui’s already slim prospects of winning its Rugby match against the touring Canterbury team, at Wanganui today.

A long-standing difference between Wanganui Rugby administrators and Army authorities came to a head at the week-end when Milner, O. H. Topia, D. Ruha, E. Barbarich and R. Wiki, were all refused permission to play for Wanganui in today’s match.

These five, plus the recent representatives, A. Hini and N. Kowha, are in Auckland playing for the New Zealand Army team in the national inter-services tournament.

That this should happen at a time when the province had at least begun to tread the winning road again after a decade of low-level performances has come as a blow for Wanganui Rugby.

Wanganui will today field

virtually a second-rate team against a powerful Canterbury side which contains all four of its present All Blacks and five members of the South Island side to play in the NorthSouth match in Christchurch on Saturday. Since the drastic reshuffle of the Wanagnui team, fears have been mounting that Canter-

bury may come close to repeating the 55-3 victory it achieved during Wanganui’s ill-fated 1965 southern tour. More than half of the rearranged W’anganui side has

been nowhere near the repre-

sentative training paddock all

season and its chances of matching Canterbury must be very remote. Wanganui, without a win against Canterbury in 10 matches over the last 20 years, was merging into a competent medium-standard side before the loss of the Waiouru men.

Eariy-season losses to Taranaki (twice), Manawatu (twice). King Country and Wellington, all outstanding teams, have been followed by wins over Wairarapa, Bush, Horowhenua, and Nelson. Good Conditions Conditions today should be ideal for Canterbury to rub out the memory of its loss to Auckland at Eden Park last Saturday. Continued fine weather is forecast and Spriggens Park should be in top condition for Canterbury fully to exploit all its repertoire of brilliance. Indeed, it should turn on the brightest display of the Wanganui Rugby year. The teams are:

Canterbury.—W. F. McCormick; R. Cocks, H. J. Joseph, R. Woolhouse; W. D. Cottrell, B, A. Watt; L. J. Davis: I. H. Penrose (captain); I. A. Kirkpatrick, A. E. Hopkinson, M. R. Perkins, C. F. Cochrane: K. Tanner, J. N. Creighton, A. McLellan. Wanganui.—R. Patrick: G. Young, R. Wilson. K. Green; R. B. Barrell (captain), P. Crocker: M. Stewart: C. O'Leary: T. Jory. G. Hall. K. Dailey, R. Weale: M. Ramsay, J. Ross, A. O'Connell.