Kiwi Half Dropped

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31985, 12 May 1969, Page 26

Kiwi Half Dropped

T. Patrick, the Otago Rugby league stand-off half, was the surprise selection for the Southern Zone team to play Northern Zone in the final New Zealand trial at Carlaw Park, Auckland, on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Patrick was a schoolboy Kiwi as a Waikato junior player in 1962, the same year as G. R. Cooksley, the Canterbury scrum-half who will combine with him on Saturday. He gets his place in the team ahead of last year’s Kiwi, J. G. Clarke (Canterbury).

Patrick played quite well for Otago in the southern quadrangular tournament in Dunedin last season when he scored a try against Canterbury. His club. University, has often played him in the forwards—at 13st 101 b he is prob-

ably the heaviest stand-off half in first-class Rugby league—and he has also proved an adequate substitute goal kicker. The selectors (Messrs D. L. Blanchard, M. W. Church and

W. F. Mountford) relegated Clarke to the reserves to in-1 elude Patrick.

Clarke was not impressive for Canterbury against West Coast on Saturday when he was not able to contain his opponent, B. Sweetman. A. W. Thompson and B. Jager', two players who withdrew from the Canterbury team because of injury, won Southern Zone places virtually by default when their rivals performed only moderately in the representative fixture.

A most popular selection was that of W. Hargreaves, the young West Coast prop who penetrated the Canterbury defence with great effectiveness and reasonable frequency on Saturday.

The centres remained the biggest problems after the Canterbury and West Coast three-quarters had cancelled each other out for most of Saturday’s match. W. K. Johnsen (West Coast), who withdrew from the zone team last season because of injury, regained his place, although he did little on attack on Saturday. He will be partnered by S. Rolleston, the strongly-built Wellington representative who has played most of his provincial football on the wing.

The team is:— G. C. Ladner (West Coast, vicecaptain); M. P. Brereton (West Coast), Johnsen, Rolleston, Jager: Patrick, Cooksley; Hargreaves, C. B. O’Neil (Wellington. captain), W. P. Noonan (Canterbury); J. D. Hibbs (West Coast). Thompson; R. Farrell (Wellington). Reserves: Clarke, R. S. Walker (Canterbury).