THE INS AND OUTS...

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32303, 22 May 1970, Page 15

THE INS AND OUTS...

I By J. K. BROOKS) WELLINGTON. Trial Rugby can be a form of torture for some players: for others it can have the heady effects of a magnum of champagne. G. D. Batty, plucked from obscurity to play in the final All Black trials in Wellington tomorrow, is in the latter category. Selection in the Wellington representative squad earlier this week was sufficient to intoxicate his senses: being named among the Possibles for the South African tour deprived him, momentarily, of speech. ■Sucking at a bottle of orange drink after training yesterday at Rongotai College with men who were his heroes, Batty confessed to a feeling that all his birthdays had come at once. But he has no illusions about the test that lies ahead of him at Athletic Park. He is a little concerned about his defence being able to meet the demands likely to be placed on it by the Canter-

bury centre, H. T. Joseph, a comparative veteran at 20, and he realises that his L adventurous attacking style ‘ will be no more than a myth ' if selfishness is shown inside I him. j “My chances of making the team are pretty slim,” he ’ said. The New Zealand selectors, however, hold him in higher ! regard than this, for two of them watched him play in a ; club match in Wellington last Saturday. Batty, who is 18—not 20 as 1 previously reported —has ■ played only five senior ’ matches, and only one of I them in his trial position of I centre. A converted halfback, he is only sft sin and ’ weighs a mere lOst 71b. ■ Last year, he scored the . amazing total of 70 tries for ! Kuranui College, Greytown, ; and for a Wairarapa lower i grade representative team. ; He was also the college’s senior athletics champion for ■ two years and captained the I first fifteen which won the . Wairarapa third grade cham- , pionship without the loss of a ■ game. : In spite of his leprechaun- • like measurements, Batty is a

powerful youngster, very strong in the thighs. His attacking play has brought a breath of fresh air into Wellington Rugby this season, Sandy-haired and fresh faced. Batty looked cherubic among the grizzled veterans at training yesterday. And he has already adhered to the clean-cut, All Black image. He has shaved off a wispy beard and moustache which he cultivated earlier this year.