Cottrell Gets Chance To Win Test Place Again

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32382, 22 August 1970, Page 10

Cottrell Gets Chance To Win Test Place Again

(From

T. P. McLEAN)

DURBAN. Three Canterbury representatives will share much of the limelight when the All Blacks meet Natal tomorrow. The players in focus are W. D. Cottrell, in the New Zealand XV, and P. K. Hatchwell and T.J. Mehrtens, who will be playing for Natal.

v Cottrell was to have played at centre but he will now move to second five-eighths.

I. R. Macßae has ». as expected, the Springwithdrawn from the bok selectors ma ke a change wiinarawn rrom me by e3CCluding M Koux from team because or a their team for the third test, bruised thigh and W. L. the South African midfield Davis will come in. at attack is likely to be sharprr.ntrr ened. cenir Mehrtens and Hatchwell, both former Canterbury representatives. have become extremely popular since they settled in Durban, and are by the chairman of «M>lcw4inn crnnmittaa

G. F. Kember, who had withdrawn, could be reinstated in the team. Kember trained yesterday, showing little sign of soreness in his injured ankle.

(Mr P. Taylor) as most effective players. Mehrtens, a five-eighths in New Zealand, has been moved to full-back—partly because Natalians consider that he is best suited for the position and partly because there is a conspicuous want of competing talent. Hatchwell, who Is playing at centre in the company of a player of outstanding qualities, R. Greyling, has beeh in and out of the Natal team this season but has been recalled because, in Mr Taylor's opinion, he is the most reliable man for a particular job. Not even the most fervent local supporters can foresee the chance of Natal beating the All Blacks, or holding them, as did Natal’s famous team of 1960, to a draw. ' Led by the Springbok loose forward. T. P. Bedford, whose omission from the test team to play New Zealand is a very tender subject round Durban, the pack is considered to be generally good. Bedford, who was vice-cap-tain of the Springboks in Britain, was injured on that tour and took some time to find form. But he was at his best when Natal last Saturday beat Orange Free State. He is a notable swift and intelligent player. Another Springbok in the

pack is M. C. van Rensburg, a lock forward in the team in Britain. His partner, C. Dannhauser, has already played against the All Blacks as captain of the Paul Roos XV early in the tour. , The All Blacks have had to change their line-up, Kember and B. A. Hunter having failed to pass fitness tests. The team will not be weakened by the return of W. F. McCormick and H. P. Milner, but it Is surely time McCormick was spelled before that vital match next Saturday. The good news for the All Blacks yesterday was that an X-ray of B. G. Williams’s injured shoulder showed there was no fracture. The shoulder is swollen and sore after Williams took a heavy fall on the bone-hard Border ground on Wednesday. However, there is the possibility Thorne, who has an ear infection, may not play tomorrow. No substitute has yet been named for Thorne. The teams are: New Zealand: McCormick; Milner, Davis, Thorne; Cottrell, E. W. Klrton; C. 8.. Laidlaw; B. J. Lochore; A. 8. Sutherland, C. E. Meads, S. C. Strahan, T. N. Lister; N. W. Thimbleby, B. E. McLeod, A. E. Hopkinson. Beserves: 8. A. Urflch, B. Holmes, W. L. Davis, S. M. Going. Natal: Mehrtens; H. Viljoen, Hatchwell, Greyling, K. Hannaford; 8. Seymour, C. Holm; Bedford; 8. Dejager, Dannhauser, Van Bensburg, 8. Steyn; F. Jackson, K. Parkinson, D. Hooper.