Kiwi Hopes To Play For Marist

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

Kiwi Hopes To Play For Marist

The former New Zealand Rugby league halfback, R. S. J. Irvine, has applied for a clearance from his Australian club to play for Marist-West-ern Suburbs for the remainder of the season.

Irvine said yesterday that he was keen to play for his former club , against Papanui next Saturday, but his availability would be subject to the reply he receives to a cable requesting permission from Walgett (Northern New South Wales). “Before I left Walgett the club secretary told me to advise him if I wanted a clearance, but I would need their consent in writing before I could play,” Irvine said. |- Irvine found his first sea-

son as a player-coach a somewhat frustrating one. Many of the players, particularly the Aborigine members of the team, were employed on farms and had difficulty attending training. This problem was accentuated whenever it rained for many of the roads became impassable. “At no time during the season were we able to field our top team. We had some terrific potential in the backs but the forwards were short, light, and young,” he said.

This fluctuating strength was emphasised by the results of Walgett’s matches with the strong Bourke club. Walgett held Bourke to 10-15 at home, but was overwhelmed 62-5 in. the return game.

Irvine said that Bourke, which had the financial re-

sources to buy players from Sydney, and one or two other clubs in the group would compare favourably with the leading teams in the Canterbury championship. The club was required to travel 250 miles for its furtherest matches. An away game against Walgett’s closest neighbour even necessitated a trip of some 82 miles each way. The playing fields were invariably hard. Two of the Aborigine players who trained under Irvine earlier in \the season later transferred to Sydney and will tour the North Island next month with the Redfern All Blacks, the under-19 team which won the New South Wales Aborigine junior championship and plays in the huge South SydIney competition.

One most satisfying feature for Irvine .was his freedom from injury. “I expected to have trouble from my old knee injury, but never missed a training night and played in every game.” If Irvine receives permission to resume his association with Marist-Western Suburbs it would greatly strengthen the club’s prospects of improving on its major championship runnerup position of last season. Marist-Western Suburbs already has the services of two other international backs, L. P, J. Brown and M. P. Brereton.

Irvine will return to Walgett early next year to prepare for the second of the three seasons for which he has been placed under contract