NOMINATION AS SELECTOR

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32462, 24 November 1970, Page 26

NOMINATION AS SELECTOR

The former All Black captain, M. R. H. Duff, has an excellent chance of winning a place on the national panel of selectors when the New Zealand Rugby Union’s council considers nominations at its meeting on December 3.

The Canterbury union yesterday put forward Mr Duff’s name after he had Indicated

his willingness to accept nomination. The recent retirement of Mr V. L. George, of Invercargill, leaves a vacancy on the national panel, and Mr Duff, as the senior of the two remaining South Island selectors, is his logical successor. It is expected that the council will follow recent practice and appoint three selectors, two from the North Island and one from the south. Mr Duff was a Canterbury selector for four seasons, from 1963 to 1966, and has been a member of the South Island panel since 1967. In a playing career which embraced 99 games for Canterbury, six for the South Island and 18 for New Zealand, Mr Duff won recognition as one of the great lock forwards of all time. He captained the All Blacks in the third annd fourth tests against South Africa in 1956. The new panel is being chosen next month to give it plenty of time to formulate a policy and evaluate possible players for the 1971 home series against the British Isles.