Broken bones have not stopped Morris

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 30

Broken bones have not stopped Morris

Although he decided to retire from Rugby after breaking a leg for the second time in two years early this season, T. J. Morris has succumbed to the call of the game and will captain Nelson Bays from full-back against Canterbury at Lancaster Park tomorrow.

He returned to the game to help an injurystricken Nelson Bays team at the end of its North Island tour, and remained in the side to help it retain the Seddon Shield against Marlborough and West Coast.

Morris will be remembered in Christchurch as the longlegged drop-kick expert who helped University win the senior championship in 1961-62-63. He was considered most unfortunate not to win a place in the New Zealand Colts team of 1964.

A beautifully balanced runner, Morris played twice for

Canterbury A as a centre. Later, while in Auckland, he appeared for North Island Universities and since 1966, he has been in Motueka, playing for Golden BayMotueka for three years and, since the amalgamation with Nelson, for -Nelson Bays.

In the course of his 40 games for Golden BayMotueka and Nelson Bays, Morris has scored 230 points and, in spite of the injuries which have dogged his career, he remains a formidable goal-kicker. During the match against West Coast last month he drop-kicked a goal from a penalty from a distance of 60 yards. Nelson Bays has had three wins, a draw, and five losses this season, and does not impress as a side likely to topple Canterbury. But it has sufficient players of quality to ensure that the former Ranfurly Shield holder is kept on its mettle. T. W. Mitchell, a final All Black trialist this season, is an enterprising wing; T. A. Julian and R. P. Dickson, the locks, have both played for the South Island; J. C. Chadwick is a heady first five-

eighths; and B. C. Grant is a highly-promising No. 8. The team is: Morris; Mitchell, R. G. Bowater, G. C. Ross; K. F. Templeton, Chadwick; G. W. Townsend; Grant; M. J. Little, Julian, Dickson, J. P. Allan; R. J. Fry, K. J. Edwards, K. Bartlett.