LAST MATCH OF TOUR Juniors expected to win today

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32941, 13 June 1972, Page 32

LAST MATCH OF TOUR Juniors expected to win today

(From PAUL CAVANAGH. N.Z.P.A. stag correspondent) TOWNSVILLE. The Junior All Blacks will be without their captain, I. G. Grant, for the final match of their Australian tour, against the Queensland Barbarians, at Brisbane today.

A win for the Juniors will mean eight Australian matches without a loss. The Juniors have improved with every game, and they should be too strong for the Barbarians.

Grant, a hooker, has been stood down by the selection panel of which he is a member, to give D. Syms, of Auckland, a game.

Syms, a fine striker and a solid forward, has played only two matches for the Juniors.

The Juniors will lose nothing in ability with the substitution of Syms for Grant, but they will miss Grant’s fine leadership. The first game Grant missed was against Brisbane when the Juniors went to pieces in the second spell and allowed the home side to whittle down the New Zealand lead of 26-4 at half-

time to a final score of 26-22. The Juniors, however, are playing much more solidly than when they were in Brisbane before and it is doubtful if the Barbarians will be able to put the pressure on them today that Brisbane did. The inclusion of Syms is the only change in the Junior team from the side which beat Queensland Country, 49-6, in Townsville on Sunday. Barbarians wing The back line is the same, with P. Gilbert and G. D. Batty the wings, and G. S. Sims at centre. G. R. Newlands, the second five-eighths, will be captain. P. G. Anderson will be vicecaptain and leader of the forwards from the side of the scrum.

R. P. Hunter left the Juniors for Brisbane early

yesterday where he joined the Barbarians in training for the game today. The Barbarians had invited the Juniors to provide a wing. The Barbarians have been expected to field a strong side, and it had been suggested that several Australian test team candidates would be given a run in front of the selectors. The side will have an international look with Hunter and K. R. Tremain, from New Zealand, E. Bola, from Fiji, and the former Australian test players, A. R. G. Miller and P. Johnson. There is some doubt about Johnson, however, as he has an injury and might not be able to play. The centre, B. Ready, suffered a shoulder injury playing for the country team against the Juniors on Sunday, and there is doubt whether he will play. The Juniors are expected to finish the tour with a win, and, as did the last All Black team to visit Australia in 1968, return home unbeaten. The only blemish on their sheet is their defeat, 9-25, by the All Blacks before they left New Zealand.

Th* teams for the match today are:— New Zealand Juniors—J. F. Karam, P. Gilbert, G. 8. Sims, G. D. Batty, G. R. Newlands. P. Peacocke, K. M. Greene, G. W. McGee, P. G. Anderson, J. A. Callesen, A. M. Haden, M. Connor, K. K. Lambert, D. Syms, B. R. Johnston. Reserves: L G. Grant, P. J. Shannon, B. C. Cochrane, D. J. Langford. Barbarians—D. Clatk, R. P Hunter, R. Miller, B. Ready, D. Miller. M. Thomson, G. Grey, E. Bola, K. R. Tremain, A. Skinner, A. McGeogh, J. GureassimoS, A. R. G. Miller, P. Johnson, G. Hanam. Reserves: D. Marks, R. Moloney, G. Pearson, D. Ross.