SURVIVAL OF FITTEST IN LAST DEFENCE Otago will be a tough challenger for shield

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33032, 27 September 1972, Page 1

SURVIVAL OF FITTEST IN LAST DEFENCE Otago will be a tough challenger for shield

(By

J. K. BROOKS)

Otago has the difficult task of trying to attain its second peak of achievement for the season when it plays Canterbury in the final Ranfurly Shield challenge match of 1972 at Lancaster Park oval this afternoon.

When the winter was at its worst in the deep south, the Otago team was at its best, and in the course of seven successive wins at the start of its campaign it drubbed Australia, 26-0, in the Carisbrook mud.

Its bubble was burst by Canterbury in a dour «tm<rcrU in vile cnndistruggle in vile conailions in Dunedin, and since that game Otago’s light has not shone SO hriohtlv origntiy.

It struggled to beat South Canterbury by two points at Timaru—after earlier running the same side ragged, 48-0— and last week lost to Marlborough at the end of a testing tour of the Seddon Shield districts.

Canterbury, too, has had its reverses this season and, with both teams having been heavily committed in the All Black trials last Saturday, today’s match could be the survival of the fittest.

Hard ground

Fine weather and a firm ground seem likely for the game, and the Otago coach (Mr E. S. Simpson) said yesterday that coming to terms with the hard underfoot conditions was high on the list of the team’s priorities. “We are not concerned about any aspect of Canterbury’s game—we will play the match by ear," he said. “Canterbury played well against us in Dunedin, but we have a close-knit combination and we will be all out to win.” Otago was a dedicated and efficient side, and like its predecessors, would be hard to beat, the Canterbury forwards’ coach (Dr J. D. Stewart) said. "This is the big test, and we know it,” he said. “But the Canterbury boys are in good heart, and determined

to keep the shield in Christchurch dun " g summer. If Canterbury wins, the union wiU have / the proud re . cord of having held the trophy in five consecutive seasons. Canterbury won the shield from Hawke’s Bay in 1969, retained it throughout the 1970 season, lost it to Auckland in the second challenge of 1971, and won it back from Auckland earlier this month. At present, Canterbury is only three games behind Auckland’s tally of shield successes. There will be some absorbing individual duels in the game, particularly the one between the centres, I. A. Hurst (Canterbury)—-a new All Black—and D. V. Colling (Otago), who might well have won a place in the team for Britain had he not injured a leg muscle a few days before the trials. G. L. Colling, the Otago half-back and captain, will renew his rivalry with the unlucky L. J. Davis, and both

players will be assured of greater protection than they received in the main trial game in Wellington. If the game is as hard and close as both sides expect, much will depend on the goal-kicking of W. F. McCormick (Canterbury) and L. W. Mains (Otago) — both points centurions again this season. McCormick needs only four points to become the first player to reach the 1000 mark for a union.

The packs Canterbury has a strong, mobile set of forwards, efficient inside backs, and vigor-

ous attackers in the threequarter line. Its strength will be in set play, whereas Otago has great second-phase potential, with powerful forwards such as K. Murdoch, J. D. Matheson and W. W. Townsend to lead the rucking efforts and the swift and clever L. Colling to use the ball to good advantage. However, the loss, through injury, of its smart lightweight flanker, R. M. Smith, will substantially reduce Otago’s prospects of beating Canterbury to the loose ball, and this might well have a bearing on the outcome of the match. With 11 All Blacks and eight final New Zealand trialists on the field, the game is certain to attract a large crowd. It promises to be an absorbing struggle, in the best traditions of the shield.