Scotland names team for test with All Blacks

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 46

Scotland names team for test with All Blacks

(From

J. K. BROOKS,

N.Z.P.A, special correspondent)

ILKLEY.

I. R. McGeechan, the Yorkshire foot bailer who has already played for Scottish Districts against the All Blacks, and will again meet the tourists as a member of the North-Eastern Counties side tomorrow, is one of three new caps named by Scotland for the test with New Zealand at Edinburgh next week-end.

McGeechan was born and bred in Leeds and plays for Headingly, but he qualifies for Scotland through his parents. McGeechan will be Scotland’s fly-half, the position in which he plays for his club, although he is a wing for Yorkshire and will be at right centre for North-Eastern Counties. The other new caps are A. J. Irvine, full-back, and said to be the most exciting player in Scottish Rugby, and the left wing, D. Sheddon. Lions in pack The pack is the same as last season’s and contains four members of the Lions team which toured New Zealand. They are G. Brown, J. McLauchlan, A. B. Carmichael and R. J. Ameil. Eight members of the test

side were in the Scottish Districts XV which was well beaten by the All Blacks al Hawick.

G. Brown’s older brother, P. C. Brown, has again been appointed captain. The team is;—lrvine; Sheddon, J. N. M. Frame, J. M. Renwick, W. C. C. Steele; McGeechan, I. G. McCrae; P. C. Brown; N. A Mac Ewan, A. F. McHarg, G. Brown, Ameil; McLauchlan, R. L. Clark, Carmichael. Selection error Last season, Scotland beat France and England, but was crushed, 35-12, by Wales. The Scottish union did not send a side to Dublin to play Ireland. With 10 members of the test side which beat Wales included in the team, the All Blacks should be too strong for North-Eastern Counties. The match is the side’s thir-

’ teenth in Britain and Ireland, but there is unlikely to be any unlucky aspect about it. i The All Blacks selection committee erred in choosing a second side to take on the strong Midland Counties at Birmingham. The XV which lost that game, 8-16, would probably have been able to deal with the men of Yorkshire, Northumberland and Durham tomorrow. The New Zealanders will welcome back at centre, the thrustful attacker B. J. Robertson, who has been out of Rugby for five weeks becaus eof a broken thumb and hamstring injury. Chance for backs Robertson will be playing outside the two quick-footed five-eighths, R. M. Parkinson and I. N. Stevens, and the result might be some of the most enterprising back play of the tour. B. G. Williams and G. B. Batty, on the wings, may get the chances they have been pining for in recent weeks. The pack should win plenty of line-out ball, with P. J. Whiting, A M. Haden, A R. Sutherland and G. J. Whiting leaping for possession. And scrum ball, too, should be plentiful, with R. W. Norton laving the support of a strong pack. Norton has been worried by soreness in an achilles tendon again, although this time in his other leg, but treatment has cleared up the trouble. The match is important for

G. L. Whiting. The loss of K. Murdoch has left the 18stone Taumarunui forward favourite to take over the test tight-head prop position. The only reservation about the pack is the continued selection of I. A. Kirkpatrick. This will be his eighth appearance in the last nine matches, and it is obvious he needs a rest. A captain who takes his duties seriously, Kirkpatrick seemed to be shouldering all the side’s woes after the loss to Midland Counties. Probably the absence through injury of the deputy pack leader, A. J. Wyllie, persuaded the committee to prevail on Kirkpatrick once more. The Counties side will revolve around the fly-half, A. G. B. Old, the English international who scored a record 24 points for his country against Griqualand West at Kimberley last May. On that occasion he kicked nine conversions from as many attempts, so his boot will be

respected. Inside him will be M. Young, formerly England’s reserve scrum-half, McGeechan is at right centre, and the

left wing is P. J. S. Squires, probably better known as a Yorkshire cricketer. The pack contains F. H. McLoughlin, a younger brother of Irish and Lions prop, R. J. McLoughlin, and a splendid lock, R. J. Uttley, who is a leading candidate for an England cap this season. The side, however, is unlikely to emulate its neighbouring North-Western Counties for scrum power or tactical efficiency, and it is hard to see it getting close to the All Blacks.