Penrose born too soon

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33519, 27 April 1974, Page 4

Penrose born too soon

lan Penrose, thou shouldst have been playing at this hour! Had the former New Brighton and Canterbury captain been bora four years later, he might well have been leading the All Blacks in Australia and Fiji during the next seven weeks.

Penrose is only four years older than the new

All Black captain, A. R. Leslie, and has had an association with the Petone club, which seems to count for much these days. He was also an intelligent and constructive No. 8; Leslie’s style of play is similar. It was Penrose’s fate never to rise higher in the game than provincial level. If he had been around today, he would have appealed to the national selection panel. . Of the new forwards in the 1974 All Blacks, Leslie

and K. J. Tanner are 29, R. J. Barber and G. M. Crossman are 28, K. A. Eveleigh and A. J. Gardiner are 26, W. K. Bush is 25, L. G. Knight is 24, and J. A. Callesen is 23. This is a far cry from the All Blacks’ tour of Australia in 1957, when the new forwards were W. J. Whineray (21), A. J. Soper (20), E. A. R. Pickering (20), C. E. Meads (20) and W. D. Gillespie (22). It is interesting to note, too, that Gardiner, one of the new props, was captain of the New Zealand Juniors in 1968, but was dropped from the side in 1969.