Pre-test game today ALL BLACKS IN BATTLE FOR TEST PLACES

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33539, 21 May 1974, Page 26

Pre-test game today ALL BLACKS IN BATTLE FOR TEST PLACES

(From RON PALENSKI, N.ZP.A. staff correspondent)

CANBERRA.

The New Zealand Rugby team goes into its final match today before the first test with only a makeshift side, but it will be vital for some of the All Blacks.

A. R. Leslie, I. A. Kirkpatrick, and G. B. Batty are being rested, and for Leslie and Batty the game against Australian Capital Territory at the Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan, will be their first day off for the tour.

The Bay of Plenty hooker, G. M. Crossman, who has played two previous games for New Zealand, captains the team, which is seeking its seventh successive win in Australia. A.C.T., although it beat Tonga last year and the Bavarians this year,' is not a strong side.

This is the last chance for some All Blacks to press their claims for the team for the first test, which will be announced tomorrow morning. The players most affected are the two wings, B. G. Williams and J. S. McLachlan. Normally Williams would have no trouble keeping the test position he has had since 1970, but he has a thigh muscle injury and is not playing well. McLachlan though, has had some impressive performances, and Williams wAtld have to turn in a very good game today to keep him out. out. Hurst, too I. A. Hurst, a comparative All Black veteran, also finds himself in the position of having to battle for a test place. J. E. Morgan was at second five-eighths against New South Wales on Saturday, indicating that the coach, Mr J. J. Stewart, might prefer him for the test.

Hurst, who has not been on his best form on the tour, has his last chance to impress today, and he opposes the promising A.C.T. second fiveeighths, S. Thornton, who has played for Queensland Colts and is now an officer cadet at the Royal Military College at Duntroon, near Canberra. Soldiers Another soldier in the A.C.T. team is a prop, L. Gardiner, a New Zealander at Duntroon for two years, who gets his chance to play against the All Blacks thanks to the selection of S. McDougall in the Australian test team.

The Australian Rugby Union ruled that any A.C.T. players picked for the test team could not play today, and that cancelled out Macdougall and the centre, J. Weatherstone, and also delayed until Sunday the selection of the A.C.T. team. In the New Zealand forward pack, K. A. Eveleigh

has, after his game last week against Sydney, an outside chance of taking K. W. Stewart’s place in the test team. Both are playing today. The naming of I. N. Stevenson as half-back today seems to indicate that the other touring half-back, B. M. Gemmell. will be in the test team. Colts One of the A.C.T. players, K. Thurbon, was in the country team which was beaten by the All Blacks in the Dubbo downpour last week, and he and three others played for New South Wales Colts (under 23) in the cur-tain-raiser to the All Blacks game in Sydney last Saturday. The others were first fiveeighths, P. McGrath, the No. 8. J. Hardy, and the prop, Gardiner.

The other prop is the A.C.T. captain, C. Lord. The game begins at 5 p.m. (New Zealand time).