‘NOT A FAIR DEAL’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33944, 10 September 1975, Page 32

‘NOT A FAIR DEAL ’

(By

JOHN COFFEY)

The retention of John Greengrass in the New Zealand XIII and the very satisfying promotion of Bruce Dickison to The Rest are the only crumbs of recognition that Canterbury has been afforded in the national Rugby league trial teams to play at Carlaw Park, Auckland, next Wednesday night.

Mr Gary Clarke, the coach of the Canterbury side which leads the Rothmans inter-provincial championship, described the composition of the trial squads as a “typical example of Auckland domination.”

Twenty-three of the 34 players chosen are from Auckland. The New Zealand team is the same as that which did so well in the home tests of the international series in June, and —- even allowing for some minor injuries or partial loss of form — there is no doubt that all are strong candidates for th£ return match with Australia and the tour to England, France, and Wales. But Auckland has also provided 12 of the 17 members of The Rest squad, including John Smith, Graham Whiting, Tony Gordon, and Leslie Beehre, who received scant attention from their own provincial sole selector (Mr Bill Sorensen) even when the present Kiwis were not available earlier this season. MORE DETERMINED’

Mr Clarke said that the snubbing of Canterbury’s other candidates would only serve to make his players more determined to beat Wellington on September 20, and especially Auckland on October 7 in the remaining Rothmans matches.

“We are not getting a fair deal. Two of the selectors are based in Auckland and have not seen much of our play, and I do not think that the southern man on the panel (Mr George Menzies, of the West Coast) has had much of a look at our club football,” Mr Clarke said. Apart from Greengrass and Dickison, Mr Clarke named Mocky Brereton, Mark Broadhurst, Dale Brown, Wally Wilson, and Rex Dalzell as players whose deeds for Canterbury should have earned them serious consideration from the New Zealand selectors. Brereton’s demise after a record 24 consecutive tests and 50 appearances for the Kiwis apparently stems from his succession of injuries and disappointing displays over the first half of the season. A magnificent try against West Coast last month could have given Messrs Menzies, Travers, Hardwick, and Tom Newton second thoughts, but they have not been in Christchurch to view his continued advancement at club level in more recent weeks. Because the trial will lead up only to the announcement of the test team to oppose Australia on September 27, Brereton might have a faint chance of making the 19-man party for the northern tour. Three days after the trial he will clash with the Wellington wing, Don Munro, who has succeeded him in the New Zealand three-quarters. Smith and a 19-year-old Auckland and New Zealand Maoris wing, Fred Ah Kuoi, have been preferred ahead of Brereton, as has the West Coast wing or centre, John Low. On past evidence Brereton is a far more thrustful and reliable footballer than Low.

The rugged West Coast second-row forward, Lachie Grant, two former Kiwis from Auckland, Wayne Robertson and Peter Gurnick, and the promising Mark Graham (Auckland), have kept Broadhurst and Dalzell waiting in the wings. The frequent scrum-half trialist from Bay of Plenty, Dickie Whyte, has been favoured over Wilson and the consistent West Coast inside-back, Don Monk, and Beehre gets the opportunity to step from club to international standing at the expense of the better-per-formed hooker, Brown.

The squads (from Auckland unless otherwise stated) are:—

New Zealand: W. R. Collicoat, P. C. Orchard (Wellington), J. C. O’Sullivan, D. A. Williams, D. W. Munro (Wellington), J. A. Whittaker (Wellington), It. J. Jarvis, K. L. Stirling, K. A. Barry, J. Greengrass (Canterbury), T. H. Conroy, Dane Sorensen, L. J. Proctor, A. P. Coll (West Coast), K. J. Sorensen, R. F. Baxendale (West Coast), M. K. Eade. The Rest: A. R. Gordon, F. Ah Kuoi, B. I. Dickison (Canterbury), P. Matete, J. Smith,-J. B. Low (West Coast), Dave Sorensen. C. Jordan, R. Whvte (Bav of Plenty), G. J. Whiting, L. Beehre, A. Hansen, L. A. Grant (West Coast), G. L. West (Taranaki), W. R, Robertson, M. Graham. W. P. Gurnick.

Bruce Dickison, the 22-year-old ChristchurchEastern Suburbs centre who realised an ambition that he has held ail season when he was included in the New Zealand Rugby league trial.

“I have been aiming at this more or less from the beginning of the year. It was expected that the selectors would prefer others who had overseas experience for the trip to Australia in May and, while I am fit enough at the start of a season, it takes me five or six games to hit top form,” Dickison said. Dickison’s inclusion in

The Rest team is a just reward for the strenuous cross-country programme that he set himself from late summer and the consistently high standard that he has attained for his club and Canterbury.

A national representative at 15 years, 17 years, and 19 years, Dickison made his first-class debut in 1973 and almost immediately earned a place in the Southern Zone back-line. Last year he was in the South Island XIII against Britain at Greymouth, but this will be his first New Zealand trial.

In just under three full seasons for Eastern, Dicki-

son has contributed 58 tries in premier football, and he has touched-down another nine times in 12 games for Canterbury. Impressive as these statistics are, Dickison has also been responsible for creating numerous tries for his wings, and his defence has been tightened considerably over the last 12 months. Dickison has another important task on his football calendar before he travels to Auckland—he will spearhead Eastern’s back-line attacks in the Canterbury club championship grand final against Papanui at the Show Grounds on Sunday.