Injuries change S.I. league team

Press, 25 May 1977, Page 42

Injuries change S.I. league team

By

JOHN COFFEY

The shock withdrawal of Arthur Beetson. the Australian rugby league captain, only a few hours before his team flew from Sydney to Christchurch yesterday might be of some consolation to the South Island coach, Mr 1 larry Walker.

Since the island side to oppose Australia at the Show Grounds this evening was announced, Mr Walker has been frustrated by a steady stream of withdrawals and was still recasting the line-up until its training ran at the match venue last night. The heavy football schedule last week-end — with Canterbury meeting Wellington on Saturday and a full club round being held the next day — left many of the South Island representatives nursing injuries of varying severity. Eddie Kerrigan and Terry Gillman were late defections, and Mr Walker’s problems increased when illness forced the West Coast standoff half, Donald Monk, to stay at home while his provincial team-mates,. Gerard Harcourt and John Griffin, came to Christchurch yesterday. Fortunately, the South team has not been too seriously weakened. Mike Godinet, who performed creditably for Southern Zone in the national trial earlier this month, joins Rex Dal-

zell in the second row, with Mutu Stone, who gained island honours when Sydney Metropolitan toured eight months ago, becoming the forward reserve.

Bruce Murphy, who was a [ substitute for South against I Britain in 1974, has replaced Kerrigan on one wing, and! Brian Langton, a Kiwi back in 1965, has been brought into the centres for his first representative game for eight seasons. The absence of Monk has enabled Bob Jarvis to move to his specialist position of stand-off half. The odds are stacked against South repeating the victory that it gained at Sydney’s expense in September, but the home side has sufficient solidity in the pack and flair in the backs to provide Australia with a more than adequate preparation for the World Cup fixture with New Zealand at Auckland on Sunday.

Two selection panels will also be taking particular interest. Messrs George Menzies and Maurice Church will be running the rule over the displays of the

South candidates for the later World Cup matches, if it is decided that alterations to the Kiwi squad are re quired, and the presence of 13 Canterbury players in the [South side ensures the game [being a useful provincial trial.'

Australia has been the dominant rugby league nation for some years. It has the depth and the financial

resources that other countries envy, and the 1977 team compares favourably with the sides which won the world championship tournaments in 1957, 1965, 1970 and 1975. The Australians arrived in Christchurch last night and intend to use the fixture with South as a final rehearsal for the test on Sunday. The coach (Mr Terry Fearnley) said before leaving Sydney that all five Queensland representatives would be given a trial for the World Cup match: the New South Wales players have had the opportunity to develop their combinations as team-mates for Sydney and the state XIII. Even without Beetson’s famed ball distribution skills, the Australian forwards will be very difficult to contain. The new captain, Greg Veivers, has filled a similar role to that of Beetson in his appearances for Queensland and will be responsible for setting up manoeuvres around the play-the-balls.

Nick Geiger, the Kangaroo hooker, has had a sudden rise to prominence. His test predecessor, John Lang, missed last week’s interstate series because of injury, and Geiger was a more than adequate substitute. Geiger’s duel with the young South Island representative John Griffin, should have a major bearing on the result. The firmness of the Show Grounds promises plenty of scope for the opposing backs to attack. Jarvis and Mocky Brereton have been prolific scorers in international rugby league while the scrum-half, Harcourt, will renew the keen tussle he had with Tom Raudonikis during the encounter with Sydney in September.

Australia, too, has high scorers among its threequarters — especially Mick Cronin, Steve Rogers and Mark Harris — a positive full-back, Graham Eadie, and the consistent John Pea rd and Raudonikis to supply the possession.

The match, which starts at 7.30 p.m., will be preceded by a competition game between two leading 19-years club sides, Papanui and Addington.