Brereton set to return?

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 34

Brereton set to return?

By

JOHN COFFEY

The very experienced former Kiwi wing, Mocky Brereton, might yet be reinstated to the Canterbury rugby league team for its match against West Coast at the Show Grounds on Monday.

Brereton, a shock omission from the side, should be one of the replacements for Bruce Dickison and Bob Jarvis, who have withdrawn from the 17-man squad because of injuries.

Ligament trouble, which has left Dickison with a swollen knee, will prevent him from attending representative training this evening, and Jarvis has not played since he was carried j from the field unconscious} in the early stages of South Island’s fixture with Austra-I lia last Wednesday evening. ; The Canterbury coach and lone of three selectors (Mr Trevor Bisman) said yesterday that it might be seen as an insult to a player of Brereton’s ability to choose him as a late substitute. However, previous panels have found that they have been forced to go cap in hand to this still very effective outside back. Indeed some administrators close to the New Zealand World Cup camp were making discreet enquiries about Brereton’s form} and fitness after having watched the disappointing displays of the Kiwi wings, Kevin Fisher (Waikato) and Dane O’Hara (Auckland), against the Kangaroos on Sunday. Both Fisher and O’Hara were too innocently drawn infield from their markers, Allan McMahon and Mark Harris who between them contributed three of Australia’s five tries. Fisher also showed glaring tackling deficiencies. Brereton, in contrast, has a most competitive streak when ensuring that his opposing wing remains scoreless. Probably Brereton will not be recalled to resume an international career which included a record 24 consecutive test appearances, and a total of 25 tries in 50 matches for his country. But it is a moot point that he is still held in high regard in the north.

It is difficult to envisage what grounds Messrs Bisman, Gary Clarke and Mel Clinton — or at least two of the selectors — found to discard Brereton. He has touched down for a record 39 tries for Canterbury in just 43 games, in spite of having had to contend with a general lack of opportunities because of the failings of his inside backs in many of those fixtures. Brereton was faced with this all too familiar problem in Canterbury’s two matches this season. He had one

scoring chance in the Amco Cup encounter at Brisbane and capitalised on it with a run of 50 metres, and on the two occasions he received the ball at Wellington he surged 20 or more metres upfield. The South Island members of the Kiwi squad, Michael O’Donnell, Alan Rushton (Canterbury), Tony Coll and Ray Baxendale (West Coast), land a national selector (Mr [George Menzies, of West [Coast), heard of Brereton’s 'relegation while returning from Auckland on Monday. The West Coast players were certainly not critical of the action. Without Brereton, Canterbury would meet West Coast with a three-quarters line comprising Gary Taie, Eddie Kerrigan, Kevin Murphy, and Francis Lawrence. None of them pose the threat to West Coast’s cover defence that Brereton has proved to be in the past. Murphy, in his first full premier season as a centre, lis an unknown factor in I higher company; Lawrence has never really come to terms with the requirements of first-class football; Kerrigan has not been as authorative as last year; and Taie, who has had many impressive games as a centre for Papanui and even stood out in a national trial, usually finds himself shuttled out to the wing for Canterbury. The last time that Brereton was dropped was after he had been injured in 1975, and he was only a reserve against Wales. When he went on to the field as a replacement, the Welshmen provided evidence of their respect for Brereton’s thrust by descending on him as a group whenever he received possession. Inevitably, Brereton was recalled. And, a few months later, he earned the plaudits of all Canterbury’ rugby league followers by breaking away for the try which gave the province victory over Auckland in the final of the Rothmans tournament, and its first success at Carlaw Park.

Hockey.—A London hockey club, Southgate, won the European hockey club championship for the second year running when it beat Royal Uccle, of Belgium, 4-1, in the final at London.

Tennis—PhU Dent, of Australia, defeated Brian Fairlie, of New Zealand, 641, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round of the French Open tennis titles men's singles at Paris.