Strongest possible ‘sevens’ team sought

Press, 5 October 1977, Page 56

Strongest possible ‘sevens’ team sought

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Our final goal remains for this year’s highly-successful Canterbury rugby team and,! rightly or wrongly, the province is making a determined' effort to take the success i story a stage further. The event is the final | rounds of the Benson and{ Hedges national seven-a-side; tournament in Blenheim. The winner last year was Marl-, borough and its reward was! participation in an international tournament in Hong Kong last May, in which it was the runner-up. Presum- { ably, the same prize awaits { this year’s winner. Canterbury qualified fori the final rounds by winning j an area elimination at Ashburton in August. In the final there the Canterbury B team beat the seemingly stronger A side, 24-18. The rules for the tournament apparently allow — although it was not the case two years ago when a similar situation prevailed — for the teams to be changed between the district eliminations and the finals. The Canterbury union recently decided to take up the option and allow its

selectors to pick what they, considered the strongest' , available team. As a result, the side to go to Blenheim this week-end is rather different from the one that was successful at Ashburton. It includes three members of the beaten A team, Alex Wyllie, Shane Gibbons and Graeme Higginson, and a fourth, Scott Carson, and a fourth, Scott Cartwright was selected and then found to be unavailable. Only three members of the side that got Canterbury ilinto the final rounds will be ’playing again. They are • 'Andy Jefferd, Terry Mitchell ; ar, John Phillips. The memJbers of the B side to have .' fallen by the wayside are j I John Harwood, John Ash- , j worth, Gary Hooper, Paul Macfie and Wayne Tinker, l who was replaced by Hooper .in the final. , With the tournament , carrying such an attractive I prize, it does seem a little > unfair that these players t have been discarded. On the . other hand the view may be ) | taken that every province j should be entitled to field its i j strongest side, which Canter-

bury has undoubtedly done. : The nine players chosen (the two reserves are not yet definite) are Wyllie, Higginson, Alwyn Harvey, Phillips, Mark Romans, Mitchell, jefferd, Gibbons and Randall Scott. Eight area winners will contest the final rounds, with the teams being split into two sections for a round-robin series and the winners of each section meeting in the final. Canterbury has Auckland, Waikato, and Otago in its section and the other section comprises Marlborough, Poverty Bay, Manawatu, and Taranaki. All the teams should be strong, but an ideal final would be between Canterbury, the national champion, and Manawatu, the Ranfurly Shield holder. Such a meeting would go some way towards settling the question of which province reigns supreme in. New Zealand rugby this year.