Complacency is Canty’s biggest rugby danger against South today

Press, 5 August 1978, Page 52

Complacency is Canty’s biggest rugby danger against South today

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

“Remember Marlborough” could be the best advice that the Canterbury rugby coaches (Stan Hill and Gerald Wilson) can give their team as it prepares to face South Canterbury in a division-one match at Lancaster Park this afternoon.

At least five members of the team, Alex Wyllie, John Phillips, Bill Bush, Doug Bruce, and Terry Mitchell, would understand immediately; the others might take fractionally longer. The five are the survivors of the Canterbury team that paid a high price for taking another supposedly “minor”! South Island union a little 1 too lightly back in 1973. Thej price was the loss of the * Ranfurly Shield to Marlborough. Mr Hill acknowledged yesterday that motivation

v.as an important factor. “I am certainly not under-esti-, mating South Canterbury i and I don’t think the team will either,” he said. “If we can carry on from; where we left off against Hawke’s Bay last week then; we should be all right. There ■ are still areas of play that. cause concern but we have’ been working on them this’ week and hopefully they( will be put right.” Canterbury, to some ex-' tent, has admitted that South Canterbury', which i

f won promotion from divii sion two last year, should be ; one of its easier games by , fielding three players who ■ are likely to spend most of > the season in the reserves. They are the half-back, > I Gary Barkle, the centre, : John Collinson — both making their national champion- | ship debuts — and the tight--head prop, Barry Thompson ’ ; Thompson was bracketed • with Bush when the team was announced earlier this’ week but Mr Hill said: ’yesterday that Thompson! would play.

South Canterbury has lost ■ j both its national champion-; ’ship games to date, the first,! i 26-7, to Manawatu and the ] i second. 6-0, to Southland. In | i view of Southland’s sub-! .( sequent form South Canter-! i j bury must be entitled to some respect. . However, its biggest prob-! !lem, like Hawke’s Bay’s last! ’Saturday, will be winning ai 'fair share of possession. i Canterbury was not without fault in this area — the ; line-out play, for example, shad room for improvementl

— but through scrum and ruck ball it had more than enough to prosper. If the Canterbury forwards can get on top early the backs might have too much dexterity, particularly in their range of set-piece moves, for their rivals to contain. South Canterbury will need to keep a special eye on the left flank, where 1 I Mitchell is in the grip of a try-scoring fever. Still, the South Canterbury backs are capable of a few tricks of their own. The three-quarters, Larnie Palm-

ier, a South Island wing last ■| year, Robin Heron, and Ray -Teaher. are all men of pace :; and penetration and the first 11five-eighths, Tony Goddard,! -lis a footballer of proven ■ (ability. > Goddard, incidently, was ; Marlborough’s first five- ■ ( eighths on that dark day ((for Canterbury) in 1973. . In the forwards, South Canterbury has a fair ; sprinkling of size and speed ; but whether it can match a Canterbury eight barely I weakened by the inclusion

! of Thompson for Bush is doubtful. Mr Hill said that while Canterbury had received high praise for its perform- ’ ance last Saturday the team itself did not believe it had played all that well. “The players think they can do a lot better and both Gerald (Wilson) and I share this view.” This being the case South Canterbury could be in for a hard time this afternoon. The teams are: Cant' -bury: Richard Wilson; Randall Scott, Collinson, Mitchell; Murray McEwan, Bruce; Barkle; Alex Wyllie; Dave Thompson, Graeme Higginson, Vance I Stewart, John Phillips or Alwyn Harvey; Barry Thompson, John Black, John Ashworth. South Canterbury: Barry Gallagher; Palmer, Heron, Teahen; Alan McLaren, Goddard; Ken Farrant; Harvey King; Noel Glass, Dick Sharpe, Peter Grant, Bruce 1 Thompson; Noel Dennison, Michael Hobbs, Mick Lind- 1 say. i