Few test men to meet weakened Ulster

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 34

Few test men to meet weakened Ulster

From KEVIN McMF.NAMIN, on tour with the All Blacks

After the exhausting battles of Limerick and Dublin, the All Blacks are hoping for an easier time when they complete the Irish segment of their tour with the game against Ulster at Belfast tomorrow morning (N.Z. time).

Despite the fact that Ul- > 1 gtermen are invariably a) hardy breed, the tourists are , expected to win without too much difficulty. 1 1 The Ulster side does noth have a particularly good : record and with two of its; players from Sunday’s Irish < test side, the centre, Alastair | McKibbin and the half-back,! Colin Patterson, unlikely to j play the team could be, drastically weakened. There is still the “old 1 campaigner,’’ Mike Gibson, to worry about. Gibson was a fairly anonymous figure in the test, but one gigantic side-step towards the finish! showed that there is still j plenty of spring in his I ageing legs. , Besides Gibson, the for-; wards Harry Steele and) Stuart McKinney were members of the Irish team which! toured New Zealand in 1976; and the hooker, Guy Gibson;

Beringer, is spoken of as a bright prospect. The All Blacks have ceritainly gambled on the Ul- ; stermen being less formiidable than their cousins ol ithe south. The New Zealant ! side has a distinct seconc ! XV look about it and ii ; comes as something of t | surprise that the selector; i are willing to field a pact ; without one of the “big i three,” Graham Mourie Frank Oliver or Andj Haden. Bill Bush as the most sen ior man has been named thi pack leader and with Gar} Knight’s unavailability t I growing worry a repetitior | of something like Soutl ! Africa in 1976, when Busi I had to play nine successive ; games, is looming. I The Canterbury front-row ; of Bush, John Black ant John Ashworth is togethei j for the second time on the I tour and notwithstanding

Andy Dalton’s test-winning p try last Saturday a good; performance by Black could!I propel him into next weekend’s Welsh test. Black cer-jl tainly appeals as the better!! around-the-field forward at I: the moment. John Loveday, who was in < danger of becoming the “for- : gotten man” of the tour,

LOVEDAY . . . another game = at last. 1 gets his first game since the opening match at Cambridge - and it is important to the *■ All Blacks in the longer ' term that Loveday atid John 1 Fleming forge an effective ! locking partnership. Leicester Rutledge and I Bush are the only two for- « wards retained from last i Sunday’s test pack and that r Rutledge has been preferred J to his Southland colleague, Ashley McGregor, is interesting. The playing of Wayne Graham at No. 8 is an experiment that has always looked on the cards, but McGregor could be forgiven for wondering why he was ever selected in the first place. Against London Counts w<- .vi-eks ago McGregor stood down while Flem- 1 ing was' tried as a No. 8; < clearly McGregor’s lack of t height is counting against i him. The back-line was fairly i ; predictable, with Bryan Wil- < j liams, through necessity, the 1 only test player retained, f I Bruce Robertson has been i I named captain for the day, a); [role he filled once in Italy) ‘[last year. I. The All Blacks will be < hoping for a number of;’ I things tomorrow morning, ! 1 the first and foremost being f a comfortable win. With the [test against Wales only a;< few days away they wilbr

.want to be spared injuries I and almost as welcome would ibe improved performances [from such individuals as ) Robertson, Eddie Dunn and ! Brian McKechnie. The latter, lin particular, will want to I erase the unhappy memories of his display against Munster and if he could kick a few goals all might even be forgiven. Teams:— NEW ZEALAND.— Brian McKechnie; Bryan Williams, Bruce Robertson (captain), Robert Kururangi; Lyn Jaitray, Eddie Dunn; Dave Loveridge; Wayne Graham; Leicester Rutledge, John Fleming, John Loveday, Barry Ashworth; John Ashworth, John Black, Billy Bush. Reserves. — Mark Donaldson, Doug Bruce, Stu Wilson; Brad Johnstone, Andy Dalton, Ashley McGregor. ULSTER.— Ronny Elliot;' Joey Miles, Mike Gibson, Alan Irwin, George McClure; Adrian Goodrich. Colin Patterson; Harry Steele; Stewart McKinney (captain), Willy Anderson, Dermot Dalton, Alan McLean; Barney O’Kane, Guy Gibson Beringer, Alan Henry. The match will start at 3.30 a.m. (N.Z time).