Yet another match for ‘iron’ Mourie

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 60

Yet another match for ‘iron’ Mourie

From KEVIN McMENAMIN. on tour with the All Black.

Graham Mourie will quali-|j 'fy for an iron man citation!’ when he leads the All!' Blacks against North Eng-!, land at Birkenhead tomor-! .raw morning (N.Z. time). it It will be Mourie’s 'eleventh appearance in 14 ■: games and his third in rhe, last eight days. < Mourie’s selection empha- ’ sises his importance to the 1 ! team and also that despite ! the tourists’ . recent impres- ■ sive form no risks are being > taken with an opponent ex- ] ipected to be as strong, if : I not stronger, than the full England side that the All i Blacks met at Twickenham ; last Saturday. ! North England has beenh weakened to some extent byh the withdrawal because of is injury of the experienced] prop, Fran Cotton, but the i I side still boasts nine inter-!] nationals, including the Eng-i, land captain, Bill Beaumont. England has been sub-

Ijected to a lot of domestic | criticism about its performance last Sunday and in ad- > dition to Beaumont seven 'Other members of the side ! will get a chance to atone I this week-end. ! The seven are Peter Squires. Tony Bond. Mike : Slemen. John Horton, Malcolm Young (all backs), Peter Dixon and Roger Uttley (forwards). in addition, the side also includes the British Lions flanker in New Zealand last year. Tony Neary, who was a reserve last Sunday. North England seems certain to be a useful side and just how useful will probably depend on how well the | players can overcome the i handicap of not having had ia game' together. The fact' I that just about the entire i back-line was together for I England suggests that the. : problem may not be so I great. After their string of re-

cent good wins, and with the prospect of a clean i sweep through the four internationals looming large, the All Blacks are riding high at present. As a playing unit the. have certainly come ahead in leaps and bounds in the last fortnight and if the standard can be maintained • another victory should be in store. The only worry might be that some of the platers, not just Mourie. are playing a lot of hard football and this must take a toll. The team selected offers no clue to any changes in the test fifteen. The pack is the one that met England, i'with the exception of John ■Ashworth, who conies in as , loose-head-piop so that Brad I Johnstone can be rested. If I Ashworth plays as well as he did against MonmouthI shire on Thursday, when be [took the field as a replace'ment, the change will be of little moment. j There was a suspicion that Richard Wilson mighr have been asked to play again, which would have put him firmly in line for the I full-back position against [Scotland next week-end. ' However. Brian McKechnie has been named, although ' after his -fine goal-kicking I against Monmouthshire Wili son must be very nearly on a par with McKechnie. Tomorrow morning’s game ends a testing period for the ■All Blacks and if Scotland ! has not improved since last i season it could be the last really hard match before the tour ends with the Barbarian fixture in a fortnight’s time Teams.— New Zealand: McKechnie; Stu Wilson, Bill Osborne, Bryan Williams: Lyn Jaffray, Doug Bruce; Mark Donaldson; Gary Seear; Graham Mourie (captain), Frank Oliver, Andy Haden, Leicester Rutledge; John Ashworth, Andy Dalton, Gary Knight. Reserves.— Dave Loveridge, Eddie Dunn, Mark Taylor; John Fleming, John Black, Brad Johnstone. North England: Derek Boyd; Peter Squires, Richard ICardus, Tony Bond, Mike Slemen; John Horion, MalIcolm Young; Roger Uttley; ! Tony’ Neary. Bill Beaumont i(captain), John Butler. Peter I Dixon; Frank Blackhurst, Ray Tabern, John Bell. I Reserves.— John Carletch, Alan Old. Steve Smith, Kevin Pacey. Laurie Connor j The match will begin at [3.30 a.m. (N.Z rime). The referee will be Mr David Burnett of Ireland.