Kiwi coach a lonely figure in test week

Press, 11 August 1979, Page 12

Kiwi coach a lonely figure in test week

By

JOHN COFFEY

Fears that a lack of communication would result from the New Zealand Rugby League’s revamped selection and coaching policy for the test series against Great Britain have been far from unfounded.

The system of having five selectors, chosen on a regional basis, presented difficulties of contact, but the failure to have the Kiwi coach, Ces Mountford, as a member of the panel will ultimately be seen as the greatest fault of the new system. A third tier to the administrative pyramid compounded the problem. Team announcements and associated factors such as captaincy had to be approved by the code’s national council. That, in itself, was not unusual. but the delays which resulted were unprecedented. The build-up to the series began in orthodox fashion with the naming of the team for the opening international. The only reservation was the passive role given Mr Mountford. who travelled extent sively to watch the trials without having any say in which players he would be given to coach. Inevitably, in the light of New Zealand’s dis-

appointing tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea last year, the test squad was one of the most inexperienced that this country has had. Mr Mountford had five days in Auckland to whip the side into shape before taking on an opponent which had fused its tsamwork on a long tour of Australia and was looking forward to the softer New Zealand playing fields as a platform to wiping out the memories of its injuryplagued itinerary across the Tasman Sea. When the Kiwis reassembled in Christchurch for last Sunday’s second test it, at first, appeared that Mr Mountford would have another four full days to develop some of the undoubted potential seen at Carlaw Park. It was not to be, for a variety of reasons. There was surprise that Dane Sorensen had been given permission to play for his Sydney club, CronullaSutherland, in an Amco Cup match on the Wednesday night of test week, particularly as Mark Broadhurst’s release from the Canterbury team to meet Britain the same

evening was sought and granted.

Dennis Williams, recalled to the Kiwis to bolster the midfield back play, stayed behind in Auckland until after his wife returned home from hospital with their first child. John Smith, undergoing treatment in Auckland for an ankle injury, was another late arrival. The plan to utilise Williams’s vast experience came to nothing when he suffered a hamstring injury on the Thursday afternoon. Lewis Hudson substituted for Williams and went on to make a creditable test debut, but the comings and goings had given Mr Mountford only two full training runs with his side, and left him with a noticeably weary Sorensen.

But, worse, Mr Mountford was confronted with a greater hurdle, a virtual wall of silence raised by those who were to serve him the team, the selectors and national officials.

The team proper, from a squad of 18, was to have been relayed from the panel’s convener, Mr “Snow” Telford, to Mr

Mountford at noon on the Tuesday.

For some reason it became tied up with the administrators, and Mr Mountford had to soldier On only with “a fair idea” of who would be carrying out the tactics that he had devised.

The news slowly filtered through to the front-line. On Wednesday morning it was disclosed that Graeme West would retain the captaincy with Fred Ah Kuoi as his deputy; that night the players were told of the line-up that had by then been an open secret.

William’s break-down and withdrawal was confirmed on the Friday morning. But even as Hudson trained on Friday afternoon — New Zealand’s last run before the test — Mr Telford would not confirm the Canterbury centre as the replacement. Mr Mountford was more forthright: Hudson was to be Olsen Filipaina’s partner.

However, secrecy surrounded the personnel who would fill the reserves’ bench, although Mr Mountford had opted for John Smith and Barry Edkins. So, too, did the South Island member of the panel, Mr Harry Walker, who was also

kept very much in the dark throughout a frustrating week. The news media was told a short time before the kick-off that Smith and Paul Ravlich would again be the substitutes. It was understandable that a few remarks were passed, suggesting the announcement to be premature. It was remarkable that Ravlich, a loose forward earlier in his career but

now, at 29, a hooker, should be the reserve. Some of the selectors apparently did not know, or ignored, that one of the second-rowers, Kevin Tamati, had appeared frequently for Wellington at hooker and could have switched to that role had his cousin, Howie Tamati, been injured. Mr Mountford would have replaced West in the first test when the then Kiwi captain was injured. But instead of having someone with Edkins’s versatility to send onto the field, Mr Mountford, in a manner of speaking, kept with the devil that he did know. Ravlich has been very much a spare part so far in the series. After Britain had clinched the rubber, Mr Mountford said that it was planned to revert to the coaching school system which assisted New Zealand to a be a distinct threat to Australia and Britain in the 1960 s and early 19705. He believes that he has much material which can be developed, but one wonders whether he will gain the necessary administrative support. The gap which exists between officialdom and the Kiwi camp was underlined again after the sec-

end test. Where so much emphasis had been placed on informing the squad members of the line-up prior to the game (this newspaper received it from Mr Telford an hour or so earlier to beat a deadline, on the understanding no-one else was informed), the third test team was blandly read out to an assembly of supporters and players, those retained and dropped, in a hotel bar.

Quite understandably, Mr Mauntford has said that he will not be available as coach next year unless he also has a hand in the composition of the teams to meet Australia at home and tour Britain and France. He must either become a full member of the panel or be added in an ex-officio capacity. Now approaching 60 years of age, Mr Mountford has the ability to impart his extensive knowledge of the code and has the fitness of a man many years younger. It is logical that he is best suited to take the Kiwis to Britain, where he had an illustrious playing and coaching career, but he must have the full backing of those who also have an influence on New Zealand’s rugby league fortunes.