Runanga a formidable rival for Eastern

Press, 29 September 1979, Page 20

Runanga a formidable rival for Eastern

By

JOHN COFFEY

Runanga. a convincing winner of the West Coast rugby league championship this season, has both the tradition and talent to mount a proud and powerful defence of the Thacker Shield when it meets the Canterbury titleholder, Eastern SuburbsHertz, at Greymouth tomorrow. Ten Runanga players, Stephen Low, Bernard Green, Peter O’Neill, Chris Menzies, Don Monk, Kevin Harrington, Ray Baxendale, Michael Whitehead, John Griffin and Peter Harris, have represented West Coast during the winter and are expected to be in the side against Eastern. The Eastern coach, Grant Findlay, concedes that victory will be extremely difficult to achieve. West Coast teams, whether club or provincial, are never more effective than when on their home ground at Wingham Park and there is no venue in New Zealand which provides greater crowd support. Findlay intends to rely virtually on the same combination which decisively beat Marist-Western Suburbs in the Canterbury grand final. It is possible, though, that Kevin Murphy will replace Steve Flaus among the threequarters, and the firststring reserve forward, Wayne Jeffs, is not available. The Eastern tactics, too, are likely to follow a similar pattern, with the big front-row forwards drawing the defence so that Findlay is allowed sufficient freedom to dictate the plays. He has concentrated over the last two weeks in ■ keeping his squad at a high peak, physically and mentally. if Eastern requires any additional incentive, the fact that the club’s name has never been inscribed on the shield should suffice. Its only previous challenge (under its former name of Christchurch) was in 1948, when, ironically enough, Runanga won, 29-10. The same clubs were to have met in 1975, but no suitable date could be found and the match was not held. Runanga has no obvious

weak points, particularly since the return of the very sprightly .Monk to join Menzies in the halves. Monk was also restored to the West Coast team and

claimed three tries against Taranaki and Auckland in Rothmans matches, while the skilful Menzies represented South Island. Their tussles with Murray French and Barry Edkins should be one of the highlights of the game. O’Neill, the scorer of more than 200 points in all appearances this year, has moved up from his regular full-back position to link with the forceful Green in the centres. Green clinched South Island’s victory over Auckland at Carlaw Park when he ran about 70m for a spectacular try. The Runanga pack is a formidable unit, with only

CHRIS MENZISS

Wayne Griffin — whose promotion caused his older brother, John, to switch from hooker to prop — not having recent first-class experience. The swiftness of the Griffins is certain to pose a problem for the Eastern hooker, Alan Rushton, whose dominance of the scrummaging had so much to do with Eastern's championship triumph. Michael Whitehead, a snowy-headed and bearded young man who was judged to be the “player of the match’’ when West Coast eliminated Canterbury from the Rothmans series, has stepped up from loose forward to partner the international, Ray Baxendale, in the second row.

An injury prevented Baxendale from retaining his test status against Britain this year, and he will be seeking further honours for his club as com-

pensation. With Kevin Harrington and Whitehead alongside ‘him, Baxendale will be the spearhead of a particularly mobile back three.

Runanga has « much more extensive history of post-war participation in shield competition than its rival. If beat Christchurch in 1948. Prebbleton in 1949, Papanui in 1957, Hornby in 1962, and then retained the trophy in 1968 (against Linwood), 1969 (in a scoreless draw with Hornby), and 1970 (again at Linwood’s expense). Its only losses have been to Hornby (1952) and Papanui (1973, 1974, and 1977).