Wharenui holds key

Press, 20 February 1980, Page 26

Wharenui holds key

By

RAY CAIRNS

It is a strange situation that a Canterbury team doe>s not now have a chance of winning the national inter-club water polo, championship, the third round of which starts in Auckland on Friday. The lapses of Beck-enham-Sockburn and Wharenui in the first two rounds have effectively cost them chances Of winning the Ryan Cup, and in Beckenham’s case, it is not even contesting the third round. Mark Harding is in the United States —

as is Wharenui’s Richard Clark — and Dennis Reid is heading off for the same terrritOry the day the championships start; and John Davie is unable to play because of damaged shoulder tendons. Even so, Beckenham could have fielded a team, undoubtedly without much prospect of winning, but still including some very promising younger players.

So Wharenui will carry the Canterbury flag, and it will find itself in an unusual position of perhaps holding the key to the ultimate result. Maranui and Hutt are locked together at the head of the club championship table, and should either falter against Wharenui, the other will probably slip through into first' place. Even despite the heroics of Hutt this season, Maranui is favourite for the title, but there is a special Canterbury interest in Hutt’s resurgence.

Russell McConnochie and John' Gallagher were playing for Wharenui last season, and they have

been the two players to figure most importantly in Hutt’s return to top standing. McConnochie, as captain and coach, has given greater freedom to Grahame Duffy and Stephen Williams, two outstanding field players for Hutt; and Gallagher has given it a top-class goalie. The departures of these two has been a sore blow to Wharenui, which, with the departure of Clark, now lean's even more heavily on the strong and determined John. Koens and, to a lesser degree, a more controlled and assertive Stephen Ward. With the notable addition of the talented youngster, Lachie Marshall, Whrenui players form the Canterbury team for the inter-provincial championship which follows, and this is an interesting state of affairs. Both Auckland and Canterbury will be effectively club sides, and will have had the benefit of regular play together. The top Hutt and Maranui players, however, are at each other’s throats one day, and the best of teammates the next; it is an intriguing situation.