Petticoat revolution at oval

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 20

Petticoat revolution at oval

By

JOHN BROOKS

Brickmason, plumber industrial engineer, oil field roustabout. . . those are the occupations of some of the members of an American rugby team which will play at Lancaster Park on Saturday. And, believe it or not, it is a women’s team. The Claifornian Kiwis, who will be in Christchurch for the express purpose of playing the Linwood women’s team, are not, as their name suggests, expatriate New Zealanders. They are all dinkum Americans, although their coach, Dave Merito, hails from the Whakatane region and once played outside Mac Herewini for the national Maori side. He is now an aouatics director in Califor111. 4

The Kiwis have compiled a ■ .glowing record in the United States this year. They won tournaments in Tucson,, -Belmont and Santa Barbara,. . carried off the southern ' division league competition, and had a season’s record of 29 wins and only two losses.

But the Kiwis club does not have a background to compare with the lasses from Linwood. The team made its debut as-far back as 1967, with a match against Kaiapoi, and has built up a formidable playing record in succeeding years. Two of the foundation

■ members are still enthusiastically involved with the 1 side — Cyril Le Lievre, the ' coach, and Glenys Phillips, ; the captain. 1 Mrs Phillips, was a tee- ■ nage wing in 1967: now, at 30, she has followed the footsteps of her husband, John, and plays as a No. 8. “Basically, our aim is to keep the ball moving through good backing up,” Mr Le Lievre said. “We have had two and a half months together this winter and with the combination we have worked up we are looking foward to playing the Kiwis.” • ... i There is no point in con-I

cealing Linwood’s chief attacking ploy; that is revealed by the fact that all but one try this season has been scored by the wings. In one match against Suburbs, Christine Sutton scored five tries. Mr Le Lievre expects strong opposition from the

Americans — “they’ll be fairly strong because they are tall, in the forwards and they like to run the ball through the backs,” But Linwood will not be sluggards in these regards. Kaye Stevens, who once played K Cup hockey for Canterbury, moves the ball smartly from first fiveeighths, and few get the better of Gay Johns in the lineouts. This 20-year-old sister of the former Canterbury lock. Robert Johns, stands I.BBm in her green and black socks. Family influences play an important part in the Linwood team. Meleta Louden,

a capable defender at fullback, is the wife of Wayne Louden, a former senior prop for Linwood; Kay Patrick, a flanker, is the wife of Ces Patrick, Merivale-Pa-panui’s hooker; and Sharon Mansfield, on the other flank, is a daughter of “Jinnah” Mansfield, who helps Cyril Le Lievre with the coaching. The girls are not at all shy when it comes to tackling, and their ability in such manoeuvres as the is developing. The match on Saturday should be a memorable one, and not just because it will be the first women’s match played on the oval. The Kiwis have started their brief New Zealand tour impressively by drubbing the Ngongotaha women’s side, 48-0, and Sue Ince, a tennis professional and vice-captain at first five-eighths, was “player of the day.” The second game will be played against Wellington women today, and the Linwood fixture will wind up the tour. I