Kiwi tourists flying high

Press, 25 October 1980, Page 64

Kiwi tourists flying high

NZPA correspondent i London I The New Zealand rugby league tourists will go into] tomorrow’s match against! Le-'ds with their morale high, after their much-' praised test draw and Thurs-; day's crashing win over Hulli Kingston Rovers. In spite of their record of! three wins, three losses, and a draw at the half-way stage of the tour, the side has attracted increasingly warm attention from British commentators. The Manager/coach. Mr Ces Mountford, said yesterday: “I have never known a team to be away like this and have their morale so high.” Preparations for tomorrow’s game were hampered bv heavy rain yesterday, which disrupted training at Scarborough and delayed the naming of the team to play Leeds until today. "We don’t know a lot about Leeds, but they are in rite first division, and that makes them a threat,” Mr Mountford said.

The match will help the

(New Zealand manager finaliise his thoughts on the comiposition of the team for the (second, and possibly vital? [test against Great Britain at [Bradford on November 2. ! It is the first excursion by the Kiwis to the Leeds ground at Headingley, the [headquarters of British I rugby league and the venue I for’the decisive third test on [November 15.

However, Leeds, which will also name its team today, is not the glamour side of previous seasons. Hard hit by injury throughout the season so far, it has struggled to find form, winning through to the November final of the Yorkshire Cup, but failing in many first-division championship games. Opinion in Leeds is divided on the team’s chances. "They have been so inconsistent this season its ’iffy butty’,” one commentator said.

"If the Kiwis play like they have in their last two games, I don’t think our lads will stand a show against them.” -