Final Kiwi trial for Wilson?

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 30

Final Kiwi trial for Wilson?

Wally Wilson expected to have a busy rugby league season when he assumed the coaching role with Linwood," but his club assignment might be only one of a of commitments required of him in the next few weeks. .' ■ A dedicated and determined scrum-half, Wilson probably considered his firstclass career to be over when Murray French was preferred ahead of him in the Canterbury A team last winter. But Wilson’s situation has changed dramatically, and he must’ be conceded some chance of being included in the Kiwi side for the first test against France at Auckland on June 7. v Wilson was promoted to the South Island team for the match against Auckland last

Sunday when the 1980 test player Gordon Smith (West Coast), Was injured. He more - than justified his place, scoring a try and being judged South’s most effective back. Two hours after that game Wilson was chosen as a reserve for the New Zealand XIII to oppose The Rest at the Show Grounds on May 23. However, Wilson might yet have full participation in the final trial, for serious doubts remain about the fitness of the first-string scrum-half, Shane Varley (Auckland). A broken’bone in a hand prevented . Varley from marking Wilson on Sunday. Whether Varley can take his place in the trial will not be known until he consults a specialist on May 19. At present he is not expected to resume football until May 30, and presumably could still

miss the trial and be included in the test line-up. If Wilson replaces Varley he would again be confronted by the new Auckland representative, Brian Conning. Should Varley have by then been ruled out, they will have a head-on tussle for the Kiwi No. 7 jersey. Wilson can now also look forward to extending his number of appearances for Canterbury beyond 32. Two members of the South panel which rated him' ahead of French last week, Messrs Gary Clarke and Harry Walker, will, with Mr John Flanagan, name the Canterbury A team next Monday. But if Wilson’s immediate future is full of tantalising possibilities, the inclusion of another Canterbury back, Peter Klink, has caused

some surprise. Klink is to return to Papua New Guinea in September after completing a three-year course with Air New Zealand in Christchurch. International rugbj ague regulations do not allow a player to represent two countries and if Klink was named for the Kiwis he would, at 20 years of age, become ineligible for his homeland. Papua New Guinea is a full member of the code’s International Board. Some reservations are held that Klink, although included in The Rest XIII on merit, might be depriving another centre of a chance of advancement, Klink could well have to make the final decision on whether he appears in the trial.