Modest Don Cameron the cornerstone of Ellesmere packs

Press, 12 September 1981, Page 20

Modest Don Cameron the cornerstone of Ellesmere packs

The fact that Don Cameron has set a record number of appearances for the Ellesmere senior rugby team is

something which he tries to dismiss with a shrug of his strong shoulders. At the end of last season,

Cameron reached a half-cen-tury of appearances for his Sub-Union and has stretched the number to 53, surpassing

the previous record held by another stalwart of the area, Wallace Scott. i "Can’t you say we have both played 50-odd games,” remarked Cameron, whose modesty is overwhelming to say the least. “Wally had only about four or five representative games a season when he set his record, I’ve had as many as seven a season.” Cameron is obviously proud of his long association with the Ellesmere senior side but is not one to seek credit or recognition of his achievements. He was first selected for the Ellesmere senior team in 1971 as a second-string tighthead prop and has remained in the top team since, his powerful scrummaging being a feature of his game. But beneath the rugged and nuggety frame of Cameron is a mellow and gentle disposition; a person who. once off the field after a game, is only too pleased to after advice to young and raw rivals who might have been on the receiving end of his strength for 80 minutes earlier. With his father a coach of Lincoln teams and his three brothers all rugby players, it was only natural that Don Cameron should follow suit. At the tender age of ‘seven or eight years” he first donned his shorts and boots and slipped into a Lincoln jersey in what was then termed the bantam grade. And every winter since he has pursued the sport which he loves. It is the only sport which Cameron has concentrated on and at 31 years he feels that the end of the road is not yet in sight, admitting that he still derives enjoyment from training runs. A member of the first XV

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at Lincoln High School, Cameron represented Canterbury in the under-15 grade in 1965 and two years later he won selection in the Canterbury under-18 team. In 1968, he made his first senior appearance for Lincoln at 18 years, but for the next two seasons he was working in Amberley and represented both Amberley and North Canterbury at full-back. It seems incongruous that Cameron, a prop throughout his playing career for Ellesmere, should be at full-back but he enjoyed the experience, learning the important skills of catching the high ball and developing a keen awareness of positional play. Cameron was among illustrious company in his brief stint for North Canterbury. lan .Kirkpatrick, . Hamish McDonald, Alex Wyllie and Neil Cornelius were in a formidable forward pack. When Cameron returned to the Ellesmere area — he is now in charge of a 200-acre sheep and pig farm at Springston — he immediately went to prop but cannot recall what brought about the change. However, there is little doubt that his height and physique made him a logical candidate for that position. The powerful arms and shoulders of Cameron and his ability to keep a straight back in scrums has made him the scourge of rival front-rows. He admits that he has been helped by propping scrums with players of the calibre of Graeme Sanderson and Mike Ryan as hooker. He named Roddy Wards (Southbridge) and Jim Stubbs (Oxford) as rival forwards whom he held.in high regard.

BOB SCHUMACHER

Cameron felt that Ellesmere had been most fortunate to have had so many outstanding coaches while he had been involved in the team. He mentioned Ross Smith, Neil Cornelius and John Creighton and paid special tribute to Mark Marshall, who died recently. Apart from being selected for the Canterbury B team in 1979, Cameron says that one of his highlights was when Ellesmere beat Canterbury B, 13-3, in 1978. “Neil Cornelius had been our coach in 1977 but on that occasion he was the Canterbury B coach,” Cameron grinned.

Cameron has been in the Lincoln team that has won or drawn seven of the last 10 senior championships in the Ellesmere competition and has been in four winning Southbridge Shield sides, the main trophy fought between North Canterbury, Ellesmere and Hurunui. One match which Cameron would like to see played annually was that between the Town and Country club champions. He suggested that the winner of the C.S.B. Cup might become the Town representative and that the match be played under floodlights one evening before the C.S.B. Trophy final. The self-effacing Cameron said that he intended to take each season as it comes, but when the decision to hang up the boots came it would not mean severing ties with rugby. “I’ve enjoyed the game so much that I hope to give something back to my club.

“If I’m not needed as a coach then I will referee. I’ll always be involved.” And there was no doubting the sincerity of that statement by Don Cameron.