South Island defending its rugby league title

Press, 14 May 1982, Page 15

South Island defending its rugby league title

Bv

JOHN COFFEY

If the South Island squad adheres strictly to the schedule mapped out for it tomorrow by the New Zea-

land Rugby League it will miss a valuable opportunity to assess the capabilities of its leading rivals in the first $lO,OOO Super League championship.

The four district sides. Auckland. Northern. Central and South, will dispute the $5OOO prizemoney, the right to represent this country in the 1983 KB Cup tournament in Australia, and. individually. the 23 positions for the Kiwi tour to Australia and Papua New Guinea. When not required for match purposes the 76 players will have concentrated coaching during their stay at the Hamilton Teachers’ College. Their programme has been spelled out in great detail in a circular from the national administration.

But South's officials and players could hardly be

blamed if they deviated from the training stint planned for them in mid-afternoon tomorrow. It is more reasonable to expect them to be gathered around a television set at the college, watching the live coverage of the match between Auckland and Central at Auckland. South does not start its campaign for retention of the inter-districts title until Sunday, when it meets Northern at Seddon Park, Hamilton. It then plays Central at Huntly next Wednesday, and Auckland in what might be the grand final at Carlaw Park on May -23 in another televised encounter.

In spite of South's loss to Canberra in its KB Cup debut last month, it is probably deserving of favouritism to be top of the KB Super League table. None of the

other sides have had serious match practice, while South should have'learned from the mistakes made in the later stages of its game in Sydney. • John Griffin, the swift-

striking W'est Coast hooker, has an opportunity to prove correct the critics who contended that he should have gone to Sydney. Gerard Stokes brings •' size and strength to the front-row, Martin Bennett will be an adequate replacement for Michael O’Donnell at fullback, and the return of Lewis Hudson adds starch to the midfield. The draw has been kind to South. Although South concedes home ground advantage. it should comfortably account for Northern — though not by the 60-point margin it enjoyed in Christchurch last winter — and hone its combination for the harder fixtures ahead.

Poor Northern has yet to win a match in three years of district rugby league. Its problems in assembling a squad for training are even greater than those of the

other combined teams. Central and South. But Northern is not without talented players. Kevin Fisher. Rick Muru and Billy Kells were New Zealand representatives on tour to

Britain and France in 1980; Bill Ashurst was a Kiwi trialist at loose forward last year; and the Murray twins. Anthony and Thomas, recently returned from a. term with the Salford club in England. One of the most intriguing fixtures in the tournament is that between Auckland and Central tomorrow. Incredibly. for Auckland was so recently the all-powerful province of the code, Central has won all three of their previous meetings - by eight or more points.

Graeme West, the tall test second-row forward, has led Central to the three victories at Auckland's expense. This season he again has his able forward lieutenants, Kevin and Howie Tamati and Bruce Gall, and the vastly experienced John Whittaker to marshall the back resources.

Remarkably. Shane Varley will be Auckland’s only present Kiwi against Central. His test team-mate against France last year. Gary Prohm. is serving a suspension. although he will be at loose forward for the match with South.

Varley, with Workington Town, and his stand-off half, Ron O'Regan, for Barrow. furthered their careers in Britain last (southern) summer, and will be the pivots of a back-line which includes three former Kiwis. Toa Fepuleai, Nick Wright and Steve McGregor. But Auckland's pack will again have difficulty coming to terms with its Central counterpart.

The national selectors (Messrs W. L. O'Callaghan, W. Sorensen. C. R. Mountford, O. Butt and H. J. Walker) will be in attendance at all six games. Consistently high standards will obviously be required of the candidates for New. Zealand selection .-7 and for the $5OO “man of the series" prize donated by the "Super League" magazine.