Wayne Smith’s pace revealed

Press, 20 September 1982, Page 17

Wayne Smith’s pace revealed

The speed that made Wayne Smith a champion sprinter when he was at primary school was seen at Athletic Park on Saturday, and it carried him to the try which won for Canterbury the Ranfurly Shield. "I could see the gap and when Stu Wilson turned his back on me I thought I could make it." said Smith later. Make it he did. running 30m to score a try which put Canterbury in front. 14-12. There were still five minutes remaining, but Robbie Deans made Canterbury a little more secure by adding the difficult conversion. It was a vital conversion as Wellington was awarded three penalties in the last five minutes and with the wind having dropped all were kickable. But Wellington was after four points, not three, and only tap kicks were taken.

As a youngster, Smith was considered too small to play rugby. Even when he started high school his weight was

not much more than 5* a stone.

"I was such a spindly, little guy that no-one thought I would last five minutes on a rugby field, so running was mv main interest." he said.

He competed at Waikato and central North Island championships, usually al 75 yards, and was rarely beaten. If it came as a surprise to the public on Saturday that Smith was so quick, his team-mates had, a fair idea of his capabilities in this area.

In sprints at training Smith invariably leads the field home. "As 'soon as I saw Stu Wilson stick with Craig Green (who was outside Smith when he started his run) I knew Wayne would score." said one of the Canterbury players. "There was no-one else who was going to get near him." It was fitting that Smith should score the winning .try as earlier in the second half, he made a similar run over

almost the same ground. He had three options, to run round the Wellington fullback. Brian Cederwali. which he probably could have done, cut inside him. which looked the best choice, or draw Cederwali and put Green over. He opted for the pass to Green, but delayed it a little too long and had to float it over Cederwall's head. The wind carried the ball forward and although Green

made the touch down he was brought back for the forward pass. “I was so annoyed with myself over that, that when Hie second chance came I was not going to make the same mistake." said Smith.

Canterbury's other try was scored by the second fastest man in' the side. Garry Hooper, and there were fears for a time that Hooper might have made a costly error in not scoring under posts. The try came from a good piece of rugby, the forwards made a strong charge down

the left side of the field, and from a ruck the ball was spun through the Canterbury back-line. Victor Simpson threw- a bad pass under pressure, but Robbie Deans retrieved the situation and chipped ahead. Hooper scooped up the rolling ball beautifully and scored. He put the ball down as soon as he reached the - line, but what he didn't know was,

he could have run unchallenged to the posts. "I didn't know how many Wellington players there were behind me and getting the ball down over the line was all that I was worried about," said Hooper later. Deans missed the difficult into-the-wind conversion, but the two points he would have added with an easier kick were not important as it turned out.