Taylor, Hobbs, Deans vie for vacancies

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 64

Taylor, Hobbs, Deans vie for vacancies

From

JOHN BROOKS,

in Wellington

Providing they can adapt their style of play from balmy Christchurch to that demanded by windy Wellington, three Canterbury players have good chances of taking the big step from provincial to national rugby in the All Black trials on Athletic Park this afternoon.

Warwick Taylor and the former school and club colleagues, Jock Hobbs and Robbie Deans, will be vying for positions in the New Zealand team left vacant by the retirements of Graham Mourie and Bill Osborne and the temporary absence, through illness, of Allan Hewson. Although the All Black side to oppose the Lions in the first of this winter’s four tests will not be named until May 22, performances in today’s game will provide significant pointers to the final composition of the national side. Deans (full-back), Taylor (second five-eighths) and Hobbs (open side flanker)' are players for whom a bold shake of the dice could well prove fruitful. Unlike many trialists, who will endeavour to overshadow seasoned internationals, the three Canterbury men are unfettered by preconceived notions of the strength of their rivals. A little more tenseness will attend the. roles of the other three Canterbury players in the trial. If Kerry Mitchell jumps at five, as he did chiefly at training yesterday, he will be up against the redoubtable Andy Haden. Murray Davie is in for some solid grafting against Hika Reid’s allMaori front row, and Wayne

Smith will be challenged by Mid-Canterbury’s . surprise packet of 1982, Murray Roulston. Roulston was preferred for the South Island team, but Smith was the All Black first five-eighths against the Wallabies. Hobbs has been in commanding form in Christchurch this season, seemingly thriving in his British club play experiences of the preceding months, and if Deans continues to develop his entrances into the attacking line, he may become a more complete footballer than Hewson. Taylor and his trial rival, Charlie Kaka, opposed each other in the Wairarapa-Bush Ranfurly Shield challenge at

the end of last season, but it was merely a brief encounter, as Kaka, a flanker turned mid-field back and goal-kicker, retired injured in the first half. One of the most absorbing duels will be at No. 8, where Murray Mexted, the regular All Black since 1979, will be pitted against Glen Rich, a well-built and skilled Aucklander whose agility and ball handling ability are pronounced. After being shaded by the young Australian left wing, David Campese, last winter, Stu Wilson will have a point to prove, and he has another eager young man in Mike Clamp to make it difficult for him. Frank Shelford, now in Hawkes Bay, will attempt to recapture his dynamic form of 1981, and his test place as well. Andy Dalton and Reid will resume their long-standing hooking rivalry, and two former Cantabrians, Graeme Higginson and Alistair Robinson, are expected to have a close encounter at lock. ' If the wind is as strong as it was yesterday, when aircraft battled to gain altitude off the Rongotai tarmac and seagulls made no headway at all, the match will be a trial in more ways than one.