South, Auckland vie for league title

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 64

South, Auckland vie for league title

By JOHN COFFEY South Island and Auckland .will not only be disputing the top placing in the Sony inter-districts rugby league championship at . the Show Grounds this afternoon, but the individual players will be vying for positions in the national squad. The winner will almost certainly carry off the main portion of the ?5000 prize money as well as supplying a good number of those chosen to participate in the Kiwi training school at Hamilton later this month.

If South is successful, it would need only to repulse the challenge of lowly Northern Districts to regain the districts title it held in 1981. It has already started its campaign in promising fashion with a narrow victory over the championship holder, Central. Auckland, • quite amazingly, has not been the national champion of a competition that was introduced in 1979, nor has it managed to beat Central. But a win today would probably be sufficient to reverse that trend because its 68-12 thrashing of North-

era has given it a massive advantage should a countback be needed to eventually decide the issue. All five New Zealand selectors, Bill O’Callaghan, Bill Sorensen, Ossie Butt, Gary Clarke and Graham Lowe, will attend the match to draw up a list of 34 players for the national school. Mr Lowe, the coach bf the Kiwi sides that will meet Australia and Papua New Guinea in tests later this season, has made it quite clear that he expects greater commitment from the players in the districts teams. “From the point of view of the average spectator, the earlier games in the series were probably entertaining and at times exciting,” said Mr Lowe. “But I take a different view. I have to evaluate a player’s performance by considering whether it was good enough to pit against the top Australians such as Ray Price, Craig Young or Mai Meninga,” he said. The prospect of a firm field should suit Auckland, which dominated possession and rattled on 52 points in the second half against

Northern. Auckland has plenty of pace and penetration in its halves and threequarters, a formation all the more effective when Nick Wright is at his brilliant best from full-back. The spirit which South showed in defending its slender lead over the later stages of its encounter with Central will stand it in good stead today. But defensive grit can only take a team so far and South must also produce something akin to the flair which provided it with 11 tries in three matches against Auckland between 1979 and 1981. Teams.— Auckland: N. Wright, M. Bournville, C. Lovett, R. O’Regan (captain); D. Bell, S. Craike, D. Morrison, 0. Wright, L. Hooker, I. Bell, J. Ackland, W. Finnerty, G. Ackland. Reserves: J. Ropati, H. J. McGahan. South: A. Wildermoth, R. L Alfeld, L. E. Hudson, R. Hampton, B. J. Green, D. C. Field (captain); G. Gibb, R. W. Dalzell, W. J. Wallace, P. Harris, D. M. Thompson, W. P. Dwyer, R. Tuuta. Reserves: J. MacGougan, R. H. Taylor. The match starts at 2 p.m.