Wright in Kiwi side

Press, 27 June 1983, Page 30

Wright in Kiwi side

By

JOHN COFFEY

Th unpredictable Auckland full-back, Nick Wright, has been preferred ahead of the Canterbury representative, Robin Alfeld, in the New Zealand rugby league team to meet Australia in the second test at Brisbane on July 9. Wright was chosen yesterday to replace the injured Gary Kemble, while Alfeld was named as one of six stand-by players. The national selectors (Messrs Graham Lowe, Bill O’Callaghan, Bill Sorsensen, Ossie Butt, and Gary Clarke) have retained the inside back combination of Shane Varley, Gordon Smith and Fred Ah Kuoi. Varley was the replacement when Kemble damaged the medial ligaments of a knee after only six minutes of the first test at Auckland. With Varley moving into his specialist scrum-half role, Smith and Ah Kuoi transferred to stand-off and inside centre, respectively, and performed with credit against the vaunted Australian backs. The early departure of Kemble also caused James

Leuluai to revert to fullback, but he has now been restored to the centres at the expense of Ron O’Regan, who will be the reserve back in Brisbane. Suggestions that Graeme West would no longer be available for his country were short-lived. West regains his test second-row position, with Kurt Sorensen joining O’Regan on the substitutes’ bench. Although not known for his consistency or firmness on defence, Wright has frequently been a matchwinner for Auckland. Wright was the top-scorer on the 1978 Kiwi tour to Australia and Papua New Guinea, accumulating 101 points in eight appearances. But his prolific scoring was largely achieved in the minor matches in Australia before he was promoted to the test side, and kicked six goals, against Papua New Guinea. The acknowledged kicking talents and greater experience of Wright have undoubtedly given him the vital votes over Alfeld in what was probably a majority decision. But Alfeld has made a

marked advance in national rankings since his recent switch from the wing to full-back for Canterbury and South Island. At 25 years of age he is Wright’s junior by four years, and must be a prime candidate for the test against Papua New Guinea in Auckland, on October 2. The inclusion of West in the team proper ahead of Kurt Sorensen would have been another difficult, and hotly-debated, decision. Sorensen was clearly not at his best in the first test and West has frequently proved in the past that he is capable of making decisive inroads into opposing defences. The team is:— Nick Wright; Dean Bell, James Leuluai, Fred Ah Kuoi. Joe Ropati; Gordon Smith, Shane Varley; Mark Broadhurst, Howie Tamati, Dane Sorensen; Graeme West, Mark Graham (captain); Gary Prohm. Reserves: Ron O’Regan, Kurt Sorensen. The stand-bys are Robin Alfeld, Bernie Green, Nolan Tupaea, Chappie Pine, Owen Wright and lan Bell. All but Alfeld and Pine are former internationals.