Wyllie hopes for change of luck

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 15

Wyllie hopes for change of luck

Alex Wyllie has a compelling reason for hoping that the Canterbury team he selects and coaches will beat the British Lions at Lancaster Park oval this afternoon. As a player, “Grizz” Wyllie played in the red and black jersey against three Lions teams in Christchurch, and was on the losing side on all these occasions. The last of the three matches was in 1977, and the seemingly indestructible Wyllie, then Canterbury’s captain was forced off the field with a knee injury. At that stage Canterbury was ahead, 9-7, from a penalty goal by Doug Heffernan and a try by Andy Jefferd. This came from a cunningly planned move, in which Doug Bruce ran wide from first five-eighths and Murray McEwan and Heffernan moved diagonally inside him as decoys. Bruce dummied and tossed the ball to Jefferd, who sighted the in-

vitingly wide gap and plunged through it to the goal-line. Wyllie, his mobility impaired by the injury, reluctantly left the oval, wondering whether his side could maintain the two-point advantage which Heffernan’s conversion had produced. He did not have long to wait. Before he had reached the dressing room the Lions had scored; John Williams, the right wing, was across the line after being fed by his No. 8, Willie Duggan, from a 5m scrum. Yet the game was still delicately poised, and Canterbury snatched the lead again after Alan Martin, a Lions’ lock, deflected the ball inaccurately from a line-out. It was perilously close to the Lions’ goal-line, and John Ashworth, never a man to be trifled with in such situations, grasped the ball hungrily and headed for the turf and a four-pointer. Canterbury clung to this 13-11 lead but with only

about 3min of the game remaining Scott Cartwright, the Canterbury left wing, was penalised for contravening the sacred space between backs and the lineout. Andy Irvine lobbed the ball over the crossbar for the winning goal, and a distraught Cartwright did not have his heart in rugby thereafter. It was a hairline decision but one which was respected, for the referee, Mr Dave Millar, of Dunedin, was one of the best New Zealand has produced. Canterbury lost the game, 13- but its rugby history reveals that it has scored two substantial victories against British Isles sides, one in 1930 and the other in 1959. In the 1930 match, the free-running, blue-jerseyed British were blunted by a Canterbury side containing such crafty campaigners as Billy Dailey, Beau Cottrell, Jim Burrows and Charlie Oliver. They were four of the TO All Blacks in the Canterbury side, which won, 14In 1959 a gifted Lions side faded before the onslaught

of a Canterbury combination which was firing on all cylinders. “Mick” Bremner’s bruising display at second five-eighths in that game provided the inspiration for the lan Macßae style in the latter half of the 19605, and Kel Tremain made such a spectacular showing, topped off with two tries, that he went on to make the first of his 38 test appearances for New Zealand. Canterbury fielded six All Blacks that day, and a further five players in the team which gained a 20-14 win later gained that honour. One of them was a 20-year-old full-back named Fergie McCormick, who was destined to play for his province for a further 16 years and achieve national and international recognition. Another was an equally youthful first five-eighths, Bruce Watt, who was chagrined early in the game through being penalised for an early tackle on his noted marker, Bev Risman. As he crouched behind the posts, bewailing his fate, he was whacked on the back by Bremner. “Do it again, Dan-

gle,” he said in his piping voice. “You’ve got him worried.” Those were the days of no replacements, and the Lions were seriously inconvenienced through the loss of two of their most inventive players, Risman and Ken Scotland. But a crowd of about 45,000 was ecstatic over Canterbury’s win, and they reserved a special cheer for the craggy captain, “Tiny” Hill, who today is helping choose the 1983 All Blacks to oppose the current Lions. The first contact between Canterbury and British rugby teams occurred in 1888. It was a close contact, for the tourists played the provincial team three times in Christchurch, winning on each occasion. The next British team, the side of 1904, did not experience such dramas on its six-match tour of New Zealand. The tour started in Christchurch, where the tourists triumphed, 5-3, against the combined might of Canterbury, South Canterbury and the West Coast. It was a day made notable by the snow which lay all about, and for the sliding try scored for the combined team by Bob Deans, who became internationally celebrated for all time for a try he was not awarded in Cardiff 16 months later. Deans was back in the limelight in 1908, when he captained the Canterbury team that downed the An-glo-Welsh tourists, 13-8, at Lancaster Park. Canterbury had an especially strong back-line that season, for as well as Deans the AngloWelsh were confronted by the flying wing, Frank Fryer, and the outstanding Albion half-back and first five combination of Paddy Burns and Doddy Gray. It is extraordinary that it took another 22 years before the next British side visited New Zealand. Surely the unbeaten tour by the 1924 All Blacks did not dissuade

Lions’ captain today. British rugby authorities from sending a side to the Antipodes? Another 20 years went by before Karl Mullen led his 1950 British tourists on a comprehensive New Zealand tour. The side did not go down in history as. supremely successful; it lost three and drew one of the tests. But it was one of the happiest touring parties of all time, and the players enchanted the many New Zealanders who were fortunate to meet them. The team beat a Canterbury side led by Doug Herman, 16-5, with the redoubtable Herman scoring the home team’s try. Oddly enough, that was Canterbury’s first representative game for the season. That sort of situation could not happen today. Canterbury also played the Lions in 1966 and 1971. The Lions won both matches, but nothing more need be said.