Mid-Canterbury fully committed for tilt at shield

Press, 2 August 1983, Page 34

Mid-Canterbury fully committed for tilt at shield

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Mid-Canterbury will be close to full strength for its bid to take the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury at Lancaster Park tomorrow.

The only regular player of recent seasons missing is the full-back, Murray Holmes, who dislocated a shoulder when playing against the British Lions in May. However, his younger brother, John, has proved an able replacement in recent games.

John Holmes was the fullback in the Lincoln College side which won the C.S.B. Cup-Trophy double two years ago. The full team is: John Holmes; Geoff Frew, John Mudgway, Murray Young; Murray McLeod, Murray Roulston; Paul Williams; John McLay; Warren Frew, Jock Ross, Alistair Morrison, Paul Cuneen; Bill Thomas, Grant Perry, Huia Gordon. Reserves: John Bennett, Alan Edge, Alan Grieve, Terry Wilson; Lee McDonald, Bruce Parkin, Alan Hill. It is basically the same side which has given MidCanterbury a record of six wins from seven games this season. The loss was to the Lions, and the wins have been over South Canterbury, Canterbury Country, Central Queensland, Horowhenua, Wanganui and Buller. It is also a very experienced team, the fifteen players having something

like 850 first-class games behind them. The same count applied to Canterbury would be around 550. Mid-Canterbury’s three most experienced players are Jock Ross (120 games for the province), Paul Williams and the captain,

Grant Perry (both 100). Canterbury has just the one centurion, its captain, Don Hayes, whose total is 113. One interesting change that has been made in the Mid-Canterbury pack of late has been the shifting of John McLay from prop back to his former position of No. 8. One of the ideas behind this is apparently so that McLay can take station deeper in the line-out and serve as Ross’s “minder.” Ross is, perhaps, the key to Mid-Canterbury’s performance. If he can beat the Canterbury jumpers, and he decisively outplayed* the well-regarded Graeme Coleman in the Wanganui game two weeks ago, then MidCanterbury will have the possession it needs to influence the pattern of the game. Thomas, who has taken McLay’s place in the frontrow, was a New Zealand Colt last season, as also was the other prop, Gordon, for

the third year. Reports from Ashburton yesterday were of a side which is totally committed to its task, and positive enough in attitude to believe that what it can do at home—beat Canterbury three times in the last four years—it can also do on Lancaster Park.

Since its 6-26 loss to the Lions, and this was a score which flattered the tourists, Mid-Canterbury has made considerable progress. It won a lot of praise for the manner in which it beat a free-running Wanganui side, 19-10, two weeks ago. Mid-Canterbury can also take encouragement from its early season win over Canterbury Country. This was a strong Country team and included six members—the Deans brothers, Andy Earl, Tony Thorpe, Albert Anderson and Don Hayes—of the side that will defend the shield tomorrow. And John Ashworth was in the pack as well. Mid-Canterbury will be strongly supported tomorrow. Somewhere between 2000 and 3000 are expected to travel north and provide something of the vocal support that the side is used to when playing at the Ashburton Show Grounds.