Canterbury team unchanged

Press, 22 September 1983, Page 36

Canterbury team unchanged

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

The Canterbury rugby team to defend the Ranfurly Shield against Auckland at Lancaster Park on Saturday is unchanged from the side which beat Wellington last Saturday. The team, announced at training last evening, is: Robbie Deans; Andrew McMaster, Victor Simpson, Craig Green; Warwick Taylor, Wayne Smith; Bruce Deans; Dale Atkins; Don Hayes (captain), Albert Anderson, Tony Thorpe, Jock Hobbs; Murray Davie, John Mills, John Ashworth. Reserves.— Brad Stringer, Wayne Burleigh, Steve Baker; Andy Earl, Kerry Mitchell, Phil Robson, Gwyn Williams. The only player not considered was the wing, Garry Hooper. He is still not fit enough to train, after suffering 1 a badly bruised thigh against Hawke’s two weeks ago.

The selector-coach, Alex Wyllie, said there were no other injury problems. “John Ashworth’s knee is still a bit stiff, but he is miles better than he was this time last week and he got through Saturday’s game okay.” Mr Wyllie said he expected Auckland to be every bit as tough as Wellington, and if results both this year and last were taken into account then Auckland would have to be ranked as the stronger team.

“Auckland won the national championship last year The record speaks for itself, and regardless of how many current All Blacks it has, Auckland is never anything but a strong team," said Mr Wyllie.

He said the Canterbury team was well aware of the fact that the national championship rested on Saturday’s result. If Canterbury wins it goes beyond reach,

whereas an Auckland win would bring the two sides level and Auckland would, on the strength of its win over Canterbury, probably take the title.

Canterbury still has one further game, against Manawatu, while Auckland has two more after Saturday — against Otago and Waikato.

“It is a big game for us on Saturday; there is no doubt about that,” said Mr Wyllie. “We may have won 16 games this year, but if we lose on Saturday we lose the shield and the championship and finish up with nothing.” Mr Wyllie said nerves may have got the better of some of the players last Saturday, and a lack of possession did not help them gain in confidence. “Playing before a crowd of that size was a new experience for most of them, and they should be better prepared this week. We will certainly be look-

ing for more possession, especially in the early stages.” Mr Wyllie said he had no fears that the selection of the All Black team last Sunday would lessen the resolve of the Canterbury players who had been chosen.

“If anything they should be more determined. The new All Blacks, in particular, will be out to prove that they were worthy of places.” Mr Wyllie agreed that Anderson was one player who would have more reason than most: “He did not fare too well against Andy Haden in the NorthSouth game and nor did he have a particularly good game last Saturday. Now he gets another chance against Haden and matching him in the line-outs is obviously very important to us.” He said he also had a lot of respect for the Auckland loose forwards and, while the backs might not be as

experienced as Wellington’s they could not be underrated: “Auckland is never short of classy backs,” he added.

One interesting feature of Saturday’s game is that both teams will be captained by former pupils of Christchurch Boys’ High School. Alwyn Harvey, the Auckland captain, was a class or two ahead of Hayes. Harvey, of course, is a former Canterbury player, and so, too, is the second five-eighths, John Collinson. Harvey was a member of the Canterbury side which won the national championship in 1977 and Collinson played the first of his 19 games for the province the following year. The flanker, Wayne Shelford, has more recent experience of the Canterbury rugby. He was stationed at Wigram for much of the last club season and made a big impression on the side of the Albion scrum.