Canty has to ‘boil’ one last time

Press, 1 October 1983, Page 64

Canty has to ‘boil’ one last time

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

The curtain will be drawn on a rugby season of rare achievement for Canterbury this afternoon when it faces the last of its nine Ranfurly Shield challengers, Manawatu.

Lancaster Park has been renamed Alex Wylie Rugby Stadium especially for the match. Canterbury has played almost 23 hours of winning rugby in New Zealand this year. It has already accomplished its first goal of taking the Lion national championship and the chances must be good of it ending the season with the shield too. It would be dangerous, though, to underrate Manawatu, and the Canterbury coach, Alex Wyllie, has the task of once again bringing to the boil men who must be close to needing a spell from rugby, especially of the pressure- . cooker Ranfurly Shield variety. From very early in the season it was assumed that the two big challenges would come from Wellington and Auckland. Manawatu became even less of a threat after

its bad start to the season. But the situation has changed somewhat. Canterbury has, through an equal measure of skill, determination, and motivation, sent Wellington and Auckland packing, while Manawatu has been moving steadily into better form. The skill margin, especially in the backs should again be on Canterbury’s side today. The guarantee of another summer with the shield should keep the determination high, and it may. just be a matter of whether the motivation can be maintained. Manawatu can be expected to give Canterbury a stem tussle in the forwards. It has a strong and wellequipped pack, and it was a superb display by almost the same eight which carried Manawatu to its 2613 win over Canterbury last season. It has a most useful line-.

out jumper in Murray Rosenbrook, and, in Geoff Old, Mark Shaw, and Terry Sole, a loose forward trio to compare with the best. The Canterbury forwards have mixed their form in recent weeks, but another display like they gave against Auckland last Saturday should be enough to at least match Manawatu. It is in the backs where Canterbury should be able to make the game safe, providing that the forwards win enough ball. The Manawatu line, with the exception of the half-back, Mark Donaldson, is young and inexperienced, and early nerves will have to be conquered. Its line is not without pace and skills however. Along with Donaldson, a player who may have to be watched is the full-back, Mark Finlay. He is a fine runner with the ball and a useful goal-kicker.

If the conditions suit, although the weather forecast is not promising, Canterbury will surely look for an open game to get maximum value from its backs. If this should happen, and Wayne Smith and Victor Simpson in particular, are able to carry on their form of last week, Canterbury may be capable of another decisive victory. Canterbury has proved beyond doubt this year what a good side it is and on the days when possession has not been a problem it has come close to being a great one. But as Graham Mourie was fond of saying; a side is only as good as its last performance. So despite all the praise heaped on Canterbury this winter, more than just the shield could be lost if there is any slackening of effort today. Such a thing is hard to imagine, though. As Mr Wyllie said on Thursday, the team has come too far this season to let itself down now. It should be another notable day for Robbie Deans. He has broken so many records this year that it is hard to keep track of them all and if he can score eight points he will have another — the most points by anyone in Ranfurly Shield rugby. The teams are:-

Canterbury.—Robbie Deans; Andrew McMaster, Victor Simpson, Craig Green; Warwick Taylor, Wayne Smith; Bruce Deans; Dale Atkins; Jock Hobbs, Albert Anderson, Tony Thorpe, Don Hayes (captain); John Ashworth, John Mills, Murray Davie. Manawatu.—Mark Finlay; Dave Gosling, Peter Drury, Craig Loach; lan Wood, Paul Duncan; Mark Donaldson; Geoff Old; Terry Sole, Frank Oliver, Murray Rosenbrook, Mark Shaw (captain); Gary Knight, Bruce Hemara, Roy Gaskin.

The match, which begins at 3 p.m., will be refereed by Mr Murray Jarvis, of Southland.