Early season test for top club rugby side

Press, 7 April 1984, Page 72

Early season test for top club rugby side

University, the winner of last year’s senior rugby championship, will meet Belfast when the 1984 competition gets under way next Saturday. Belfast was the unlucky team of the grade last year. It lost only one game all season, yet failed to win the first round C.S.B. Cup and did not even qualify for the final of the C.S.B. Trophy series. And in no game was Belfast more out of luck than in its meeting with University. It played well enough to win, but the lack of a reliable goal-kicker cost it dearly and University escaped with a 3-3 draw. The Canterbury union has decided to release the first round draw before it has

been ratified by the union, which it will not do until the union meets on Tuesday night. The chairman of the match committee, Mr M. R. Inglis, said that the step had been taken to end all the “wild speculation that was going on around the town.” He said he was mystified as to how some clubs knew, or thought they knew, their opponents. “The draw was done two weeks ago and placed in a sealed envelope. Only two people knew what it was and both have been overseas, and I can just about guarantee that neither said anything. “Yet everyone seems to have the information, although in some cases they

have been incorrectly informed. For this reason it was felt that the draw should be released early, although the venues and times will not be done until the match committee meets on Monday night,” said Mr Inglis. The other games besides University v. Belfast are: Shirley v. Marist, Hornby v. Lincoln College, Sydenham v. High School Old Boys, Burnside v. Albion, New Brighton v. Linwood, Meri-vale-Papanui v. Lyttelton and Christchurch v. Suburbs.

Mr Inglis also released the first two games on April 18 at Denton Park in the night round. Albion will play Linwood in the main game, with Lyttelton and Suburbs meeting in the cur-tain-raiser.