Pressure on Wyllie to find able replacements

Press, 10 July 1985, Page 42

Pressure on Wyllie to find able replacements

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

As was to be expected, Alex Wyllie was in a happy mood after Canterbury had beaten Southland, 53-0, at Lancaster Park last Saturday. The Ranfurly Shield had been retained for the twenty-second time, and Canterbury had given a quality performance. But Mr Wyllie must have had half a mind to the future and, in particular what players he is going to use to replace the seven who will soon be off to South Africa with the All Blacks. And he would not be alone in this guessing game.

Losing seven players is a huge loss to any team, and, it must be remembered, that Canterbury has not used a lot of players in its shield campaigns. The top XV has stayed largely unchanged for the last three years.

The losses are greater in the backs — five, to two in the forwards — and while this may have some advantages in determining future tactics the fact remains, and the All Black selectors have proved it, that Canterbury’s greatest strength does lie in its backs.

Looking first at the forwards, Mr Wyllfe faces one immediate problem here — finding a fast, open side flanker to take over from Jock Hobbs.

The loose forward, replacement in the two shield games to date has been the Burnside No 8, Rob Penney. He shows a lot of promise and although reasonably quick for a man of his size, he is more in style and build the Don Hayes, Dale Atkins type of player. Barry White was the fast flanker Mr Wyllie turned to last year when Hobbs was absent and White proved an adequate, if not inspired, choice. He does, however, seemed to have slipped from favour this year, although his form has been affected by injuries. If White is not recalled, then Mr Wyllie will have to go for an untried player, and hope for the best. And while there are two or three useful quick loose forwards about in club rugby there is no-one who really stands out as distinct representative material.

The man wanted will need to be more than quick. With so many new backs, he will have to be the sort of forward who can get around behind the line and correct any defensive lapses. Such men do not grow on trees.

There is one possible compromise that might be taken. This would be to bring in Rob Moffat, who can offer a little bit of everything — size, height, reasonable speed and a ton of natural talent. However, including Moffat would probably mean that Hayes would have to play off the back of the line-out, which would nbt be ideal.

Providing he can shrug off the frustrating run of injuries he has had this year, Tony Thorpe should move into the locking vacancy left by Albert Anderson. However, he will need to prove he can win good line-out ball, or he could find himself being replaced by Pat O’Gorman, who might thrive on this sort of challenge. Still, there need not be too many worries about the forwards. With Murray Davie, Andy Earl, Hayes and Atkins still there Canterbury has a fair measure of skill and experience, and sad as it is that Atkins has still to win his All Black jersey his misfortune this time is very much Canterbury’s good fortune. Now to the backs, and Mr Wyllie and his coaching partner, Doug Bruce, have already spent some taxing hours trying to work out where they go here.

Their situation is not helped either by the fact that Rod Latham has not made himself available for the full season. Latham said yesterday that he was still considering his future, and he could give no idea of how many games he would be willing to play. Latham is still very much of a mind to wind down from rugby in the next month and so give himself time to fully prepare for his summer interest of cricket. With no Latham to fill in at full-back,' and kick goals

like he has been, while Robbie Deans is away, Canterbur would be in big trouble.

The availability of Latham must also have a major bearing on who plays at first five-eighths, in Wayne Smith’s place. The options here are many, but if Latham goes then the new man will have to be a goalkicker.

Thankfully, there are two or three or fit this bill, namely the New Zealand Colt this year, Greg Coffey, Colin Williamson and Deane McKinnel. Coffey probably has the best chance of this trio.

If Latham' stays then a more experienced first fiveeighths can be enlisted. Wayne Burleigh, the utility back of the last two seasons, will obviously be one of the five-eighths, but he could be more suited to second where he could play the anchor role that Warwick Taylor has filled so superbly. To many minds Kieran Keane, if only because of his long association with the team, is the favoured choice and he is possibly the nearest thing to Smith available. Others on the shortlist, though, must be Mark Liddicoat and James Leggat. Because of injuries, Liddicoat has not had much rugby this season, but he is a talented all-round player and he has played first-class rugby for Manawatu. If Mr Wyllie is in a gambling mood Liddicoat might be his choice.

Leggat, too, would be a gamble although it has been assumed for some time that he would eventually take over from Smith. Leggat could be a roaring success, but there are doubts about his kicking ability. The Linwood Colt, Stephen Bachop, is probably too young for the job, but his promise is undeniable.

Once the five-eighths are sorted out, there is then the problem, and it is a big one, of finding someone to fill in for Victor Simpson at centre.

No-one would begrudge Simpson his All Black jer- ’ sey, and few new All Blacks

have been more moved by selection than Simpson was last week. But because he is such a great competitor, Simpson may prove to be Canterbury’s biggest loss. Canterbury is not especially well off for centres, and the two main claimants must be Kieran Flynn, who has his first game for Canterbury at Greymouth last month, and the more experienced Steve Hansen.

Hansen had a few games for Canterbury earlier in his career and although solid he never quite measured up. However, he is undoubtedly a better player now, and has the twin virtues of being strong on attack and safe on defence.

Against Hansen, though, is that he has been bothered by hamstring injuries this year and, for a start anyway, Mr Wyllie might be more inclined to gamble on Flynn, whose aggression gives him some likeness to Simpson. Canterbury is going to be much the poorer without Craig Green on the left wing. Green may not be the

best wing the province has ever had, but there have been few better footballers. With Green out, Joe Leota, Adrian Boyd and Dennis Woods will dispute the wing positions and they do have the common virtue of pace. Leota may have a lot more as well. No-one would deny that Alex Wyllie has built a champion side in the last four years, and he has taken the odd selectorial risk which has worked well for him — the most notable being when he turned Andrew McMaster, a fullback, into a wing. However, Mr Wyllie did inherit most of his top players and six of the seven going to South Africa were in the team when he took over, the seventh, Taylor, coming to Christchurch that first year. So now Mr Wyllie has the chance to prove that he can select every bit as well as he can coach. And if he can find the players to help take Canterbury to its big goal this year of a record 26 Ranfurly Shield defences it will be another sizeable feather in his already wellfestooned hat.