Selectors’ job made no easier in drab contest

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 38

Selectors’ job made no easier in drab contest

From

BOB SCHUMACHER

in Oamaru

If the AH Black selectors were hoping that the inter-island rugby match at Oamaru’s Centennial Park yesterday was going to unveil players worthy of All Black status for this month’s test against France, they were to be disappointed.

Very few players took the opportunity to reveal hitherto hidden talents, although! the North Island XV could justifiably give itself a pat on the back. It won the annual contest for the fourth successive year and its 22-10 victory was certainly deserved. The winning margin, if anything, should have been greater and that may have explained the stem countenance of one of the All Black selectors, Colin Meads, at the end of the game. He and his fellow selectors, Brian Lochore and Tiny Hill, would not have been amiss had they severely reprimanded both teams for their sometimes cavalier approach. The ingredients were there for the match to be fast and furious: interisland rivalry being what it is should have been sufficient for all players to expand their chests and charge the adrenalin, while conditions were perfect, a dry ground, overhead sun and a sizeable, if not very vocal, crowd. Yet the game did not develop after a bright opening in which South Island gained an early three-point lead and held it until two minutes before half-time. At that point a brave South defence cracked under constant pressure and Frano Botica, the much-vaunted first five-eighths from North Harbour, proved just what a nippy customer he can be with a darting run and diving try on the blindside.

The try, though, was a tribute to the sterling work of the North Island forwards, who all too quickly won the battle up front and never let their stranglehold be broken. The second and third North Island tries, scored after 10 minutes and 29 minutes of the second half, were almost replicas of the first. The forward charge, the scrum to North, the initial probe by the halfback, David Kirk or the No. 8, John McDermott, or one of the flankers. Desperate defence sometimes delayed the inevitable but the North pack had a vice-like grip and Kirk was all alone as he got the second and the outstanding prop, Kevin Boroevich, was credited with the third after a classic forward pile-up over the South line resulted in Boroevich regaining his feet last, but with the ball in hand. With five minutes remaining, the North Island sealed its victory and did so with a touch of class. A clean line-out take and quick delivery to Kirk set the backline moving with pace and precision that had been lacking for most of the match. The entry of the fullback, Greg Cooper, was most timely. He blasted the gaping hole and a long pass and the speed of his Auckland team-mate, Terry Wright, on the left wing, was all that was needed to climax the perfect try. Cooper, after a few fumbles and three missed

goal attempts in the first half, came in for some derisive remarks, possibly from people not too happy about his movement from Otago to Auckland in the off season. He settled down as the game progressed and his new-found confidence coincided with a return to goal-kicking form; his three conversions in the second half were worthy efforts. There was time for South Island to display a little muscle in the rucks, provide controlled ball and produce several attacking ploys of its own, before the crowd vanished as quickly as the setting sun. One such concerted surge brought it a try a minute before the end. Bruce Deans flicked the ball to his Canterbury team-mate, Joe Leota, who had little room to manoeuvre on the blindside. But he had the strength to shrug aside his marker, Bernie Smith, and the pace to sprint 22m to the line. It was a fitting reward for Leota who allowed himself to be involved in situations not solely offensive. There was urgency in his defence as well. For North Island, tries by Frano Botica, David Kirk, Kevin Boroevich and Terry Wright, with Greg Cooper kicking three conversions. ' For South Island, Joe Leota a try and Brent McKenzie two penalty goals. The referee was Geoff Smith (Hawke’s Bay).