Shaw recalled for crucial third test

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 36

Shaw recalled for crucial third test

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Because of its second division status, Hawke’s Bay is not too often under the rugby spotlight, but it will have an All Black in the third test team to play Australia in the deciding game at Eden Park on Saturday.

Mark Shaw is back. Along with Arthur Stone and Kieran Crowley, the fiery Shaw has been summoned to the All Black team for the all-important test in the Bledisloe Cup series.

Those to have lost their places from the side which squared the series at Carisbrook are Greg Cooper, Warwick Taylor and Alan Whetton. The team decided upon yesterday morning by the selectors Brian Lochore, Stan Hill and Colin Meads, is: Kieran Crowley; John Kirwan, Joe Stanley, Craig Green; Arthur Stone, Frano Botica; David Kirk (captain); Mike Brewer; Jock Hobbs, Gary Whetton, Murray Pierce, Mark Shaw; Gary Knight, Hika Reid, Steve McDowell.

Reserves.— Backs: Dean Kenny, Marty Berry, Terry Wright. Forwards: Andy Earl, Kevin Boroevich, Sean Fitzpatrick.

The shift from Manawatu to Hawke’s Bay this season and the captaincy of the Bay team have served to increase

Shaw’s enthusiasm for the game, and by all accounts, he was an inspirational figure in the Bay’s big win over the New Zealand Emerging Players. Shaw, aged 30, will need to bring some stimulation and incitement to the All Black pack which was lacking in direction and drive towards the fin-

ish of both halves of the second test.

Except for Knight, Shaw, with 64 appearances for New Zealand and 29 tests, is the senior member of the pack. He is not one to wait for a war to come to him; his selection suggests that the selectors are wanting someone to provide the All Blacks with their own firepower. Stone, not unaccustomed, or surprised, when the hatchet is wielded in his direction, will resume his chequered All Black career outside Botica. The two liaised competently and produced some deft touches in the first test, but that was lost and Stone was again made, one of the scapegoats.

The former Waikato player did not fancy his chances of a test recall after the second test in which he described Taylor as having a “blinder.” He was being too kind to Taylor whose attacks of agoraphobia had him cut-

ting back into the middle of the unravelling packs. Stone, by his own admission, thought he had played only an average game for Bay of Plenty against the Wallabies on Saturday and did not expect to reclaim his test position. His off-field judgments have been less successful than his on-field assessments.

The recall of Crowley was expected. Crowley, who equalled the New Zealand record for penalies, with six, when making his test debut against England last year, appears more stable on defence and under the high ball than Cooper, whose form against the Australians in the first two tests was many removes below his performance against France earlier in the season.

The selectors have spread their arms wide in trying to find the right All Black test combination. In all, 26 players have been called for duty.