N.S.W. will be formidable foe

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 46

N.S.W. will be formidable foe

By

JOHN BROOKS

If only for the presence of four prominent Wallabies in the reserves, New South Wales must be regarded as a formidable rugby opponent for Canterbury in the opening game of the A.G.C. South Pacific championship at Lancaster Park oval on Saturday. Canterbury won the title last year, but its only loss was to New South Wales, 15-16, in Sydney. Later, however, Canterbury took on the full might of Australia, in Christchurch, and

won convincingly, 30-10. Glen Ella, who broke his leg in that match — but didn’t discover the nature of his injury until much later — has been chosen as New South Wales’ five-eighths for Saturday. Normally a full-back, he will be playing in the position which was once the preserve of his famous brother, Mark.

The four Wallabies placed in the reserves ae Ross Reynolds, an outstanding utility forward, Mick Murray (prop), Stephen James (fiveeighths) and lan

Williams (wing), the Wallabies’ top try scorer on their New Zealand tour last year.

But there will still be lashings of talent in the side captained by the renowned half-back, Nick Farr-Jones, who has taken over the leadership from Simon Poidevin.

Up front the chunky Enrique Rodrlguez, a scrummager supreme, will be joined by Mark Hartill, the discovery of last year’s Wallaby tour. He had made only one appearance for his stage before that expedition.

Poidevin, Steve Tuynman, who has made an enormous advance since his rookie tour of New Zealand in 1982, and “Skylab” Steve Cutler, the line-out leaping king, are other outstanding members of the pack. In the backs N.S.W. has been boosted by David Campese’s move across the state line from the Australian Capital Territory. With Campese and the brilliant Brett Papworth in the three-quar-ter line, the visitors will have two of the best sidesteppers in rugby on display.

Matt Burke, a hard tackling and strong running centre for Australia, and Andrew Leeds, who improved steadily on the 1986 tour to earn his first test cap in the final international at Auckland, are other backs likely to figure prominently.

The full team is; Leeds, Campese, Burke, Papworth, Dwayne Vignes, Ella, FarrJones (Captain); Tuynman, Poidevin, Cutler, Tim Gavin, David Reen, Hartill, Peter Palmer, Rodriguez.

Reserves.— Backs: Williams, James, Brad Burke. Forwards: Reynolds, Murray, Kel Black.