Rugby rivals close to danger zone

Press, 12 September 1987, Page 92

Rugby rivals close to danger zone

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

The rugby roller coaster has provided rocky rides for both Canterbury and Manawatu in the National Mutual first division championship this season and the loser of their confrontation at Lancaster Park this afternoon is in some danger of falling off the rail.

Manawatu was slowly on the way up with two wins and nine points from five games until the bot-tom-placed Taranaki engineered its fast descent last Saturday. Canterbury, which has played one game less, has only the two teams which it narrowly downed on its recent northern visit — Wairarapa-Bush and Taranaki — behind it, and victories by both those teams within the last week has placed Canterbury in the relegation danger zone. The winner of today’s match can breathe a little easier and may even derive enough confidence to set its sights on finishing in the top half of the competition, Manawatu has the record book against it at Lancaster Park. Its last win on the ground, and only success there since the introduction of the national championship in 1976, occurred in 1981. But then Wellington had not beaten Canterbury at Lancaster Park since 1981 either — that was until last Saturday. Although the Canterbury coach, Doug Bruce, has omitted a regular name or two from his team for recent matches he has not gone to the extremes of his Manawatu counterpart, Kevin Evelelgh. A durable and rugged forward for Manawatu and New Zealand in the 19705, Mr Eveleigh has removed both his captain, Murray Henderson and the vice-captain, Matene Love, from the team. Henderson is gone from the squad and Love has been placed in the reserves. ' Mr Eveleigh said yesterday that it had been a

tough decision but Henderson had suffered a bad knee injury against Auckland and the problem had stayed with him. Mr Eveleigh has plucked John Fisher, from the Manawatu B team to replace Henderson as a flanker and as captain. He was somewhat pessimistic in his assessment of Manawatu’s prospects today. “Canterbury are always hard, we always seem to struggle. Our form has been very patchy after we started well and that loss to Taranaki really showed that we have gone off the boil. Why? I don’t know. “There’s been a lack of commitment, especially up front. We’ve worked on it and I stressed last week that they must show more commitment. But they (the players) are the ones that have to go out there and give it to win. Either they want to or they don’t,” Mr Eveleigh said. Mr Bruce said he was surprised that Love, an All Black trialist and one of the team’s more experienced players, had been demoted but, with a diplomatic sidestep, he observed that the replacements for Love and Henderson must be seen as a more serious threat to Canterbury because they had been preferred ahead of regular players. Only the first fiveeighths, Alex Tatana, remains from the Manawatu team which last beat Canterbury at Lancaster Park, but the fullback, Andrew McMaster, will tread familiar turf. Before transferring to Palmerston North, McMaster was a valued member of the Canterbury team in its Ranfurly Shield heyday. The amountofwarmth

to McMaster’s welcome might depend on what part he plays in proceedings and, as the goalkicker, he is unlikely to fill a minor role. There will be interest, too, in how he compares with the Canterbury fullback, Shayne Philpott Both must have outside prospects of being included in the All Black team to tour Japan later this year. Of the private duels, however, the most absorbing may be between the No. 8s — Emosi Koloto, the strapping Manawatu player whose vaunted reputation is well earned, and one of the home heroes, Dale Atkins, who was left to cool his heels on the reserves’ bench against Wellington last Saturday. Both teams have a healthy respect for each other, an esteem forged by the many uncompromising conflicts between them in recent years. Neither is at the peak of its power, but the closeness of their positions on the championship table and the now desperate need for points to advance up it should ensure a keen edge to today’s match. The teams are:-

Canterbury: Shayne Philpott; David Ellis, Victor Simpson, Mark Vincent; Warwick Taylor, Stephen Bachop; Bruce Deans; Dale Atkins; Stephen Dods, Albert Anderson, Craig Philpott, Grant Mickell; Chris Earl, John Buchan (captain), Murray Davie.

Manawatu: Andrew McMaster; Dave Gosling, Paul Crosswell, Darren Henare; Peter Crosswell, Alex Tatana; Chris O’Neill; Emosi Koloto; John Fisher (captain), Warwick Clausen, Chris England,. Kevin Schuler; Huia Gordon, Danny Morrison, Steve Cumberland or Graham Hurunui.