Canterbury faces tough rugby league season

Press, 28 November 1987, Page 19

Canterbury faces tough rugby league season

By

JOHN COFFEY

Canterbury cannot afford a sluggish start to its 1988 rugby league campaign if it is to regain some of the ground lost over the last season or two. Between April 30 and midJune Canterbury will compete with Auckland and Wellington in the new elite home-and-away inter-provincial series, and will come up against two Australian state teams. After a number of rousing tilts at Auckland’s top ranking in previous years, Canterbury has slipped to the third rung on the rugby league ladder, below Auckland and Wellington. Suggestions that the Canterbury premier inter-club competition might be expanded to include more than the present nine teams have given some of the province’s leading coaches cause for concern. Clearly, a larger premier-

ship would risk a lowering of standards at a time when the representative players, especially, need strong opposition to prepare for first-class fixtures.

Canterbury has been granted ■ matches against Western Australia and Queensland in May, when its reputation as an opponent for overseas sides below full international strength will be on the line. The inter-districts championship, introduced in 1979, has been abandoned. The triangular contest between Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington assumes greater importance from the viewpoint of the national selection panel. In its busiest programme for some time, Canterbury also has a home game against West Coast and another against a Southern Provinces team. The latter will be chosen from participants in the South Island second division championship between

Otago, West Coast, Southland and Canterbury Emerging Players. The West Coast, once so formidable, has in effect been demoted. But any complacency east of the Alps should evaporate with the 1987 results between the old rivals — Canterbury only scraped home by 18-16 in the clash of the top sides, and its second XIII was beaten for the first time by West Coast B. Major dates on the 1988 rugby league calendar are:— International Great Britain tour: July 17, v. New Zealand (World Cup) at Christchurch; July 20, v. Wellington at Wellington; July 24, v. Auckland at Auckland. Queensland tour May 15, v. West Coast at Greymouth; May 17, v. Canterbury at Christchurch (night). Papua New Guinea tour: June 29, v. Northland at Whangarei; July 3, v. Midlands at Tokoroa; July 5, v. Waikato at Huntly; July 10, v.

New Zealand (World Cup), tentatively at Auckland. Western Australia tour May 17, v. Manawatu at Palmerston North; May 22, v. Wellington at Wellington; May 25, v. Canterbury at Christchurch (night); May 29, v. West Coast at Greymouth. Western Samoa tour September 21, v. Waikato Invitation at Huntly; September 25, v. Northland Invitation at Whangarei; September 27, v. Auckland Emerging Players at Auckland; October 1 or 2, v. New Zealand Samoans. A team drawn from the national summer training squad is to travel to Brisbane in late February for a match against the Brisbane Broncos, as a prelude to the latter’s entry in the Sydney premiership. Provincial National championship (home team named first): April 30, Wellington v. Canterbury; May 8, Canterbury v. Auckland; May 15, Auckland v. Wellington; June 5, Canter-

bury v. Wellington; June 12, Auckland v. Canterbury; June 18, Wellington v. Auckland. Second division (home team named first): June 4, Canterbury Emerging Players v. Southland; June 5, West Coast v. Southland; June 18, Canterbury Emerging Players v. Otago; June 19, West Coast v. Otago; June 25, West Coast v. Canterbury Emerging Players; July 10, Southland v. Otago. Other matches; July 3, Canterbury v. West Coast at Christchurch; July 31, Canterbury v. Southern Provinces at Christchurch. A match between Auckland and The Rest will be played at Auckland in late June. Club Lion Red League Nationals: September 17-18, preliminary and round of 16 matches; September 24-25, quarterfinals; October 1-2, semifinals; October 9, grand final at Auckland.