Rivals in same pack

Press, 17 June 1988, Page 48

Rivals in same pack

By JOHN COFFEY The recent rivals, Sttiart Simcott, John Green and Peter Kaisa, will pack down together in the Canterbury Emerging Players rugbyi. league forwards against Otago at the Addington Show Grounds this evening. Simcott, Green and Kaisa were contenders for one second-row position in the Canterbury team which challenged Auckland for the Rugby League Cup last Sunday. Simcott, only 19 years of age, was preferred after an outstanding display for the Emerging Players in its 44-12 defeat of Southland.

This evening, Kaisa and Green will be second-row partners, with Simcott moving up to fill one of the prop positions. No doubt they will continue to be on trial, ihough the/ next representative fixture is the likely South Island second division final between the Emerging Players and West Coast at Greymouth early next month.

Injuries have caused some reshuffling in the Emerging Players backline. The Eastern Suburbs centre, Henry Proctor, has been promoted for the first time, and Malcolm Taylor is the new reserve back.

Ray Haffenden, the

Canterbury A coach who has considerable experience of evaluating playing, strengths in the southern provinces, expects Otago to be a morte/formidable opponent than Southland. “They should .be fit. I have heard that the Otago squad has been training under the guidance of a doctor. In one session he took the players through to the point of exhaustion, something which has probably not been done before with a football team,” he said. The best-known member of the Otago side is Murray Cain, who was the South Island fullback in two of its three interdistricts matches last season?. Cain is expected to be Otago’s stand-off half. •

Otago/, like Southland, faces an arduous weekend, having to meet West Coast at Greymouth on Sunday. The itinerary was too much for Southland — after losing by 32 points at, the Show Grounds it was overwhelmed 66-0 by the West Coasters.

The revised Emerging Players line-up is.—

Vince McCue; Colin Tennant, Henry Proctor, Rick Kara, Julian Colombus; Brett Rodgers, Neville Woodham; Moko Rangiaho, Gary McLauchlan, Stuart Simcott; John Green, Peter Kaisa; Mark Frame. Reserves: Malcolm Taylor, Tia Arona. V