Canty to warm up

Press, 10 February 1989, Page 40

Canty to warm up

By ■

BOB SCHUMACHER

Four matches have been arranged for the Canterbury rugby team as part of its preparation for the A.G.C. South Pacific series which starts in early April. A strong Tinwald invitation team has been chosen to oppose Canterbury at Tinwald on March 11 and the Cantabrians have organised matches against Canterbury Maoris at Rugby Park on March 15 and against a Centurions selection on March 19. The president of the Cantabrian R.F.C., “Tiny” Hill will have some input in the selections, with the Canterbury coach, Frank Jack, having the final say. On March 26 a Canterbury selection will meet an Ashley invitation XV at the Ashley ground in Loburn. Mr Jack said yesterday that he was steering away from straight trial games, but added that the four matches organised so far would enable him to experiment with combinations and view all possible early-season candidates. The Tinwald invitation XV is:— Robbie Deans (Canterbury); Saula Beuta (Hawke’s Bay), Matthew Cooper (Hawke’s Bay), Geoff Frew (Mid-Canterbury; Steve Tarrant (South Canterbury), lan Stark (Marlborough); Dean Kenny (Otago); Don Rennie (Mid-Canterbury); Paul Renton (Hawke’s Bay), Frank Martell (Marlborough), Gordon Macpherson (Otago), Brent Pope (Otago); Murray Davie (Canterbury), Lee McDonald (Mid-Canterbury), Steve Hotton (Otago). • Twenty-two entries have been received for the Trust Bank Canterbury club sevens tournament at Rugby Park on the evenings of February 16 and 17. Qualifying matches will be played on the first evening to reduce the number to 16 for the second evening. - In the first round all 22 teams were drawn by baland the 11 winning teams will proceed to the second night of competition. The 11 losing teams will be redrawn