Bachop stays as Canty halfback

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 68

Bachop stays as Canty halfback

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

The roles will be reversed for Canterbury’s two All Black halfbacks, Bruce Dean and Graeme Bachop, when Canterbury meets Argentina in the rugby international at Lancaster Park on Saturday.

As the All Blacks have swept aside Wales, Australia and France in test series in the last two seasons — and Argentina seems destined to join that category — Bachop has been a passive .onlooker on the reserves’ bench. Deans has played all eight tests in that period and each time Bachop has been his understudy. However, the Canterbury coach, Frank Jack, has used Bachop in eight of his team’s nine matches this season — All Black commitments forced Bachop to miss the fixture against Marlborough last Wednesday — and he has stuck by him for Saturday, although Deans was available. Bachop returns in place of Allan 'Lindsay, and the only other change to the team from that which inflicted a record loss on Marlborough last week is

Andy Earl’s inclusion ahead of Chris England. Earl was included in the Canterbury team to oppose Marlborough, but through circumstances beyond his control he was left stranded when the team set out for Blenheim. The former All Black utility warned that he might be in trouble when his farm, inland of Rotheram, was under 12cm of snow on the morning of the match. The depth had extended to 17cm by the time Canterbury had written off Earl as unavoidably detained. The New Zealand Universities lock, John Jackson, originally a reserve until Earl’s incarceration on his own property, took full opportunity of his reinstatement as Albert Anderson’s locking partner. In easily his most impressive game in six for

Canterbury, Jackson used his gangly build to rise high and cleanly pull down lineout throws and the ball from kickoffs. England, too, impressed with his aggression and excellent support play against Marlborough. With the return of Earl, someone had to be unlucky and that person was England. Robin Penny’s outstanding form warranted his retention and he has been placed at No. 8 although he has been the blindside flanker in his other seven matches this season. Although Bruce Deans will be among the reserves on Saturday, his elder brother, Robbie, who has scored 110 points in eight matches, will be at fullback. Deans and Warwick Taylor, in commanding form since recovering from injury, provided the steadying influence to a backline which

has given full expression to its attacking talent in recent matches. In its last four representative fixtures, the Canterbury backs have been responsible for 24 of the team’s 35 tries, with the strapping Fijian right wing, Paula Bale, scoring three times in each of those matches. According to the team manager, Peter Robinson, Canterbury trained meaningfully on Sunday and will complete its preparations . with another run tomorrow evening. j The Canterbury team is.— Robbie Deans; Paula Bale, Andrew McCormick, Wiremu Maunsell; Warwick Taylor, Stephen Bachop; Graeme Bachop; Robin Penney; Murray Henderson, John Jackson, Albert Anderson (captain), Andy Earl; Kevin Hill, John Buchan, Chris Earl. Reserves.— Backs: Bruce Deans, Greg Coffey, Kieran Flynn. Forwards: Tavita Sio, Andy Owen, Chris England.