Neath ready for its biggest day

Press, 24 October 1989, Page 48

Neath ready for its biggest day

By

DAVID LEGGAT

of NZPA in Swansea

Neath is preparing for the biggest day in its history when it meets the All Blacks at its ground, The Gnoll, on Thursday (NZ time), according to its coach, Ron Waldron.

Never before in its 118 years has Neath played an international touring side in its own right. It has always been combined with the Aberavon club.

However, as Welsh champion, it has earned the right to stand

alone and Mr Waldron is hoping Neath does itself proud. “We expect a hard game, and hope-

fully we’ll give one,” he said. The All Blacks have met Neath and Aberavon four times. The first three meetings were close — 13-3 in 1935-36, 11-5 in 1953-54 and 11-6 in 1963-64.

However, lan Kirkpatrick’s team of 1972-73 — which in-

cluded the current All Black coach, Alex Wyllie — trounced the home side, 43-3.

This Neath side, however, will be markedly better than that combination.

Indeed the All Blacks are preparing for perhaps the toughest week of the tour of Wales and Ireland as they meet Llanelli at

Stradey Park on Sunday. Neath and Llanelli are comfortably the best of the Welsh clubs and to face them back-to-back should give the All Blacks a solid workout before the November 4 test against Wales. Neath set a Welsh record of 1917 points last season, winning 46 of its 50 matches with the Welsh fullback, Paul Thorburn, contributing a huge 319 points.

It has a rugged, mobile pack with a big lock in Gareth Llewelyn, but Mr Waldron was cautious in his estimate of the value of entering in a forward battle with the All Blacks. “It depends on the relative standards. We are truly mobile by Welsh standards, but against the All Blacks that’s a question mark.

“Our philosophy for the last six years has been to try and go for mobile forwards. History has told us pace is the ultimate weapon.” The Neath team includes five current or former internationals, including Thorburn, the No. 8, Mark Jones, the prop, Jeremy Pugh, the flanker, Martyn Morris, plus the hooker and captain Kevin Phillips. It prepared for Thursday’s ■match with a big 60-9, win over Sale on Sunday, comfortably beat

Cardiff, but has suffered a twopoiiit loss, 14-12, to Llanelli recently. Mr Waldron said he had picked up points of interest in the All Blacks three tour matches so far, but was reluctant to talk of victory. He pointed out that while Cardiff and Swansea had given fine performances against the All

Blacks they had still lost, 25-15 and 37-22 respectively. “By New Zealand standards they didn’t play as well as they are able to against Swansea. But they still scored 37 points, which says they’re not bad,” Mr Waldron said. Meanwhile the All Blacks had a day off yesterday, however weather in south Wales curtailed any thoughts of outdoor activities. The miserable rain and fog stayed with the tourists, who now have an uncomfortably large share of injury worries to contend with. The test blindside flanker, Alan Whetton, is almost certain to be out of the international against Wales after damaging a hamstring in his right thigh on Sunday. The second five-eighths, John Schuster, will miss the Neath match, but could be back in action against Llanelli. The same prognosis applies to the first five-eighths, Grant Fox,who had stitches put in his head and a split tongue after colliding with an Auckland teammate, Matthew Ridge, in training last Friday. 1 The All Blacks are now down to 11 fit backs, with the right wing, John Kirwan, already out of the tour with his ruptured Achilles tendon. The Neath team: Paul Thorburn, Chris Higgs, Colin Laity, Allan Bateman, Alan Edmunds; Paul Williams, Chris Bridges; Mark Jones, Martyn Morris, Mike Whitson, Gareth Llewelyn, Phil Pugh; Jeremy Pugh, Kevin Phillips (captain), Brian Williams. Reserves: Rupert Moon, Adrian Davies, David Joseph, Andrew Thomas, Andrew Kembrey, David Pickering.