Sport 14
Ashburton Guardian
Saturday, April 8, 2017
www.guardianonline.co.nz
In brief
■ RUGBY
Leading from the front BY MATT MARKHAM
MATT.M@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Keeping the foot firmly on the pedal will be the modus operandi from Danny Hurley for Celtic when they take on the Glenmark and Cheviot combined side at home this afternoon in rugby’s Combined Division One competition. With two wins in the bag and maximum points on the board, the green and whites have a perfect opportunity to really put the heat on their rivals after just three rounds if they can secure a win today and Hurley, who captains the side, will be pumping up his lads to try and ensure that’s the result they get. “We’ve made the start we wanted to make,” Hurley said. “That came off the back of a really good pre-season build-up I think, we were able to really hit the ground running.” Hurley isn’t really sure what to expect from their rivals on the Celtic grounds this afternoon, but knows his side will have be on their game. “They beat us in a knockout match last season, but you really
don’t know until about half-way through which teams you have to be really wary of in this competition. “We just need to get out there and do our jobs properly and hopefully that will be enough to get us the result.” With a good mixture of youth and experience in this year’s squad, Hurley said he was enjoying the challenge of captaining the Celtic side and had a lot of faith that his side could go a long way in the competition. “I really enjoy it,” he said. “And this year we have a really good bunch of guys with some young talent and a few older experienced guys there too, so it’s a really good mix. “I think we have four 18-yearolds in the side, so that’s really encouraging.” Just around the corner from Celtic, in contrasting scenarios, Hampstead will be trying to kickstart their season when they take on Burnham, Dunsandel and Irwell while Rakaia host Rolleston and Southern are heading to Oxford to look to build on their own perfect start to the season.
Club rugby for Read Humble Linfield Park in suburban Christchurch is the venue when Kieran Read begins a momentous rugby year this weekend. All Blacks captain Read is expected to play 40 minutes for University in a rare club appearance when they face Linwood today. It is the first match of the year for the 97-cap No.8, who has been recovering from wrist surgery. His last match was the test win over France in Paris in November. - NZME
Brown off to Japan Highlanders coach Tony Brown will help guide Japan during the June international window, meaning he won’t be in charge against the touring British and Irish Lions. Brown confirmed he will link with Japan head coach Jamie Joseph – his predecessor at the Highlanders – to help the Cherry Blossoms prepare for internationals against Romania and Ireland (two). - NZME
Trophy adds meaning
Danny Hurley is enjoying his role as captain of the Celtic senior rugby side. PHOTO ASHBURTON GUARDIAN 050316-AK-045
The memory of former coach Gordon Hunter is still a motivating factor for the Highlanders, 15 years after his death. Coach Tony Brown paid tribute to Hunter as the southerners prepared to face the Blues today, with the trophy etched in the former detective’s name at stake. “Every player who played under Gordie loved him, especially down this way,” Brown said. - NZME
■ OPINION
Scrum a unique weapon T he rugby scrum has been in the news recently, and not for good reasons. The Crusaders game against the Force a couple of weeks ago descended into farce on occasions, as the scrum collapsed, and collapsed again, adding grist to the mill for those do-gooders who would have the whole thing banned on account of the inherent dangers. It happens in most games at some point, but sometimes the protagonists just can’t get it together and solve the issues, leading to the likes of the six-minute scrum that occurred late in that game. Both packs were there to scrum – they said so quite plaintively when the exasperated ref asked them. So is it the ref’s fault, ineptitude at not being able to control his game properly, despite the massive training these guys go through to get to that level? Or is just two monster packs with slightly differing agendas, with neither prepared to back down an inch and surrender that tiny advantage to the opposition, and both happy to play brinkmanship with the whistleblower, knowing that at some point he’ll be reaching for the pocket. It’s unfortunate that it can reach that point, because it’s a vital part of the game; a robust battle for possession that defines what rugby is all about. It may not look that way to the layman just in from Mars watching a game, but there is an immense amount of skill required to get that scrum operating as both an attacking and defensive weapon on the field. The number eight has so many jobs to do, taking a mental screenshot of the entire field and locating every player on
either side before sticking his head in unmentionable places. The seven’s job description is pretty obvious; reach Steve Devereux the first five at exactly the MY SHOUT same time as the ball, and forcibly prevent him from doing anything at all with it. The number six patrols the blindside, putting up a brick wall that no jinky little halfback or powerful winger can pierce. The locks are the engine room, providing the core strength for the whole shebang, while the front row, well nobody actually knows what goes on in that dark and murky place except the inhabitants, and they are not generally known for their verbosity on the subject. League has a scrum of sorts in their game, but it’s truly just a method of restarting play while keeping the lumbering forwards out of the way for a bit. It’s amusing listening to the ref continually telling the half to put the ball in straight, when he may as well be passing it directly to the man in the back, but that’s ok because it suits that game’s purpose just fine. A really good scrum is a sight to behold, and one of the best scenarios, that you only see three or four times a season, is where there’s two mammoth packs heaving, straining, exerting enormous pressure on each other, the ball is rolled in by the halfback – and it just sits there, completely untouched. Neither hooker is able to construct the simple act of lifting a foot to strike at the ball that’s sitting literally inches away from their faces, because the opposing forces are exactly equal, creating a contest of wills that nobody wants to lose. It may not be as pretty as some slick backline moves, but it makes for absolutely superb rugby theatre.