ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 13, 2013
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Murph gives seal of approval There are also improvements in new concrete safety barriers, new kerbings, some resurfacing, new team garages with corporate viewing above pit lane, new race control buildings complete with podium and a new bridge which will allow the fans to converge on the infield and pits. Pukekohe Park Raceway has always been a fast track and has tested the likes of Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart since opening as a permanent track in 1963. Although top speed will drop from about 270kmh to 255kmh because of the changes, the new turns are expected to become a focal point as drivers jostle for position around the sharp but wide corners.
Warriors gear up for SBW stand why Matt Elliott has kept the team the same. They just have to start getting into a groove. “I keep coming back to the same problem - the halves are still an issue. Shaun Johnson is not playing well and Thomas Leuluai is not a halfback, he’s a hooker. He’s not creative enough.” Pita Godinet provided some spark off the bench last weekend and he is part of an extended five-man interchange to play the Roosters. Utility Ben Henry is also included on the bench after missing the last match through injury. Steve Rapira will get the chance to start an NRL match for the first time alongside his brother Sam. Four sets of brothers have now played together for the Warriors in official first-grade matches - Tea and Iva Ropati, Vinnie and Louis Anderson and Jerry and Anthony Seuseu and the Rapiras who spent some time on the park together last weekend but not as starters.
By Myles Hume Ashburton’s emerging star Alin Onicas turned the heads of provincial coaches during his dominant outing at the Junior Canterbury Athletics Championships at the weekend. Claiming a gold medal after placing first in the shot put, discuss and long jump, second in the 100 metre sprint and third in the 200m, his all-round performance in the 13-year-old boys’ grade landed him a spot in his respective age-group in the Canterbury squad for the Interprovincials to be held during the Easter break. But Alin was not the only standout for the Ashburton Athletics Club. Emma Beecroft shone in the 7-year-old girls’ grade, claiming an overall silver medal after winning the 60m sprint, coming
Australian skipper Michael Clarke
Troubled Canberra duo Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson have been stood down indefinitely by the NRL club for breaching numerous team policies. Dugan yesterday revealed he’s battling a “personal” matter, which is not limited to drinking alcohol while injured. Raiders coach David Furner said Dugan and Ferguson broke team protocol by missing a rehab session on Monday after the Raiders 32-10 loss to Penrith. Furner said police were called to a disturbance at the house the duo were drinking alcohol at and have been stood down indefinitely while the club investigates the matter. “The club has strong policies in place and breaches of these policies are taken very seriously,” Furner said. “We have stood both Josh and Blake down and will determine punishment once we have concluded our investigations.” - AAP
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While former players including exskipper Allan Border have ridiculed the suspensions as schoolboy stuff, Clarke says it hasn’t just been one incident that has led himself, Arthur and team manager Gavin Dovey to take dramatic action. “There have been a number of issues on this tour where I don’t think we have been hitting our standards,” Clarke said.
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I am going to spend the next few weeks with my family and weigh up my options
Watson has also been juggling family commitments and headed back to Sydney on Monday night for the birth of his first child. There’s confusion over whether he’ll return for the fourth Test in Delhi on March 22. The 31-year-old says he’s shattered by his suspension and feels harshly treated. “I am going to spend the next few weeks with my family and weigh up my options as to exactly which direction I want to go,” Watson said. “I am at a stage where I have to weigh up my future with what I want to do with my cricket in general.” Pattinson took a more grown-up approach to his suspension. “It should have been done. “All the other players bar four got it in,” the 22-year-old quick told reporters yesterday. “It was part forgetting and at at this level you can’t forget. “It’s pretty cut-throat and personally not good enough. “People talk about it as a harsh punishment but looking deeply into it you realise probably it’s not.” - AAP
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level this series,” Clarke said. “The four players to not do it, not only does it let the team down, it also shows a lack of respect for the head coach and in the Australian cricket team that is unacceptable.”
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second in the 100m and shot put and third in the 200m and long jump. The duo marked a successful day for the 21-strong team at the Timaru meet, with a host of competitors claiming places in their respective events. In the 14-year-old girls’ grade, Mikhayla-Rose Stroganov claimed second spot in both the 400m and 800m, Jackson Ross came second in the discus and third in the 8-year-old boys’ 100m and long jump, while Matheson Colquhoun came third in the 8-year-old boys 60m and finished in the top eight in most of his events. With Alin already making the Canterbury squad to compete in Timaru, the Ashburton Athletics Club is waiting to find out if any budding local athletes between 7 and 11 will represent Canterbury at the 995 meet on Sunday.
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Australia captain Michael Clarke has blasted four suspended players for disrespecting head coach Mickey Arthur over the controversial homework-gate affair. Arthur announced that vice-captain Shane Watson, Test quick James Pattinson and squad members Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson had been ruled out of contention for Thursday’s third Test against India in Mohali. Australia trail 2-0 in the fourmatch contest and Arthur had asked each member of the squad to make a presentation to him, either in person or in written form, about how the team could fight their way back into the series. The four players failed to meet a deadline of Saturday night to make their presentations. “It took a lot of thinking because you had to look at your game and where you thought you could improve, what you had learnt and what you could do to help this team
• Dugan, Ferguson out
Sonny Bill Williams: only a matter of time before he hits his straps in league
Clarke defends player suspensions Greg Buckle
New Zealand Breakers centre Alex Pledger played a major role in helping his team extend their winning streak to 15 games and as a result has earned the NBL Player of the Week award for round 22 of the NBL Championship. The 2.15m Pledger guided the Breakers to wins over the Cairns Taipans and Melbourne Tigers to sit three games clear of the Perth Wildcats on top of the NBL ladder with just two fixtures remaining in the regular season. Pledger finished the round with 31 points on 63 per cent shooting, 17 rebounds and three blocks, posting 20 points and six boards in the 80-77 win over Cairns, followed by 11 points and 11 rebounds in the 79-74 road victory over Melbourne. - APNZ
Alin a shining star at champs
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Warriors side to play the Sydney Roosters at Eden Park on Saturday (7.30pm): Kevin Locke, Glen Fisiiahi, Dane Nielsen, Konrad Hurrell, Bill Tupou, Thomas Leuluai, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Elijah Taylor, Ben Matulino, Steve Rapira, Simon Mannering (c), Todd Lowrie. Interchange (one to be omitted): Jacob Lillyman, Feleti Mateo, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Pita Godinet, Ben Henry. - APNZ
• Reward for Pledger
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The Warriors have a slogan this year of ‘Rise With Us’ and for fans it can’t come soon enough after a disappointing and deflating start to the season that conjured up memories of a dreadful 2012 campaign. All of the optimism of pre-season was eroded in 80 minutes against Parramatta, when they were thrashed 40-10 by last year’s wooden spooners. The Warriors had been bullish before that match about how they had crossed a line in the sand and last year was history. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like everyone crossed that line and Warriors coach Matt Elliott now says he has a better understanding of that. As much as he needs to work on his side’s defence, he also needs to ensure his players are tuned in as they contemplate a 10th-straight NRL defeat. He has said they were “tired and disjointed” against the Eels and “too easily distracted”. They will come up against a fairly big one on Saturday, when the man with the three most recognisable initials in Australasian sport comes to Eden Park with the Sydney Roosters.
Sonny Bill Williams has more than enough ability to exploit a defence that conceded seven tries against the Eels, and it’s only a matter of time before he finds his feet again after five years away from rugby league. The presence of Williams is probably a good thing for the Warriors. Not only will it attract punters to Eden Park but it will also take some of the spotlight off a Warriors outfit seemingly battling their own demons. Elliott has resisted the urge to make wholesale changes to the starting side to face the Roosters. Bill Tupou will play on the wing in place of Manu Vatuvei, who is out for up to three weeks with an ankle injury, and Steve Rapira will start in the second row instead of Feleti Mateo, who drops to the bench. Former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan isn’t too worried about the Warriors, yet, and expects to see a much improved effort against the Roosters. “The embarrassment of that defeat will always raise their performance,” McGahan said. “They have to play their way out of it. “Once they are playing well, their confidence will come back but it is just one game. “It’s still early days so I can under-
James Te Huna will join fellow Kiwi mixed martial arts fighter Mark Hunt on the UFC 160 card in Las Vegas on May 25 after he was announced yesterday as the replacement to meet Glover Teixeira. Teixeira’s scheduled opponent Ryan Bader injured himself in training and has had to pull out of the bout that will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. On Monday, Hunt was also confirmed as a replacement fighter for Alistair Overeem and will meet Junior dos Santos at the event. - APNZ
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By Michael Brown
• Te Huna to join Hunt
“[The new turns] have changed things massively,” Murphy said. “It’s a beautiful bit of design as far as a race track is concerned. “How that changes racing is the bit we are all going to sit on the edge of our seats and wait for, but there will be good passing opportunities. “It’s going to be great for spectators. I don’t see how the changes couldn’t be. “I was a little sceptical about a couple of the new corners but, after seeing them now, I see them as a fantastic addition. “The rest of the track is unchanged in its nature and so it is still fast and flowing with all the bumps that makes Pukekohe such a great circuit.” - APNZ Right: Greg Murphy ready to race
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Pukekohe is a place Greg Murphy holds dear, and it’s part of the reason why he will struggle when racing gets underway at next month’s ITM 400 Auckland. The 40-year-old King of Pukekohe won four rounds at the famous track (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005) before V8 Supercars relocated to Hamilton in 2008. Racing returns on April 12-14 after a five-year absence and there’s the added interest around the new generation Car of the Future, but local fans won’t see Murphy in one of them. He had a couple of lean years in the V8 Supercars and is now racing
the New Zealand V8 SuperTourers - he leads after two rounds this year - and admits he will be a little “grumpy” when the ITM 400 gets under way. He tried to secure backing for a wildcard entry but will have to content himself with being the event’s ambassador. Murphy surveyed the changes to the track yesterday and gave them his seal of approval. The raceway has undergone a $6.6m facelift that has resulted in Pukekohe returning to the V8 Supercars calendar at least until 2017 and V8 Supercars bosses touting it as a world-class facility. The biggest change sees three new turns (Turns 5, 6 and 7) added towards the end of the back straight.
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