The Star: November 08, 2018

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40 Thursday November 8 2018 Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi The Star Sport Halligan takes over the reins at his old club – Chch United FORMER ALL Whites midfielder and Christchurch United legend Danny Halligan has signed on as the new first team coach to help his old club return to the top of Canterbury football. Halligan completed five successful seasons coaching Ferrymead Bays in the Mainland Premier League, which featured a league title last year and the English Cup in 2016. The 53-time New Zealand international now re-joins Christchurch United, the club he previously made a huge impact on as a player and coach. Halligan initially joined the star-studded, all-conquering Christchurch United team in 1987 and won three National League titles and two Chatham Cups before embarking on a professional career with Brisbane United in the Australian League. He returned to Christchurch United in 1993 and unexpectedly found himself in his first coaching role, while still a key player, at the tender age of 28 when legendary coach Terry Conley retired. The first two players he recruited were two school boys called Ryan Nelsen and Ben Sigmund. “I was very happy at Bays and not looking for a change at all, so when Christchurch Keegan makes winning impact on sprintcar division • By Allan Batt FOR TWO seasons now, Christchurch speedway driver Luke Keegan has in racing terms had to start all over again, going from being New Zealand’s top modified racer to a rookie in the sprintcar division. The technology between the two classes is like night and day, with the sprintcars being significantly lighter, more powerful and faster than what Keegan was used to. But his win in the first feature race of the season at Ruapuna over the weekend NEW CHALLENGE: Danny Halligan, who was named Mainland Football coach of the year in 2017, has returned to Christchurch United. Luke Keegan United approached me, I was initially not that interested,” said Halligan. “But once I took a closer look at the intentions and the ambitions of the club, I got really excited by the challenge. And of course, I’ve also got a soft spot for Christchurch United with my history at the club.” After the club’s glory years in the 1980s and 1990s, Christchurch United has been languishing in the second tier of Mainland Football, and Halligan admits his knowledge of the championship and his squad is limited. “I’ve got a lot of work to do and it will be a big challenge, but it is the challenge that excites me about this role.” Christchurch United has been rebuilding over the past few years and its academy programme has delivered great results at youth level. But president Slava Meyn hopes that Halligan will be the missing piece in the puzzle to take the first team back to the MPL. “We feel honoured that Danny Halligan has agreed to help his old club get back to where we belong. Getting a coach with his experience and pedigree shows that Christchurch United is serious about its ambitions to again be the leading football brand in the region,” said Meyn. points to him having turned the corner. The three-time national modified champion has patiently worked his way through any frustrations that he had in adapting to the sprintcars and, while he has consistently been in the top five, the feature win has given his team huge confidence. On Saturday night, he will go into Ruapuna’s meeting – which will feature the first round of the $100,000 Hydraulink War of the Wings series – as a red hot favourite due to his CHAMPS: Hawkins Trophy winners Lincoln University will start next year under a new coaching duo. New coaches for Lincoln Uni • By Gordon Findlater NEW HEAD coach Alex Robertson and assistant Craig Dunlea will look to guide Lincoln University to a fifth straight metro rugby title next year. The pair come to Lincoln with some country rugby flavour, both having been involved in Canterbury Country’s rugby programme in recent years. Robertson and Dunlea take over from Bevan Sissons and Ben Blair who guided the side to victory this year. “Ben and Bevan didn’t want to continue. They’ve served Lincoln very well over the last few years,” said Lincoln University sport scholarship manager Peter Magson. Sissons has taken up a coaching role with Burnside, domination of the 20-lap race on a wind blown track. He is keen to improve on his third place in last season’s series. Twenty-four sprintcars are expected to face the starter on Saturday, including entries from Cromwell, Invercargill, Blenheim and Nelson. Two drivers – Steve Duff and Daniel Anderson – will face a huge workload, having both been involved in spectacular roll-overs, inflicting considerable damage to their cars. Defending series champion Jamie Duff (Christchurch) finished third at the weekend’s feature race, and he will have noted Keegan’s performance with considerable interest. Alex Robertson while Blair has done the same at Marist Albion. Robertson has spent the last two years as the co-coach at Darfield and head coach of the Ellesmere senior side. Last year he was also an assistant coach at Canterbury Country. He has worked for the England National Rugby Union as a coach developer and community rugby coach while part of the Harlequins Academy DPP programme. “I want to take my time to understand why the club has been so successful, how it has gone about achieving it, and then set the bar even higher,” said Robertson. “Lincoln University is a well-respected club in Canterbury. This new role is a chance to share my passion with the players and it’s a great environment to develop Craig Dunlea the person and help them to achieve in rugby and in life,” he said. Dunlea played professional rugby in New Zealand and overseas before becoming involved in coaching at Mid-Canterbury. He also coached the New Zealand Heartland under-19 team for two seasons in the Jock Hobbs national tournament, and worked with the Canterbury Country team. “The bar is already set very high results-wise, so there will be a lot of pressure to keep this going. But with some great foundations already in place, it is important that we keep the momentum going and keep trying to add to that success in the future,” said Dunlea. “I really like the challenge of developing the players to become better, which will put them in contention for higher achievements.” POWER: Luke Keegan powering his V8 sprintcar to victory at Ruapuna on Saturday. PHOTO: BRIAN HOPPING
The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Thursday November 8 2018 41 Concerns over exposure to wind at Nga Puna Wai • By Gordon Findlater CANTERBURY Athletics have concerns about Nga Puna Wai’s exposure to wind following the incompletion of a number of field events at an athletics meeting on Saturday. The wind was recorded at 8m per second and caused the cancellation of the pole vault due to safety. While this was caused by a particularly strong northwesterly wind, there is an overlying concern about wind causing future events to not be able to recognise records being broken. For any records to be recognised at a meeting, the wind must be under the 2m per second threshold. At the three Canterbury Athletics track and field meetings held at Nga Puna Wai since its opening, the wind reading has never been under the threshold. • By Gordon Findlater ST THOMAS of Canterbury College will make only their second ever appearance at the Condor Sevens national secondary school tournament in Auckland. Although St Thomas’ lost last week’s regional final 0-10 to Timaru Boys’ High School, it was a win over St Bede’s College in the semi-final that booked their spot at the national tournament with two teams from Canterbury qualifying. A crucial 12-7 win over UC Championship-winners Christchurch Boys’ High School in pool play set up the semifinal. After suffering a defeat to St Bede’s a week earlier at a warm up tournament, St Thomas’ rose to the occasion to win 24-10 after taking an emphatic 19-0 lead after just 3min. “We were absolutely stoked, we treated that game like our grand-final,” said St Thomas’ coach Chris Leader. St Thomas’ and TBHS will be joined in Auckland by Christchurch Girls’ High School recently redeveloped - Come in & enjoy! “There’s a two-and-a-half metre embankment and that’s not really sufficient to have much effect on a nor-westerly,” said Canterbury Athletics committee member Kerry Lomax. City council recreation and sport services manager David Bailey says the council and Athletics Canterbury were aware of weather conditions associated with the site, including wind speed data. This was taken into consideration by the design team and and St Margaret’s College, which have qualified for the girls tournament. The tournament will feature more than 100 teams across great bevvies GUSTY: Nga Puna Wai hosted its first meeting last month but concerns have been raised over wind affecting future events. therefore the athletic embankments were built to provide some wind shielding of the athletics track and field event activities. “The designs were reviewed and approved by Athletics Canterbury’s technical representatives as part of the design process,” said Mr Bailey. Athletics Canterbury will monitor the situation and engage with the city council if further wind protection is required. Condor Sevens tournament beckons for St Thomas HEAVY-HITTER: New Zealand age group rugby league rep Caius Faatili battles his way through a tackle during St Thomas’ 12-7 win over CBHS. the open boys and girls grades, as well as an under-15 grade. It runs from November 29 to December 2 at Sacred Heart College. new menu! great food local sport HOW GOOD was George Bridge? Saturday’s All Blacks test against Japan was a match that carried little interest for me. However, after venturing home from a long day playing cricket – yes, that other sport we play during November when the rugby season is nearing the end of its 10-month season – I found myself intrigued enough to cast an eye over the match. The game threw out few surprises and provided the anticipated cringe as at least one player made their All Blacks debut (Brett Cameron). I’ve already written about how the extended 51-man All Blacks squad for the Japan test diminished the All Blacks brand, so let’s not harp on about that again. By the end of the match that feeling was only a back-thought to how blown away I was by Bridge’s performance, though. When my flatmate – who is the first to instigate a trip to the pub for every All Blacks match – arrived home near the end of the match, he threw out a surprised “Oh, that’s right the All Blacks are playing,” to which I replied “it’s worth watching for Bridge alone, he’s having the match of his life.” At the time, it felt like a fair statement. However, as the week’s gone on, I’ve come to the realisation that Bridge’s two try performance from the great service Proudly brought to you by book your function with us Packages available Tower JuncTion One-eyed Cantab Gordon Findlater gordon.findlater@starmedia.kiwi A game worth watching – if only for George Bridge bench shouldn’t have come with as much surprise as it did. In fact, it’s got me back onto the subject of why Super Rugby form seems to be all but ignored when the All Blacks team is named following each season for the Rugby Championship. Bridge scored 15 tries this Super Rugby season and was the only player from the back-toback championship Crusaders side included in Sanzaar’s annual Super Rugby team of the year in August. For some context if we were talking about English football and a player from any nation was named in the premier league’s team of the year in back-to-back seasons, he would surely be a shoe-in for selection in his national team. However, an eyelid was barely raised as Bridge’s name wasn’t called when Steve Hansen named his squad for the Rugby Championship. If Bridge has another Super Rugby campaign next year anything like this year, he must be in the conversation for a starting spot on the All Blacks wing. How long can we keep ignoring guys busting their guts each week to make the black jersey only to be met with the “yes, his form has been poor but he’s performed well in the black jersey in the past” reasoning? Bridge should feel proud of what he did at the weekend, Steve Hansen and his coaching staff should feel like they’re a little late tapping into an undeniable try-scoring talent. open for breakfast cup day 9am show day 9am 2 Troup Drive, Riccarton Phone: 348 6020 Open 7 days 11am to late www.speightstowerjunction.co.nz Tower JuncTion
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The Star: November 08, 2018

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