The Star: June 20, 2019

The Star Thursday June 20 2019
news online at www.star.kiwi
SPORT 39
Mitre 10 Cup dates hurt club final
• By Gordon Findlater
A HANDFUL of players look set
to miss this year’s club rugby final
due to Canterbury beginning
their Mitre 10 Cup campaign
early.
The premier metro final will
be played on Sunday, July 28. A
day earlier, Canterbury will play a
preseason match against Tasman
in Hanmer Springs. A large
chunk of the players named
in Canterbury coach Joe
Maddock’s wider training
squad of 40 players are
expected to take part in the
Hanmer match, meaning
they would miss the club
final should their team
make it.
The team that could be affected
most is Lincoln University, which
are going for a fifth straight metro
title. They have seven players in
the wider training group. Other
top six contenders Christchurch
(four), High School Old Boys
(four), Shirley (two) and New
Brighton (one) could also be
Full-strength Crusaders line-up for quarter-final
• By Gordon Findlater
THE CRUSADERS have named
arguably their first full-strength
team of the year ahead of their
quarter-final showdown with the
Highlanders tomorrow night.
Coach Scott Robertson will
start with an All Blacks front row
of Joe Moody, Codie Taylor and
Owen Franks for the first time
this season.
The trio have
no shortage
of experience
at the highest
level. However,
match fitness
could be tested
with Franks
Scott
Robertson
seeing his
first Super
Rugby action
since April after a chest injury.
Meanwhile, Taylor returns for
the first time since breaking his
finger last month.
“Front-rowers, not many of
Tony Smail
affected if they make the final.
Teams playing in the plate and
shield finals on July 28 will also be
impacted.
“The unfortunate thing is the
players who will miss out on
playing that club final are often
fringe Mitre 10 Cup players who
may get a game or two and to a
lot of those guys the highlight of
their rugby career will be winning
the club final, it’s just a
shame,” said metro rugby
committee chairman Brent
Goldsmid.
The Mitre 10 Cup season
is starting one week earlier
than previous years due
to the June international
rugby window not being
played this year.
Said Canterbury Rugby
Football Union chief executive
Tony Smail: “Ahead of the
first round of the 2019 club season
and the completion of competition
draws, the CRFU and its
sub-unions were advised of
changes to dates for the Mitre 10
Cup competition this year, which
TRIO: Owen Franks, Codie Taylor and Joe Moody will
start together for the first time this season in tomorrow’s
quarter-final against the Highlanders.
them play 80min, and Owen
[Franks] is probably not an
impact player. He’s a great starter
and he’s had an extra couple of
weeks to get the engine going,
would see the provincial competition
start date brought forward
by one week. As a result, New
Zealand Rugby’s recommendation
was that club finals across
New Zealand be played one week
in advance, on the weekend of
20-21 July, in order to ensure
there was minimal disruption to
the club competition and player
availability.”
“It is ultimately the decision
of our sub-unions as to the dates
they wish to play their club
finals and we have had good
conversations with each of them
throughout this process.”
Goldsmid says the metro
committee looked at trying to
move the club final forward.
However, playing a midweek
round to get ahead was not an
option due to a lack of grounds
which have lights up to a high
enough standard to play night
games. He says the competition
was also unable to be started
a week earlier due to grounds
not being made available by the
council.
but when you’ve played 300 first
class games, I think experience
counts when you come into these
big games,” said Robertson.
Fitness shouldn’t be an issue
UNAVAILABLE: A Canterbury preseason match means a
number of players could be forced to turn their back on
playing in the premier metro club final next month. ​
for Taylor, but he has been
unable to play due to the finger
issue. However, it has got him
out of some chores at home.
“It gets me out of the dishes
because I wasn’t allowed to get it
wet for a while, so cleaning baby
bottles and that was quite good
I got out of that and changing
nappies,” said Taylor.
In the backs, Braydon Ennor,
who has been instrumental in
their campaign this year, has
been relegated to the bench
due to a full strength backline,
while Will Jordan, who returned
to club rugby at the weekend,
doesn’t crack the 23-man-squad.
•Crusaders:
Joe Moody 1, Codie Taylor
2, Owen Franks 3, Scott
Barrett 4, Sam Whitelock
5, Whetu Douglas 6, Matt
Todd 7, Kieran Read 8, Bryn
Hall 9, Richie Mo’unga 10,
George Bridge 11, Ryan
Crotty 12, Jack Goodhue
13, Sevu Reece 14, David
Havili 15. Reserves: Andrew
Makalio 16, Tim Perry 17,
Michael Alaalatoa 18, Luke
Romano 19, Jordan Taufua
20, Mitchell Drummond 21,
Mitchell Hunt 22, Braydon
Ennor 23.
•Highlanders:
Daniel Lienert-Brown
1, Liam Coltman 2, Tyrel
Lomax 3, Jackson Hemopo
4, Tom Franklin 5, Liam
Squire 6, James Lentjes 7,
Luke Whitelock 8, Aaron
Smith 9, Josh Ioane 10,
Patelesio Tomkinson 11,
Teihorangi Walden 12, Rob
Thompson 13, Waisake
Naholo 14, Ben Smith 15.
Reserves: Ash Dixon 16,
Ayden Johnstone 17, Siate
Tokolahi 18, Josh Dickson 19,
Shannon Frizell 20, Kayne
Hammington 21, Marty
Banks 22, Elliot Dixon 23.
•The match kicks off
tomorrow at 7.35 at
Orangetheory Stadium.
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