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Canterbury team named for Ranfurly Shield clash against Mid Canterbury

Canterbury celebrate winning the Ranfurly Shield

Canterbury will take the Ranfurly Shield on the road this week, as they look to defend the Log o’ Wood against Mid Canterbury in Ashburton on Friday.

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Head Coach Glenn Delaney has named his side for their second defence of the 2017 season, which includes four debutants;  wing Josh McKay will debut in the starting line up, while Ben Morris, Nigel Gibb and Amanaki Nicole could all earn their first appearance for Canterbury off the bench. Prop Alex Hodgman and loose forwards Jed Brown and Tom Sanders return from Super Rugby duty to join the starting fifteen.

Delaney said the Canterbury side is looking forward to taking the Shield on the road: “Mid Canterbury have had a strong showing in the Heartland Championship, and they will no doubt be looking forward to their first Shield challenge for a couple of years.

“This Friday’s defence will be on their home ground, so that is an exciting test for us and a great opportunity to bring Ranfurly Shield rugby to Ashburton”, Delaney said.

Mid Canterbury were beaten semi-finalists for the Lochore Cup in the 2016 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship. Their last challenge for the Ranfurly Shield was against Hawke’s Bay back in 2015.

The match will kick off at 2:35pm, Friday 4 August, at Ashburton Showgrounds.

Canterbury team to play Mid Canterbury:

1.  Alex Hodgman
2.  Nathan Vella
3.  Jack Straker
4.  Jonno Osborne
5.  Hamish Dalzell
6.  Billy Harmon
7.  Jed Brown
8.  Tom Sanders
9.  Jack Stratton (C)
10. Brett Cameron
11. Marshall Suckling
12. Michael Green
13. Poasa Waqanibau
14. Josh McKay*
15. Mark Maitland

RESERVES
16. Nick Werahiko
17. Chris Gawler
18. Joel Hintz
19. Ben Morris*
20. Dylan Nel
21. Ereatara Enari
22. Nigel Gibb*
23. Amanaki Nicole*

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AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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