INSIDE: Dragons’ delight SuperSport B8

Sports Editor: Greg Ford Contact: [email protected] 03 943 2752 THE PRESS, Monday, February 4, 2013 B10

RUGBY lose another wing

The Crusaders’ wing curse has towards the coast. The , who out- score his long-range try. continued. Richard Upon their return they heaped- scored the Crusaders by five tries While their runs no doubt Kurt Baker, widely regarded as up a pile of tucker that was to four, could have won by a bigger pleased the crowd, Crusaders the logical replacement for Zac Knowler prepared for a feast by a local margin but fullback Andre Taylor coach will have Guildford after he withdrew restaurant. could only slot one conversion. been more interested in individual himself from the Christchurch- Word has it that the chef cooked Openside flanker Shane Chris- statistics to measure work-rate in based campaign, tore Super 15 the lot but drew the line at the feral tie, centre Kieran Fonotia and the less glamorous areas; defence, a hamstring playing for the All cats. hooker scored for the cleanouts and kick chases. Blacks Sevens in Wellington on For the match against the Crusaders in the opening quarter He used all 27 of his players, Saturday. under the Timaru sun on Saturday Hurricanes at Alpine Energy and fullback Tom Marshall added including South Canterbury out- Baker has been replaced for the afternoon while losing their first Stadium the giggles and high fives another. side back Steve Burt and several next leg of the IRB Sevens in Las pre-season game to the Hur- had been replaced by liniment, Both sides spurned kickable academy recruits, and declared Vegas this weekend. He is ricanes. strapping, blood and buckets of penalties, the constant scrum himself satisfied with the result. expected to be out of all rugby for Last week, the squad wallowed sweat. resets accelerated the fans’ All Blacks, including new six weeks. in the warm fuzzies of a pre-season About 5000 people watched the thoughts about heading to the bar captain , , He will be unavailable for the bonding session as they poked game, a respectable crowd for a for another beer, and handling , and Crusaders’ first competition match around various towns of the fixture containing few current errors ballooned as the match , may be considered for of the season against the Blues at Mainland and embarked on an internationals and at a time of the wore on. Friday’s match against the High- Eden Park on March 1. Amazing Race-style exercise that year when we should be setting All Blacks tighthead prop Owen landers in Oamaru. Canterbury’s Mark Jackman required them to hitch rides to our sights solely on England’s Franks played only the opening , , and Milford Keresoma () mystery destinations before finally cricket tour. quarter while the rest of his , Johnny McNicholl were yesterday called in to the lobbing into Hanmer Springs. The Hurricanes won 27-26. international team-mates watched and Adam Whitelock, who didn’t sevens team to replace Baker and Then things got serious. Played over four quarters, both from the stand. play in Timaru because of minor captain D J Forbes, who succum- They gathered their shooting sides made regular substitutions. Loose forwards injuries, could also re-appear for bed to a knee injury. irons, fishing rods and anything An unlimited inter-change and and carried the their first runs of 2013. The Crusaders were blissfully else capable of knocking the lights a pool of 51 players to choose from ball strongly as the Canes defence Cursed: Possible Crusader Kurt Baker injured his hamstring during the Wellington unaware of Baker’s injury in out of wild game and headed into ensured a it would be a messy tired, while Taylor produced a ❯❯ Brave Kenya B9 Sevens competition on Saturday. Photo: FAIRFAX NZ Wellington as they slowly fried the Canterbury foothills or arrangement. sharp step and some decent pace to

ATHLETICS Punt steals limelight off Olympian Willis

Greg Ford

It’s not often Nick Willis gets upstaged at a track and field meeting in . But on Saturday, in Christchurch, Anita Punt did just that. The Black Sticks forward, with a reputation for burning up hockey turfs, turned heads at Christ’s College when she blazed to the lead in the women’s 100m and 300m – on Upper – the college’s pompous name for their sports field – confirming she’s one of the fastest women on two legs in New Zealand. Punt was invited to the International Track Meet by Multi-talented: Black Stick Anita Punt, sponsor New Balance to add some above, easily transferred her speed on novelty value but the Nelson-born artificial hockey turf to a grass track to Wellington resident won both her win the 300m, left. events and is now eyeing the national championships in March. Argentina later this month. victory at the meeting after a While her 100m time (12.61sec) ‘‘So that means if I run at the number of aborted attempts to was not especially fast, it was on nationals I will have about one compete in Christchurch and a grass and only a fraction slower week to prepare while the other couple of shock losses. than one of the men in the 100m girls will have been building for it He later pleased the masses – final (won by Joseph Millar from all year. But it is fun and I am about 3000 people came to watch Auckland in 11.22sec). enjoying it, so why not?’’ him run – when he announced he She recorded 39.6sec in the Willis was comparatively would be back next year. 300m dash, easing up with the race pedestrian. Event promoter Paul Coughlan in the bag, suggesting she has a The Beijing Olympic silver said he was rapt with the turnout future in the longer sprints. medallist attempted to run under and other notable performances Star attraction: Kiwi Olympian Nick Willis competes in the mile at Christ’s College, in Christchurch, on Saturday. Photos: JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/FAIRFAX NZ Her next sporting assignment is four minutes for the mile but including a gripping 3000m race a low-key track meet in Hamilton conditions – a fresh easterly – put between New Zealand Olympian kicked away from Van Dalen on atmosphere was amazing,’’ he The Timaru shot putter personal best, making Walsh New on Saturday, before she heads paid to those aspirations. Lucy Van Dalen and Susan the home straight. said. ‘‘But the performance of the smashed his personal best by half Zealand’s second best thrower away with the New Zealand His time of 4min 8.1sec was Kuijken (Netherlands). ‘‘I spoke to Lucy and Nick day, for me, came from Tom a metre.Walsh hefted the 7.26kg behind Jacko Gill (who has broken hockey team for a tour of slow, yet he still recorded his first Kuijken, based in Melbourne, yesterday and they said the Walsh.’’ shot 19.83m eclipsing Les Mills’ old the 20 metre barrier). Back to School MASSIVE NEW YEAR CLEARANCE GREAT !! Footwear

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