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Colin Slade to return for Ranfurly Shield clash against North Otago

Shaggy

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Colin Slade makes his second return from injury tomorrow in Canterbury's Ranfurly Shield defense against challengers North Otago

... I love the Ranfurly Shield, as it gives the smaller unions in New Zealand (such as my North Otago), big matches, and is also generally good for the business community of the holders

Here's the Otago Daily Times story

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/167237/rugby-shield-defence-chance-slade-push-all-black-claims

[h=1]Rugby: Shield defence chance for Slade to push All Black claims[/h]Home » Sport » Rugby
By Alistair McMurran on Fri, 1 Jul 2011Rugby | All Blacks

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Colin Slade.​

All Black Colin Slade will have his first opportunity to play himself into the World Cup when Canterbury defends the Ranfurly Shield against North Otago tomorrow.Slade (23) is one of three members of the Highlanders Super 15 squad who are in the Canterbury team for its first defence of the Ranfurly Shield this season.
The others are aggressive No 8 Nasi Manu and right winger Telusa Veainu, who scored nine tries in his 15 matches for Canterbury last year.
Slade needs top performances for Canterbury to force his way back into the All Blacks.
He played his first test last year but suffered a setback to his World Cup hopes when his jaw was broken twice during the Highlanders Super 15 campaign. He also had a groin ****le.
The other Canterbury regular in the team is halfback Willi Heinz.
But North Otago should not feel complacent because the team is filled with promising players from Christchurch club rugby.
Hooker Paul Ngauamo played for the New Zealand uner-20 team that beat Australia to win the junior world championship in Argentina last year.
Openside flanker Brendon O'Connor is a former New Zealand Colt who played for New Zealand Universities last year.
Pacy winger Patrick Osbourne was also in the Universities team.
The Canterbury captain is blindside flanker Ash Parker, who has played 21 games forthe province.
It is Canterbury's first defence of the Ranfurly Shield this season.
It regained the Log o' Wood last October, when it beat Southland 26-16, and defended it when it beat Counties 39-21.
With AMI Stadium out of action because of the earthquake, the game has been shifted to Rugby Park.
The ground, which is now the headquarters for the Canterbury team, has a crowd capacity of 6000.

Canterbury team
To play North Otago
Johnny McNicholl, Telusa Veainu, Robbie Flynn, Tom Taylor, Patrick Osbourne, Colin Slade, Willi Heinz, Nasi Manu, Brendon O'Connor, Ash Parker (captain), Joel Everson, Luke Katene, Paea Fa'anunu, Paul Ngauamo, Joe Moody. Reserves: Ben Funnell, Sam Cottam, Mark Abbott, Bernie Hall, Mark Swanepoel, Kolio Hifo.
 
It is good to see Slade back on the field. I hope North Otago put up more of a fight than they did last week against Otago (losing 78-9). They had only had a couple of training sessions together as a team before the Otago match though, so hopefully they will be better prepared this week.

GO NORTH OTAGO !
 
watched the game, thought North Otago did well for the first twenty...and then fell off

it shows the jump between the grades, even if it was pretty much Canterbury B

slade looked solid, ran good lines and distributed well, he ran the back line rather than tried to win it himself, good to see

on a side note, the North Otago fullback (Billy Guyton i think) was really good, did not look out of place playing against Canterbury
 
The question remains. Will a stint in the ITM Cup be enough to gain him a spot in the All Blacks RWC. The fact that he has been called into the All Black training group along with Aaron Cruden would suggest that he is definitely in the frame for the AB's this season

If I were Ted, I would start Slade at 1st 5/8 against Fiji with Cruden on the bench (no need to risk DC for a meaningless warm-up match). Injuries notwithstanding, bring Cruden on at about the 50 minute mark and possibly push Slade back to fullback for the rest of the match.
 

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