Young player recalls World rugby tour

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 467, 21 December 1992, Page 9

Young player recalls World rugby tour

BY

DAVID OF T1IE RIC

An excellent team, varied styles of opposition, Cardiff Arms Park and the threat of terrorism are just some of the things Aaron McCann will remember about his trip with the 1992 New Zealand Rugby Youth Team which went on an extensive international tour finishing in Wales in October. On returning to Raetihi, Aaron has been extremely busy with both his work for John Dobson and his apprenticeship examinations and so has only just now been free for an interview. The memory of his trip is still very fresh in his mind and he describes it as the best possible

training trip that a team could have. "It's great that ydung players get the opportunity to do an international trip like this." To cope with the fact that the team had never played together before joining the trip, each day started at 10am with a two-hour training session even on days between the match days. These coaching sessions were run by Ross Cooper and ex-All Black Sid Going and Aaron describes them as "fantastic, intense stuff, really good for developing the team." Because of the training, Aaron and the team had very little time for sightseeing although he did see the wax museums

in London, in between the bomb scares. "That was amazing to see, especially the way people reacted on the streets," said Aaron. The state of the opposition on the trip was quite a varied collection, Aaron commented, with the two games they played on a stop-over in San Francisco being the most convincingly big wins. "The American teams were really weak in play," said Aaron. "Our forwards were too strong for them." They had victories of 67 to 7 and 74 to nil against two United States youth teams. Considering these games were both on the same day and against the only

recently formed New Zealand team, it sounds as though the Americans didn't put up much of a show, but Aaron gives them their due saying they have the speed, but no power in the backs or forwards. The Welsh players were quite different. 'They are real fringe

players and in scrums and rucks always play to kill the ball," Aaron comments. "They lack any good second-phase play, though they're good at what they do." Of the nine games played in the Welsh leg of the tour their only loss was to the National Tum to page 1 1

Rugby

From page 9 Youth 15 of Wales, who Aaron describes as 'tough'. The biggest highlight for Aaron of this part of the trip was Cardiff Arms Park, the northern hemisphere's Mecca of rugby. "Excellent place, Aaron said when asked about it, with a look of awe at the recollection of being there. Other notable features of the trip were the weather in Hawaii and S an Francis.co , described by Aaron as "bloody hot!' And the beer in England and Wales which he says was just "bloody awful, too weak for me!" Aaron said he would like to thank not only those people in Raetihi who sponsored him, but also those who wished him well and supported him in the build-up to the trip that he sums up as being "an excellent and rewarding experience."