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All Blacks captain Read revels in University comeback
By Peter Thompson
Kieran Read was as influential as ever and declared "club rugby is alive" after the New Zealand captain made his comeback for University on Saturday.
The All Blacks skipper played his first game of the year in the second round of the Christchurch metro club competition.
Read has been out of action since undergoing wrist surgery last December, but played a half for University in a 60-11 drubbing of Linwood.
The number eight has been carrying the water for Crusaders in Super Rugby this season, but he was back doing what he does best at Linfield Park.
Read, set to lead the world champions against the British and Irish Lions in just over two months, was not on the big stage this weekend, but revelled in his return.
"It was still pretty tough out there to be honest, we played with the ball a little bit," he said.
"It was nice, it was awesome to get out with the lads.
"The legs, the legs were not used to it I guess, making tackles, getting up, just all that type of running you do, it's hard to replicate that in training.
"It's nice to get a wee hit-out and I look forward to next weekend.
"For me it was just about enjoying the day, I didn't want to come across and say too much to be honest just wanted to sit back and enjoy it and just let the boys do their thing and just play as well as I could.
"It certainly felt like a full-on game. Club rugby is alive and well when you've got a crowd like this turning up. I really enjoyed the atmosphere down here and just put on the boots and get a bit of contact on the body again is always nice."
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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