Read ready to lead Canterbury
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:30
Talented loose forward Kieran Read will captain Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Cup, with Corey Flynn sidelined with a broken arm.
Flynn is likely to miss the first month of the campaign after suffering the fracture in the Super 14 semifinal in May.
Canterbury coach Rob Penney said it was time to hand the reins to Read.
"What we want to do is to try our best to get Flynny back into the All Blacks," Penney told the Christchurch-based newspaper The Press.
"So, the combination of his injury and the desire of everyone to help him focus on the things he needs to focus on, meant we felt it was right to de-burden him of the captaincy. Not that it should be a burden," Penney told the newspaper.
"Reado is the logical choice to replace him, in our opinion. Again, he's another that should be on that [All Blacks] end-of-year tour and we think he's at a point in his career where the added responsibility will help Kieran grow, in terms of his off-the-field demeanour and the expectations of a captain."
And because of Penney's desire to see him make that All Blacks Bledisloe Cup and Grand Slam tour, plus continue the development of Nasi Manu, Read may not be a constant presence in the team or play regularly at blindside flank.
"Nasi is at the stage of his career where he needs exposure to regular, challenging situations. He'll get time and, hopefully, he'll get time in unison with Mose [Tuiali'i], to learn off the great man before he leaves [to take up a contract in Japan].
"He [Read] will possibly play a little bit there [openside] and he possibly won't play every game or every minute of every game. We need to make sure that the group is in the best condition it can be coming into October, so that they cannot only do well for us, but do well for themselves in an All Black environment later in the year.
"Our priority is to win it [the Air New Zealand Cup], but you can never forget that you've got other responsibilities around exposure, development and succession."
To that end, Penney said he hoped to welcome back Canterbury's current All Blacks for the business end of the competition.
"The last correspondence we had in relation to them is that their last Tri-Nations fixture is in mid- September. They'll get two weeks off and then those that are fit and available and keen to play will return in time for our last pool game against Southland [on October 3] and then the quarterfinal, semifinal and Final."
A semifinal is about the earliest time the coach could expect to see Casey Laulala available to play. He broke his arm playing for Marist-Albion last Saturday and will need at least 10 weeks to recuperate. Wing Sean Maitland did the same, playing for Linwood, but his absence is more likely to be in the four to six-week bracket, by which time Flynn should also be ready to return to action.
No replacement has been named for Maitland, although Japan's Kosuke Endo will play on the wing when Canterbury hosts Southland in a pre-season match at Rugby Park on Saturday.
Canterbury squad: Wyatt Crockett, Owen Franks, Ti'i Paulo, Steve Fualau, Campbell Johnstone, Peter Borlase, Mike Paterson, Isaac Ross, James Broadhurst, Kieran Read (captain), Nasi Manu, Hayden Hopgood, George Whitelock, Mose Tuiali'i, Tyson Keats, Steve Alfeld, Stephen Brett, Hamish Gard, Colin Slade, Tim Bateman, Phil Burleigh, Ryan Crotty, Adam Whitelock, James Patterson, Sean Maitland, Scott Hamilton, Paul Williams (vice-captain).
Unavailable due to injury: Mikaele Tuu'u, Corey Flynn, Casey Laulala.
