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Canterbury Of NZ Dream Team Announced
NEWS RELEASE
14 October 2003
CANTERBURY OF NZ DREAM TEAM ANNOUNCED
The even nature of the 2003 Air New Zealand NPC has been reflected in the Canterbury of New Zealand NPC Dream Team selected after round-robin play.
Seven of the 10 first division provinces are represented in the team selected by Canterbury of New Zealand in conjunction with rugby journalists Bob Howitt, Phil Gifford (Radio Sport) and Neil Reid (Sunday News). There are two players each from North Harbour, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago, while Waikato has three players in the mix.
The two bottom teams, Northland and Taranaki, as well as Southland, missed out on representation, but Southland players Ben Herring and Jimmy Cowan were voted second-best in their respective positions.
Only two players - Canterbury lock Norm Maxwell and Waikato prop Deacon Manu - received votes from all the judges, but Manu was helped by being able to prop both sides of the scrum.
POSITION
PLAYER
PROVINCE
Fullback
Loki Crichton
Waikato
Wing
Sireli Bobo
Wellington
Wing
Iliesa Tanivula
Auckland
Centre
Casey Laulala
Canterbury
Second-five
Sam Tuitupou
Auckland
First-five
Nick Evans
North Harbour
Halfback
Chad Alcock
North Harbour
No. 8
Clayton McMillan
Bay of Plenty
Flanker
Josh Blackie
Otago
Flanker
Thomas Waldrom
Wellington
Lock
Norm Maxwell
Canterbury
Lock
Keith Robinson
Waikato
Prop
Carl Hayman
Otago
Prop
Deacon Manu
Waikato
Hooker
Aleki Lutui
Bay of Plenty
The fullback position was the most contentious with Waikato winger Loki Crichton, who appeared occasionally in the No. 15 jersey, edging out Christian Cullen and converted first-five Orene Ai'i.
There was also no room for ex-All Black captain Anton Oliver with barnstorming BOP hooker Aleki Lutui favoured ahead of Oliver and Taranaki's Andrew Hore.
Canterbury of New Zealand promoted the Dream Team competition in-store and is collating hundreds of entries to find the winning entry that is closest to the judges' selection.
Ends
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