It’s not quite the Bledisloe Cup, but it’s becoming increasingly urgent for Australia to regain the Sanctuary Cove Trophy from New Zealand.
The Australian team for the annual senior teams competition against the Kiwis was announced today, with non-playing captain Tony Kennings saying he was “extremely keen” to stop the rot.
New Zealand has won three successive stagings of the trophy to take a 5-3 series lead.
“The Kiwis have got a very, very strong side and we’ve gone down a different path with our selections to try to stop them,” Kennings said.
“We’ve made a lot of changes. We’ve got eight newcomers (to the 12-man side) and hopefully they’ll have the answers to the Kiwis.”
The Australian team to compete from July 15-17 is Mick Asami (Vic), Stefan Albinski (NSW), Sal Ballard (NSW), John Banting (WA), Vince Clark (NSW), Ian Frost (Vic), Tom Harold (NT), Trevor Hughes (WA), Ian McPherson (WA), Greg Rhodes (Vic), Barry Tippett (Vic) and Steve Toyne (Qld).
Kennings said the only person unavailable for selection was Victorian Gordon Claney, with the Australian No.1 ranked senior unavailable because of overseas travel at that time.
“But apart from Gordon, we’ve gone with what we think is the in-form team,” Kennings said.
“We’ve tried to select players who are performing consistently and … with so many changes it represents a changing of the guard.
“And New Zealand has got pretty much the same team, so we’ve taken this approach to try something new to beat them.
The event will be played at Queensland’s Sanctuary Cove with foursomes and four-ball matchplay on day one, followed by singles matchplay on day two – and while there’s a distinct camaraderie between the teams on an off-course, it has become a hotly contested prize.
Australia will be led by Barry Tippett, our second-ranked senior player who was runner-up in the Australian Senior Men’s Matchplay this year.
Three-time Australian Senior Champion Stefan Albinski will bring a wealth of experience to the team along with Vince Clark who has represented Australia several times.
But the fresh faces include Mick Asami, Tom Harold and Trevor Hughes, all of who have been consistent performers in rankings events in the past year.