2 April 2001 Watch out Liberation Army here come the Lincoln lads!

A match against a Chinese Liberation Army team is a feature of the New Zealand Universities' Rugby Team's Asian tour this month and student players from Lincoln will be in the thick of it.

Reflecting the rugby revival at Lincoln, the University is providing the bulk (numerically) of the forward power for the tour with four of the 15 forwards coming from Lincoln. Auckland, Massey and Canterbury are next, supplying three each, followed by Waikato and Otago with one apiece.

With five players in the 26-member squad - the four forwards plus a back - Lincoln has the second largest representation among the players, after Canterbury with six. Massey has eight, but they are drawn from that university's two campuses, Albany and Palmerston North.

The Lincoln students off to Asia are Kent Anderson of Southland, B.Com.(Ag), prop; Campbell Johnstone of Hawkes Bay,  B.Com.(VPM), prop; Rhys Narbey of Christchurch, BRM, second five-eighth; 1999 Rugby Scholar Rhys Williams of  Matamata, B.Com.(Ag), lock/flanker; and 2000 Rugby Scholar Jeff Wright of Southland, B.Com.(Ag), flanker.

Four matches will be played in Japan, including a "test" for the Mitsubishi Cup, which was won by New Zealand last year when Japan came here. Two matches will also be played in Hong Kong and one in mainland China. That mainland match is the one against the Chinese Liberation Army team and it will be played in Canton.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand