Moore passes his rugby tests with flying colours

among the definite successes in Scotland's 23-6 win over Nelson

Bays/Marlborough on Wednesday. Not only did he score two of the four

tries but he also showed a high proportion of heady rugby from limited

opportunity.

One run late in the game, with two changes in direction, earned him

plusses as much as his scores, and it was not as if conditions were

ideal. Nelson's Trafalgar Park had a greasy top after rain, and as Moore

said today, he found he was invariably sinking in even when he appeared

to be running well.

Moore, however, enjoyed Wednesday's game more than the opening 45-0

win over Poverty Bay/East Coast a week earlier, and he was looking

forward even more to Tuesday's match against Southland in Invercargill.

He has heard enough about Southland to know that he will be experiencing

the hard, driving rugby he likes. He relishes such a challenge.

Moore was not an original choice for this tour. He was disappointed

when the squad was named in March, and he was called in less than two

weeks before departure to replace Lindsay Renwick.

Yet the Edinburgh wing has already done enough to justify selection.

As a sturdy, compact type he has the ability to stay on his feet in the

tackle, a facility that is essential in the game Scottish rugby is

trying to develop.

Just as he has fitted into requirement so he has willingly responded

to the demands from Ian McGeechan, Scotland's coach. Understandably,

Moore speaks of how he enjoys working under McGeechan's command, and if

the wing's development continues he will have an assured place in the

world cup squad next year.

Moore remarked, too, on how he has been encouraged to look for work,

as he proved in the Nelson match. His first try was on his own right

wing, but his second was to the left of the posts.

Moore, who was born in Queensland, has had a neatly divided senior

rugby career with the first three seasons with Livingston. Three with

Gala followed, and he has just completed his third with Edinburgh

Academicals.

He is now Academicals' senior back at 26 years old among youngsters

such as Simon Burns, Rowen Shepherd, and Russell Adam. All three and

others rate highly in Moore's book as prospects.

Because of injury Moore played in little more than half of

Academicals' matches in the past season. He was, however, fit when it

mattered for representative rugby, as he played in Scotland's two B

internationals, scoring a try against the Irish, and he also made a

successful return to the Edinburgh XV.

Moore toured Zimbabwe with Scotland in 1988 but was overlooked by

Edinburgh the following season. The district selectors, he was told,

preferred to keep the right-wing slot for Peter Steven as goal-kicker.

It was hinted, too, that Moore's defensive work was not secure enough

inside his own twenty-two, but he answered that criticism on his return

for Edinburgh against the Anglo-Scots at Cambridge in December. He

responded to that challenge as he has done here in New Zealand, and he

would gratefully accept further tests.

Moore chatted about his past and future after the Scots' training this

morning at Oxford, about 40 miles from Christchurch. It was the first

time he had been there, though other Scots had visited Oxford during the

1987 world cup campaign and Moore's Livingston connection had preceded

him into the Canterbury Plain. The Oxford club's showcase contained a

copy of the menu for Livingston's dinner last month.

A New Zealand visitor had been at that dinner. Little did Moore know

then that he would be a guest of that same Kiwi's club or even that he

would be in New Zealand.

ADAM Buchanan-Smith was the only absentee from the Scots' training at

Oxford this morning. The Heriot's flanker was recovering from an ankle

bruised in the match against Nelson Bays/Marlborough on Wednesday, but

Donald MacLeod, the Scots' doctor, said that he expected Buchanan-Smith

to be fit to be considered for selection for Tuesday's match at

Invercargill.