SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27048, 25 May 1953, Page 7

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

LINWOOD AND SYDENHAM WIN Sydenham and Linwood lead in the Canterbury Rugby League’s senior championship after the fourth round of games played on Saturday. Grounds were heavy, but in the main games the play was fast and open and reached a fairly high standard. Sydenham won comfortably from Woolston, hut Linwood won from the improving Christchurch side by three tries to two. Results:— Linwood 19, Christchurch 18, ' Sydenham 22, Woolston U. . Marist 15, Papanui 8. Hornby 32, Addington X Competition points are:—Sydenham 8, Linwood 8, Hornby 6, Marist 4, Christchurch 4, Papanui 2, Woolston 0, Addington 0. UNWOOD v. CHRISTCHURCH The main game at the Show Grounds, between Linwood and ' Christchurch, did not produce the standard of football expected. Althdugh both sides attempted all times to open the game, the handling was far from the best, backs dropping passes at critical moments. Linwood secured possession from most of the scrums and the backs passed freely, but handling mistakes and cross-field running gave their opponents time to' get into position. Christchurch was also at fault with its handling, and even Paskell and Turner, who have impressed in earlier games with their fine handling, dropped many passes. Linwood won by 19 points to 10, but it had to work hard towards the end to keep the lead. The game improved towards the end. and Christchurch with a little luck would have at least narrowed Linwood’s lead. Christchurch, surprisingly, held Linwood in the forwards, but on the. day found the Linwood backs too much of a handful. Well served by Jones, the Linwood backs had ample opportunities to show their worth. Had they had a straight runner close to the scrum they would have been more impressive. It was left to their centre, Irvine, to try to straighten the attack. He was Linwood’s best back and impressed as a very promising young player. Hudson, the Linwood full-back, capped a very good display by scoring 10 of his side's points with four penalty goals and a con version. Hobson and Clarke were solid five-eighths. The best of the Christchurch backs was the half-back, Brown, who gave a very sound display. Harrison, a young wing three-quarters, again showed improvement, and was superior to Wilson, who is one of the representative wingers. Pasken made some fine runs at second fiveeighths, but mishandled badly at times, a fault also apparent in the play of Mcßobie, at centre.

Linwood's forwards were led by Roberts and Atkinson, but they were not nearly as impressive as in previous games. The Christchurch pack, except for failing to gain possession from the scrums, had the edge on its opponents. Crofts, especially in the second spell. Collins, and Purdon were always prominent. After an even start, Hudson opened the scoring for Linwood with a good penalty goal, and added another shortly afterwards. The first try went to Linwood when Wilson scored in,the comer after a break from the base of the scrum by Jones. Hudson added another penalty to Linwood’s total to make the halftime score: Linwood 9, Christchurch 0. Shortly after half-time, Linwood went further ahead when Irvine cut in to score after chain passing. Paskell opened Christchurch’s account with a good penalty goal. Ayson added points for Christchurch when he snapped up after loose play and went over for an unexpected try, which Paskell converted with an excellent kick. Harrison added an excellent try after a 40-yard run. However, the Christchurch full-baek, Mitchell, made a bad lapse from the kick-off, and Knight kicked the ball away from him, snapped it up, and went over under the posts. Hudson converted. Hudson added another penalty goal before the game ended. Referee: Mr L. Blackler. SYDENHAM V. WOOLSTON Although it fielded a much weakened team, Sydenham had little difficulty in beating Woolston by 22 points to 12. Woolston strove hard throughout, but found the pace and good handling of Sydenham too much for it. Tries for the winners were scored by Mclntyre (2), Ayson, Beales, Gfaham, and Wakefield. Wakefield kicked a penalty goal and converted a try. For Woolston, Pitcher and Hopping scored tries, Hill kicked two penalty goals, and Pitcher one. Referee: Mr K. Cox. MARIST V. PAPANUI Speed and enterprise in the inside backs enabled Marist to beat Papanui by 15 points to 8 in the early game at the Show Grounds. The game was even, with both sides playing fast and open football. As in most of its recent matches, the heavy Papanui pack dominated most of the game. All played solid football and kept the play in Marist territory for long periods, and when Marist broke through good work by J. Bond, M. Pahi, and R. Cook brought the game back within attacking distance of the line. Both of the tries scored by Papanui ■came from determined foward play and were well deserved. It was disappointing that the side was unable to exploit the good work of the forwards in the scrums and make more headway when in possession. Against such a competent pack the best work of the Marist forward; came from individual efforts in the loose, where W. Middleton and N. Heslip stood out. With their forwards consistently failing to win the scrums the Marist backs were set a hard task in playing attacking football, but J. Haig, the half-back, made up for much with his ability to open the play from the loose. Combining the rug- ; gedness of a forward with the speed of . a light-weight back, Haig started most ■ of the Marist attacks with smart passes to his five-eighths or neat breaks through . the defence. Outside Haig, J. Shaw and ■ K. Roberts, the five-eighths, gave promise of developing into one of the best com- ■ binations in the competition. Shaw, a I solid, hard tackling player, ran straight . and was an effective link, and Roberts i impressed with his speed off the mark i and his sure handling. He runs well and on occasions employed a neat side-step ■ to beat his man. He showed as a player with definite prospects for the

provincial side. W. McKenzie appears to have lost little of his dash as a wing three-quarters, and gained ground repeatedly with strong runs. The Papanui backs were strengthened by the inclusion of L. Brown, the former Canterbury player, who played his first game for the club. Brown tackled hard, but does not appear to be quite fit. He will give the backs more thrust in future games. I. Campbell again worked hard behind the scrum, but the backs generally lacked penetration. It improved considerably when J. Tinning, the full-back, came up to wing three-quarters in the second spell. This strong runner, although a competent full-back, appears to be well suited to the three-quarters position, and if he remains there would give the line much-needed strength. Tries were scored for Marist by McKenzie, Roberts, and I. Barr. Haig converted two tries and kicked a penalty goal. Cook and Pahi scored tries for Papanui, one of which was converted by Bond. Referee: Mr W. Massey. HORNBY V. ADDINGTON Paying on its home ground, Hornby beat Addington by 32 points to 3. Hornby showed more combination in the backs and more cohesion between the backs and forwards than Addington, which could not cope with the speed of D. Neiman, G. McSeveney, K. Henry, and M. Courtenay in a fast-moving back line. The Hornby forwards also held the upper hand for most of the game, but the Addington forwards kept to their work well, and the side's only try came from solid work by the pack towards the end of the game. Tries were scored for Hornby by M. Courtenay, G. McSeveney (3), Neiman, Henry, and J. Woodham (2). Henry kicked two penalty goals and G. • Neiman converted one try. For Addington K. Smith scored an uncoverted try.