RUGBY LEAGUE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27132, 31 August 1953, Page 7

RUGBY LEAGUE

SYDENHAM WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

TWO-POINT MARGIN OVER HORNBY

By a decisive win over Christchurch on Saturday Sydenham has won the Canterbury Rugby League’s senior championship for the 1953 season. The side has played consistently good football throughout the season and has earned its right to the championship by reaching the peak of its form in the last two or three matches, again showing the value of training and careful coaching. Hornby, with a narrow win over the improved Marist side, moved into second place in the competition without losing a game in the second round. Narrowly beaten by Sydenham in the first round, Hornby beat the championship winners in the second round and the meeting of these two sides for the Vivian Cup will be keenly awaited. Results:— Sydenham 16, Christchurch 5. Hornby 6, Marist 5 Papanui 30, Linwood 13 Woolston 11, Addington 8. Final points in the competition are:— Sydenham 25, Hornby 23, Linwood 20, Christchurch 16, Marist 13, Papanui 11, Woolston 4, Addington 0. SYDENHAM V. CHRISTCHURCH Defeating Christchurch by 16 points to 5 in a bright, open game at the Show Grounds. Sydenham won the 1953 Rugby League championship. Although it did not produce the same form as shown in its previous game against Linwood, Sydenham. with a good all-round display, was too strong both in the backs and forwards, and spent most of the game on attacks which had the Christchurch defence badly rattled at times. Christchurch started well, but later in the game made a lot of handling mistakes, and the defence slipped badly at times, allowing Sydenham to make a lot of ground in movements which should have been stopped.

Christchurch won a lot of ball from the scrums, but lost the advantage through the poor display of the half-back. Turner, whose poor handling and very slow service gave his outside supports little time in which to get moving before the defence was right on top of them. On the other hand, Beales, behind the Sydenham scrum, lost no time in setting his backs in motion with crisp passes. Although they made a few handling mistakes, Williams and Parks, the Sydenham fiveeighths, gave pleasing displays of constructive football and defended strongly. A lot > of the snap in Sydenham attacking movements came from Guy, who at centre ran very strongly and kept the attack straightened up. Yaxley gave another good display on the wing, running strongly and tackling very well. With the ball coming to them far too slowly, the Christchurch backs had little opportunity to show their true form. Good individual displays were given by Mcßobie and Purdon in the inside backs, with Harrison and Ayson, the wingers, showing up with some fine dashes. Kilkelly was a fine leader in a strong Sydenham pack, his determined running putting his side on attack repeatedly. Butterfield, Casey, Wakefield, and Pimley gave, him fine support, and they held the upper hand for most of the game. Crofts, Collins, and McCormack were good toilers in the Christchurch forwards. However, on the day they had to take second place. Sydenham went on attack right from the start, but Christchurch kept them out with a strong defence until in a good movement the ball reached Yaxley on the wing, who went over in the corner. Before the spell finished, Sydenham added to its total when, after some fine passing, Wakefield raced over to go round under the posts. He converted the try. After a few minutes of play in the second spell, Wakefield added another two points with a fine penalty goal. Christchurch put its first points on the board with a try by Harrison, who after fielding a clearing kick beat a man and raced away. Paskell added the extra points with a fine conversion. The next Sydenham try came after an end-to-end movement started by the full-back, Gardiner. From him the ball travelled to Williams, to Casey, who sent Butterfield over to finish a fine movement. ’. ae last try went to Casey after a clever movement. Butterfield took a short penalty, regained the ball, and passed between his legs to Williams. Casey joined in going at top, and crashed over in the corner.

Referee: Mr H. Hamberger. HORNBY v. MARIST

Showing much improved form, Marist almost brought off a surprise win over Hornby. Marist led until well into the second spell by 5 points to 4, but Hornby then scored an unconverted try which gave it a lead of one point, which it held to the finish. The game was as even as the scores indicated. Marist was without Haig, but Roberts was back in the side and gave the backline a lot of thrust. He received good support from Johnstone, the half-back, and the first five-eighths, Shaw. The Marist forwards held their own for most of the game, and were well led by Hislop, Middleton, and Mercer. Henry, the Hornby full-back, had a lot of work to do in the game, and gave an impressive display *of clean handling. Hornby’s back line did not function smoothly, a lot of passes being dropped. Most of their attacks were individual efforts with D. Neiman and Woodham alwajs prominent. Rutherford was a fine leader of the forwards and was always up with the play. He received most support from Cooke, who played another lively game, Knight, and Woodgate. C. Courtney and Rutherford scored unconverted tries for the winners, and Hislop a try and I. Barr a penalty goal for Marist. Referee: Mr L. Blackler. PAPANUI V. LINWOOD

The game between Papanui and Linwood produced much better football than the score of 30 points to 13 in favour of Papanui would indicate. Play was always fast and open, and although the handling of the backs was sometimes below standard, some exceptionally good work by two competent forward packs made the match one of the brightest of the season. Papanui played its best game for some weeks and earned its win when it capitalised on Linwood’s mistakes to achieve a commanding lead early in the game. The Papanui forwards dominated the play in the early stages with some solid work in the tight, but played their best football in the open when J. Bond, R. Broadhurst, M. Pahi, and E. Griffiths handled well in, combined movements which gained much ground. The Linwood backs attempted many passing rushes, but poor handling by the inside backs brought most of their efforts to a stop. Papanui used many of these errors to turn defence into attack to sweep into Linwood territory with forwards and backs working well together. Linwood frequently assisted with some very poor tackling. J.- Tinning, securing possession at half-way from a Linwood back movement, was permitted to score Papanui’s fourth try in the first half with ridiculous ease. The Linwood forwards put much more sustained effort into their play in the second half and carried the play to Papa nui for most of the spell. L. Blanchard, still one of the best forwards in the competition, T. Journey, and A. Atkinson, gave of their best, and it was largely through their efforts that the side scored three tries in the second half. Atkinson covered much ground on defence and used his speed to retrieve some seemingly hopeless positions. L. Jones, the Linwood half-back, sent the ball out smartly from the scrums, but the inside men seldom showed any thrust, and the speedy C. -Atkinson, at wing three-quarters, received few opportunities to show his worth. L. Brown, selected to play for Canterbury against Auckland, moved in to play behind the Papanui scrum, and played sound football without unnecessary frills. W. Jones, second five-eighths, and R. Marsh, centre three-quarters, both gave food displays and with the rest of the ack line showed a marked improvement on some recent games. Papanui added considerably to its score wtih some good goal kicking, all six tries socred being converted.

For Linwood, C. Atkinson, T. Journey, and Blanchard scored tries, two of which were converted by F. Hudson.

Broadhurst (2), Bond, G. Fuller, L. Tinning, and Griffiths scored tries for Papanui. I. Campbell converted five tries and Bond one try. The referee was Mr N. Fisher. WOOLSTON v. ADDINGTON Better combination and speed in its back play enabled Woolston to beat Addington by 11 points to 8 in an even but sometimes ragged game played at the Show Grounds. There was little between the teams and Addington strived hard to secure its first competition points, of the season with some solid work by its forwards who held a slight advantage right through the game. There was little team work, however, and its best work on attack came from individual bursts by the backs, who seldom showed any cohesion. The Woolston backline on occasions linked up in good style to get the □all out to the three-quarter line, where R. Hill, J. Sewell, and J. Hopping won the game with strong running and good handling. G. Pitcher, at five-eighths, also played soundly, but he frequently ran into some hard Addington tackling. For Woolston tries were scored by Pitcher, Hopping, and Sewell. Pitcher converted one try. D. Ward and M. Paul scored tries for Addington, and Henderson converted one try. Mr R. Findlay was referee.