PAPANUI WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28323, 8 July 1957, Page 16

PAPANUI WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

18-8 Win Over Christchurch

Beating Christchurch by 18 points to 8 in the final round on Saturday, Papanui won- the Canterbury Rugby League’s championship for the 1957 season. The main game at the Show Grounds, between Hornby and Sydenham, resulted in a win for Hornby and took that team into second place. Marist showed much improvement and only went down to Linwood in the latter stages of the game. By gaining the most points in the second round of the championship, Papanui won the right to challenge Sydenham (the holders) for the Vivian Cup.

Results were:— Hornby 15, Sydenham 3. Papanui 18, Christchurch 8. Linwood 13, Marist 8. Final championship points are: Papanui 18, Hornby 15, Sydenham 14, Linwood 7, Christchurch 6, Marist 0. Vivian Cup points are: Papanui 10, Hornby 8, Sydenham 5, Christchurch 4, Linwood 3, Marist 0. PAPANUI v. CHRISTCHURCH With a win over Christchurch by 18 points to 8, Papanui gained its first championship since before the war, when it was playing under the name of Waimairi. Papanui started off in such a manner that it appeared that it would win by a large margin, and by halftime had built up a lead of 18 points; to 5. However, Christchurch was I not deterred by such a margin, and dominated play in the second half. Papanui was fortunate to hold Christchurch to one try in this spell. Papanui lost a great deal of its attacking sting when K. Roberts was forced to retire near the end of the first half. His departure left the inside combination disorganised, and Christchurch took full advantage of it by blocking all of Papanui’s moves and setting up some strong attacks that had the champions baffled many times. Had Christchurch possessed a little more pace in the inside backs the team could well have got much nearer to its opponent’s score. The Papanui cover defence moved across quickly to block Christchurch atR. Clarke had a most successful day for Papanui behind the scrum and was getting his backs away in fine style in the first half. His fiveeighths, Roberts and Jim Bond, had a most happy time in the first half, too. The Christchurch backs who caused the defence some anxious moments were D. Walker and B. Edwards. Best of a forward pack for Christchurch that came out on equal terms with a much heavier Papanui pack were B. Douglas and R. Booth. Scorers for Papanui were E. Anderson (2), I. McKenzie (2), John Bond, and R. Clarke. I. Wilkie and D. Walker scored for Christchurch, Walker also kicking a penalty. Mr W. R. Wilkinson was referee. LINWOOD v. MARIST Linwood, launching . a powerful second spell attack, made up a first half deficit and won the game against Marist at the Show’ Grounds by 13 points to 8. The first half was all Marist, with forwards and backs working together for many fine movements. Dour defence by Linw’ood broke many of the movements down, but with the tempo set by the Marist team two tries seemed a poor rew’ard. Marist’s first try was a classic in interception. K. Cunneen, the Marist fiveeighths, made the interception, caught the majority of the Linwood defence flatfooted, and sped downfield. He passed to a supporting player, B. Ayson, w’ho made the touchdown unopposed. With both teams tackling solidly, F. Hatch crashed over the line to score for Marist. Linw’ood. still fighting back, made several good movements. From a scrum close to the Marist line B. Pounsford, the Linwood half-back, gained possession and w’ent over. Dropped passes once more in the second half spoilt many movements by both teams and play became scrappy. Eventually Pounsford secured his second try in a similar way to his first. The final Linwood try was from a backline movement that swept all before it, with all the backs handling the ball, and finishing with B. Tewmion cutting infield to score. Although this game had no bearing on the final points for the championship. both teams played as if it did, and as a result the game was fast and would have done credit to many of the teams higher on the points ladder. . For Linwood tries were scored by B. Pounsford (2) and B. Tewnion, with J. Robinson making two conversions. Marist’s points came from tries by B. Ayson and F. Hatch, with M. Bond making a conversion. Mr C. Day (Otago) W’as referee. HORNBY v. SYDENHAM

The main game at the Show Grounds resulted in a win for Hornby over Sydenham by 15 points (a goal from a try, two tries, and two penalty goals) to 3 points (a try). The very heavy ground was against the players, and only on rare occasions did the game reach tne high standard usually seen in games between these two sides. Both teams attempted to keep the game open, but the w’et ball and heavy conditions made handling difficult. As usual, Hornby proved very adept at taking full advantage of mistakes, and two of its three tries came in this manner. Over the last few- weeks Sydenham has been w’ithout several top players. With Hornby winning the bigger share of the ball from the scrums. Svdenham's back line was restricted on attack. When it did receive chances, it had to contend with the fine cover defence which is a feature of Hornby’s play. The Hornby forwards gave a very solid display and handled the heavy conditions in good stvle. They lost little time in i exploiting any gaps close to the scrum. ■ The outstanding packman was M. ; Cooke, who in ’another non-stop display w’as up with the play right .through the game. F. Tinning, G. Bray, J. Withers, and R. Woodgate • were good forwards in the tight and gave Cooke fine support. A greater share of the ball gave the Hornby back line many opportunities, but the first five-eighths. P. Tongue, handled poorly. The halfback, R. Kelly, made some very I good breaks, but generally lacked i support. G. Neiman and C. Courtnev gave sound individual displays. M. Courtney and A Woodham, the wingers, did not receive many opportunities but always looked competent.* The Sydenham forwards held their own with their more experienced opponents. Young players in W. Blazey, R. ThiStoll, and G. Wells showed much promise. Their low tackling could well be copied by some of the more experienced members. R. Turton was compelled to do much more in the tight play but still found time to do a fine job on cover defence.

The Sydenham backs adopted their usual tactics of throwing the ball about, but a lack of penetration inside allowed their opponents to smother most of their efforts. P. Williams was always prominent with his sure handling and solid tackling at first five-eighths. He received good support from B. Barron. J. Stehr made some good breaks, and several of his openings could have brought tries against a Weaker defence. However, he spoiled an otherwise good display with frequent handling mistakes. For the winner, G. Withers, A. Woodham, and M. Cooke scored tries. R. Kelly converted one try and kicked a penalty goal; R. Woodgate also kicked a penalty goal. Sydenham’s only points came from a try by J. Stehr. •Mr J. Coombs (Otago) was refer**.