Increased Lead For Papanui

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28897, 18 May 1959, Page 17

Increased Lead For Papanui

The Canterbury Rugby League’s championship games were con- ° tinued on Saturday in fine but cold conditions. Through the f defeat of Christchurch Papanui’s b lead in the championship was * increased. Papanui now has a t four-point lead. Results were:— Sydenham 32, Addington 14. ’ Papanui 11, Marist 6. r Linwood 28, Christchurch 8. i Hornby 23, Dallington 10. I Championship points are:— £ Papanui 10, Christchurch 6, Hornby 6, Linwood 6, Sydenham * 6, Marist 2, Dallington 0. i

SYDENHAM v. ADDINGTON S Lack of finish to many promising attacks cost Addington many points B in the game against Sydenham. Addington had many chances, but ‘ sadly lacked the good combination v and understanding which were f features of Sydenham's play. Ad- s dington also failed in cover defence »■ and in getting to the loose ball. s Sydenham opened up play at every opportunity and threw the ball about J, in fine style. The team made many | handling mistakes, but was able to . regain possession most times through c ‘ Addington's inability to take advan- r tage of mistakes. r Individually the Addington players . gave good accounts of themselves, " but the side could not match Syden- , ham in combined efforts. The game, J which Sydenham won by 32 points to 1 14, resolved into a tries-against-penalties result, with Sydenham scoring eight tries and Addington getting all its points from penalties. The Sydenham forwards put a lot 1 of dash into their efforts and opened < up play for their speedy backline at 1 every opportunity. R. Thistoll, J. S Muirhead. and B. Barron were i always prominent and broke through 1 repeatedly to set the side in motion. 1 In the backline, which showed I speed, B. Cairns, at first five-eighths, 1 had a fine eve for a gap, and his hard, straight running gave his out- ' side supports many opportunities. 1 Given room. D. Stevens, at centre, i was able to use his great speed, and four times he outpaced the opposi- < lion for tries. The wings, G. Williams and G. Pomare. ran hard ( when in possession. ' The Addington backline suffered through the ball coming from the scrum far too slowly, thus giving the I Sydenham forwards ample time to get out and smother the attack. The most prominent Addington 1 hack was the first five-eighths. J. Raxworthy, who put a lot of dash into his play on attack, and who was very strong on defence. At second five-eighths, H. McClure was 1 sound, but lacked the necessary pace to beat his opposite number and ge» his three-quarter line moving at top speed. The full-back, D. Miller, canped a sound display by scoring all his side’s points with seven penalties. Although beaten in the loose, the Addington forwards kept to their task in good style. K. Wilson, a loose forward, did a fine job on defence, being up with the play all the time. He was the one Addington player who knew the value of cover defence. B. Barnett, B. Unwin,

and I. Williams played well in the tight. For Sydenham D. Stevens (4). B. Cail ns (2). G. Pomare. and J. Muirhead scored tries. G. Williams kicked four conversions. Addington’s score was made up of seven penalty goals by D. Miller. The referee was Mr D. Wilson. LINWOOD v. CHRISTCHURCH A very mobile Linwood side had far too much life for Christchurch and after calling the tune for most of the game won very comfortably by 28 points to 8. The young Linwood backline again showed great promise and, well served with ball by the forwards, gave, a very convincing display of attacking football. Linwood led at half-time by 17 points to 3, but for a period early in the second half Christchurch showed a big improvement and held Linwood for a time. However, the efforts netered out under pressure.

efforts petered out under pressure, and from then on It was only a matter of how much Linwood would win by. Christchurch had many chances on attack, but its lack of speed and thrust ruined most of its efforts. Christchurch’s slowness in giving and taking passes gave the opposition little trouble in getting up to smother movements before they made much headway. On the other hand, the Linwood backs were on the move when they received the ball and, handling cleanly with hard running, were quick to find the many gaps which their efforts opened up. Behind the Linwood scrum J. Jones lost little time in getting the ball away with crisp, long passes. His first five-eighths, P. Manderson, handled perfectly and proved a fine link. He sent the ball on with little loss of time He varied his play well and did not attempt too much on his own. His outside supports, B. Tewnion,

at second five-eighths. P. White, at centre, and K. Journee and G. Maloney, the wings, took full advantage of the fine service, and all gave splendid displays. White gave further evidence of his scoring ability if given a little room in which to exploit his clever footwork Although he was seldom bustled. Smith proved very sound at fullback, and his long kicking repeatedly put his side on attack. The Linwood forwards again gave a much-improved display and were very mobile as well as producing a good combination. John Flanagan. R. Stenhouse, T. Journee. and M Carlyle were alwavs prominent in opening uo play, with Jim Flanagan and L. Blanchard prominent in all th*» tight plav. In a rather disjointed Christchurch backline, which failed to produce any worth-while combination, sound individual nerformances were given hv S. Radford. K. Diggs, and B Wilson. R. Booth. K. Grut, R. Franklin, and G. Austin were verv bard plavers in the Christchurch nark and did not let up in their efforts to get the side moving. For Unwond tries were scored by M. Carlyle (3). P White (2), and K. .Tournee. B. Tewnion converted on*' try. and P White (2) and A. Smith kicked penalty goals. S. Radford and R. Booth scored tries for Christcburnh. one of which was converted bv K. Grut. The rrfe’-ep was Mr P Yaxley. PAPANUI v. MARIST Weakened through a number of its plavers being in Auckland for the final New Zealand trials and through Injuries, the leading team Pananui. had its closest call of the season. It beat Marist in the curtain-raiser on the No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds, by 11 points to 6.

With Papanui leading by only 3 points to 2 at half-time the secopd half became a verv tense struggle with Marist striving desperately to create its second upset of the season.

Papanui scored three tries, one converted, and Marist’s points came from three penalties. However further penalties could easily have swung thd result as P. Creedv mis-cd two easy ones in the first half.

At five-eighths W. Jones played the leading role in the Papanui backs. Several times he cut through with his pace but he also found the Marist defence stronger than that of other sides in recent

Deputising at half-back. K. Hazeidine performed well behind a big forward pack. The loose forward. G. Bond, furtner demonstrated his versatility by playing at full-back and making a thoroughly good job of it. He drove Marist back a number ol times with long kicks. Pananui's forwards were ably lea by J. Bond. J. Rossiter and G. Turner. Only a recent newcomer to senior ranks. Turner has Impressed with his hard running. He is one of the biggest forwards playing in local matches and with experience could make a first-class (ront-row player. Marist’s forwards gave their best exhibition of the season. They did not let up against the heavier Papanui pack and came out of the

game on even terms. The former Kiwi and coach of the | Marist side. J. Curtain, was a first- ; class leader. He was always In | the thick of the hard going and i was an inspiration to the other i players. Another forward who > stood out was B. Curtain. In ' possession he was a hard man io ; stop. P. Creedv endeavoured to keep. ] the back* line on the move with a‘ > good service from the scrum. On I i the wing K. Cunneen made several ; determined side-line runs and on a number of occasions was unlucky. not to get tries. Scorers for Papanui were W Jones IL Gavin and K. Harding I Gavin converted bis own try. Three I penalties were kicked for Marist by P Creedy. The referee was Mr C. Day. 1 HORNBY v. DALLINGTON Showing a welcome return to form Hornby gained a good win over Dallington by 23 points to 10 on the No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds. At halt-time it appeared as if Hornby was going to have a big win. The score then was 16-2. but in the second half Dallington tightened up play to make matters more even. Dallington scored one point more than Hornby in the second halt, but once again individual efforts made most ground for Dallington. Hornby’s inside backs went well, especially in the first half. At half-back, T. Houston was solid and he gave his outside men many chances At five-eighths, D. Robinson and E. McNicholl impressed with their handling and positional play. Both players were promoted this year from low’er grades and both are fitting into the higher standard of play well. At full-back. P. Tongue chose the opportune moment a number of times to move into the backline and give it greater impetus. On one occasion he carried on to score himself. Hornoy’s forwards were a much happier group than they have been in recent matches. F. Tinning ! showed up to advantage m the hard going and he was given good . support from the Canterbury repre- ■ sentative front row man, D. Moore, i Once again. R. Woodgate showed . his worth as a hooker, giving his I backs an abundance of the ball. Dallington’s best back was once f. again K. Parata. He ran strongly but his chances were limited and » he had to make more of them himself. He played at centre. . In the five-eighths, G. Regan ’ showed up in several runs, but 5 there was little cohesion. . Scorers tor Hornby were D. Rob- ( inson, D. Moore. P. Tongue. P. Houston and F. Tinning. E. McNicholl converted three and kicked a penalty goal. Dallington’s points were all scored 1 by the forward. W. Poharama. two 1 tries, a conversion and a penalty L goal. f The referee was Mr J. Guy.