LEAGUE PAPANUI, HORNBY LEAD IN VIVIAN CUP SERIES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 14

LEAGUE PAPANUI, HORNBY LEAD IN VIVIAN CUP SERIES

Rugby League Ctomjjon»hip already won, interest on Saturday was in the The joint leaders, Papanui and Sydenham and Christchurch. ■ R6Buit# were:_ ■ - w l5. Udwmhl 48, Dalllagton 5. Papuai Kt, Maris* 4. Championship < points are: ~ Pipanul H Linwood W, Hornby 18«.Sydenham 18, Christchurch 18, MaristO; Addington 4, Dallington 3. ' , , iMarist 2. Dallington 2, Addington ' HORNBY v. SYDENHAM In a bright, open game Hornby retained its place as joint leader in the Vivian Cup series with a welldeserved win by 12 points to 6 over Sydenham. Botn sides played open football, although there were many handling mistakes. Hornby showed a big improvement in its attack. The side showed much more' speed than usual, and its combined play was better than in earlier games. Hornby's defence was once again very strong, and many excellent Sydenham movements were stopped by the fine covering defence. At times Sydenham went on attack with clever switching movements whleh looked certain to bring tries, but the Hornby defence was to Sydenham’s defence was not impressive, and missed tackles allowed Hornby to start many attacks. The return to the side of the Kiwi forward, M. Cooke, gave the Hornby pack a new lease of life. In contrast to earlier individual efforts the forwards played as a pack and kept the ball moving. F. Tinning repeatedly opened up play for his backline. Cooke appeared to be playing with a lot in reserve, but his generalship and fine cover defence were invaluable. R. Woodgate, J. Withers and N. Colenso gave fine support. With R. Turton playing in the backline the Sydenham pack lacked a leader, and although R. Thistoll, B. Barron, £. Lewis, and J. Muirhead were always trying, most of their efforts failed through lack of support. The Hornby back line gave perhaps its best display of the season. It combined better than Usual and did not attempt too much solo play. The half-back, T. Houston, gave a very lively display. The rest of the line had a good game, with E. McNichol, G Neiman and A. Woodham showing up with their hard running. W. Truscott was a sound full-back who often came into tha hnnlro

Sydenham's backs played their usual style of game, throwing the ball about and switching play cleverly. B. T. Barron, R. Turton, and B. Cairns always impressed. The half-back, M. Burtt, was not as prominent as usual, and his passing lacked its usual snap and direction. For Hornby M, Cooke and P. Tongue scored tries. E. McNichol converted one try and kicked two penalty goals. G Williams scored Sydenham's points with three penalty goals.

The referee was Mr D. Wilson. CHRISTCHURCH V. ADDINGTON Christchurch started well against Addington, it nad all the best of the first hall and looked much the better side. However, a try right after the start of the second spell gave Addington a new lease of life, and it showed a vast improvement to get within a point of the Christchurch total. Christchurch was somewhat lucky to win by 16 points to 15. The biggest weakness of Addington was its inability to take advantage of a loose ball. Time and again players lost a decided advantage through their reluctance to dive in on the ball.

In the early stages L. French, the Chrlstchurcn half-back, and L. McNaughton, the first five-eighths, reached an understanding and these two gave the rest of the line a good start. The line lost a lot of thrust When McNaughton had to retire early in the second spell with a shoulder injury. A McDonald, at centre, and the wings, S. Radford and B. Edwards, ran hard when In possession and kept the defence busy. The most prominent in Addington’s backline were J Raxworthy and H. McClure. R. Booth. R. Franklin, K. Grut, and A. Frater were the pick of the Christchurch forwards, who showed more pace and combination than their opopnents. D. Unwin, J. Williams, and D. Miller were always up with the play for Addington. L. French (2), B. Edwards, and A. McDonald scored tries for Christchurch. K. Grut converted one try and kicked a Density goal. For Addington, J. Raxworthy, B. Churchill, and S. Miller scpred tries. D. Miller converted one try and kicked two penalty goals. The referee was Mr P. Yaxley. LINWOOD v. DALLINGTON If Linwood’s usually reliable kickers had been accurate the score of 48 points to 5 against Dallington would have been much greater. As it was, Linwood converted only three oi the 14 tries scored In the match played on Show Grounds No. 2 Playing like a machine, Linwood went to a 34-nil lead at half-time, but in the second spell fell away a little. As in the last game between the two teams, when Linwood won by 60 points to 8, Dallington was unable to cope with the speed of the Linwood backs and quick and constant changes of direction, made at top pace. Late in the first half Linwood lost its competent hooker, Jim Flanagan. and thereafter Linwood’s share of the ball diminished In the second half Dallington saw much more of the ball, but was not able to do much with it. For Linwood, al! of the backs played well At half-back, R. Pounsford sent his backs away smartly, and the moves were carried on by the five-eighths. P. Manderson and B. Tewnion. Tewnion. as well as making many openings for the rest of the team, scored four tries, as did the centre three-quarters. P White. White also converted two tries, and this total of 16 points took his club tally for the season to 102, the first senior player to pas the century this year. White played a very good game and his speed was too much for the Dallington defence. Of the forwards, all of whom played well, those to show, up particularly were John Flanagan. T. Crowley, and T. Journee. However, when Jim Flanagan was injured J. Harper came on as a replacement, and K Journee moved from the wing to the second row in the forwards. Here Journee was a great success and thereafter was the outstanding forward in the pack. His extra speed carried him to the ball quickly, and his weight was of great advantage in the scrum. For Dallington enthusiasm counted more than concerted effort, and unfortunately it did not bring results Dallington’s best individual efforts came from K. Parata and A. Wrathall (backs) and W Stirling and W Webster (forwards) Scorers for Linwood werfe P White (4), B Tewnion (4), R. Pounsford (2). R Donaldson, T. Journee. K Journee and P Manderson. Two were coverted by D. White and one by A. Smith. For Dallington P. Hubbard scored a try which was converted by K Parata. The referee was Mr J. Guy. PAPANUI V. MARIST ;* In' a very one-sided match Papanui beat, Marist on the No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds by 53 points to 4. At half-time Papanul led by 26-2. and after the spell it went on to score easy tries The score would no doubt have been much higher had not the referee terminated play early Marist suffered badly from absentees It took the field and played right through with only 11 players Without an effective cover defence Marist just could not cope with the speed in the winning beck-line, and playing two abort in the pack, was never able to get much ball from

w. Jones and J. Bond, were aways impressive. When Bond retired he was replaced by K. then took over the roje of Bond in cutting through the Behind the scrum R. Clarke had a most successful day. Xnthe forwards K. Pearce and G, Bond /it Curtain, in the forwards. and D. O'Flaherty and A. tDanns. in the backs, were the pick. Scorers for Papanui were W Jones (3). B. Clarke (2), H. Gavin 12), G. Bond. G. Ibbotson B. Grant. J. Bond. K. Roberts and J. Rossit6F. Conversions were made by G. Bond (3), W. Jones, G. Ibbotson, 3. Bond and J Rossiter. The referee was Mr N. Murray. 7'■ ■ • LOWER GRADE RESULTS Junior Grade.—-Linwood 37, Christchurch 8: Riccarton beat Sydenham by default; Hornby 22. Shirley S. Third Grade.—Sydenham 28. Linwood 3. Senior Schoolboy Grade.—Linwood 23, Christchurch 11; Papanui 9, Riccarton 9; Shirley 9, Hornby 3. Under 14 Years.—Marist 13, Papanui 2; Shirley 23, Kaiapol 3; Riccarton 10, Sydenham 3. Wider 13 Years.—Papanui 11, Dallington 3; Hornby 23, Sydenham 0; Christchurch. 25, Linwood 0; Addington 13, Shirley 3. .Under 12 Years.—Kaiapol 9, Marist 5; Papanui 6. Shirley 5. Under 11 Years.—Shirley A 18, Riccarton 0; Kaiapol 21, Sydenham 3; Hornby 9. Papanui B 0; Papanui A 15, Addington 0. Under Nine Years.—Linwood 9, Kaiapol A 3; Addington 12, Shirley C 0; Shirley A 15, Shirley B 3; Riccarton 13, Marist 6; Papanui A 12, Papanui B 3; Kaiapol B 6, Marist 3.

Under Seven Years. —Shirley A 15. Addington 6.

Matches In Other Centres

Auckland.—Eastern 16 Ellerslie 8; Northern 14, Marist 10; Richmond 9, Glenora 3; Southern 15, western 12 Championship points: Western 20. Southern 16, Richmond 15, Marist 11. Ellerslie 11, Eastern 11, Glenora 6. Northern 6. Mknawatu.—Marton 31, Celtic 8; Kiwi 21, Kia Ora 16. TARANAKI.—Patea 49. Waitara 15; Hawera 38, Athletic 9. Wellington.—Randwick 31, Waterside 15; Korodale, 44, Taita 12; Miramar 18, Petone 10; St. George 22, Marist 12.

West Coast.—Brunner 15. Ngahere 8; Blackball 23, Cobden-Kohinoor 12.