LEAGUE PAPANUI SUFFERS FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29235, 20 June 1960, Page 6

LEAGUE PAPANUI SUFFERS FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

'■ I 5 The first games in the second round of the Canterbury Rugby League’s championship were played on Saturday in ideal conditions. The Vivian Cup series, which is played in conjunction with the second round, was also commenced. The highlight of the day’s games was Papanui’s first defeat of the season. Sydenham was right at the top of its form and won a fast and exciting game by 18 points to 15. ‘The result of this game brings Papanui and Linwood back as joint leaders in the championship. Results were: Sydenham 18, Papanui 15. Hornby 40, Christchurch 0. Linwood 59, Addington 5. Marist had a bye. Championship points are: Papanui 14, Linwood 14, Sydenham 12, Marist 8, Hornby 8, Addington 4, Christchurch 2. Vivian Cup Points.—Sydenham 2, Linwood 2, Hornby 2, Marist 2, Addington 0, Papanui 0, Christchurch 0. I. 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I I < i a t J t t

SYDENHAM V. PAPANUI

For the third Saturday in succession patrons at the Show Grounds saw a fine exhibition of the League code. Beaten by Papanui in the first round by the narrow margin of two points, Sydenham struck top form and this time reversed the result to win a very exciting game by 18 points to 15, Winning a big share of the bail from the early scrums, Sydenham started in great style and had Papanui busily defending. Sydenham had easily the better of the first spell, and at half-time led by 13 points to 2. Papanui, however, came back splendidly in the second spell and gradually reduced the deficit. From

half-way through the spell it was anybody's game, but Sydenham defended stoutly and thoroughly deserved its narrow victory. Right from the first whistle Sydenham kept the ball moving smartly, with the forwards, who played with much zest, breaking through to set the backs moving. The backs carried on in fine style and their speed and snappy handling brought them three spectacular early tries. ■ Without much of the ball in the first half the Papanui forwards had a lot of chasing to do and not much was seen of them on attack until the second half. They produced their best efforts towards the end of the game and appeared the bettec pack at the finish. The Sydenham backs received ample opportunities to show their best when they were well served with the ball, and they played some very attractive football. They attacked at every opportunity, keeping the defence extremely busy. In the second half Papanui saw more of the ball, and it was then the turn of its backs to produce their true form. A feature of the game was the performance of the opposing first five-eighths. The versatile R. Turton filled this position for Sydenham. and was faultless. His clean handling and sharp breaks gave his supports a great start, and his cover defence reached a high standard. K. Roberts, the Papanui first fiveeighths, shone on defence early, and when his side began to get a fair share of the ball from the scrums he again proved his worth on attack. He was very hard to stop when he got under way with his strong jinky breaks. The Sydenham three-quarters, K. Harding, C. Preece, and R. Raistrick, always' looked formidable and each scored an excellent try. Had the handling of the second five-eighths, B. Cairns, been more certain the three-quarters would have been more dangerous still. M. Burtt was an efficient half-back who excelled on cover defence. The Papanui backs did not combine as effectively as did their opposite number, and many of their efforts were individual. R. Clarke did not let up in his efforts to get the line moving from behind the scrum, and he gave Roberts a good service. 3. Bond showed flashes of his best, but generally found the defence too strong. The wings, A. Amer and G. Ibbotson, spent most of their time on defence, but both ran strongly when in possession. Ibbotson showed good Judgment when coming inside for his two tries. It would be hard to single out a Sydenham forward, as they were all very efficient. B. Barron and N. Diggs did a fine job in all the tight play, with J. Williams. R. Thlstoll, B. Butts and R. Lewis always prominent with their speed and good cover defence in the open. G. Turner gave his best display of the season in the Papanui pack. K. Pearce, with his usual efficient game, R. Kingston, and E. Tavendale were the most prominent of the others. For Sydenham. C. Preece, K. Harding. R. Raistrick. and I. Williams scored tries. Williams converted two tries and kicked a penalty goal. G. Ibbotson (2) and G. Bona scored tries for Papanui. K. Pearce converted two tries and kicked a penalty goal. The referee was Mr D. C. Wilson.

LINWOOD v. ADDINGTON

Playing on the No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds, Linwood had the easiest of wins over Addington by 59 points to 5 after leading at halftime by 23-0.

Linwood played its usual bright game, using forwards and backs as a complete unit' to score 13 tries in a manner that had the Addington defence completely at sea. Early in the game Addington endeavoured to hold the faster Linwood backs with close marking, and the winning backs had very little room to work in. As soon as the ball came out of the scrum the Addington backs would move right UP on Linwood's. However, R. Pounsford, captain for Linwood, playing at half-back, soon sized up the situation and introduced tactics that Addington could not counter. When the ball came from set scrums Pounsford ran a short distance before returning the ball to the forwards, who had little difficulty in penetrating the defence with their short passing rushes. Invariably the movements were carried on by the backs, who had again worked themselves Into the move.

Linwood's play was good, and Addington tried very hard to hold the team right up until the final whistle, but the pace of Linwood’s backs and the intelligent play of the forwards proved to be too much for some of the Addington players. A number of Linwood’s key players, who took, part in the hard match against Papanui the week before, were rested, but the replacements played very well and worked themselves into the combination with little effort. Pounsford was the pivot of the backs, and he played a fine game. His speed and ability to capitalise on the loose ball proved valuable. He scored two very good tries. At centre three-quarters P. White played another good game. His speed was altogether too much for Addington to cope with, and his clever footwork enabled him to beat opponents with comparative ease. He scored four tries to make him the top try-scorer in the championship series so far. K. Jour nee made a reappearance on the wing, and although he was not completely fit yet he showed a lot of his old dash, and was hard to bring down. a „ A. Smith had little to do as fullback, although he stopped a number of Addington attacks with hard tackling. He had a field day with his kicking—eight conversions and two penalty goals. R. McLean played another good game at the back of the scrum. He was a vital link with his backs. L. Blanchard led the pack well, and received plenty of support from Jim Flanagan, John Flanagan. M. Carlyle, and T. Journee. M. Worters, at first five-eighths, played well for Addington with limited opportunities, and in the forwards G Blackler and W. Flavell showed up. Scorers for Linwood were P. White (4), R. Donaldson (3). R. Pounsford (2), K. Journee (2), R. McLean and P. Manderson. A. Smith converted eight tries and kicked two penalty goals. Addingtons points came from a try by M. Worters, which he also converted. The referee wag Mr P. Yaxley. HORNBY v. CHRISTCHURCH After a rather scrappy first half, in which Christchurch had a decided territorial advantage, Hornby came back with a greatly improved second-half display and overran the young Christchurch side by 40 points to 0. Hornby was at sixes and sevens in the early stages and Christchurch, with a big share of the ball, launched repeated attacks which with more finish would have taken the side into a good lead. However, the finish was not there and the Hornby defence was able to keep Christchurch out. With Hornby finding its true form after the interval, the Christchurch defence wilted badly against the speed and excellent backing up. Hornby scored 10 tries and most of them came through the excellent backing up of the player making the initial break. When the Christchurch backs were in possession this aspect of the game was sadly missing, and many golden scoring opportunities went begging through lack of support. Although well beaten, the young Christchurch side did not let up. and several of the youngest members of the side showed that with more experience the side will show much improvement next season. The player who took the honours of the game was the young Hornby forward, I. Drayton. For his weight Drayton showed surprising speed and scored three excellent tries. M. Cooke did not appear to exert himself in the easy game, and mainly contented himself with starting movements. R. Woodgate, D. Shadwell, and D. Neiman had matters all their own way in the second spell and were always prominent. The speed of P. Tongue. P. Robinson, G. Neiman, and R. Woodham in the Hornby backs repeatedly took them past defenders. L French, E. Cockroft, and G. Clarke, the Christchurch inside backs, were the best of the line, playing well on defence and occasionally ahowlng up on attack The

much lighter Christchurch pack toiled hard and were well led by P. Hughey, R. Franklin, and R. Austin.

Hornby's score came from tries by L Drayton (3), A. Woodham (2), P. Tongue (2), D. Shadwell, D. Neiman, and W. Truscott. Drayton (4) and Truscott kicked conversions. The referee was Mr W. Gray.