LEAGUE LIWOOD HARD PRESSED TO BEAT HORNBY

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29247, 4 July 1960, Page 16

LEAGUE LIWOOD HARD PRESSED TO BEAT HORNBY

Linwood, which shares first place in the Canterbury Rugby Teamie’* championship with PapanuL was fully extended by the greatly improved Hornby side in the main game at the Addington Show Grounds on Saturday. Games were played on the heaviest grounds of the season after a heavy frost had left surfaces sticky. Results:— Unreed 11. Hornby «. Marist 15. Addington 7. Papanai 22, Christcharch 12. Championships points are:— Papanui 18, Linwood 18, Sydenham 14, Marist 12, Hornby 10, Addington 4, Christchurch 2. Vivian cup points: Linwood 6, Marist 6. Sydenham 4, Papanui 4, Hornby 4, Addington 0, Christchurch 0. LINWOOD V. HORNBY A very much improved Hornby side fully extended Linwood in the main game at the Show Grounds and with a little more finish could have won a close and very interesting game. Hornby scored two tries to Linwood's one and for most of the game had a territorial advantage. Although the game did not reach the same high standard of recent weeks it was full of interest. The sticky surface hampered the backs in their initial efforts and gave the cover defence more time to assemble Its forces. Linwood always looked the livelier side and Its cover defence reached a high standard. Hornby commenced in fine style and its first try in the first few minutes was the result of a very crisp movement. Had it been able to retain this play it could quite easily have reversed the decision. Hornby had ample possession but the ball was seldom moved along fast enough to create a gap in the Linwood defence. Linwood, too. found it hard to pierce the equally strong Hornby defence and the tackling was a feature of the game. Linwood adopted its usual policy of making ground with the forwards before letting the ball out to the backs, but the Inside backs found difficulty in finding gaps for their fast three-quarters, who were not so prominent as usual. The Hornby pack Was very efficient tn all the tight play and its backs showed a big Improvement in handling. Occasionally however, they attempted too much individually when support was available and a try In the offing. The outstanding player on the ground was A. Smith. Linwood’s full-back, who did not put a toot wrong throughout. His excellent handling, good kicking and strong defence must have inspired confidence in the remainder of the team. He scored all his side's points with a try and four penalty goals. The lively R. Pounsford took part in ell the attacks and Ms backing up again a feature of his play. The five-eighths, P. Manderson and G. Maloney, handled cleanly, but generally found the ground against them. At centre, P. White did not receive as many opportunities as usual, but impressed with some fine handling. Hornby's half-back and first fiveeighths. A. Prewer and D. Robinson, also found conditions a hindrance, and their best play was on defence. P. Tongue, at second five-eighths, made some good breaks, but spoiled most of them by moving away from supports. G. Neiman, at centre, appeared Hornby's strongest back, and it was surprising that more efforts to get the ball to him smartly were not made. A. Woodham’s strong running and very sound tackling gave him the edge on the other wings.

L. Blanchard for Linwood and M Cooke for Hornby were fine leaders in li the forwards. Cooke found himself well marked. J. Fisher. John Flanagan. R. McLean and M. Cargave Blanchard fine support and combined cleverly many times wood 31 ” valuable ground for LinI. Drayton, with his strong runnCwWh 1 '? h r, <r ?, qU< ‘ n ’ ,y P Ut hiß side on attack, D. Neiman and R. WoodCook e good support. R. Woodgates very solid tackling upattacks lot ° f Llnwood ’ s forward Smith scored a try and kicked tour penalty goals. Horaby s points came from tries by P. skerton and I. Drayton. The referee was Mr D. c. Wilson. MARIST V. ADDINGTON Cleaner handling and superior combination gave Marist a weUdwerved win by 15 pointe to 7 over the early game at the Show Grounds. Marist handled the sticky conditions better, and always looked the better side. The backs handled more cleanly and the forwards adapted themselves to ' the ground better. The superior combination and cleaner handling of the Marist backs were the deciding factors. Although they did not receive a great deal of possession from scrums, their ability to beat their opposite numbers with greater speed gave them an overlap in attacks.

The slower Addington backs were m<^ e tampered by the conditions ana seldom appeared dangerous as a scoring unit. Most of the backs’ efforts were individual and generally broke down through lack of support. Well served at half-back by B Ellis, the Marist first five-eighths, P. Smith, handled almost faultlessly, and initiated most of his side’s attacks. The second five-eighths. R. Ayson, gave his best display of the season, and carried on Smith's good play to give his centre. E. Barnett, every opportunity to show his worth. Barnett’s fine handling and ability to draw the defence were very evident. and he played a big part in most of the ride’s attacks. The winger, C. Workers, ran strongly and came close to scoring on several occasions.

Solid Individual displays were given by H. Swan. S. Miller, H. McClure and R. Karltiana in the Addington backs, but most of their efforts came to nothing through lack of support. M. Mohl gave a fine display in the Marist pack. He received much support from J. Kelly. B. Curtain, and I* McLeod. The most prominent of the Addington forwards was G. Blackler. W. Flavell. K. Wilson, and D. Milter also stood out. Marist's points came from tries by E. Barnett (2), B. Ellis, C. Worters. and R. Ayson. R. Karltiana scored a try for Addington, which D. Milter converted. Miller also kicked a penalty goal. The referee was Mr W. Grsy. PAPANUI v. CHRISTCHURCH Papanui, co-leader in the championship with Unwood, playing the bottom team, Christchurch, was expected to put up another big score, but had many anxious moment* saginst a side that showed many signs of rejuvenation after some poor displays in recent weeks. The usual Papanui combination and understanding were missing and the eager Christchurch players, although lacking the finer points in good attacking movements, continually swept tn on the loose ball and many times had Papanui racing back to cover up on defence. Papanui acored six tries to two by Christchurch and it was the extra sptwd tn the Papanui backs that enabled the side to have this advantage. all of the trie* coming from the becks. A plearing feature of Christchurch's play was that the team never gave up and although Papanui had the lead throughout, except tor a short ported at the beginning of the game. Christchurch tried hard and at times defended better than at any other stage this season. Papanui never had a big margin of pointe, and at one stage of the second half lad by only 14 points to 10. It was during this period that Christchurch exerted Its greatast pressure, but it did not have the ability on attack to take advanage of Its opportunities. In the Papanui forwards. K. Pearce was the leader end received support from G. Bond and E. Tavendale. Of the backs, who had far more pace than their opposites, J. Bond

and W. Jones had good georing turns, each gaining two tries. At half-back. R. Clark waa paid very close attention by the Christchurch loose forwards and. consequently, the service to the Papanui backs was more restricted than fuU-back. A Radferfl anin provwl to b« a mort reliable club player for Chriatehurm. A promoted pleyer from the lower grades in recent weeks. D. Cockroft played well in the five—ighths. and was always looking for opportunities. The forwards showed mmevtfour than usual, the beet Thorne, who improves with every game. Others to show up were B. ’foXSJSi w— W Jones (3). <*>• R. Carey. Two ware converted ny K Tre“sSrers tor G. Thome and D. Cochron. »• Radford kicked three pena tyro. 1* The referee was Mr L. Lightfoot.