MAORIS BEAT COUNTRY

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30156, 13 June 1963, Page 5

MAORIS BEAT COUNTRY

Bright Rugby At Rangiora

By playing bright, eaterprising Rugby. Canterbury Maoris beat the Country team by 13 points, two converted and one unconverted tries, to 9. two tries and a penalty, at the Rangiora Show Grounds yesterday afternoon.

The Country team could not manage the Maori loose forwards until about half-way through the second spell After that it had better control of the game, scoring its two tries. The teams were:

Maoris: T. Thompson, G. Hughes, T. Taia, M. Dick. R Taiaroa. Q. Tapsell. L. Taiaroa. R. M. Wainohu (captain), J. Walker, H. Stuart, R Tuhuru. W. Flavell. M. Bell. T. Norton, D. Couch.

Country; M. Alexander, R. Grenfell R. Logan, R. Grant, D. Wyllie,-H. James. M. Reid. D. King, N. Cornelius (captain), A. Hopkin-son. J. Francis, A. Wyllie, J. LeLeivre. J. Sheehan. B. Macfarlane. The referee was Mr E. M. Livingstone, of North Canterbury. For the whole of the game the Maori players tried to keep, the play open. At every opportunity they spun the ball out along the back line and the best backs on the field were L. Taiaroa. the Maori half-back, and Q Tapsell. at first five-eighths. In the Maori forwards the honours were shared by the No. 8. R. M. Wainohu, and W. Flavell. Both these players were always in the right place at the right time. The Maori front row forward. D. Couch, was hurt during the game and replaced by D. Kitto.

The Country tackling was not up to standard until the latter stages of the game. The most outstanding forward was A. Hopkinson, who covered a lot of ground for his team, especially in the second spell. A. Wyllie also played well.

The Country half-back, M. Reid, served his team well and his flying passes were a notable feature of the game. H. James played a good game. At half time some of the Colin try emergencies replaced players on the field. C. Anderson went on as fullback, W. R. Macdonald, right wing, and S. Meyer at No. 8. The first points appeared on the board after 20 minutes of piay when A. Wyllie kicked a penalty for Country which did not score again until well into the second half

W. Flavell scored a try near the corner flag to put up the first points for the Maoris. Close to half-time M. Bell scored the Maoris’ second try after the ball had been carried by his team-mates from over the half-way. A conversion by T. Thompson brought the half-time score to 8-3 in the Maoris’ favour. Early in the second half the Maoris’ third and last try was scored by Tapsell. Thompson again kicked the conversion. Two tries for Country, one bv A. Wyllie and the other by Meyer, lifted their team’s score to nine points.