Christchurch Loses To Marist In Ist. Round

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30177, 8 July 1963, Page 14

Christchurch Loses To Marist In Ist. Round

Christchurch, the leading team in the qualifying contest, was among the defeated clubs when the first round of the senior Rugby championship began in the shadow of the Canterbury v. Wellington match on Saturday.

In a strenuous forward tussle, Marist, the only Harewood Trophy side hot affected by representative calls, beat Christchurch by a point. University and New Brighton were the other winning sides.

In the D.C.L. Shield contest for the bottom six teams, Suburbs beat Albion to create a lead of two points from its nearest rivals. Half a point now covers five teams in the competition. Results were: HAREWOOD TROPHY Marist 6, Christchurch 5. University 9, Linwood 3. New Brighton 11, High School Old Boys 0. D.C.L. SHIELD Suburbs 8, Albion 5. Belfast 11, Sydenham 0. Shirley 13, Merivale 3. Next Saturday, University and Christchurch will meet in the main chai... >nship match ait Lancaster Park, with Marist and New Brighton playing the early game. Linwood will play Old Boys at Rygby Park. Matches in the D.C.L. Shield series will be Albion v. Shirley. Suburbs v. Belfast and Sydenham v. Merivale. The positions of teams in this contest are:—

Hard Forward Struggle

MARIST 6: E. Noonan a try; B. Connelly a penalty goal. CHRISTCHURCH 5: G. J. Waterreus, a try and a conversion.

A relentless struggle between two strong and well-matched packs overshadowed all other aspects of this Rugby Park match. There was no superiority gained by either side in scrums, line-outs or rucks, but when in strong attacking positions. Marist responded by infusing a little more spirit into its play.

Rugby Park qjas in reasonably good order after the rain, but the ground was muddy in parts. This condition, and a slippery ball, did not make for good back play; rather it contributed to a crop of errors, particularly in handling. To a certain extent the game followed the pattern of the qualifying round encounter between the two sides. On that occasion Marist led for 57 minutes but was thereafter beaten by the brilliance of E. Conder. B. A. Watt, and W. F. Birtwistle. On Saturday Christchurch had only Conder of this quartet; Marist led for 50 minutes before Christchurch went to the front, but two* minutes later Marist regained the lead and Held it to the end This time Christchurch did not have the same sting in its back line to save the day, although Conder continued to feed the men outside him in the hope for some positive result. However, Waterreus, although sound, was rather deliberate in his play at first five-eighths, and the back Une rarely functioned with any freedom.

B. A. Coulter, the Marist half-back, varied his play well but placed greater emphasis on gaining ground by line kicking than did Conder. This policy was supplemented by spirited work in the line-outs by J. F Bums, while the alertness of T. M. McKendry and T. Taylor enabled Marist to take advantage of much of the loose ball from this source.

The Christchurch players displayed resilience in the hard forward battle, G. Burgoyne and B. Francis being frequently to the fore. The left wing, R. Morris, was enterprising but had few chances. Mr D. Last was the referee.

Made Most Of Chances UNIVERSITY 9; P. R. Black a try; J. C. Gibson and T. J. Morris penalty goals. LINWOOD 3: P. Jellyman a penalty goal.

University deserved its win in the mud and slush on the south ground because it took its opportunities when the ball and the ground were relatively dry, to gain a nine-point lead at half-time.

In the second half, Linwood fought back magnificently. Its eager forwards penned University in its own half, but all that it gained from its decisive territorial advantage was a penalty goal, for by that time the possibility of back movements was ruled out, and University could always manage to stifle the vigorous Linwood forward attacks.

In the first half, University attacked through its backs whenever possible and the only try of the match came when A. F. Orme made a half gap which was widened by Q. T. Tapsell for P. Black to score. In the University pack. J. N. Creighton and G. Loveridge were outstanding for their dedicated endeavours in the tight and P. Lee and L. B. O'Reilly did well in the loose. L. S. Taiaroa played well at half-back, but it was T. J. Morris, under considerable pressure for most of the game, who was the best University back. A. Mansfield gave a superb exhibition for Linwood In the loose forward play and A. Holland and R. Tabb gave him good support.

N. Stokes played a fine game at full-back, for Linwood and K. Fraser was a competent halfback whose swift and accurate passes were never quite utilised fully by his outside backs. The referee was Mr A. V. Langford. Second Half Siege NEW BRIGHTON 11: W. Smith. C. Smith tries; G. Stanley a penalty goal and a conversion. HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS 0.

New Brighton ted 3-0 at halftime from a penalty goal but the result seemed very open. However, in the second half Old Boys were out of their own half on only two occasions. Jellicoe Park was in excellent order for the match. M. Miliar won most of the ball in the line-outs and D. Hill won numerous tight heads, so that Old Boys had much 'the better of the set forward play. But in the loose G. Muir, E. Leask and W. Smith gave the Old Boys inside backs, particularly the half-back, R. Young, a torrid time. E Kacimaiwai used his weight and strength in the loose rucks to further embarras Old Boys when their passing rushes, inevitably it seemed, broke dowm.

After 35 minutes of attacking in the second half. New Brighton at last crossed the Old Boys line. W. Smith scoring through good backing up after F. Bishop had beaten P O’Malley in a chain passing move.

Then R. Bo wick, the New Brighton full-back, engineered the try of the match. B. March took an Old Boys kick at full pace on his 25yd line and ran across the field to pass to M Dick near half-way Dick reverse-passed to Bowiek who beat five Old Boys players in a run down the centre of the field. From a loose ruck three New Brighton players handled before C. Smith scored after a movement covering 75 yards, with two changes of direction. Mr L. S. Kirk was the referee.

Belfast Forwards Excel BELFAST 11: A. Thompson a try; C. Cameron, a conversion and two penalty goals. SYDENHAM 0. Belfast gained great heart from holding a 3-0 lead at halftime and for much of the second half had Sydenham in its grip. The Belfast forwards led their team’s attacks with vigour and the try scored by Thompson after the pack had pushed the Sydenham scrum back to its line was a fitting reward for their efforts. Sydenham relied heavily on its full-back, D. L. Gallop, and he did not spare himself on- defence. The referee was Mr D. Hume Sykes Inspires Suburbs SUBURBS 8: V. C. Sykes a try; R. Templeton, a penalty goal and a conversion, x ALBION 5: G. Fright a try; A. Harrison a conversion. Suburbs survived a number of determined attacks from Albion before winning this match at Sunnyside. Favouring kick-and-rush play, Albion made many sorties into Suburbs territory and, in fact, scored its try in this way. Later, R. Phelan was prominent in back movements but sound tackling, particularly by Sykes and W. Cottrell, threw Albion back. Sykes was as strong on attack as he was on defence; his try was an excellent effort. Mr F. B. Campbell was the referee. Shirley’s Stamina Decisive SHIRLEY 13: D G. Frampton, W. FLavell tries; B. Richards a penalty goal and two conversions. MERIVALE *3: L. Mitchell a penalty goal. Although Merivale was on level terms with Shirley at halftime, its forwards could not match the stamina of the opposing pack in th e second half. M. Taylor, I. Bateman and M. Dyer provided a solid basis on which Shirlev built its success and the half-back, Frampton, used the ball well by his forwards to good advantage. The referee was Mr A. F Gurnsev.

Lower Grades

Senior Reserve.—Albion 6. North Brighton 0; Lincoln College 15, Christchurch 0; Linwood 31, University C 3; Kaiapoi 8. Suburbs 3: Teachers' College 15, High School Old Boys Ik University A 14, University

Under 19.—St. Andrew's 6. Boys’ High School 6; St. Bede's 28. Christ's College 5; Cashmere High School 14. Shirley Boys’ High School 6: University B 8, Albion 3; Burnside 6. Xavier 6.

Subs. w .. 5 L 6 D 1 F 88 A 95 Pts. 5i Alb. .. 3 8 1 109 150 3*2 Shir. .. 3' 8 1 89 129 3i Belt. .. 3 9 w 87 189 3 Mer. .. 3 9 •> 159 3 Syd. .. 3 9 - 85 150 3