RUGBY LEAGUE Leading Teams Record Expected Victories

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30479, 29 June 1964, Page 8

RUGBY LEAGUE Leading Teams Record Expected Victories

The leading teams, Hornby, Christchurch and Marist, all gained another two competition points when the Rugby League competition was continued on Saturday.

Hornby, which defeated the powerful Papanui team before a crowd of 1000 at Addington Park, has yet to have a try scored against it. It still shares the lead with Christchurch, which gained an easy w in over Kaiapoi.

Marist had a more difficult task than was expected against Linwood but has risen to join Papanui in second place. Next are Addington and Linwood, four points ahead of Sydenham and Kaiapoi.

With two matches still to be played Hornby, Christbhurch, Papanui and Marist will probably form the top section when the competition is split up. Results:— Hornby 12, Papanui 2. Marist 12, Linwood 10. Addington 26, Sydenham 7 Christchurch 35, Kaiapoi 8.

Competition points after five rounds are:

Papanui Gave Away 25 Penalties

again receive such a good opportunity to defeat Hornby. After I. T. Drayton was injured as he attempted to score the try that would have given him his club century the Papanui pack should have been able to take control and gain victory. Instead, the much-vaunted Papanui front row gave away most of the 25 penalties that Hornby received. Although the three players have all been selected to represent South Island they seemed unaware of many of the basic rules of the game and the 17-12 advantage in the scrums was thrown away.

Play for the most part was scrappy' and only Hornby seemed able to penetrate. Drayton continued his fine run of performances and, with D. Condick and M. L. Cooke, outshone his rivals. T. L. Blsman showed at times that he knew which way to run but several of his team-mates looked in doubt. D. R. Stephen defended well in the backs but was unimpressive on attack. N. Wakefield proved a powerful runner on the wing. The Hornby line was ably marshalled by R. Neiman and J. M. Bray, who ensured their outside backs a good amount of the ball. B. W. Langton and R. Moffat used their opportunities.

Bray and Moffat scored tries for Hornby and Drayton'kicked three goals. E. J. Tavendaie kicked a goal for Papanui. Referee: Mr K. Henry. Linwood Unlucky To Lose

Linwood was a little unlucky tn losing to Marist in a fastmoving game. Linwood dominated play for much of the second half and was leading Marist, 1-7, with three minutes remaining, -when P. V. Smith, the Marist stand-off half, kicked intelligently to a gap on the left flank, C. C. Worter carried on and J. D. M. Walshe secured and score.d.

Smith was diligent on defence for Marist and was particularly adept in turning defence into attack with well-placed kicks. R. S. J. Irvine at scrum-half and Walshe and Worters in the three-quarters were other enterprising backs. The elusive M. J. Donaldson and P. L. P. Doig made valuable ground with their hard running, while N. M. Diggs revelled in the tight exchanges for Marist. B. R. P. Curtain, another forward, played solidly and kicked three good goals. N. B. Adkins and M. J. Carlyle were cool and resolute forwards in the open for Linwood. J. A. ■Flanagan was Linwood’s best forward in the tight, where his tactical ability was often in evidence.

W. J. Godfrey and G. B. Moloney were Linwood’s moat incisive baeks. Moloney save one delightful reverse pass for Adkins to score under the posts. Worters and Walshe scored tries for Marist and Curtain kicked three goals. For Linwood. Adkins and Moloney notched tries, while B. Richardson kicked two goals. Referee: Mr R. A. Pont. Injuries Spoil Match

Five players were forced to leave the field because of injury as Addington consolidated a 21-points half-time lead into a 28-7 win. During the first half the Addington baeks, given room In which to move, played delightful football and five tries were scored. The Sydenham defence was tightened in the second half and honours were evenly distributed. Sydenham was unlucky not to draw closer to the Addington total but could not match the well-drilled Addington team in bH D. k McCosh proved an elusive stand-off half for Addington and his decisive running and deceptive side-step opened up many gaps in the Sydenham defence. P. M. White was another -who worried the defence. The forwards were well led by J. H. Fisher and the seemingly tireless M. J. Worters. Worters hunted the ball ruthlessly throughout the match. J. W. Martin was Sydenham s most determined back and was always a danger. C. C. Preece was unlucky not to break through several times. B. T. Barron played well from the dummy half position and received good support from E. Butterfield until Butterfield was injured. P. M. White (2). P. Searle, D. Hooper, Worters and McCosh scored tries for Addington and p. M. White (J) and J. L. White kicked goals. T. Smith scored Sydenham's try and A. Tuuta kicked two goals. Referee: Mr T. C. Houston. Christchurch Not Convincing In spite of beating the bottom team, Kaiapoi. Christchurch could hardly be pleased with its performance at Linwood Park.

With ■ l*rg« xhara of the bitt there wu a general lethargic look about Ila play with the result that time and again tries were lost because players looked as though they had the least interest in the game. . Kaiapoi was well out of Its depth and had to field a large number of substitutes because of absentees. Any gains In territory nqade by the loser were usually made by Individuals and when they did occasionally break Into opposition territory there was no backlng-up to carry the movement forward At stand-off half, D. Robinson made an occasional run for Christchurch and J. Hawthorne and D. Cockroft, the centres, showed flashes of what team work could do. The best per(ormance came from the right wing, J. Williams. He took advantage of every opportunity that came his way and he rounded the day off with three very fine tries. In the second row, J. Gallagher showed up with his mobility and was on hand to score a try that caught the defence on the wrong foot.

At no stage did Kaiapoi look like a winning side but It kept trying throughout but the efforts were not sustained and soon petered out. The stand-off half, B. McConnon, made a number of runs that could have resulted in something had there been any real backing up.

For Christchurch tries were scored by williams <3). R H. Turton. G. Thompson, Gallagher. Cockroft, E. Bennett, and Robinson. Conversions were made by Hawthorne <2). Bennett and II Turton.

For Kaiapoi. T. Holland and N. J. Isle scored tries, one of which was converted by McConnon. Referee: Mr A. Drake.

Horn. W. L. For Agst. Pts. 5 0 187 14 10 Chch. 5 0 ’ 83 35 10 Pap 4 2 141 48 6 Mar. 3 "> 46 62 6 Lin. „ o 3 51 97 4 Add, 2 3 85 74 4 Syd. . 0 5 30 110 0 Kai. 0 5 33 226 0