Wellington Caps Season By Beating Canterbury

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30557, 28 September 1964, Page 16

Wellington Caps Season By Beating Canterbury

Convincingly beating Canterbury by 24 points to 14 at Athletic Park on Saturday, Wellington finished its representative programme with its best record since 1920. Wellington was slightly superior in the forwards and sounder in the backs; its five tries to Canterbury’s two adequately reflected the difference between the teams.

It was an entertaining match containing some superb tries, a rugged contest between two strong packs and plenty of movement by the backs. But at times the game was tarnished by stupid punching and kicking by players in both teams. Often rucks broke up in a flurry of fists and some of the rucking came close to deliberate kicking of players on the ground.

In the simplest terms Wellington won because it gained possession at vital moments, either on defence or attack. There were eight rucks won quickly during the match; Wellington won six of them and gained two tries. Another important factor was the strong northerly wind blowing straight down the field. Graham, who won the toss, elected to play into the wind in the first half. But Wellington made skilful use of the wind and the half-time score of 18-5 was too large a handicap for Canterbury to overcome. Caulton (2), Uttley, Heeps and Grey scored tries for Wellington and Williment kicked three conversions. Birtwistle and Davis scored Canterbury’s tries and Leary kicked a conversion and two penalties. Spirited Display The Canterbury forwards gave a spirited display. Individually every forward played well, but Canterbury did not have the cohesion and perhaps the speed of the Wellington pack. Only on very few occasions did the Canterbury forwards manage to drive in concert, and too often when possession was won the forwards were being forced backwards, thus placing the backs in immediate difficulties. Wellington, magnificently led by Gray, worked far better as a unit These Wellington forwards are not the loose, scavenging players who often used to comprise Wellington teams. They are determined, aggressive, and very well-drilled. In the backs Wellington was sounder. Because the forwards had a slight ascendancy the possession gained was quicker and cleaner, and it was used in a more positive fashion. Under Pressure The Canterbury backs, on the other hand, of’en were under pressure and this forced them into handling and passing errors. The backline rarely moved smoothly and far too often players after finding a gap, turned back infield where they did find forwards in support, but unfortunately they were usually Wellington forwards. The first try scored by Wellington, after only two minutes, proved to be a synthesis of the whole match. A Canterbury back was caught in possession by the Wellington forwards. They drove the Canterbury forwards back, won the ruck, and the backs moved the ball quickly to Uttley, who sped through a large gap. Birtwistle, Instead of coming into tackle Uttley, shadowed his opposite wing, Caulton. So Uttley adroitly moved back infield and was followed by Caulton, who took an inside pass to score. So simple. So effective. Played Its Best It was after this sharp lesson that Canterbury played its best Rugby of the match. The forwards, led by Le Lievre and Hockley, worked hard in the tight The loose forwards, Graham, Wainohu and Cornelius were fast and purposeful and the backs moved well. Quick to seize on opportunities, the backs and forwards combined well and several dangerous attacks were mounted. Finally Birtwistle scored under the posts after Moreton had fielded a misdirected stab kick. That 20 minutes of good Rugby, however, was not sustained. Gray tightened up Wellington’s play and, setting a grand example, began to put Canterbury under stern pressure with his barging runs near the end of the line-out, and with Williment astutely using the wind Canterbury was put completely on the defensive. And it was a pressure that obviously Canterbury was not going to relieve, particularly since Leary was not handling with his usual assurance. Caught With Ball A try came to Gray when Leary was caught in possession and another to Caulton which was a replica of his first try. Quick ruck; quick passing. Birtwistle shadowing; attack turned infield. Try to Caulton. But even with the score at 15-5 Canterbury was still in the game, for the wind seemed worth 10 points. Just before half-time the Canterbury defence slackened and allowed Coulter to bolt away

from a line-out and run 40 yards before passing to Uttley who scored in the corner. Gap Too Wide Even with the wind Canterbury could not close that gap. Again the forwards showed fire and spirit—occasionally too much fire—but Wellington was always able to deny them the really quick ruck or clean take in the line-outs. With 10 minutes to go Canterbury was on attack and possession was vital Wellington won five consecutive line-outs when Canterbury was throwing the ball in. Canterbury scored nine points in the second half but only one try, by Davis. Wellington managed six points and its try which carried for 80 yards came from an error as Canterbury looked like scoring when Watt was caught near the line. He passed to Graham who casually tried to kick the ball out. It was charged down by Caulton and a few seconds later Wellington had scored. In the last 10 minutes Canterbury tried desperately. But the form of the backs had deteriorated. Passes were dropped, players held on too long or went the wrong way and Wellington, never flustered, calmly broke up these attacks by hard tackling and swift cover defence. No Disgrace If the Canterbury pack had to bow to the Wellington forwards on the day it was no disgrace for Wellington played extremely well. Le Lievre and Hockley were the core of the tight play and efforts to get the Canterbury forwards moving forward fully tested Wellington. Le Lievre showed one unsuspected ability when, arriving at a ruck admittedly rather late, he found himself acting as halfback. He picked up the ball, ran a few yards, and with a reasonable imitation of a sidestep drew in a defender and started a dangerous blind-side move. Graham, Cornelius and Wainohu, the loose forwards, played different roles. Graham had to defend tenaciously at the end of the line-out to stop the driving of the Wellington forwards and this he did courageously and expertly and still also he was valuable in cover defence. Wainohu was very fast in the loose and did most things very well but occasionally his handling let him down. Quick And Alert Cornelius played a fine game. He was quick and alert, never neglected the tight work and was a resolute tackler. Hopkinson and Francis were hard working locks.

Francis gained some good possession in the line-outs and Hopkinson played aggressively and determinedly. Creighton won the tight heads by two to one but did not show up in the loose very often. Backs Weakness The backs were not really an effective unit Leary had a poor first half mishandling often but he improved greatly in the second half. Davis passed crisply and chased everything with zest. Thompson and Birtwistle with what chances they had looked dangerous and Thompson hunted for work assiduously. McCormick foraged too but he had few chances to use his strength on attack. Moreton was not prominent and Watt although making some good runs was inclined to dart

back infield when the occasion called for hard, straight running.

Wellington’s outstanding back was Williment. His fielding of the ball was magnificent and his line kicking and tackling were first class. Twice he stopped Birtwistle when the wing had only him to beat and he stood up to the test of high kicks well except for one fumble when McCormick was bearing down on him. That was excusable. Rewarded

Caulton played his usual intelligent game and was rewarded with two tries. Uttley was an incisive centre until he was injured and Frederikson and Millar were sound and assured five-eighths. Coul-

ter gave a smart service and twice he opened up the Canterbury defence with his powerful bursts from rucks. Grey played in keeping with his reputation and in the tight he had grand support from Thomas, Lendrum and Delaney. Williams and De Cleene were speedy flankers but the best of the loose forwards was Hermansson, who was not only a good jumper in the line-outs, but was amazingly fast in the loose and also vigorous in the tight.