Canterbury Crushed By Coast Forwards

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 15

Canterbury Crushed By Coast Forwards

(By Our Rugby League Reporter.)

GREYMOUTH, July 4. West Coast gained complete dominance in the forwards and crashed its way to a 21-7 Rugby League victory over an unimpressive Canterbury team at Wingham Park, Greymouth, today. Rllf 1 11l .-ll 1 .1 O T I . TV

But Canterbury will still be the South Island Rothmans tournament semi-finalist on aggregate, having won the first match, 29-2, at Christchurch.

The West Coast forwards were magnificent, particularly the three who had dominated Canterbury so decisively in its match against the Southern XIIJ —J. K. Dixon, A. P. Dennehy and R. O. Scholefield. Each was tremendous on attack and Dixon and Dennehy covered well to cancel out any Canterbury attack. The Coast pack played much more decisive football, every member doing his job well. The hooker, F. Kennedy, won the scrums, 20-15, J. F. Hibbs played very steadily and gave useful support while C. L. McMaster was very good in the tight. Canterbury could do nothing to hold West Coast. Whenever a man was caught in a tackle he was able to turn and send the ball on to his supports.

West Coast's tries were scored by Dennehy (two), L. P. Brown, N. Kiely and Schofield. C. A. Hibbs kicked three goals. For Canterbury, P. J. Tongue scored a try and J. P. Hawthorne kicked two goals.

Well led by G. M. Kennedy, the West Coast backs were the more dangerous. Kennedy himself made one or two breaks, but usually he was content to open the gap and Jet the young centres, W. Johnsen and Brown —whose combined age is only 38 years—lead the onslaught. Both played extremely well on attack, and Johnsen’s defence was magnificent. Time and again he was up on the Canterbury centres before they had time to move. The Kiwi trialist, B. J. Mann, was injured early in the game, but his replacement, Hibbs, played very steadily and made one or two runs. White Neglected Neither team's wings saw much of the ball, and it was rather disappointing that P. M. White did not have the opportunity to show his class.

Canterbury was forced to make two replacements before the match and two during it. G. H. Turner and J. H. Fisher were injured on Saturday and could not make the trip, while W. E. Butterfield left the field just before half-time, and Hawthorne was injured five minutes from full-time.

Early in the match Canterbury looked the better team, and Tongue scored a neat try by coming into the back-line and running 45 yards to score. From then on, however, the West Coast forwards took over and, throwing the ball around, entertained the large crowd and bewildered the Canterbury defence. The first break came after 32 minutes when a neat reverse pass by Dixon sent a rampaging Dennehy over from a play-the-ball. Two minutes later Scholefield—who had two pairs of shorts ripped off him—burst

through and initiated a move that was completed when Brown dived over for his fourth try in as many matches for West Coast. Little Fight Left Down, 5-10, at half-time Canterbury had little fight left in it. The nippy little Coast scrum-half. Kiely, scored a neat try from a five-yard scrum when his opposite number, Irvine, was off the field temporarily. Apart from a penalty by Hawthorne it was all West Coast as Scholefield and Dennehy added further tries. Hibbs's first conversion brought up his 100 points for the season.

Practically the only Canterbury forward to uphold his reputation was J. L. White, who made one or two good runs in the first half. However, even he was* outplayed by his marker, the very dangerous Dennehy. The referee awarded 10 penalties to West Coast—only one of them In the second spell—and seven to Canterbury. Teams: Canterbury: P. J. Tongue. P. M. V. White, B. W. Langton, J. P. Hawthorne (replaced by W. R. Campbell), R. O. Moffat, R. F. Neiman, R. S. J. Irvine, J. L. White, J. A. Flanagan (captain), D. A. Condick, M. H. Mohi, W. P. Noonan, W. E. Butterfield (replaced by I. T. Drayton).

West Coast; B. J. Mann (replaced by C. A. Hibbs), R. J. Rochford, L. P. Brown, W. Johnsen, J. D. O'Connell, G, M. Kennedy (captain), N. Kiely, A. P. Dennehy, J. K. Dixon, J. F. Hibbs, C. L. McMaster, F. Kennedy, R. O. Scholefield. Referee: Mr J. J. Campbell (Wellington).