League Teams Lose Key Players

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31125, 30 July 1966, Page 17

League Teams Lose Key Players

The increased proportion of Marist and Papanui players in the Canterbury Rugby League team to meet West Coast this afternoon has enabled Linwood and Hornby to approach their matches today with more confidence of retaining their unbeaten records in the Tavendale Cup.

The two undefeated teams will meet in what is expected to be the final of the cup next Saturday.

Linwood has twice defeated Marist in championship play this season. This afternoon each team will be without its regular hooker, a burden that has not proved too onerous to Linwood in its previous matches.

Hornby and Papanui will both be without four players, including the regular goalkickers. The fine Hornby teamwork is once more expected to prove too strong and the Papanui back-line will lose some of its penetration with-.

out G. H. Clarke, J. C. P. Hawthorne and A. N. Amer.

One feature of the KaiapoiAddington match could be the goal-kicking of J. E. Bond (Kaiapoi). He is lying third in the club points table behind I. T. Drayton (Hornby) and Hawthorne. Bond has to score only eight points to take the lead. However, the loss of B. Williams to Kaiapoi could prove more costly than that of J. H. Fisher who has not played regularly for Addington this season.

Christchurch, without R. H. Turton, could be a team without a leader and the Sydenham pack should be capable of taking advantage of this.