REPRESENTATIVE LEAGUE Aggressive Canterbury Side Wins Cup

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31737, 22 July 1968, Page 13

REPRESENTATIVE LEAGUE Aggressive Canterbury Side Wins Cup

An aggressive defensive display when playing against a strong wind in the first half assisted a much improved Canterbury Rugby league team to a 13-7 win over West Coast earning the province possession of the Northern Union Cup, the code’s premier trophy.

Canterbury led, 7-4, at the interval and also resisted several sustained attacks by West Coast during the second half before forcing the cup holder back to its own line for the last five minutes. Although there was little penetration in the two backlines and minor infringements resulted in 42 scrums and 24 penalties, the tenseness of a cup challenge was always evident West Coast's fight-back in the second half put life into the game as the Canterbury defence was stretched to the limit but broken only once. Although it seldom reached Its full potential, Canterbury thoroughly deserved its winning margin. The final score of 13-7 was the same as that returned by Auckland when it won the cup from Canterburyfour years ago. The west Coast forwards and three-quarters, so dominant in the first meeting of the provinces at Greymouth, were given little lee-way by the Canterbury defence. On occasions the forward packs were inclined to infringe th* off-side rule at the play-the-balls. sometimes unpenalised, in their eagerness to stille opposing attacks. Slight Advantage Canterbury held a slight territorial advantage over all but on only two instances during the game did it appear likely to •core. The replacement wing, J. G. Hales, crossed for a try by kicking * loose ball over the line to dive on it mid-way through the first half and only four minutes after he had replaced M. R. Napier. Later in the game West Coast was pinned Inside its own twenty-five and J. G. Clarke (on two occasions) and A. w. Thompson were stopped just short of the line. Seconds later L. P. J. Brown kicked a fine field goal from 30 yards out, his second in as many games against his former province.

In addition to the try by Hales and Brown’s field goal, C. R. Schwass kicked four goals for Canterbury. G. R. Peters scored a try for West Coast and E. B. Mann kicked two goals. .Weakened By Loss The loss of Napier badly dented Canterbury’s attacking resources. He had made two deceptive runs along the touchline before being injured and Hales’ inexperience on the wing was quite evident afterwards. West Coast also lost the services of a three-quarter, G. C. Ladner, soon after half-time. Although Ladner had been restrained on attack his tackling had been hard and consistently effective in stopping the Canterbury backs. His replacement, D. J. Monk, took over the scrum-half position with N. Kiely moving to the centres. Canterbury did not use the advantage of the wind to full effect in the second half. On

only a few occazlonz did J. L. White or C. R Schwaee teat the slow-moving R. F. Nation with kicks to the corner. When the lone kick wae uaed It was invariably aucceasful in forcing West Coast on to the defensive when It so badly needed a try to retain the cup. Although it moved the ball with more purpose In the second half. West Coast made more handling errors, nullifying its attempts to out-fiank Canterbury. Sound Fullback Schwass played very soundly for Canterbury at full-back, taking any West Coast kicks with confidence before moving play up-field as the opposing players covered him. Nelson was far less effective against Canterbury's kicking. In the second halt West Coast attempted to attack on M. P. Grereton’s wing but, although Brereton had no trouble evading S. Dunn, there was little room for him to gain momentum before the cover-defence arrived. Ironically, It was Peters, the

right wing, who scored Won Coaet'e try. Ho had looked by far the less deciaive of the two wlnge. The centres generally cancelled each other out In the firet half and it was only when Kiely moved out in the second halt that gaps began to appear. His deceptive runs and astute ball distribution worried Canterbury, although White. Thompson and A. F. McNaughtan were most capable on cover defence. Closely Matched Similarly, the halves were closely matched and It was not until the final few moments that Clarke found a little breathing apace. G. R. Cooksley was Inclined to try a little too much from the scrums and the rucks but his tackling of the forwards was most courageous. Mann, the West Coast captain, ran wen and gave peters the opportunity to score with a long past that out-flanked the Canterbury defenders and left West Coast with an over-lap. The experienced C. L. McMaster and C. W. Clark were responsible for Initial breaches in the Canterbury defence but each time the supporting forwards were poorly positioned or simply not present. C. D. Smith shared the scrums. 21-21, with W. P. Noonan after each hooker had gained momentary ascendancy, M. H. Newton was closely watched by the defence and J. D. Hibbs confined his attention to the tight. Strong Running The strong-running Thompson was the best offensive Canterbury forward, one break taking play 50 yards down field as West Coast hurriedly reorganised Its defence. His tackling was also good, covering the wings In company with white on most occasions. McNaughtan again played the roving game to which he le suited on a firm ground. He made three or four bursts through the centres, a couple from the rucks and tackled well In both positions. White's quick breaking and sure tackling halted West Coast from set play. Less was seen of the Canterbury front row. although Noonan began extremely well in the open and continued at a consistent pace. The referee (Mr W. Fleven, of Otago) awarded Canterbury 13 penalties and West Coast 11. Schwass missed three attempts at goal: Mann failed with two place-kicks and a field goal.