Surprise Rugby Results

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32323, 15 June 1970, Page 14

Surprise Rugby Results

Some strange events took place in the senior Rugby championship on Saturday; the top three teams won their matches, but the next four on the ladder all suffered reverses. New Brighton, Shirley and Suburbs were beaten and Linwood was held to a draw by the unpredictable Old Boys team. The principal upset was the defeat of New Brighton by Sydenham by 15 points. Although only one try was scored by each side, Sydenham started well and held the initiative almost through out the match. Old Boys’ draw with Linwood was achieved in a most spectacular fashion, R. Columbus scoring two tries for Old Boys in the last minutes of a game in which extraordinary things seemed to happen to the referee’s watch. Scores were:— Sydenham 20, New Brighton 5* University A 14, Suburbs 3. ■ Christchurch 18, Albion 0.

Lincoln College 23, Bel- |> fast 9. f Marist 10, Merivale- 1 Papanui 3. 1 University B 11, Shirley 1 8. Linwood 6, Old Boys 6. )i Playing in the main match)' at Rugby Park, Sydenham dis- 1 played its best form of the ( season. The ball was moved ' smartly and confidently, and ) the Sydenham full-back, B. 1 O’Keefe, contributed 14 points with goal-kicking, finding the mark with each of his five attempts. Marist was on top of Merivale-Papanui in a quite attractive match but Shirley, surprisingly, went down to University B. Shirley badly missed three of its best forwards. and the team weak- , ened a little towards the end of a close-fought game. The Linwood-Old Boys) match produced very little) ! good back play, but the Oldj Boys loose forward. S. Pur-)) don, gave another outstanding • display. i On Lancaster Park Oval, ) University A looked far . more dangerous than Suburbs < but scored only one try, as ' did Suburbs. The University , full-back, W. J. Lewis, contributed 11 of his side's points, three of them from a spectacular dropped goal. Although some fine movements

were not finished, it was a free-flowing and attractive game, marred however by the regularity with which penalties had to be awarded. Lincoln College had an easy victory, but Christchurch, although winning by 18 points, must have misgivings about its form. It was not a convincing display, although D A. Arnold at full-back played particularly well.

a Competition points are:e W L D F A Pts e Chch 9 1 0 175 54 9 |. Univ A 9 1 0 157 56 9 Lin Coll 8 1 1 181 54 84 Linwood 6 3 1 147 91 64 y New Bn 6 1 120 97 64 1Shirley .1 5 0 116 110 5 Suburbs 5 5 0 94 98 5 Marist 5 5 0 118 114 5 t Sydenham 4 5 1 79 151 44 iUniv B 4 6 0 87 104 4 ). HSOB 3 6 1 78 135 34 Belfast 2 8 0 96 192 2 d Albion i 9 0 73 154 1 Meri-Pap 0 9 1 71 182 04