Papanui now aiming for championship double

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32385, 26 August 1970, Page 11

Papanui now aiming for championship double

(By

J. O. COFFEY)

’PHE Papanui Rugby league 1 player-coach, J. G. Clarke, expects Linwood to provide his team with the strongest opposition in its attempt to become the first club to win both the minor and major ehampionships in one season. Papanui has already been successful in the Tavendale Cup (most points in first complete round), Massetti Cup (minor championship) and lan Bat.- Memorial Cup (against Marist-Western Suburbs and Hornby) competitions an I Clarke has set his - sights on winning the Pat Smith Challenge Trophy in the grand final on September 20. The major championship semi-finals will be played at the Show Grounds on Saturday week with Papanui drawn against the second qualifier, Linwood, and Addington playing MaristWestern Suburbs. The winner of the Papa-nui-Linwood match will be automatically promoted to the grand final while the loser between Addington and Marist-Western Suburbs takes no further part in the

championship. The preliminary final, to decide the second grand finalist, will be played between the loser of the Papanui-Linwood fixture and the winner of the Addington-Marist-West-ern Suburbs game. “We are now aiming to win our semi-final. I expect Linwood to be the hardest to beat. Addington seems to have slipped in

recent weeks while MaristWestern Suburbs has improved. There is a lot of hard football ahead of us yet,” Clarke said.

“Our success this season has been a real team effort. A few individual players have stood out in some games but the whole squad has responded to my requests for an attacking attitude, good backing up when we have possession and consistent tackling on defence. “The players have trained hard, listened closely and have done what I have wanted. We have won games because we have played as a team,” Clarke said.

Papanui’s greatest problem during the season hag been the occasional conflict of representative and club fixtures. Two of its losses, to Kaiapoi and Linwood, occurred when the Canterbury team was playing away from home and the third

defeat was inflicted by Hornby when Clarke and two other former Kiwis, R. S. Walker and S. Dunn, were not available because of injury. A leg injury and , influenza have kept Clarke on the side-line for several weeks, but he expects to resume playing against Marist-Western Suburbs on Saturday. He said that-he was very pleased with the performances of the youthful P. Blackler, who has substituted for ’em at scrum-half.

The return of Clarke and the inside back, J. B. Craig, will bring Papanui back to full strength for its semifinal against Linwood.

There are several reasons why Papanui will be eager to win this match, in addition to the comfort of being certain of a place in the grand final. The two clubs at present share the lead in the subsidary Vivian Cup competition and, unless there is an upset in the final midor championship round this week-end, the winner of the semi-final will earn the right to challenge the holder, Marist-Western Suburbs. Papanui is also aware that Walker will probably be required for the New Zealand World Cup trials at Auckland the following Saturday and no doubt would prefer to play in the friendW match against the loser o! the second semi-final ratbag than face the preliminary final, and possible eliminh tion, on that date. Two years ago, whea th» clubs last met in a aojot championship fixture, Papanui was a strong fgwurita to win its first title sinca 1960 (when, ironically, i» shared the honour with Lin wood). But Linwood, which had qualified in fourth place before beating Marist* Western Suburbs and Addington in the semi-final and preliminary final, respectively, upset its rival, 9-7, after extra time. “The advantage of being a player-coach is that you can drive the players on or make changes in tactics or positions during the game. A non-playing coach can only have his say before the match and at half-time,” Clarke said. Clarke has enjoyed marked success in his first experience as a coach. On present form it would appear that Papanui has only to retain the consistency that it has shown throughout the season for him to realise bis ambition of guiding the team to a cleansweep of the most soughtafter trophies in the province.