Nelson Bays Hold Seddon Shield

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32395, 7 September 1970, Page 16

Nelson Bays Hold Seddon Shield

Nelson Bays repulsed the I final Seddon Shield challenge i of the season when it comprehonslvoly beat Weot Coast 34-6 in a thrilling representative Rugby match at Motuoka on Saturday. Holding the shield through its first official season makes a fine start for the union, formed as an amalgamation of Nelson and Golden Bay-Motueka. In three defences the team scored 80 points, to 21 against, a fair reflection of the quality of the Rugby produced. West Coast, which had won decisively. 19-6. at Nelson early in the season, fielded a good team on Saturday which was purposeful in the forwards and strong among the inside backs. Yet. it was outplayed right through the game by a Nelson Bays team which was always resourceful and occasionally dynamic. Nelson Bays scored seven tries and did not have its own line crossed. The flexibility of the team was demonstrated when its cohesion was unimpaired by the early loss of both the captain, the former Canterbury flanker, C. Cochrane, and the first fiveeighths, B. May. Nelson Bays dominated the line-outs through the efforts of

B. Smith, the South Island lock, T. Julian, and a former North Otago player. B. Grant. This trio, together with a very mobile prop, A. Dixon, were prominent in all phases of the for-

ward endeavour. R. Bowater, at centre, was a continual threat to West Coast with dashing bursts that baffled the defence. T. Mitchell, a 19-year-old wing, capitalised on Bowater’s breaks with side-step-ping runs that earned him three tries. T. J. Morris was an excellent and enterprising fullback, and his goal-kicking yielded 13 points. M. McQuillan,at half back, and the captain, K. J. Beams, at first five-eighths, were clearly the best of the Coast backs. They were aggressively-minded right to the finish, but all the opportunities they created were wasted. The most useful of the West coast forwards was M. Macßae, a lively flanker, and J. R. Tacon did well to establish a clear advantage in hooking Tries for Nelson Bays were scored by Mitchell <3). May. Dixon, G. Ross and G. Townsend. Morris kicked five conversions and a penalty goal from 50 yards out. For West Coast, P. Nolan kicked two penalty goals.