Zone League Teams Beat Northern

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32395, 7 September 1970, Page 11

Zone League Teams Beat Northern

The Southern Zone, 19-years and 17-years Rugby league teams scored impressive win# over their northern rival# at the Show Grounds yesterday. The 19-years team took complete control in the second naif to extend a 7-5 half-time advantage to a 39-7 victory. South, ern won the 17-years game, 29-21, after leading 21-10 at halftime. , , A feature of the play in both games was the fine individual performances of the Southern three-quarters. The 19-years centres, M. Edmonds (Wellington), and P. McDonald (West Coast), were most constructive, regularly penetrating the Northern defence, and the wing, J. B. Low (West Coast), evaded several tackles in scoring his two tries.

G. Cook (West Coast) touched down three times in the 17years match and he and his centre partner, E. Kerrigan (Canterbury), proved very difficult to contain. R. Seaward (Canterbury) and R. McTaggart (West Coast), showed promise on the wings and also won national selection.

The surprise selections for the New Zealand 19-years team were W. Rarrgi (Waikato) and M. Rawiri (Auckland)., Apart from kicking a field goal, Rang! did little of note and was generally out-played by Edmonds. Rawiri was beaten, 20-13, in the scrums by the West Coast hooker. A. Gardiner.

Northern’s disappointing play in this game hardly warranted the inclusion of seven representatives in the New Zealand XV. Only L. Fong (Auckland), and R. Ripon (Auckland) showed much initiative on attack and the defence deteriorated rapidly in the second half. The 17-years fixture was the more entertaining. Southern dashed to an 18-3 lead with three tries in quick succession midway through the first half and repulsed two rallies by Northern after the i esumption. Scorers.—

19-years: Southern 38 (P. McDonald two, J. B. Low two, K. Tate, D. Monroe, M. W. J. O’Donnell, M. Edmonds; McDonald five, O’Donnell two goals) beat Northern 7 (R. Ripon try; J, Hodgetts goal; W. Rang! field goal).

17years: Southern 29 (G. Cook three, T. Gillman, D. Millward, R. Seaward, E. Kerrigan; B. Gardener four goals) beat Northern 21 (W. Pointon, P. Gosche, J. Wright, S. Wilkinson, P. Baker tries; A. Wright three goals). New Zealand Teams The New Zealand teams, announced after the inter-zone garnet, were.—

19-years: L. Fong (Auckland); J. B. Low (West Coast), P. Me-

Donald (West Coast), W. Rang! (Waikato). R. Ripon (Auckland); IL Powell (Auckland). K. Tate (danterbury): R. O'Neill (Canterbury. captain), W. Rawiri (Auckland), P. Sturgeon (West Coast); M. Fuller (Canterbury). J. Hodgetts (Auckland): P. Jones (Canterbury). Reserves M. W. J. O’Donnell (Canterbury), L. Proctor (Auckland).

17-years: A. Wright (Auck. land); R. Seaward (Canterbury), B. Kerrigan (Canterbury). G. Cook (West Coast), R. McTaggart (West Coast); B. Dickison (Canterbury), S. Wilkinson (Auckland): T. Gillman (Canterbury), B. Adamson (West Coast), J. Wright Auckland); G. Findlay (Canterbury, captain), Di Taurau (Auckland); w. Opataia (Auckland). Reserves P Gosche (Auckland), W. Jeffs (Canterbury).