Missed tackles give Great Britain win

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32443, 2 November 1970, Page 26

Missed tackles give Great Britain win

(From ALAN GRAHAM, N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent) MANCHESTER. Great Britain eliminated New Zealand from the Rugby league World Cup with a deserved 27-17 win in Manchester on Saturday. But the Kiwis, who were down 15-10 at half time, scored three grand tries during the match and were far from disgraced.

The Kiwis held Great Britain at 5-all in the first 20 minutes, and looked the better team, and they fought back in the last 20 minutes when down 27-10, to salvage seven points. But they lost the free- ' flowing match in the middle 40 minutes when Britain scored four excellent tries With breaks down the middle of the field. In this Spell the Kiwis could reply with only five ' points. They too often missed • tackles and dropped the ball, , and this gave them no ; chance of beating tbe highly t professional Great Britain ; side. It was heart-breaking to see the Kiwis give away

possession with badly placed kicks when the threequarters, who looked lively, saw little ball. New Zealand shared the scrums, 15-15, and got more penalties, 17-10. But Britain nullified this advantage with accurate goal-kicking by the full-back, R. F. Dutton, who kicked six goals in six attempts. G. C. Ladner, for New Zealand, who played a brilliant game otherwise, kicked four goals from eight attempts and missed two from handy positions. Great Britain is now certain to play in the grand final at Headingly, Leeds, next Saturday, probably against the Australians who diet France in the final qualifying-round match early today (New Zealand time).

Clean game In a clean game with no major injuries, played on a cold and wet afternoon, the big British forwards laid the foundation for their team to win, and one. of them, R. Haigh, was named as the man of the match. For New Zealand, J. Greengrass, G. J> Woollard, and B. R. Lowther all made some great, breaks, with Greengrass showing real speed for a prop in a 45yd run that put F. R. Christian in at the comer. There was stem work on

the right, from E. N. Kereopa, G. M. J. Smith, and E. Heatley, and- C. E. O’Neil had his best game in the loose. O’Neil was unlucky not to be awarded a try when he crossed the line, only to see the Kiwis given a penalty, which Ladner missed.

A. P. Kriletich again tackled well on many Occasions, and among the backs there was some good broken play from Christian and the winger J. Whittaker. But all the Kiwis must share responsibility for those missed tackles which gave Britain its win.

Opportunist try Kriletich opened the scoring for the Kiwis with an opportunist try after Dutton had dropped the bail on his line. Britain then went ahead 5-3, but the Kiwis levelled at 5-ali and C. D. Laughton scored for Britain. Christian equalised immediately for the Kiwis. Haigh then cut right through the Kiwis in a run from half-way, and the resulting try by S. Hynes put Britain ahead, 15-10, at halftime.

Two more tries and a penalty saw Britain go ahead, 27-10, with 20 minutes left. But the Kiwis fought back, and in the last four minutes scored a try by Smith, and two goals from Ladner. The crowd was only 5609. The scorers were—Great Britain —Tries: C. Hesketh, Laughton, Hynes, C. Watson, and J. Atkinson; goals: Dutton (6). New Zealand— Tries: Kriletich, Christian, and Smith; goals: Ladner (4). Great Britain now has six points, Australia and New Zealand two, and France 0.