Linwood wins in last minute to hold lead

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32620, 31 May 1971, Page 16

Linwood wins in last minute to hold lead

In a day of desperate finishes, four of the five teams which now lead the senior Rugby championship came from behind and none was harder pushed than the top team, Linwood. It was only in injury 7 time that Linwood finally drew ahead of an Albion side which was distinguished for the mobility and determination of its forwards.

Lincoln College kept second place, but came out of a fierce struggle with University A only three points ahead. New Brighton beat Suburbs only with a penalty goal in the last seconds, and Christchurch was down by nine points to Shirley before half-time, but recovered well. On a day which might have been designed for good Rugby, there were some patchy performances, but there was certainly no lack of excitement. Results were:— Sydenham 15, Marist 12. Lincoln College 6, University A 3. New Brighton 17, Suburbs 16.

Old Boys 12, Merivale- 1 Papanui 5. Linwood 14, Albion 11. Christchurch 21, Shirley 9. j

Lincoln College owed Its success to consistently good tackling, and to its lively forwards, who persistently denied University A the ball. Lincoln College lost its outstanding forward leader. A. McLellan, early in the

second spell. He pulled a leg muscle. Suburbs was distinctly unlucky to lose to New Brighton, which was much stronger in the forwards. Down 9-0. Suburbs rallied magnificently and swept to

a 16-9 lead. New Brighton scored a splendid try. which was converted. and when R. Gearry kicked a penalty goal, full time was called. Christchurch, a strangely Inconsistent team, played indifferently against Shirley for some time, but tightened Its game sufficiently in the second spell to run out a comfortable winner. There was some fine goal-kick-ing by J. Hanna, who had 13 points in penalties and the former All Black, D. A. Arnold, coming on as a replacement, showed he has not lost his acquisitive football habits by dropping a goal. B. Ford, on Shirley’s right wing, scored his side’s tries and gave an impressive display. Although Old Boys had their fourth successive win, the team gave a rather disappointing display, often losing chances by bad handling among the backs. I. Perry was the Linwood player who scored the winning try against Albion. And not only the top-teams took part in dramatically close finishes. Mar--Ist, never behind for all but a few seconds of Its game with Sydenham, went down to a dropped goal by B. Winder, Sydenham’s third in the match. Next Saturday’s draw has the unpredictable Christchurch team meeting Linwood and Lincoln College playing Sydenham.

University B 15, Belfast 8. Points are:— Linwood 6 1 0 107 34 61 Lin. Coll 6 0 1 94 33 6 Chch . 5 11 84 56 511 New Bri. 4 1 2 93 83 41 i Svden 4 1 2 59 68 41 i Univ. A . 4 0 3 101 56 4 Old Boss 4 0 3 65 62 4 Shirley 4 0 3 69 73 4 Albion 3 0 4 59 79 3 Univ. B 3 0 4 63 88 3 Suburbs 2 1 4 67 62 21 ! Belfast . 1 0 6 46 64 1 . Marist 0 1 6 49 123 i 1 Merl'Pap. . 9 0 7 39 114 0 In the main match of the daj','1