Linwood, Albion score heavily in Rugby

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32893, 17 April 1972, Page 3

Linwood, Albion score heavily in Rugby

Big scores, small crowds, two upsets, and a number of noteworthy individual performances marked the start of the senior Rugby competition in Christchurch on Saturday.

Linwood began with a bang, amassing a half-century of points against luckless Sydenham. Albion, too, scored heavily at Marist’s expense, and Shirley had a big win against University 7 B.

But Lincoln College, I joint winner with Linwood of the D.C.L. Shield last season, lost to Suburbs, and High School Old Boys went down to Belfast, resplendent in its new green-and-gold uniform. Two tries in the last six minutes brought Christchurch to victory against New Brighton, the team with which it drew in the Harewood’Trophy final last year. Saturday’s matches ushered in the four-point try and, perhaps by coincidence, the try-scoring rate soared spectacularly from the usual opening-day figure. The seven games produced 35 tries—a total exceeded only once in 1971. However, public interest has not yet warmed to the competition. There were four senior games at Lancaster Park, but the attendance was poor. Those who did make the effort to go to the park were rewarded with a sparkling display by Linwood. P. Jellyman, the team’s reliable centre, scored two tries and kicked seven goals—some from sharp angles—for a re- , turn of 23 points. This ; brought his aggregate for Linwood, since 1963, to 756. A. Smith, appearing in I place of a fellow policeman, R. J. Woolhouse, on Linwood’s left wing, scored four i tries, including a hat-trick in ; the space of 12min in the first : half. > STAR PLAYER ' But the star of the side was B. F. Elder, Canterbury’s sec- :

ond string half-back. He was the mainspring on the attack and his covering was first class. Another diminutive footballer who made his presence felt at the park was J. Rowberry, captaining Christ-

I church for the first time. He (covered a tremendous amount of ground, some on attack and defence, and played the leading role in his team’s eleventh hour win. T. Caldwell, the Albion ftrst-five-eighths, dictated the run of play cleverly against Marist, while W. Bush, a prop tn the Canterbury squad, was a power in the Belfast pack. One of the features of Shirley’s display was the allround improvement shown by B. R. Ford, who played five games for the province last season. He is no longer just a fast man on the wing. Lincoln College welcomed the return of S. M. C. Murray, but although the tall fullback played well, he was unable to save his side from defeat at the hands of L. J. Davis’s Suburbs side. W. F. McCormick (Linwood) and W. J. Lewis (University A) also r. played solidly, to add spice io B the full-backs’ race for repreM sentative honours. Scores were:— Christchurch 14, New D Brighton 7; Linwood 51, I Sydenham 7; Shirley 28, I University B 4; Albion 41, Marist 12; Suburbs 10, Lincoln College 9; Belfast 6, RHigh School Old Boys 3; University A 13, MerivalePapanui 9. But for the intervention of Rowberry, New Brighton might well have beaten B Christchurch in the main H game on the oval. New Brighton led until six

minutes from the end, when Rowberry scored an opportunist try by diving on the ball after his centre, J. Hanna, had been tackled by R. Pierce inches short of the goal-line. Two minutes later, after M. R. McEwan had laid New Brighton’s defence open to be bone, it was Rowberry who pounced on the loose ball to send Hanna away for a try between the posts. Christchurch was a little fortunate to win. The team showed flashes of form, especially when backs and forwards joined forces in short-passing thrusts,

but a lack of finish was evident in many of these moves. Rowberry and the equally diminutive A. T. Penny, however, constantly rallied the side, and their example helped Christchurch find its feet. Mr C. R. Hockley’s influence on the New Brighton pack was evident in the tight binding and hard driving of the forwards. C. M. Smith, the veteran first fiveeighths played to this strength by driving Christchurch back with raking punts. Smith and N. Brixton showed the ability to penetrate from attacking positions close to the Christchurch goal-line. Elsewhere in the field, however, little attempt was made to pass the ball, and the strong-running wing, Pierce, was grossly negR. F. Mahan, who switched from flanker to prop when R. Hearn retired with a head injury, played spiritedly for Christchurch, and M. R. Powley proved to- be a capable replacement for B. G. Francis by taking five tight heads to one. When A. Direen, the full-back, retired with an injury after 22 minutes, New Brighton produced, as his replacement, G. A. Stanley, who played half-back for Canterbury as long ago as 1963. There were no halfmeasures about his defence and, in one movement, he toppled two men with one tackle. LINWOOD SPARKLES Linwood called the tune, and Sydenham danced to it, in the eariv game at the Oval. The Linwood forwards beat their rivals to the loose ball, gained an advantage in the set pieces, and applied Instant pressure to the Sydenham inside backs when the ball emerged on the other side. As a result, the Linwood backs were able to cut all sorts of capers, and K. J. Gimblett’s expoitation of midfield gaps constantly put Sydenham’s goal-line in peril. The understanding between Gimblett and Jellyman put polish on Linwood’s attacking moves, and the long-legged Smith, a wing who looked for opportunities as well as grasping those which came his way, deserved his four tries.

Linwood’s dominance became so marked that when the team worked the “Fergie move,” G. Cron—who played splendidly at prop—was able to carve a path from the end of the line-out to the goal-posts in the face of only token opposition. The side’s best try, however, was the last. McCormick started the move on his own 10yd mark and, after half the team had bandied the ball, Gimblett scored behind the posts. W. Underhay, the new Canterbury flanker, chased and covered unceasingly for Sydenham, and scored a good try from one of Linwood’s few fumbles. .C. G. King, the nuggety Sydenham captain, offered strong opposition to R. W. Norton in the scrums and played well in the tight. CLOSE CONTESTS Both games on Lancaster Park south had a distinctly start-of-the-season look, but both were closely and fiercely contested. Suburbs thoroughly deserved their win over Lincoln College, for they had much the better of the game, crossed the College line six times, and made fewer errors at vital stages. There Is no shortage of laws in Rugby, and Suburbs seemed intent for a while in breaching them all systematically; they were costly penalties which regularly eased the pressure the Suburbs pack put on Lincoln College

Suburbs’s principal advantage was in its efficient rucking, which give Davis opportunities to dictate, but it seemed, at halftime, that Lincoln would probably win. Murray had dropped a fine 40-yard goal and Suburbs, after 25 vigorous but unrewarded minutes, appeared to have lost its full head of steam. But a try by the full-back, G. Stone, put Suburbs on top early In the second spell, and there

they stayed, even though Lincoln scored in the last minute. Suburbs’ try was a clever one, engineered by Davis. From a ruck he ran a couple of steps to the short side, then sent back a long reverse pass, and Stone raced through. Lincoln was unfortunate to lose P. Peacocke just before half-time. It required L Hurst, a strong and impressive runner, to move into first five-eighths, and there his value was reduced. Murray, playing his first major match for 20 months, was cool and efficient at full-back for Lincoln. In the forwards, A. McLellan put in some typical, telling bursts and was busy ail through the matdh. Suburbs did not have much mid-fieid thrust, but it had a dashing wing, P. Malloy, and Davis was all efficiency at half, after a worrying first quarterhour when he was under severe pressure. P. Cron led his backs vigorously and well and W. Hay won good ball near the front of the line. REPLACEMENTS GALORE The shades of night were falling fast before University A finally conquered a determined Merivale-Papanui team. It was not a very polished exhibition, by either team, and it went on and on because of the extraordinary number of injuries and replacements. Both sides fielded new senior players, and by the time the game ended a great many debuts had been made. Merivale-Papanui was particularly unlucky to lose its hooker, D. Pirie, in the early minutes. A flanker, T. Huriwal, replaced him but conceded a vast number of loose head scrums, and University A had almost an embarrassment of possession. It was a penalty goal apiece until very late in the game, when a Merivale defensive muddle led to a try by J. Carl, a lively University half-back, followed by another minutes later when University attacked with such purpose and skill that when the vital ruck was won MerivalePapanui had but a single back la lonely defence as University spun the ball to D. Murchison. Murchison played some fine games last year, and was impressive again on Saturday. But University’s attacks lacked rhythm, and Merivale had few from orthodox movements. P. Duncan. I. Black and R. Scott led the forwards ably. It was a very hard, sometimes over-vigorous game, but it was a muddled one most of the time. Merivale-Papanui played with tremendous spirit, D. Warren, the captain, setting the best of examples and M. Reeves, a replacement at flank, showing particular dash. W. Mene was outstanding on attack, playing on the right wing. He was all resource and ingenuity. A newcomer, D. Brittenden, at first five-eighths, was very sound on defence. SHIRLEY'S WIN Although it took about 15 minutes before Shirley scored its first points, there was no doubting its superiority over the fledgling University B team. Appropriately, it was Shirley’s new captain, G. D. Pulley, who scored the first try after a barging run. With limited ball, University did well to restrict Shirley to 10 points at half-time, but Shirley continued its onslaught in the second spell and thoroughly deserved its win. A well-grassed Ham field presented both teams with an opportunity to spin the ball; this they did—especially Shirley, which used its pacy wings, Ford and G. Anderson, at every opportunity. Ford proved particularly dangerous when given the room to move and tackled tenaciously. B. Moore, at centre, was an

astute pivot for his wings and A. McCarthy marshalled his backline competently from half-back. The Shirley forwards foraged determinedly and successfully. Pulley, and the lively M. J. Toner played inspired games, but the rest of the pack lost little in comparison.

L. Black and J. Baines headed a spirited student pack which gave away few concessions. The back-line however, lacked the speed arid purpose of Shirley’s. J. Parsons did little wrong at half-back, while R. Doyle contributed some excellent work on cover defence. GAME OF GOALS Six points up in the first five minutes, Belfast never relinquished its grip on the game against High School Old Boys at Sheldon Park. The bustling Belfast forwards outplayed their heavier opponents in the tight and then were always on hand to stifle the play of the speedy Old Boys backs. The backs were an admirable foil. They lacked the sparkle of their opponents, but they tackled soundly. The pick of the Belfast forwards was Bush, who made some crashing runs in the tight-loose and then in the open. On defence, G. Burney, the No. 8, and the flanker, B. Kennett, played outstandingly. D. W. Stead was a safe full-back who handled soundly and kicked well. Old Boys seemed to be in two minds throughout the game. At times they seemed committed to a tight, driving game and then, at others, to a free-running attack through the backs. Consequently, in the end they achieved neither.

The loss of the outstanding line-out forward, R. Doell. early

In the second spell had a marked eSect on the game and from then on Old Boys’ only definite superiority was lost. S. Purdon ran well from the end of the line-outs, but his efforts failed for want of support. The inability of the Old Boys’ inside backs to dear the ball quickly gave the threequarters little chance to show their speed. CRUSHING VICTORY Mounting virtually a continuous assault on the Marist line, Albion scored 26 points in the second half for a crushing 41-12 victory at Middleton Park. A fit and mobile forward pack won Albion adequate ball from both phases, and the backs always probed for the weaknesses that existed in Marist’s defence. In this respect, Caldwell was masterly. His tactical kicking was astute, his running deceptive. and. when he passed. R. Currie and A. Orange outside

him had ample opportunity to display their penetration. Although it reduced a ninepoint deficit to one in three minutes in the first half, Marist at no stage looked likely to have Albion’s measure. The locks, V. Stewart and K. O’Gormon, took more than their share of line-out ball in a pack only slightly inferior to Albion’s; the backs were thoroughly outWhether it was a result of poor passing or handling, or the determined Albion tackling, the Marist back-line was never coordlnated and the replacement fullback, A. Harvey, was far too cumbersome. The same could not be said of the Albion custodian, R. Griffiths, who performed all his duties with assurance, In the beaten team, the flanker J. Corby, who scored an excellent try from a charge-down, and the halfback, K. Lawlor, unflinching in the face of the fiery Albion forwards, stood out.