Marist, Papanui continue to lead Rugby league contest

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33230, 21 May 1973, Page 5

Marist, Papanui continue to lead Rugby league contest

. qTj 6 ac^,n § teams. Marist-Western Suburbs and Papanui. won by wide margins ana aydenham, which has a game in hand, also remained unbeaten when the third round ot the Canterbury Rugby 7 League premiership was plaved at the Show Grounds on Saturday.

Papanui was held toi 8-5 at half-time, but took full control over Hornbyafter the resumption to win, 45-10, a post-World War II record winning margin in matches between the clubs: Marist’s 44-8 victory failed by only one point to equal its highest since Kaiapoi w as promoted to the premier grade nine years ago. It seemed that Sydenham; would join the scoring spreej when it scored 13 points in! as many minutes against! Christchurch - Eastern Suburbs, but Eastern at least! held its own for the re-! mainder of the game before! losing, 13-23. Another spirited effort by the recently-promoted Woolston players caused Addington extreme concern before the Magpies pulled away to a 21-15 result. Woolston had been in front at 10-8 at the interval and should have added another try shortly after the match ” was restarted. The clash between MaristWestern Suburbs and Papanui in the main fixture next Sunday should be of considerable importance to the outcome of the competition. Two points behind, and with an extra match to play, Sydenham holds third position on its own. Linwood is next, with two points from two games, and Kaiapoi, Hornby and Addington have also gained a win each. Eastern and Woolston trail their rivals. Results:—

11 Marist-Westem Suburbs 44, Kaiapoi 8. Sydenham 23, Christ church-Eastern Suburbs 13. Papanui 45, Hornby 10. Addington 21, Woolston 15. Linwood a bye. "PLAYER OF THE WEEK" M. H. Mohi, the Marist prop, had a most active afternoon and earned the McWilliams Wines “Player of the Week” award. Not onl>’ was he prominent in most of his team’s scoring manoeuvres, he also completed his share of the defensive work land had an 8-5 advantage over the Canterbury hooker, D. P. Brown, when moved to that poI sition in place of the injured R. J. A. McKenzie. ; The strong running of M. P. IBrereton and P R. H. Brown 'brought them three ties each 'and the seven goals kicked by •M. W, J. O’Donnell took his , total in three games to 44 points, i |R. G. Scoringe contributed two' lof Sydenham's tries and was; (judged “player of the match” in! I the curtain-raiser.

A MATTER OF HOW MANY Within the opening 10 minutes the two thrustful MarlstWestern Suburbs attackers, M. P. B re re ton and P. R. H.’ Brown, had registered a try each, the Marist pack was beginning to dominate the Kaiapoi forwards and the trend of a one-sided game had been established. Only during the third quarter — when Marist was held scoreless — did Kaiapoi appear likely to match its rival. But by then a 26-5 deficiency left Kaiapoi no chance of staging a successful recovery, and finally it was Brereton who got the scoring moving again. In spite of the loss of R. J. A. McKenzie and G. R. Findlay soon after the start of the second half, the Marist pack never relaxed the grip that it held on

the match. M. H. Mold was in the thick of all the forward exchanges. G. Stokes. S. N. Hatipov and D. K. Menzies ran onto his passes eagerly, and so did Brown.

The Marist backs were provided with plenty of possession by MacKenzie and then Mohi. and they showed their appreciation by forcing errors in Kaiapoi’s defence. Many of the tackles attempted by Kaiapoi players were easily repulsed and the absence of the captain-coach, R. H. Turton, certainly had a detrimental effect on the country XIII. Obviously. Marist has come a long way since its tentative displays at the start of the season. TO ABSENT FRIENDS Christchurch-Eastern Suburbs supporters might well

have let their thoughts wander to Dunedin — where three of the Eastern backs were representing Canterbury B — as the speedy Sydenham side wrested the initiative from the start.

There was certainly little understanding in much of Eastern’s make-up and it was left to the centre, B. J. Murphy, to grasp some of the honours for his side. Murphy scored two tries and it seemed that Eastern might still have a winning chance when it drew up to 8-13 12 minutes before the break. This was not to be. T. Mene, the spectacular Sydenham wing, retained his impressive record of having scored in every’ fixture (he has played for the club and at the change-over Eastern was 10 points behind. R. G. Scoringe quickly put the outcome out of any doubt with his second try. Scoringe’s forceful runs sorely troubled Eastern and were a definite asset to Sydenham; so. too, were the contributions made by B. A. Bigwood, W. R. Green and R. J. Raistrick among the backs. ONE-WAY TRAFFIC

The second half of the curtain-raiser on the subsidiary field at the Show Grounds provided football of a monotonous nature as Papanui complied nine tries to turn a three-point halftime lead into a rout. Earlier in the match the Hornby forwards had held their opponents surprisingly well, although Papanui shared with Eastern the problem of having three members awav on representative duty. Their replacements, however, assisted with the second-half dominance.

As the Papanui pack began to play an increasingly more vital role, the Hornby defence started to crumble. The final 15 minutes included six tries to Papanui—and one against the tide when G. J. McLeish replied for Hornby in the last minute. The opening of the floodgates wasted all the fine work done by Hornby in the opening spell and K. G. Walker, N. A. Geddes, E. S. Kerrigan, and J. B. Craig led the way with two tries each for Papanui. FRONT-RUNNER Woolston has en|oyed a return to premier status for only two weeks, but it is already earning a reputation for setting the pace In its fixtures, only to fall behind over the closing stages. This was the case again on Saturday, when Addington won, 21-15. At the interval Woolston was ahead by two points and had its wing, A. Swanson, held a reasonably well-directed pass from his captain. B. V. Williams, three minutes after the resumption the premier newcomer would have drawn away further.

Instead, Addington struck back with the replacement, I. Mcßeath, restoring it to the lead and the prolific-scoring C. McNish taking the Magpies out of danger with his second try. Over the last 10 minutes fortunes fluctuated, R. Aitkin crossing for Addington and C. Tapui showing that there was still a fighting spirit burning in Woolston with a touch-down that made the result more in line with the run of play.

PREMIERSHIP POINTS P W L For Agst Pts Marist-W.S. 3 3 0 113 31 6 Papanui .. 3 3 0 97 48 6 Sydenham 2 ') 0 53 26 4 Linwood .. 2 1 1 32 33 2 Kalapoi .. 3 1 2 33 67 2 Hornby 3 I 2 33 72 2 Addington 3 1 2 41 86 2 Woolston . 2 0 2 30 37 0 Eastern 3 0 3 43 75 0