Marist beats Linwood for first time in 10 years

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33817, 14 April 1975, Page 11

Marist beats Linwood for first time in 10 years

The predictable pattern of the senior Rugby competition in recent seasons has been disrupted. Each of the four top teams in the 1974 championship has been beaten once in the last two Saturdays.

Christchurch. the title-holder, and Belfast, fourth last year, succumbed in the first round; on Saturday it was the turn of Linwood, runner-up last year, and University A.

Linwood lost to Marist . by a point at Rugby Park in a match which aroused great enthusij asm among the big 3 crowd — and especially s those barracking for e Marist. " It was the first time in 10 r years that Marist had beaten t Linwood. - University A went down to High School Old Boys—eleventh last year—in a match which produced 57: ipoints. There was another; j unexpected result at Burn-1 (side Park, where the home* 'side beat Lincoln College. After two rounds, Marist,; Shirley, and Old Boys are the joint leaders, although it is likely that they will be! 3i joined this evening by! ' (Suburbs, which will play; > Hornby in a floodlit game at! 1 Denton Park. Christchurch and Belfast* - gained their first champion: f ship points on Saturday, although both sides played l,below their usual standard. ’ Albion and Burnside also re-j 1; versed their first-round' results, leaving only four; - sides—New Brighton. Horn--1 by, Sydenham and MerivalePapanui—still to open their; * accounts. " J This eveness indicates* i> that the contest for the Can-. ■;terbury Savings Bank /Trophy will be a tense and 'exciting one.

, Scores were:— Marist 14, Linwood 13. Christchurch 31, Meri-vale-Papanui 7. Shirley 21, New Brighton 12. Belfast 29. Sydenham 4. Old Bovs 34, University A 23. Burnside 16, Lincoln College 9. Albion 15, University B 6. Worth tlie wait Marist fully deserved the enthusiastic reception from the big crowd for its unexpected victory in the main game at Rugby Park. The Linwood pack played exi tremely well, and because of its I strenuous efforts the side had i far more attacking chances ■thar. its rival. But Marist made ■ the most of its oppotunities, and ' therein lay the difference be- ' tween the sides. Astute kicking by Kevin Lawler and Brian McLean and some vigorous foot rushes by the Mar- • ist forwards blunted the Linwood advance many times. But i perhaps Marist’s greatest strength was the reliability of its cover defence. in one respect. Linwood was the author of its own misj fortune: its back attacks were I often plagued b.\ errors or un- , uncertainty. Had it not been for Fcrgie McCormick, who made several spectacular bursts. Lir.- ' wood would have had little to , show for its efforts. The CanJ terbury full-back bristled with * determination whenever he ’touched the ball. The match was notable for isome stirring play in the tight I by the Linwood pack. Its exploitation of a weakness in Marisi’s [scrummaging enabled Tane Nor- [ ton to win five tight-heads to

■ one. and John Phillips and lan j 1 Mallard excelled in driving for-1 I ward with the ball. But although the Linwood for-' . wards set up the rucks superbly, | I the expected sequel was not; ; forthcoming. Brent Elder, Lin- 1 wood's half-back, was unsettled by early pressure, and he could not restore rhythm to his game. Much of the credit for this belonged to Greg Mackie, a fast, alert Marist flanker, who did not play any Rugby last year. His harassment of Elder caused; a chain reaction through the I j Linwood line. j Gary Hooper, Vince O'Lough- i lin, and McLean carried the ball i forward with confidence for Marist, and Vance Stewart and Kevin - O’Gorman were notable figures' in a Marist pack which refused i to buckle under. The game ended on a sour i note, McCormick pushing O’Gor-: j man from behind after Linwood I had been penalised in a ruck, i This brought Marist a further i penalty downfield and McCorm-' ick a rebuke from the referee, Mr G. E. Albertson. Marist desen ed a more gracious gesture from its opponent.

Scott hliines

It was only with 15min to play that Shirley went into the relative safety of a ninepoint lead in the main game at Lancaster Park South, but it would have been most unfortunate to lose.

New Brighton did not lack enterprise, but its endeavour was not matched by the appropriate amount of skill. Too often the ball reached tlie wings only for the team to be then bereft of any further ideas.

Shirley had the converse problem. Its strength lay in the wings, the speedy Andrew Tweedie and the burly Steve Williams. Each scored a try—and Tweedie made that by the hooker, Steve Higginson, with a powerful surge—but were given too little ball and too little room. There was still only one team in the match, however. Shirley being well served in the loose exchanges by Mike Toner and Higginson. and only Phillip Nixon, in tlie line-outs, could make any impression for New Brighton. The reliable Dave Bowick was New Brighton’s only source of points witli his calm and studied goal kicking, but the back of the match was Shirley’s half-back. Steve Scott. His swiftness on the break, generally good service to a very competent partner in Lindsay Thorn, and the harassment to which he subjected his equally youthful opposite, Gary Overend. stamped him as a player of the highest promise. With Canterbury soon to be faced with the finding of a replacement for Lyn Davis, a young man of the quality of Scott—and in his form of Saturday—would surely be worth a second look.

Not at best Although it scored six tries in beating Merivale-Papanui, Christchurch did not attain the standard of efficiency which helped it . to win the senior championship last season. Christchurch had many attacking opportunities, but spoiled several through over-eagerness or faulty organisation of movements. And some of the side’s passing would have been more acceptable at Cowles Stadium. However, tile outlook for the defending champion is far from gloomy. Its last two tries came from swift and enterprising movements, which should put the participants in good heart for future engagements. Merivale-Papanui failed to duplicate its first-round effort against Linwood. Manv glaring errors in kicking, passing, and positioning on defence were made; Tony Pennv scored a blind-side try for Christchurch, in spite of frantic cries of “wach the blind" by MerivalePapanui supporters.

Jerry Rowberry, Christchurch's-live-wire captain, led his men in the style of a nineteenth centurv infantry officer. The pick ot his troops were the industrious flanker. John Mill, and the clevei centre. Ricky Knight.

Knight made a welcome return to the side after (wo \ cars in Hastings. His nimble footwork exposed faults in MerivalePapanui's defence. In one move, he ran past 14 men. The team’s surprise packet was Scott Cartwright. who was switched from right wing to half-back when Penny was injured after 23min. His clearances were remarkably good. Tony Bailey and Grant Furlonger were unremitting in their efforts for the lc«er. and Norm Chase was clearly the best of the backs on attack: unfortunately. the ball did not often reach him. High scoring If a casual spectator had merely watched the first half of the match between University A and High School Old Boys, and kept no record of the score, he would have been dealt a rude shock.

University was the more impressive team—more efficient in scrummaging, and more of a force in close passing—but it trailed by the unbelievable margin of 25-6. In nine minutes before the end of the half. Old Bovs scored 16 points simply because they did not make the sillv mistakes which marred University’s plav. and because tbev grasped their limited chances more eagerly, i University was even more 1 dominant in the second half, and scored 17 points to nine in reply. bu,t the deficit was too big. For the first half-hour. University was an impressive sight. ( the forwards were on the boil, linking well together, and look-1 ing fit to steamroll all before’ them. But Old Boys withstood the •hallenge splendidly, and even J had the fortitude to fight back, and seal victory, with a try ini the final minute; for once. Old, Bovs were not iust a 60 or 70min; team.

Easily university’s best player was its main points scorer and full-back, Doug Heffernan. a powerful runner and sturdy defender And the hooker. John Black, showed deft footwork and an alterness for chances in the loose unusual in a hooker Alvin Harvev initiated Old Boys’ first trv with a storming drive after a long throw-in. and was generally his team’s best forward. But quite the best player on the field was Darcy Palmer, who nlaved for Country as a. second five-eighths two; years ago. This is something of a problem position for Canter-! bury, and his strength and initiafive should not be overlooked Black won two tight-heads to| non. and the referee (Mr K. G. N. Orsbourn) had a busv davj with the whistle: he gave 161 penalties to Old Boys and 14 to! University. That was another! unusual feature of a match which realised 57 points.

Late recovery Only in the second spell when Sydenham began to wilt under the constant pressure from Belfast was any Rugby of quality seen on the firm turf of Sydenham Park. The first half was a dismal affair. The Sydenham forwards wop many line-outs only to see the backs fritter the possession away, and Belfast, was unable to settle down through constant infringement. The Belfast team finally found a rhythm in the last quarter, when the forwards won the rucks and the backs handled with sureness. At this stage. Sydenham’s lack of pace was apparent, and the lighter forward pack began to fail. Bruce Gennett and Brian Harris combined well behind the Belfast scrum, and David Stead was on target with his goalkicking. as well as playing a sound all-round game. In the loose play. Viv Hahipene was always prominent, and Dave Thompson worked well in the

tight. Sydenham's control ol the line-outs in the first spell was due to good work b\ Roger Higgs and the full-hack. Siexe Dunlop, came through a difficult dav with credit. Skills lacking Burnside deserved to win its encounter with Lincoln College at Burnside Park on the ground of sheer youthful enthusiasm alone.

lt> torwaids lacked real pace, but they made up for this with concentrated effort for the full 80 minutes, and their dominance allowed Burnside to have countless scoring opportunities. Tlie Burnside backs threw away many of these chances be cause of taking tlie ball flat footed, fumbling, lobbing passes or kicking away possession. Once a back drop-kicked for goal. 15 yards away, when he had two men outside him.

Quick passing and sure handling bv the Burnside back-line finally' gave the side the only try of the match right on fulltime. the lock. Graham Church, fortuitously out of position, completing the movement with a flamboyant dive in the corner. Easily the most impressive Burnside back was the scrumhalf. Brian Drury, who made several adroit runs on the blindside. including one which all but finished with a try.

Other Burnside players to show out were the powerful centre. Frank Bennett, who played an intelligent game, and the number eight. Trevor French, who figured prominently in one hand-to-hand rush by the forward pack but tended to spoil other potentially productive movements, probably as the result of overenthusiasm.

Lincoln Colleges centre. And> Jefferd ran well on occasions and made a superb tackle early in the second half. The burl} number eight. John McLay. a New Zealand colts representative and former Mid-Canterbury plaver made a number of excellent takes from bis No. 7 position in the line-out and was almost unsfonpable at f imes when running with the ball.

Both sides were, at times, found wanting in the basic skills of the game: there was som<» <nev»M |facVHr»g. nnnr handling and an! inability (particularly by Burnside) to form a nroner scrum- ( mage. On far too many occasions! olavers resorted to appallingly late charges.

Mather impresses Albion deservedly beat Uni- I versify B, but did little to de- 1 monstrate that It would be able to test teams in later matches.

Although playing against a stiff breeze. Albion dominated much of the first half and looked a comfortable winner when it took a seven-noint lead half-way through the spell. However. Universit} scored a converted try just before the interval, and from that point on looked a far more enterprising team.

’ The second hall was extreme!} even, both sides having long periods on attack, but University seemed incapable of finishing off promising movements. On several occasions certain tries were lost through last-minute indecision. Albion, on the other hand, showed less penetration in the hacks, but kept errors to a minimum, and used (he ball far more intelligently.

The exception on attack in the Albion backs was a newcomer, lan Mather. He recen ed few opportunities on the left wing. bn. sealed the match with a brilliant trv after a mid-field break and a clever kick ahead over the goal-line. His positional play was first class, and several times he used IVs -considerable nace to good effort on defence, when University* appealed to have created overtap situations. The best of the Albion for-’ wards was the flanker, Trevor; Kennedv. who gave the Univer-' sity inside backs little respite' and looked most aggressive with the bal l in hand. The Universitv forwards combined badly, but the loose head' prop, t,es Black, scrummaged well and provided a Plentiful supply of ball from No. 2 in. the line-out.

In the hacks. Mike Wilson was a penetrative second five-eighths and tackled exceedingly well while the half-back. Chris Reiither. threw a consistently long and accurate pass.