Boys’ High soundly beats St Bede’s

Press, 9 August 1976, Page 15

Boys’ High soundly beats St Bede’s

Christchurch Boys’ High School took the Christchurch secondary schools rugby championship for the third successive year on Saturday with a convincing, 194), win over St Bede’s College. High School led, 7-0. at halftime after a shaky start, and was never in danger of losing Its unbeaten record in the interschool competition this season. But If the sizeable crowd expected the final to produce a feast of schoolboy rugby it must have been sadly disappointed. The pace of the game was slowed by numerous stoppages for injury, and deteriorated for long periods into a dour forward struggle. St Bede’s took the field with the knowledge that a victory would give it a draw in the championship. It showed superior fire and drive to dominate the forward exchanges in the first half, but the St Bede’s backs lacked the pace to capitalise on their chances.

The brightest aspect of the match was the performance of the High School winger, Steve Hansen, whose all-round play bore the stamp of remarkable maturity. Hansen showed he had all the qualities of a fine winger in proving himself the best back on the field and scoring two of his team’s four tries. He scooped up a rolling ball at full speed for the first and fended off a

string of would-be tacklers for the second. High School’s other points came from tries by Jim Borthwick and Rob Mclntosh, and a dropped goal by Peter Rattray. Borthwick also covered well from the back of the scrum, and combined with Richard Lentjes and Ken Pope to give High School the edge in the line-outs. The second five-eighths, Andy Murray, failed to convert any of his side’s four tries, but ran and tackled well. St Bede’s was ably led up front by the two props, Phil Smith and Glen O’Brien, while the flanker.. Mark Meates, also had an impressive game. Kevin Dobbs, at half-back, was the pick of the St Bede’s backline. Dobbs received little protection from his forwards and often had to clear the ball under heavy pressure. But he made few mistakes and set St Bede’s on attack several times with determined breaks around the scrum.