Belfast sets the pace in senior club rugby

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 17

Belfast sets the pace in senior club rugby

Belfast and New Brighton of Marist are the likely finalists in the D.C.L. Shield senior rugby competition.

On Saturday Belfast continued its winning way in section two by beating a former shield holder. Suburbs. Belfast now has a maximum score of eight points, with one qualifying round still to be played. In section one, New Brighton and Marist maintained their leading positions, although they have played one game less than their rivals. The two teams will dispute the honours under lights at Denton Oval this evening. Results of Saturday’s games were: Section 1 Merivale-Papanui 14, Shir* ley 12. Albion 21, Hornby 17. Section 2 Burnside 18, University B 7 Lincoln College 18, Sydenham 3 Belfast 15, Suburbs 0.

DULL GAME Seventy-five per cent of possession in the first half. 70 per cent for the match, gave Belfast every opportunity of showing its paces In Its match with Suburbs, but only a splendid try, three minutes from time, rescued the match from anonymity. A tacky ground and a wilful wind were minor handicaps, but both sides must have been disappointed by their displays. Belfast, strong of pack, kept going forward most of the day, but there was untidy ball, especially from wild tap-backs at the lineout, and although David Stead was reliable at first five-eighths, there was much bad handling further out. There was no score in the first spell, when Suburbs had the wind at its back, and It held Belfast so long partly because of the regular killing of the rucks. There was no rucked ball in the first. 25 minutes of the match, thereafter Belfast outrucked Suburbs decisively. It was a very dull game, but the try was a delight. It started with a high punt into the sun from the left wing, John Freeman; Vivian Hahipene broke after the subsequent check, the ball was spun swiftly and surely, for the right wing, Dave Percasky. to go over in the corner. Suburbs had a couple of parIttcularlv earnest forwards, Eddie i Cutts and Dave Thomson, but i Belfast was markedly superior. jHahipene was often lively, Barry Kennett was strong on the break, iMerv Banks did good line-out (work and Bryan Mustchln was very powerful with the ball in 'hand. Freeman was an eager wing land, for Suburbs, Wally Argus I made one or two sharp runs. But all in all, the match seemed |to be between teams which have ■ already had enough football. SPIRITED Trailing by 12 points at halfi time, Merivale gave a spirited : performance in the second | .shell to score the winning try r seven minutes from the end I and defeat Shirley by two j points. I In the first half the play was 'scrappy, neither side being able Ito dominate, but Shirley seized ■its opportunities from broken i play to score two tries. Merivale came back after the l change-over with greater vigour. ■ The forwards gained more posiitive possession and the backs ran |with flair and determination. A I tight defence denied Sidney the opportunity to run the ball and continual pressure forced the , opposition into error.

Th® strong running Merivale wing, Norm Chase, was a continual problem for Shirley and his determination earned him two good tries. Phil Gass was an able first five-eighths who combined well with the halfback, Bruce Stewart, while John McLay and lan Culpan Were hard working forwards. Lindsay Thorn and Robert Lodge, in the unaccustomed position of wing, were the best of the Shirley backs, and Mark Young and Gavin Fitzpatrick played well in the forwards. ALBION SHARPER Hornby was rather unlucky not to improve its modest record this season but some fine individual displays carried Albion to victory. The game looked like developing into a boring and scrappy affair as both teams throughout the first 20 minutes showed little enthusiasm for attacking, Instead resorting to a battery of kicks. But the tempo livened up as the score see-sawed between the two teams, and the second half provided some brilliant and exciting rugby. Hornby won the greater percentage of the possession, especially in the line-outs where Gary McEwan excelled; unfortunately the same cannot be said of the rest of his play. Although both teams ran the ball more and more as the game went on, neither backline could

■ penetrate with regularity the other’s defence, the tackling of both sides being a feature of the game. Especially evident in this facet of play were the Hornby inside backs. The tempo of the game reached a climax towards the end of the second half, when after a period of exciting play, Craig Quested dropped a goal from 45 metres and took Albion into the lead. Perhaps Albion’s greatest strength was the attacking abilities of its backline. Although it did not receive a great deal of ball, it ran harder and straighter than its opponents and generally looked sharper. Albion’s main other advantage was the ability of its kicker, Ainsley Quested, whose ten points were invaluable. SUPERIOR Superior both back and forward, Lincoln College had little difficulty In defeating Syden- ' ham.

Both teams attempted to play attacking football and Lincoln College won because fewer mistakes were made and . the backs were more purposeful. The Lincoln College forwards controlled the ball better and gave cleaner possession to the backs. The first spell was marred by dropped passes and hesitant play on both sides, but the second spell saw improved football although still of a mediocre standard.

The Lincoln College half-back, Phillip Hart, and the first fiveeighths, Quentin Hooper-Smith, both had good games while Bret Codlin was a resourceful fullback. Tony O’Reilly and Gavin Ussher were the best of the forwards. Barry Winder at first fiveeighths gave punch to the Sydenham backs and CoUn King was a stalwart worker in the pack. DESERVED WIN In a match characterised by poor handling and tackling by University B and some sound tackling and enterprising running by Burnside, the latter came out trumps. University's football was of such poor quality that it was lucky that the deficit was not larger. From the opening whistle, the university players looked a rather uninterested lot and they did not enter the game until the last quarter. Full credit must be given to Burnside. The whole Burnside pack played well, the forwards packed low and won the large majority of possession from the line-outs, scrums and rucks. The best Burnside backs were the half-back, Phil Walters, and a wing, Roger Rains. Walters was very quick to the loose ball, he constantly harrassed his opposite number, Derek Morrison, into silly errors and he passed well. Rains made some determined dashes down the side-line and when the necessity arose he kicked the ball back into his forwards admirably. He also tackled low and hard. The only University player to come out of the match with any credit was the five-eighths, Craig Shearer, who tried to infuse a bit of life and spirit into his side with some hard running.

Points are: Section 1 W D L F A Pts New Brt. 3 — 72 13 6 Marist 2 1 59 13 5 Shirley 2 a—_ 2 50 52 4 Mer-Pap. 2 —- 2 25 50 4 Albion 1 1 2 31 34 3 Hornby — — 4 30 105 0 Section 2 w j ■ F A Pte Belfast 4 — 73 9 8 L. College 3 1 65 38 6 University B 2 2 36 46 4 Burnside 2 2 62 67 4 Suburbs 1 3 28 42 2 Sydenham — 4 19 81 0