Tonic victory for Canterbury

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 28

Tonic victory for Canterbury

From KEVIN McMENAMIN Whangarei Strength and speed, as supplied by two players, greatly helped the Canterbury rugby team to come in from a temporary cold when it beat North Auckland. 21-13, at Okara Park, Whangarei, on Saturday.

The captain, Alex Wyllie, n the cpurse of a superb >ame, provided the strength that had such a telling effect and Scott Cartwright’s blistering pace hauled in the points. Yet welcome as the win was for a side in danger of losing faith in itself, it was anything but a victory to marvel over. More convincing proof wiil certainly be needed before Canterbury can come back into strong reckoning for the Radio |New Zealand title. ( The side looked, and played, like a fully-fledged Canterbury team only in the final quarter. Before then it had stumbled, fumbled and bumbled its way through such a succession of errors that Wyllie could be believed when he said he felt like coming off in disgust at half-time. To Canterbury’s credit, it lifted its play when the need was most urgent. After being luckily ahead, 7-6, at half-time it scored three very good tries in the second spell and they came at times when points were desperately needed. Near the end the Canterbury forwards mounted some awesome drives and their ball-winning, too, improved immeasurably. The backs, who had barely been reaching the advantage line, showed an obvious appreciation for the better service by going for the gaps and sometimes finding them. Canterbury had good reason to be thankful for the speed of Cartwright on the left wing. He showed he was not immune to the early malaise when with ample time and a sure run to the line he fumbled a bouncing ball. However, he more than compensated for this mistake later. He chased a rebounding kick over the goalline to score Canterbury’s first try, even if the referee (Mr J. Inness) did seem in two minds for a second whether the ball had actually been forced. But there was nothing debatable about Cartwright’s second try, scored in the seventeenth minute of the second spell. The try stemmed from a ruck Wyllie beautifully set up in midfield. The backs handled the best they had all day and Cartwright combined speed and agility to beat three men and score near the cor-

ner. A little later Cartwright again sprinted clear and this time he was forced into touch just before the comer. However, from a scrum a few minutes later Wyllie broke away and John Phillips, who went over the line with Wyllie, was awarded the try. This try gave Canterbury a 15-10 lead, but its position was threatened again when eight minutes from the end Dave Laurie kicked a penalty gaol for North Auckland. But once again Wyllie and Cartwright put their talents to w’ork and Canterbury was able to breath easily over the last few minutes. Wyllie started the move. Cartwright accelerated clear and then return passed to Andy Jefferd, who scored. Most of the first-half problems stemmed from the inability of the backs to read the game correctly. They had the wind behind them, but rarely kicked to advantage and hesitancy wrecked a good percentage of the [Missing movements. The forwards were continually having to go back to rucks and they, too, slipped a little from grace by releasing the pressure once scoring positions had been reached. Still, their scrummaging was solid, and their advan tage of 17-4 in winning ball from rucks and mauls tells its own story. Andy Jefferd, who could well be tagged the “Mr Solid” of the backline at present, was the best of the backs after Cartwright. Steve Scott showed improved judgment in electing when to run and when to pass and at fullback, Doug Heffernan competently met the challenge of some testing kicks. Wyllie, both for his leadership in getting the side out of the doldrums and for the quality of his own play, was indisputedly the dominant figure in the forwards. For a long time his breaking away with the ball was about all Canterbury had to offer as an avenue of attack. North Auckland was anything but a strong team, although it did play better than most people had expected. For Canterbury, tries by Cartwright (tw.o), Jefferd and Phillips; Heffernan a penalty goal and a conversion. For North Auckland, Mike Gunson a try,-O’Carroll (two) and Laurie penalty goals.