Rules match pleases small crowd

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 3

Rules match pleases small crowd

Wellington and Canterbury provided a thrilling finish to their Australian Rules match at Rawhiti Domain yesterday.

About 350 spectators braved the cold to see the teams separated by only one point at the end.

Both teams scored eight ; goals and Wellington’s 60-59 win only came by virtue of the fact that it managed 12 'behinds to Canterbury’s 11. I Mid-way through the final quarter, the game looked out of Canterbury’s reach after a (goal by Simon McMeekin put Wellington ahead, 53-39, but the local team fought 1 back magnificently. A series of well-judged kicks down the paddock brought Canterbury back on attack and • Ron Pratt put two kicks between the large uprights within 15sec for a total of 12 points. With about lOmin left Canterbury took the lead, 57-54, when Angelo De Pas scored his second goal — soon after a brilliant diving take by his tall team-mate, Gary Proud. But lan Tressider soon replied for Wellington with his third goal. Two more behinds by Canterbury in quick succession brought the team up to 59-60 and Proud followed with a fine mark at a wide angle to the Wellington posts. But it came seconds [too late to allow any of his • team-mates to convert the I I subsequent kick into a goal | (or a behind. I Canterbury led, 9-8. after la-first quarter in which both) I teams were a little slow to j [warm up and missed one or( |two very easy kicks through [ I nervousness or overeagerness. After the second quarter, in which Tressider kicked two good goals in the space of about 30sec, Wellington had its nose in front at 27

(4.3) - 25 (3, 7) but it bad much the better of the next 25min and went into the final quarter with a 45-32 lead.

After the match both sides gave a prize to the “player of the day" from the opposing team and Paul Hemsley (Wellington) and Roger Jackson (Canterbury) were most deserving winners. Jackson was the outstanding player on either side and cries of “Good on ya. Jacko” went up constantly as the bearded fullback took mark after superb mark in front of his goal posts.

Another player to shine for Canterbury was the little rover, Peter Prince, who showed superb ball sense for a 17-year-old who hooks for his rugby team and has only recently taken up Australian Rules.

Apart from Hemsley, the players to impress most for Wellington were the captain, Mike O’Donnell, and the balding Mike Ryan, a former star for North Melbourne.

Most strange practices were soon sorted out by the previously uninformed spectators whc found plenty of avid fans willing to enlighten them. They might have remained a little puzzled though by the uniform of the boundary umpire who wore white shorts and matching bare feet.