Wellington’s hockey

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 30

Wellington’s hockey

Special correspondent Timaru. Wellington outplayed Canterbury in the final of the national colts hockey tournament at Timaru on Saturday and won, 2-0.

Steven Purvis and Peter Miskimmin scored Wellington’s goals in a match which was played on a very bumpy pitch. Miskimmin was the outstanding player on the field.

Canterbury did not use its centre-half enough and tended to hit to the opposition rather than to the gap, possibly because of an inborn obsession with the right side of the field, where Wellington congregated its talented defence.

The Canterbury backs, Robert Workman and Ross Ambler, were generally solid but on the bumpy surface their trapping was suspect and the lively Wellington forwards were quick to take advantage. The half-backs, Hugh Griffen, Tony Jury and Robin Wilson, tried hard but were not quick enough to recover when they lost possession. Geoffrey Deakins saw little of the ball on the right wing. George Carnoutsos did a lot of good work but spoilt it at times with bad positioning.

Warwick Shillitto worked industriously and intelligently but found the tempo of the game at this early stage of his career too tough.

Ground conditions and indifferent umpiring were unsettling at times, but the current Wellington team is skilled and highly motivated and thoroughly deserved its success.

However the strength of South Island hockey was made evident by the fact that Nelson won the Lusby trophy, and Ashburton, Otago and South Canterbury finished fifth, sixth and eighth respectively in the Page trophy. The final placinga were:—

Page Trophy: Wellington 1, Canterbury 2, Auckland 3, Manawatu 4, Ashburton 5, Otago 6, Northland 7, South Canterbury 8, Wanganui 9, Taranaki 10.

Lusby Trophy: Nelson 1, Wairarapa 2, Southland 3, Army 4, North Otago 5, Marlborough 6, Central Hawke’s Bay 7. The New Zealand representative colts team selected at the close of play is as follows: K. Stanners (Manawatu), H. Glenny (Wanganui), A. Jury (captain, Canterbury), H. Bhlkha (WeUlngton), K. Stallard (Wellington), S. Lord (Manawatu), B. Miskimmon (Wellington), P. Miskimmon (Wellington), N. Thome (Northland), S. Purvis (Wellington), G. Carnoutsos (Canterbury), B. Bhana (vice-captain, Wellington), P. Daji (Auckland), G, Simpson (Manawatu).

Boxing.—Wilfredo Gomez, of Puerto Rico, knocked out Dong Kyum Yum, of South Korea, in 40sec of the twelfth round at San Juan to win the World Boxing Council super bantam-weight title.