B teams share honours in rugby

Press, 19 September 1977, Page 21

B teams share honours in rugby

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Canterbury B and Auckland B proved themselves worthy of inclusion in division two of the national rugby championship when they battled their way to a 6-6 draw at Lancaster Park on Saturday. All the points came from kicks, which was fitting enough on a day when the ball in the air was the best, place for it — with, of course, the wind to carry it. Apart from a strong! southerly, the players also! had driving rain and a chil-l ling cold to tax their stamina. A draw was a fair result, for both sides used the wind well and both maintained a; defence that was in direct; contrast to the soft footing' that made anything but straight running hazardous. : Canterbury had the wind I at its back in the first half! and did most of the attack-1 ing, very nearly scoring; several times late in the half.; The roles were reversed in! the second half, although) Auckland did not have as! many narrow misses in its bids for a try. Canterbury was a little unfortunate not to receive a penalty kick late in the match that would have been close enough for Doug Heffernan to kick against the wind. From a scrum near the Auckland posts, Canterbury worked a dummy move to, catch the Auckland forwards' off-side. It worked beauti- j fully, but one of the decoy; runners, lan Mather, went ahead of the ball an instant | before the referee (Mr A.! R. Taylor) spied the off-side; Auckland players. It was; Auckland, therefore, that re-1 ceived the penalty kick. In spite of the conditions.) the backs on both sides were! given some employment and for the down-wind line there were plenty of kicks to chase | Gary Hooper, on the right! wing for Canterbury, was!

very fast and also anticipated; well. The forwards, however, did most of the graft and Jim Stubbs, Gary Brown (and in the second half his replacement, Paul Oliver), and Don Hayes all did their fair share. Some of Brown’s line-out takes were superb. Auckland also had a lively pack, with two former Canterbury players, Chris Read and Wayne Underhay, often I showing the way. Richard Dunn was a com- ! petent half-back for Auckland. although he seemed to enjoy better protection than his opposite, Graeme Ellis. Outside Ellis, Paul Macfie handled soundly and kicked with precise judgment. The result kept intact the unbeaten records of both sides and while a rematch on a firm ground would have some appeal, the match went a long way towards proving that Auckland and Canterbury, at least, have B teams that are deserving of better treatment. It might even be argued that on performance Auckland B is not very much inferior to the A side. The same cannot be said so confidently about Canterbury. For Canterbury, a dropkicked goal by Keiran Keane and a penalty goal by Doug Heffernan. For Auckland, penalty goals by Dunn and Joe Whiu. In the curtain-raiser, Canterbury Colts overcame a slow start, when they were playing into the wind, to beat Wellington Colts, 10-6.

This was another intense forward battle, in which the Canterbury pack held a slight edge in most areas. Also to recommend it was the outstanding play of one of its flankers, Mark Hammond, whose speed, agility, and constructiveness lifted his play above the Colts level. Andy Hollander, Gary Ful-

ler, and Neil Porter all played diligently and to good purpose in the Canterbury scrum and their efforts were complemented by bullet-like passes from the half-back, Gary Barkle. The first five-eighths, Richard Wixon, played a

sound game, and there was some nicely balanced running by the centre, John Collinson. Wellington was more adventurous in the backs and its five-eighths, lan Hastie and Robert Vance, were both at ease in the tacky ground

and in moving the slippery I ball. i Canterbury scored two t tries. Michael O’Donovan, the 1 left wing scored the first { after an overlap had been . created and the hooker, John 1 Froggart, scored the second when the ball rebounded to f

him from a line-out and he plunged his way through two tackles. Bret Codlin, who kicked well both into and against the wind, converted Froggart’s try. Vance drop-kicked a goal for Wellington.