All Blacks win with brilliant last-minute try

Press, 31 October 1977, Page 36

All Blacks win with brilliant last-minute try

From

JOHN BROOKS

ill Lyons

“It was like chipping in at the eighteenth,” said Stuart Wilson, borrowing golfing terminology to describe the All Blacks’ 12-10 victory against a French selection team at the Municipal Stadium in Lyons on Saturday.

Against a side especially' strong in the forwards and the halves, and in the face of some extraordinarily incompetent refereeing, the New Zealand team came out on top through a skilfully executed scoring movement only four minutes from the end of the game. Unde, stern pressure from a side much stronger and more purposeful than the opposition at Brive, the All Blacks trailed 7-4 at halftime then got back in front only to lose the lead when the French side kicked a goal from a penalty which should never have been given. That body blow was delivered 10 minutes from the end as the New Zealanders seemed lost for an answer. Then from a tapped penalty mark, Mark Donaldson chipped a little kick over the first five-eighths and centre and Wilson steamed up on the right wing to collect the ball on the bounce. He cut infield linking with his captain. Graham Mourie, who had positioned himself well, and from there the ball, was flipped first to Bruce' Robertson and then to Bryan Ford on the left wing for the try.

The move was carried out with such speed and precision over 70m that the Frenchmen’s scrambling defence proved inadequate But it was one of the few occasions that the tourists looked realy convincing against a side which in character and performance was similar to the French national XV.

After the free running of the match at Brive the AU Blacks found it difficult coping with the close marking and the 10-man style adopted by the Frenchmen. The New Zealand attacks were eagerly mounted but breakthroughs were rare and hopeful kicks ahead seldom taxed the French kicking full-back, Pierre Pommier, who was able to punt vast distances in return.

Even more perplexing to the All Blacks was the performance of the referee, Mr G. Chevrier, who appeared to be operating under a set of rules known only to himself, Pommier’s penalty goal was awarded after the French No. 8 detached from the scrum, picked up the ball lost it and was in the act of grovelling for it when Dick Myers of New Zealand was ruled offside.

The New Zealand manager, Mr Ron Don, was adamant that the All Blacks scored an extra try while the admirable French flanker Philippe Coulais was receiving attention for a slight injury. New Zealand took a quick throw in, Andy Dalton found space and Wilson sprinted away to the goalline. But Mr Chevrier was not interested and snapped and gestured angrily at Donaldson who asked why the try was not given. “The referee did not signify that he had stopped play,” Mr Don said. “We threw the ball in, the touch judge lowered his flag and! play went on, but seeing we 1 won we won’t complain.” Mr Jack Gleeson, the All Black coach, said he could not follow the reasoning for some of the penalties. In addition to the perplexity of

some of the decisions, Mr Chevrier also seemed to be aiming for a penalty record. He handed out 15 in the first 28 minutes and finished with a total of 29 — 19 of them against New Zealand. It was a mild autumn day in Lyons and the pitch was in magnificant order. There were only about 15,000 spectators in the imposing stadium and they made a noise equal in volume to that of a capacity crowd at Lancaster Park.

Booing, shouting and shrill whistling reached its heights when the No. 8, Phillipe Bram, was hurt on the bottom of a ruck and carried off. A few minutes later when Coulais was felled by a high tackle by Bryan Williams it seemed that the more hot-blooded members of the crowd were calling for the guillotine.

The French captain and half-back, Jacques Sourous, watched the game and must have been impressed by the play of the man tipped to succeed him, Jerome Gallion. The sturdy scrum half three times cracked the New Zealand close-quarter defence, and the alert support of the outstanding French forward, Coulais, almost turned these breaks into tries. The All Black forwards proved their resilience against a pack headed by the international prop, Robert Paparemborde, and Gerard Cholley. And Andy Haden, with assistance from Gary Seear and Frank Olliver, gave the top French jumpers a 23-10 thumping in the line-outs.

Mourie gave a wonderfully athletic performance, and the excellence and frequency of his tackling was a feature of the game. Dalton, too, tackled well and was a fine support player. In the scrums he lost only one tighthead which could be laid at Mr Chevrier’s door. In the first scrum Donaldson was unable to move the New Zealand pack a few centimetres to the right and the volatile referee laid hands on Mourie who was tacking on the open side, and held him until the ball was fed.

The French forwards were adept at wresting the ball clear of the maul, but the New Zealand forwards countered with some strong driving. Mr Gleeson was especially pleased with the way the front row stood up to the famed French props. Brad Johnstone refused to fall for any of Paparemborde’s tricks, and Gary Knight who has a heart to match his huge frame, was equal to the task of holding the imposing Choulais. The New Zealand backs, notably Ford, all made lively runs, and Bruce, although puzzled by the lightness of the ball, exercised his customary control. Donaldson missed Gallion twice, but his own running and passing confounded the French and one excellent break led to Ford’s first try. "It is good to have a hard game under our belts at this stage,” Mr Gleeson said. “We were aware that this game promised to be the toughest outside the tests and are now slightly more confident about our showing in the internationals. We scored some good tries — you couldn’t get one better than the last one.” For New Zealand: tries by Ford (2) and Williams. For the French selection: a try by Alan Ferrou and two penalty goals by Pommier.

Boxing.—The undefeated Carlos Zarate (Mexico City) retained his World Boxing Council bantamweight championship in Los Angeles on Saturday night by stopping the previously unbeaten Danilo Batista (Brazil) in the sixth round.

Tennis.—The Argentine ace, Guillermo Vilas, overwhelmed a lacklustre Hie Nastase, of Rumania, 6-2, 6-2, and won the Super Tennis 77 tournament in Caracas, Venezuela. Paul Ramirez (Mexico) beat Adriano Panatta (Italy), 6-1. 6-4. and took third place.