Papanui extended, but still unbeaten

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 19

Papanui extended, but still unbeaten

Papanui had its eleventh con secutive win in the Canterburj rugby league premiership, anc extended its advantage over its rivals to seven competitior points, when it beat Marist Western Suburbs, 11-6. at the Show Grounds on Saturday. However, the sloppy grounc and weather blunted Papanui’s scoring potential—its smallesl total this year had been 22— and it was not until Kelvin Jones claimed his try nine minutes from the end that victory was certain. Maribt earned considerable credit for its spirited challenge but the result dropped it from the second position that it has held for many weeks. Sydenham beat Kaiapoi 12-0, on the other field at the Show Grounds, and has edged ahead of Marist. - The other winners on Satur■day. Hornby and Eastern Sub-urbs-Hertz. are also still well in voniention for championship places. Hornby comTortably accounted for Linwood, ■and Eastern had to come from behind to beat Addington in a Snatch that was transferred to ISpreydon Domain. It was not a day for outstanding individual achievements: Alan Teague, of Eastern, was the onk player to touch down more than once, but Trevor Williams managed to kick five goals for Jlornby. and his career points aggregate «1263 i is now only four behind the record of the Kiwi j uli-back. Michael O'Donnell 4 Marist i. . Jones was chosen as the Me -Williams' Wines “Player of the 4veek," and Murray Wright 4Hornby. Jim Beam award) and David Field (Sydenham. Man Tuam award) were selected as <he best performers in their «ames. Results:— Papanui 11, Marist-Western Suburbs 6 Hornby 22, Linwood 2. Sydenham 12, Kaiapoi 0. Eastern Suburbs 14, Addington 9.

CLOSE MATCH Neither Papanui nor MaristWestern Suburbs was content to settle for a wet-weather slog in conditions that were hardly conducive to anything else. Both sides kept the ball moving ' and Marist, in particular, brought its wmgs into play often. But the vital factor in the outcome of the game was the effectiveness of Papanui's defence. Marist s wings, Chris Charlton and Ha! October, ran extremely well and the youthful full-back. Graham Frew, and the halves. Wayne O'Donnell and John Mac Gougan. also created gaps, but generally Papanui kept its opponent under a firm hold. - It seemed that Papanui was assuming control in familiar: fashion when Russell Seaward. With deft footwork, and John I ole. who swooped on a loose ball and surged across, contributed the tries which had Papanui Six points clear after 25 minutes. Marist recovered from these setbacks, and was behind only 6-3 ft the Intelvai. after Terry Gillman had shouldered his way to papanui's line. , There was nothing between <hv teams in the scoreless third quarter—when territorial 2nd scrummaging advantages fluctuate’ Mock) Brereton was put in the clear by MacGougan, but ua> recalled by the referee -Mr lion Wilson 1 for a forward pass. Eventually Papanui broke the'

n- stalemate when it forced Marist y back to its own line and Macd Gougan lost control of the ball Is as he attempted a drop-out from •n under his posts. Kevin Williams t- kicked the penalty which reic suited, the only goal from the seven attempted in the match, d Papanui clinched its win with s a fine piece oi back-line combinait tion. Kelvin Jones made the initial break on the blind-side of >s a scrum and backed up to take >s a return pass from Eddie KerriiS gan, with the Marist cover wrenched open. There was some e consolation for Marist when the ? substitute wing, Jeff Atkinson, n raced on to a pass to score. 1S Mr Wilson exerted a tight conn troi, showing that he was not , r prepared to put up with any fJ niggling in (he tackles by sending Mike Godinet to the “sinr bin” in the second minute. Sea‘ward and Danny Millward were * other Papanui players required ‘ to cool off in the opening spell. ” and Michael Brereton had a .* temporary suspension in the second half. n Rod Walker, unable to use his a characteristic long passing with u any certainty, varied Papanui's tactics wisely. His high up-and-unders and line kicks put presn sure on Marist. and his leadere ship enabled Papanui to share 0 the forward honours. Marist s held a slight ascendancy in the r scrums until it lost its hooker. - John McCue, with an injury. 1 The penalty statistics were 1 unusual: Marist's six penalties: 1 were all awarded in the first 40 minutes, and each of Papanui's 1 five penalties came after the inp terval. t ■■■■ i—

DECISIVE WIN The almost complete dominance of the Hornby hooker, Murray Wright, and his fellow members of the pack denied Linwood any chance of keeping its championship semi-final hopes alive. Linwood hooked the ball only once in the first half and its troubles were compounded when its hooker, Peter Hall, was injured. As firmly and forcefully as Steve Brewster. Dean Taylor and Steve Bazeiey moved around the play-the-balls. rhe Hornby backs were not satisfied to fill only a supporting role. The mud did not prevent Robin Aifeld and Merv Manson from penetrating and it was a combination of their talents which provided Warren'

st W right with the best of Hornby's i- four tries. 11 in comparison. Linwood had n to rely on dropped passes for is its meagre supply of possession ?- and it was able to launch few e; constructive attacks. Linwood i.(did well to prevent Hornby from h! capitalising on a 15-2 margin at a- half-time, the winner's only e other try being scored just be>f fore the finish. e But Linwood was also comfort-i-1 ably held by the Hornby cle■r fence. The only scoring opporc tunity for Linwood — from a e high punt over the Hornby tryi, line — did not produce points; j the referee (Mr Rod MacKenzie); i- ruled a goal-line drop-out. »t Mr MacKenzie had a difficult v premier refereeing debut. There 1 i- was an undercurrent of hostil-! i- ity between the sides and Mur-; i- ray Wright and Taylor, oi l e| Hornby, and Hall and Gary d .Morrell, from Linwood, spent L periods in the “sin-bin.’’ On one a, occasion outbreaks of fighting e erupted between groups of players metres apart. £ Alleld. Manson, and the strap-; s stand-off half. Trevor .• Williams, were the most prominent Hornby backs, with ail of ’ the Hornby forwards playingi stronglx in the depressing conditions. Few Linwood players shone through the gloom, al- , though the work-rate of the. serum-half. Wally Wilson, anti loose forward, Eric Williams, ttas 1 notable. tl SYDENHAM STRONGER After a good first half always within touch of Sydenham — Kaiapoi was unable to ' ■ contain its opponent in the second spell and conceded i three tries in very trying con- | ditions. I Sydenham struck fairly early ; when the wing, Andrew'Bailey, 1 raced over unopposed after only 11 minutes of play, but from then until half-time found it was i as much on the defensive as on ■ atack against a Kaiapoi side which played with vigour and intelligence. In the second half there was not quite the same variation in Kaiapoi s play and Sydenham spent much of the time in Kaiapoi territory. Sydenham's forwards adapted themselves intelligently to the worsening conditions. and on a day made for kick-and-chase tactics they chose to run straight and hard to gain ' considerable ground. None applied himself better, than Sydenham's big prop, Peter Sturgeon. Despite spending a period in a ■chilly "chilly bin” with Kaiapoi’s 1 :

»; John Greengrass, Sturgeon used j his weight advantage to great 1 i effect in givini the Kaiapoi der | fence a torrid time. I ■ Another who appeared com- » i pletely at home on the treacherIjous surface was Sydenham’s ’1 stand-off half, David Field, t Fancy footwork was almost im- - i possible, but Field made many - ’ runs, weaving and dodging to elude a defence that appeared ■ I anchored in the morass. In Kaiapoi’s better moments •'the srum-half, Ray Howard, also I I found his lighter weight an ’I asset in the heavier going and ; 1 made a number of telling runs. 'I In the forwards Dale Brown I played well before the Syden-i t | ham pack got completely oh top. - GALLANT ADDINGTON The prospects of Addington's I reaching the championsip semiI finals might be as bleak as I Saturday's weather, but its youthful team had the far ! . more highly-rated Eastern Suburbs-Hertz XIII in considerable trouble for much of their game at Spreydon Domain. Addington was ahead by six ; points after .30 minutes, the result of considerbale constructive play and tries by Pat Lagrosse — who has bolstered the club’s outside back resources after having briefly returned to iWoolston — and Joe Tapiata. However. Eastern finished the I spell at a more convincing pace and actually slipped ahead be the interval. Its forwards limited I the errors which had marred their earlier ecorts, spurred on jby the constructive captaincy I of Grant Findlay. 1 When Findlay added a trv in | the third quarter and the wing. Alan Teague, breached Adding-: 1 ton’s defence for a second time, lit seemed that the points differ-! ence between the sides would be quite decisive. But Addington was not in a mood to surrender without a struggle and its pro- ’ mising centre, Barry Brown, touched down to keep interest in the match alive until the final whistle. Although Addington’s prefer-: ence of using its backs at every opportunity might not have pro-: vided additional competition points, it assured that Eastern could never relax its watchful ness in a fixture that it might have expected to win with fatmore ease. That there is a depth of potential in the Addington line-up cannot be denied and Linwood, especially, will have to be wary that it does not slip behind Addington and into the relegation zone.

PREMIERSHIP POINTS W I) L F A Pts Papanui 1] 0 i • 312 92 .'j bvdenham 1 3 238 138 i .i Marist 7 1 4 248 169 14 llornbv 6 1 4 196 147 13 Eastern 6 0 221 180 12 Linwood . > 0 8 158 267 6 Addington ■ 1 0 9 109 321 4 Kaiapoi 1 10 101 270 2