‘Magnificent Seven’ help Chch to great win against Linwood

Press, 7 August 1978, Page 18

‘Magnificent Seven’ help Chch to great win against Linwood

Rugby 4

The toast in the Christchurch Football Club’s rooms on Saturday evening j was to the "Magnificent Seven” — the seven forwards who absorbed the full force of the powerful pack offensive by Linwood to

help give their side at early lead in the senior rugby championship. Christchurch was one man short for the entire second half of the game — Tony Poster, one of its props, was ordered off the oval just on half-time for punching the opposing captain, lan Mallard. But those left behind performed splendidlv against a Linwood side which applied strong pressure through the forwards. Two spectacular runaway tries by the former All Black wing, Scott Cartwright, in his third comeback match boosted Christchurch’s confidence and; helped it to a 25-14 victory. It was its sixth win against Linwood in their last seven encounters. Afterwards the captain of Christchurch, Jerry Rowberry( was presented with the’ C.S.B. Cup, for the first, round competition, by Mr, lan Howell, the president of the bank. Rowberrv might well have been eyeing the handsome C.S.B. Tropbv on the same table, for Christchurch is already in the lead for the championship after one game in the play-offs. The other game in the top division was drawn. University A led New Brighton, 119, at half-time, but the match finished with the score at 18-all. All New Brighton’s points came from penalty goals by its fullback. Dave Bowick, who shot to the head of the individual points table. It was a day for penaltygoals: There were 28 in senio" games, and as well as Bowick’s six for New Brighton, John Neilson kicked five for Suburbs and Brett Codlin four for Lincoln College. Neilson’s efforts comprised his team's total. The D.C.L. Shield series started on a surprising note with the defeat of the early favourite in each division. Marist, the best of the nonqualifiers in the round-robin competition, went down to Burnside which has now won seven of its last eight games, and Belfast was beaten by Lincoln College. This game produced the second ordering-off of the afternoon: John Taylor, a Belfast prop, was sent off lOmin from th end. Results were:— C.S.B. TROPHY Christchurch 25, Linwood 14. University A 18, New Brighter 18. OCX. SHIELD Section 1 Burnside 9. Marist 4. Old Boys 10, Sydenham 3. Suburbs 15, Hornby 12. Section 2 Shirley 9, University B 4. Albion 6, Morlvale-Papanul 3. Lincoln College 16, Belfast 7. VITAL TRY A Bash of the famous Cartwright magic dented Linwood's confidence at a stage when its

advantage In numbers seemed about to take effect. Cartwright Intercepted the bat! deep in Christchurch territory, and his acceleration quickl placed him tn the clear. He ran round Bruce Hanham on halfway, broke out of a tackle by Dennis Andrews, and reached the goal-line for a try after an exciting 85m run. That stroke of genius came Immediately after Graham Sims had kicked a penalty goal, and the seven points obtained placed

Christchurch 11 points clear with 18min to play. Linwood attacked with a will in the final period. I but the one try its forward pressure produced was soon answered bv a successful second phase atj tack from Christchurch. ( The win was ensured by the , Christchurch forwards. who I played stoically after the depar- • lure of Tony Porter at half-time, I With the captain, Jerry Row berry, moving to hooker and Mick Powley going to prop, the patchwork pack battled to the end against the strong, resourceful Linwood forwards. Linwood forced Christchurch to give ground in the scrums and rucks, and because lan Mai- > lard and his men were so often going forward, Linwood gained manv of the put-ins. Both Linwood's tries in the second half : came from scrum pressure, but ! Christchurch did remarkably well to tie up the numerically superior . opposition. The backs supported this valiant effort by seizing their > chances avidly. Cartwright’s two i efforts were the most notable. but Barry Thomas did well with a charge-down and slick pick-up to score another try, and Russell . Fuller made a strong run and . timed his pass splendidly for 5 ‘ Tony Murdoch to dive across ' the line. II Linwood's forward play was t purposeful, with Robert Johns, Rue Koha and Kim Shannon performing solidly in the tight and - and lan Mallard playing effeci tively as an outrider. But the backs made too many • j mistakes. Andrews, a valuable ? man on heavy tracks, miscued several kicks and it was a bal- : looned pass to him that led to ’ I the charge-down and Thomas’s • j try. Neil Sloane threw a bad • pass with Dave McGuigan per--3 fectly positioned for a try. and z there were other acts of omisf sion which cost Linwood valuL able chances. Brent Nahkies. - i however, was conspicuous for §. his sharp and lively attacking, j KICKING CONTRASTS .. The trusty boot of New Brighton's full-back, Dave ‘ Bowick, and the poor kicking 1 display by his University A opposite, Doug Heffernan, provided a sharp contrast at Rugby Park. Bowick had six opportunities from penalties and all were suen cessful. Heffernan had eight attempts — all of them well within ; his range — and managed just ’ two simple penalty goals. A long range attempt by John Edmondson was also astray. It would have been an injusj tice had University lost the I match. But. by failing to take | advantage of so many oppor- . tunities. the students deserved no better than a draw. New Brighton’s first half per- • ; formance was inadequate; the > forwards were slow’ in arriving

at broken play situations and large boles appeared in places where the Brighton backs should have been. University, wth two tries, led by 11-9 at half-time and it was only desperate defence and Bowick’s boot that kept the margin down. There was more determination to New Brighton’s play in the second spell and Bowick’s sixth penalty put his team ahead, 18-11. But a try to Ray Scott and a simple penalty by Heffernan minutes from the finish levelled the scores. New Brighton was dominated in the line-outs to such an extent that it won only two cleanly in the match. Although Brighton’s forwards held their own in other phases, its backs were reduced to defensive roles and they were often found wanting.

The only constructive attack ■ by the Brighton backs should have brought a try, but Trevor Keats, given an overlap, lost contact with his centre, Ross Gibson. Scott was a tireless leader for University and he received invaluable support from lan Stewart, Neil Frankish and Edmonson. The students’ backs looked more penetrative but some careless passing cost them further tries. Devon Power and Paul Goosey worked conscientiously in Brighton’s pack and Graeme Ellis and Brian Lloyd tackled best among the backs. However, it certainly was not the seasiders’ most impressive display. MARIST UPSET Making the most of the opportunities and mounting a tenacious defence, Burnside beat Marist on a firm but holding ground at Burnside Park. A penalty goal by John Lindsay shortly after the kick-off raised Burnside's first points and then in the middle of the first spell, after a sustained attack bv Marist, Burnside broke out of its own half to score a try. From then on Bumside had : few opportunities on attack but a solid defence kept Marist out and only in the dying minutes 1 of the game was this breached 1 when the burly Marist wing, • Dave Direen. crossed the line. i Territorially Marist had the I better of the game and the for- - wards gave the backs ample i opportunity to make their mark. 1 But little headway was made 1 against the solid tackling and ■ sound covering. However, the ; absence of Bernie Stewart. Gary -j Hooper and Brian McLean meant •|the line lacked penetration and >!its problems were compounded 1 bv poor handling. f The best of the Marist for- > I wards were Terry Peterson and i Pat O’Byrne, and Burnside, I [although not matching the opposition in the tight, was well served bv Graham Church. Paul • I McKay and Patrick Dougherty, . all of whom were prominent in ’ defence. Ray Genet at half-back ’ came through a difficult day : with credit and Lindsay con--1 trolled play well from first fiveeighths. UNDER STRAIN > Old Bovs were under a strain ; to hold off a tenacious Sydenham side during a scoreless sec- ‘ ond half. Sydenham attacked 5 with a will, but Ken Taylor J missed two penalty kicks when 1 the team was looking for some • incentive. 1 It was not a productive day • for Old Boys, with only one try - coming from its free-wheeling , moves. Once again, the scrumr maging was at fault, and Colin . King was able to display his hooking skills for Sydenham. The bustling Mick Toner and the lofty Alan Croad played well in the Old Boys pack, and Terry Mehrtens and Gary Cookson ■ showed up in the backs. Chris ; O’Brien was the best of the Syd•enham attackers. Penalty goals dominated the s Suburbs-Hornby match, and it _, seemed to some spectators that .‘short time was played in the second half. Ji If that were so. it was a ‘‘merciful release, for the game 2 i did not inspire much enthusiasm. There was a certain fascinjation. however, in John Neil- ’* son’s ability to kick goals—he e ■ kicked five —and Fred Hale did e J his best to keep pace for ‘(Hornby. The live-wire wing, d : Willie Pirini. broke the monoton. I ous sequence bv scoring a try • after charging down a clearing e • kick. ? i Meanwhile, at Sheldon Park.

Brett Codlin was also taking advantage of penalties to kick match-winning goals for Lincoln College. Belfast was not sufficiently inspired by the home surroundings to produce a compelling performance, and the absence of Dave Thompson, Bill Bush, and Andy Karatea from the pack reduced the striking power. Teddy Davis tried hard to whip the side into winning form, but the College backs and loose forwards defended well. Fresh determination was revealed by Merivale-Papanui at Nunweek Park. Disregarding the fact that its opponent of the day. Albion, had finished six places ahead of it in the round robin competition, the blue and whites showed a more positive

; approach and deserved * better : result. i Albion soldiered on under pressure. and gained the winning i points from an opportunist try ■ by Mike Dolau. But the defence • had to work overtime to eon- ; tain a vigorous rival. The speci tacular wing, Lisiote Tutalo, was : the pick of the attackers. Dropped goals featured promi- > nently at the Ilam field, where ; Shirley edged out University B. Dennis Gear scored two for Shirley. and Alan Trenberth gained • one for University B. Shirley’s forwards won some , good ball and the backs moved well, probing for gaps in a gen- ! erally reliable defence. Uni- : versity counter-attacked with a will, sparked off by Hiroshi ‘ Yamashita and Phil Holstein. 1 But alas, that elusive win was i again just beyond reach.