Kerrigan outstanding for Papanui

Press, 14 August 1978, Page 21

Kerrigan outstanding for Papanui

* League

Three tine tries by the former hr.u outside back, Eddie Kerrigan. put paid to any chance that Eastern Suburbs-Hertz had of beating the Canterbury rugby league premieiship leader, Papauuj, at the Show Grounds on Saturday. Neither Papanui nor Eastern had reached the standard expected of teams that had appeared, in each of the last three grand finals until Kerrigan raced through for his tries and Papanui eventually cruised away tor a 24-10 win. Although the fifteenth round ol what lias been a very drawnout competition sorted‘out the probable top four, it was not until Papanui lifted its standard late in its match that it again clearly established itself as the championship favourite. Papanui. over-all, must still be rated ahead of its closest pursuers, Sydenham—which also took considerable time achieving ascendancy over Hornby—MaristWestern Suburbs and' Eastern. Hornby’s loss has seriously threatened its chances of reaching the semi-finals. Both fixtures on the No. 2 playing field were won bv comfortable margins, Marist beating Addington. 37-13. and Linwood having the upper hand over Kaiapoi. 31-15. Francis Lawrence (Sydenham) exceeded his personal centurv of points with a try and three goals, the fourth time in five seasons he has passed three figures. But the afternoon’s highest scorer was Michael O’Donnell (Marist) with a trv and six goals. The “player of the match” awards went to Russell Seaward i Papanui, McWilliam’s), David Field 'Sydenham, Jim Beam), Graham Frew (Marist, Mermen), and Hudson 'Man Tuam'i. Alan Rushton (Eastern) and Ken Tait < Papanui) were sent from the field by Mr T. Drake in the ninth minute of the main match after having been involved in a scuffle. They will appear before the code's board of control this evening. Results:— Papanui 24, Eastern Suburbs IG. Sydenham 21, Hornby 12. Linwood 31, Kaiapoi IS. Marist-Western Suburbs 39, Addington 15.

PAPANUI PREVAILS Papanui now requires only one more win from its last four appearances in the premiership to be certain of retaining the Massetti Cup and entering the championship play-offs as the top qualifier and logical favourite to complete yet another double. However. Papanui was but a shadow of itself throughout the first half and it was only a spectacular interception and 8(1 metres sprint by the wing, Russell Seaward, which placed Papanui ahead, by 7-4, against Eastern Suburbs. It was somewhat fortunate for Papanui that Eastern was also beset by basic mistakes in conditions that were perfect for free-flowing football. The early dismissals of Alan Rushton and Ken Tait might have upset pre-match plans and fn-match combinations, although Papanui was well served from scrum-half by its versatile cap-tain-coach, Rod Walker. It was a deft in-pass by Walker which provided Eddie Kerrigan with nis third try—and his ninetyninth in the premier grade. Kerrigan had claimed his other two tries in the first I2min after the resumption, but his) third was the most vital. Only a short time earlier Eastern had sparked into action, with Trevor

| Philpott and John Wesley com-, | pleting fine movements with! I corner tries to shave the margin [to 13-10. | Eastern’s recovery came to an j abrupt end after Kerrigan placed Papanui out of range, and John Cole and Seaward added further ! tries to underline Papanui’s • gradual improvement throughout the game. I Until he suffered an injury, the Papanui full-back, Kevin Williams, had once more been Papainui's most effective attacker, and [Seaward and Kerrigan were also 'quick to capitalise on their , i chances. Papanui’s pack was a > formidable unit, giving Eastern j I little leeway to set up thrusts ; from the play-the-balls. , j Grant Findlay, captaining and Uroaching Eastern, found most of t the few gaps left by his former - clubmates in the forwards, and t was well supported by Bruce -[Turner and Jim Churcher. of - 1 the backs. Barry Ed kins was • again effective at stand-off’ half. Land John Dromgool ran forceh fully on the left wing until he ’ retired injured. JI PUTTING IT TOGETHER Sydenham again had to rely i largely on the individual skills 1 [ of its players, rather than a I team effort, to overcome Hornby and keep its hold on second position on the premier ship table. II i But. as talented as the Sy den-1 ham players undoubtedly are, it ['must be mystifying (o their J coach (Gary Clarke* as to why

■ they are so suspect in the fundamental requirements of handi ling and passing. On this occal sion the fumbles were cancelled i out because of Kerry Corkran*s dominance of (he scrummaging, but they also allowed Hornby to stay in contention for an hour. i Corkran and David Field were 'quite outstanding for Sydenham, Field continuing to trouble .Hornby’s defends with his piercing runs even after he bad suf- ; fered a heavy knock and spent a short time recovering on the i wing. In addition to his hooking prowess, Corkran backed up to i’gain the try which put Sydeni ham ahead at half-time, and it i I was an interception by Corkran i which led to Field's second I| touchdown • i Not far behind them in effec- ., tiveness was the loose forward, I Bruce Dickison. who was pre- , j vented from scoring only by a ! i magnificent covering tackle by J Robin Alfeld, and who frequently [upset Hornby’s first line of de- ‘ fenders. The three-quarters, /Francis Lawrence and Barry Bigiwood. benefited most from the | incisiveness of Field and Dickii son. I Hornby’s relatively inexpert-■ enced wing. Grant Hullet, could; be well pleased with his performance, running determinedly for two tries. Alfeld—in spite of being dazed in an incident which led to Paul Atkinson’s temporary occupancy of the "sin-bin” —and •the steady Trevor Williams were also prominent in the Hornby j back line. ,j EARLY ADVANTAGE Kaiapoi's initial surge did , not last long, and Linwood ■ soon assumed a command that ! had it 18-2 in front at the : I break. There was then ev** r y indication that Linwood woi’d [ finally win by a mammoth mar- I gin. an impression that was re-

inforced when Kaiapoi conceded the first eight points after the interval. To its credit, Kaiapoi never gave in and it was pleasing that i two of its most earnest servants in recent years, Jack Clarke and 1 John Greengrass, should be re- ■ sponsible for the tries which ' stopped the one-way nature of the match. Indeed, Greengrass bluffed his way past his Linwood opponents with as fine a piece of [slight of hand as one would’ (expect to see. Another veteran of the code, 'Alan McNaughtan, also showed! ‘that he still has plenty of life I on a warmish winter's day. It was McNaughtan who opened! (Linwood’s scoring and he was'

on hand later to touch down again. Kevin Steel, at full-back, injected momentum into Kaiapoi's irregular thrusts, while Paul McCone and Lewis Hudson were penetrative for Linwood. Linwood generally held the ascendancy around'the play-the-balls, the product of Rex Dalzell’s ability to keep movements alive and Paul Truscott's strong bursts. UNEVEN DISPLAY Marist-Western Suburbs possibly regarded its meeting with the lowly-placed Addington as an opportunity to experiment with manoeuvres that would have been risky against a more accomplished opponent, which might explain the uneven nature of its display. Numerous scoring chances were created, but many were wasted by over-eager finishing, passes being hurried and the ball being snatched rather than caught with confidence. One notable exception was Graham Frew, who was efficient in all

that he was required to do at full-back and then scrum half. Michael O’Donnell. iMocky

Brereton and Kevin Franklin were able to break through the ► suspect Addington defence by sheer strength., if not akvays • finding their supports once in ; the clear. Similarly, Addington j could not match the physical at- [ tributes of Terry Gillman and . Mark Broadhurst in the Marist i pack. l Not that Addington’s individuals >• were all overshadowed. There I was no more enthusiastic tackler ' on the field than Mutu Stone, ■ and Pat Lagrosse caused con- ) cern in the Marist camp with his . sudden changes of direction. [Tony Ratu, the big Addington 1 ; pfop, shouldered his way through a couple of times, and Grant [Stocker was running with a little more freedom at full-back. i

PREMIERSHIP POINTS w D L F A Pts Papanui 14 0 1 374 136 28 Sydenham 10 1 4 297 1 / 21 Marist 10 0 3 321 210 20 Eastern 9 0 6 276 234 18 Hornb? 7 8 261 217 15 Einu ood □ 0 11 ... 315 10 Kaiapoj > 0 13 156 352 4 Addington PAPAI 0 PR 13 151 /All 422 4