Canty A in national seven-a-side final

Press, 14 August 1978, Page 28

Canty A in national seven-a-side final

Canterbury A scored a last-minute win over Canter* bury B in the regional seven-a-side final at Lancaster Park yesterday afternoon to advance to the national championships in Hamilton in October.

Alwyn Harvey capped a fine move by the A team that swept the length of the field to score under the posts. The conversion by Doug Bruce, with just 3mih left in the game, sealed the win for the A team after it had looked like losing to a firery Canterbury B selection.

Canterbury A won, 18-15, after trailing, 8-9, at half-

time. Barry Thomas scored a first-half try for Canterbury B which was converted by Bruce Farmer. He later added a fine penalty.

Canterbury A could manage only a brace of tries in the first spell. John Collison and Randall Scott scored. When Thomas scored his second try for Canterbury B a few minutes after the resumption it seemed likely Canterbury A would be buried. Farmer added the difficult conversion from the side line.

Canterbury A’s problems were compounded when Steve Scott was forced to retire with a leg injury. But Collison scored his second

try of the match soon after, his sixth of the day, and Harvey’s try and Bruce’s conversion made the score 18-15.

In the section rounds to find the two finalists, Canterbury A in the first pool had wins against MidCanterbury A, 14-10, and Canterbury C, 26-6. Canterbury C also beat MidCanterbury, 16-4. Canterbury B made its way to the final from the second pool with a 30-6 win over Mid-Canterbury B and a 24-6 win over South Canterbury A. The South Canterbury team also accounted for Mid-Canter-bury B, 22-4.