League title to Papanui

Press, 25 September 1978, Page 3

League title to Papanui

By ;

JOHN COFFEY

Papanui will have the Pat Smith Challenge Trophy for another 12 months but it had to produce a defence of the most unyielding quality to beat Sydenham, 8-5, in the Canterbury rugby league championship grand final at the Show Grounds yesterday. There was mounting anxiety for Papanui’s supporters as Sydenham, with a brisk breeze at its back, whittled down what had been an eight-point deficit and attacked the Papanui try-line for much of the second half. But Papanui’s tackling was quite magnificent, whether in line abreast across the field or in quickness to reform and cover the few clean breaks that Sydenham was able to make. Only when Francis Lawrence provided Sydenham’s try in the seventy-third minute was a complete breach achieved. Sydenham certainly had plenty of opportunities to trouble Papanui after the interval. Its hooker, Kerry Corkran, wrested possession from 12 of the 17 scrums and Papanui conceded a 10-4 advantage in penalties. However, Papanui always managed to find an answer to Sydenham’s manoeuvres. If at times players were drawn out of position by the hard and straight running of the Sydenham forwards or by the probing forays of the inside backs there was inevitably someone sufficiently alert to fill the gaps.

The points which eventually carried Papanui to its seventh title in eight years were accumulated in the first 23min by tries to Michael Kelly and John Cole and a goal to Kevin Williams.

Kelly was superbly set up to force his way over a few centimetres inside the corner flag when Rod Walker turned the attack to the short side from a play-the-ball and Cole, in typical fashion, surged on to a neat reverse pass to increase the lead:

Two spectacular efforts in the third quarter almost carried Papanui to an unassailable position. Donald Ambrose just had the ball snatched from his grasp by the Sydenham full-back, Steve Holden, after kicking through. Not long afterwards, the referee (Don Wilson) ruled a forward pass as the Papanui wing, Russell Seaward, was racing 60m to the goal-posts. Generally, Papanui concentrated on ensuring that the basic fundamentals were observed. It made far less handling errors than Sydenham, which adopted a more open style in seeking to bring its three-quarters into play. Sydenham was responsible for the finest single movement of the match when David Field and Barry Bigwood combined magnificently, Field releasing the ball in a tackle and Bigwood darting through the half-gap that was created. But

Bigwood was caught a metre out from the Papanui tryline and was penalised for making a double movement when he lunged over. Spurred on by Bigwood's n e a r-success, Sydenham placed considerable pressure on Papanui. It had strong support from the crowd but

Walker exhorted his players to lift their work-rates further on defence and they responded enthusiastically. The tension never went from the game. Lawrence’s try was created by a long pass from hfe scrum-half, Tony Bergman, and the sec-ond-row forward, Stewart Hogg was dragged to the ground only 3m away from equalising the scores in the last minute.

Walker’s leadership has moulded the Papanui pack into a formidable unit. The young second-row pair, Cole and Doug Thompson, again benefited from the intelligent distribution of their captaincoach and Danny Millward, Mike Godinet, and particularly Kerry Blazey were outstanding in the tight exchanges. The liveliness of Ken Tait at scrum-half was complemented by the steadying influence of Kelvin Jones and Ambrose. The outside backs were quick to cancel out the threat of Sydenham’s speed. Sydenham had notable performances from the hard running Paul Atkinson and Bryan Mustchin. Corkran was prominent in all phases and the only criticism that

•[could be levelled at Bruce • Dickison was his occasional ■ tendency to be somewhat; : too unorthodox lor his teammates. ; Field impressed as thej i most likely Sydenham back :to escape the Papanui ; defence with his elusive- ; ness and acceleration.

Scores: Papanui 8 (M. J. Kelly, J. P. Cole tries; K. P. J. Williams a goal), Sydenham 5 (F. A. Lawrence a try; S. J. Holden a goal). Half-time 8-0. Scrums: Sydenham, 2517. Penalties: Sydenham, 104. Referee, D. Wilson.