Papanui’s tense win

Press, 18 June 1979, Page 3

Papanui’s tense win

By

JOHN COFFEY

The jinx which Papanui premier rugby league teams have held over their Marist-Western Suburbs rivals for the last six vears remained when Papanui won, 20-15, in controversial circumstances at the Show Grounds yesterday. Marist seemed certain of retaining its co-leadership of the competition when it led by 10 points with just 14 minutes left, but its world then virtually fell apart.

The turning point came when the 17-year-old Papanui wing, Merv Clarkson, scored after beating two defenders with a brilliant swerving run along the right touch-line. As Clarkson turned after touching down, he was pushed to the ground by the Marist second-row forward, Stefan Hatipov. The referee (Mr Don Wib son) not only awarded Papanui a penalty—making the try worth seven points, with the successful conversion—but also sent Hatipov from the field.

Hatipov had earlier spent 10 minutes in the “sin-bin,” as did his Papanui opponent, Danny Millward, the result of a brief altercation between the pair. These were the only instances of foul play in a hard-fought fixture.

The dismissal of Hatipov was compounded for Marist by the injury which its stand-off half, Hal October, suffered in the same movement. Marist had to reshuffle its formation, its defence faltered badly, and Gary Taie

and Clarkson ran freely for the tries which placed Papanui The after-match debates would not have been limited to Hatipov’s early departure and the “seven-point try.” Mr Wilson had previously disallowed tries by two Marist players, Mocky Brereton and Terry Gillman, and subsequently called back John Cole (Papanuii and Peter Nash (Marist) for not forcing the ball correctly. Not all of the action was confined to the oval. The crowd of more than 2000 spectators was also treated to a stunning revival by Hornby, which had its first premiership win and actually outclassed Addington in the second sped. The curtain-raisers were, by comparison, rather tame affairs as Linwood and Eastern SuburbsHertz gradually opened up comfortable margins over Sydenham and Halswell, respectively. Linwood now faces the task of beating Papanui next Sunday to gain possession of the Tavendale Cup, which is at stake in the first premiership round. But it is just one point in front of Papanui and Eastern, with Marist a point further back. Clarkson, Mel Tihore (Hornby), David Campbell (Linwood) and Bruce Murphy (Eastern) were the recipients of the “man of the match” awards, and Lewis Hudson (Linwood) was once more the top individual scorer with five goals and a field goal. Results:— Papanui 20, Marist-Western Suburbs 15. Hornby 19, Addington 10, Linwood It>, Sydenham 5. Eastern Suburbs-Herti 28, Halswell 6.

PAPANUt FIGHTS BACK Marist became the most recent side to find that there is a considerable sting in the tails of the Tigers when Papanui is faced with probable defeat. Even conceding that Marist’s ranks had been reduced by disciplinary action and injuries, Papanui’s late thrusts were of the highest quality. Clarkson was most eager to display his bewildering change of direction and he left two opponents stranded on each of his try-scoring sorties. Similarly, Taie ran with rare determination to even the scores. However, it was the cool leadership, deft passing and fine covering of the Papanui captain, Rod Walker, which contributed most to Papanui’s recovery. Marist, with a number of positional changes, had no-one to direct the manbevres around the play-the-balls to counter Walker, and consequently the ball was too often taken at less than full pace. As would be expected from such experienced backs as Mocky Breretpn and Michael O’Donnell, Marist penetrated more in midfield than Papanui. ADDINGTON HUMBLED A 10-3 advantage at the interval was not a happy omen yesterday. Both Marist and Addington were in that comfortable position before losing, and Addington’s demise was the more unexpected. Hornby reached a standard quite above what it had shown previously this season, claiming four tries in 17 minutes to completely change the face of the match in the third quarter. The goal-kicking of Michael Yule kept Halswell within range of Eastern for most of the first half, but the depleted Eastern XIII came back strongly after the resumption. Sydenham never threatened to upset a Linwood side that was given excellent service by its formidable pack and speedy three-quarters.

PREMIERSHIP POINTS P W D L F A Pts Linwood 7 6 0 1 149 87 12 Papanui 7 5 1 1 183 8.5 11 Eastern 7 5 1 I 164 92 11 Marist 7 5 0 2 195 81 10 Addington 7 3 1 3 117 116 7 Sydenham 7 3 0 4 101 127 6 Kaiapoi 7 1 1 ,3 97 178 3 Hornby 7 1 0 6 78 138 2 Halswell 8 1 0 7 72 252 2