Central tipped for national title

Press, 25 June 1979, Page 27

Central tipped for national title

By

JOHN COFFEY

Central Districts probably clinched an unexpected, but meritorious, victory' in the first national inter-district, rugby league championship when it beat South Island, 21-16, at the Show Grounds on Saturday. A surprise winner at Auckland’s expense the previous week, Central is the ! only unbeaten side, and it will be strongly favoured to complete a clean sweep of | the- series when it meets : Northern Districts at Welllington next week-end. Central fully deserved its (success, but it was not until its captain and outstanding (forward, Graeme West, 1 (scored a try — converted by i Warren Collicoat from near ■the side-line — that the out(come of the match became clear.

| South was quite disi appointing, but battled on (with sufficient grit to twice hold the lead for short periods of the second half. Its come-back from a 10-2 deficit was. the product of (accurate goal-kicking by Lewis Hudson and a rare blemish by the Central cover-defence which left the South outside back, Mocky Brereton, with a gaping over-lap on the right flank. However, Collicoat was even more on target than

Hudson, and he quickly restored the advantage to Cen-i tral on each occasion. With the score tied at 16-16 and] time running out, the oppos-l ing centres, Paul Christensen and Hudson, failed with field goal bids, and Central surged back on to attack.

Appropriately, West finally turned the tide. Onlymoments after being chosen as the “man of the match,": he switched from his predominant role of ball distributor, used his longl strides to wrest a gap in the: first line of South defence! and, as he was tackled,! stretched out to his full 6ft! sin height to just reach the! try-line. Collicoat’s wide-! angled conversion was just the icing on the cake fori Central.

Several factors would have disappointed the New Zealand selectors who watched the game. Back play was virtually non-exist-ent for long spells as the opposing packs wrestled for supremacy, and when the; ball was moved wider most manoeuvres were quickly repulsed by close marking. I The number of basic errors committed, particularly by South, could hardly have promoted confidence for the coming tests against Great Britain. The South forwards did not have West's!

knack of being able to slip ian accurate pass when [standing in a tackle, poor (defence around the play-the-(balls Contributed largely towards Central's three tries, and the handling of both

sides was not always as sure as it might have been. Mike Butler, the Central loose forward, gave another! 'lively all-round display and placed South on the back foot almost from the start 1 when he backed up a fine, break by his hooker. Howard Tamati, to touch down in the second minute. South only briefly threatened to recover after the resumption. Central’s tries were scored

by Butler. West, and Twiss Wharekura, who ran unopi posed from the dummy-half ’position, and Collicoat [kicked all six of his goal attempts. Brereton and Alan [Rushton were Souths try-j [scorers, and Hudson goaled five of his seven chances. It might be said in niitiga-i jtion that South's plans were! cast awry when Robin Alfeld retired with a hamstring injury after 26 minutes. The replacement, Wally Wilson, went to stand-off half, Chris Menzies switched to the centres. and Brereton reverted to the wing. However. Central was already eight points clear, and! Wilson instigated Brereton's try when he darted past a defender and linked with Paul Truscott and Hudson.! The sturdiness of Central's , over-all tackling meant the (South backs had to be con-i [tent with rare individual runs by Gordon Smith, Hudjson. Cliff • Leney, and [Michael O'Donnell. Similarly, Central unI wrapped few back-line [thrusts of any note. It was only because of faster reactions in backing up that i Central's raids carried deeper into South's territory', and Nolan Tupaea and Wharekura were often prominent. Dick Uluave was never in the clear on the left wing, but he had a posi-

tive outlook and an ability to wriggle through the clutches of his opponents. There were no shirkers in either forward pack, and West managed to lift his work-rate above the high (Standard set by .hose around I him. He was not slow ed by [having to receive treatment jin the third quarter, showing a similarly stoic outlook to I that of his Taranaki teamImate, Bruce Gall, who ignored an early facial cut to 1 (perform strongly. Howard Tamati, from (Taranaki, had a slender 19118 hooking margin over (John Griffin, and impressed as a inore-than useful forward in the loose. His Weljlington cousin, Kevin Ta(mati, was always near the ’ scene of the action. No matter how powerfully (Tony Coll, Mark Broadhurst, Paul Truscott, and Barry ' Edkins launched themselves I at their rivals they were usually comfortably contained by combined tackles. , and were prevented from , being able to use what sup- . port was present. Rushton got his try from an in-goal ' scramble after Coll had lofted an up-and-under on the ' call of half-time; but it was 1 West who sealed the issue . at an equally late stage of the second spell.