Papanui faces struggle to reach semifinals

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 20

Papanui faces struggle to reach semifinals

Only Papanui, of the premier rugby league clubs in Canterbury, has taken part in every championship play-off since the present competition svstem was introduced in 1967. But Papanui might be missing from the semi-finals later this year. Papanui on Saturday suffered its fifth defeat in eight appearances this winter when it was humbled, 22-16, by Kaiapoi, for so long one of its poorer relations. i The difference between the teams was greater than the] final result would suggest, Papanui keeping the margin to respectable proportions with a late converted try.

And so Papanui has been joined by Kaiapoi and Hornby in sixth equal position. Even after its first loss to Kaiapoi for four years, Papanui is still within three points of the vital fourth place, but there has been no hint in its recent displays that it might bridge that gap.

Two of the highest-scoring sides in the competition, Marist-Western Suburbs and Addington, had long scoreless’ periods in their game. Marist accumulated all of its 20 points before -half-time, Addington its eight after the interval.

An unexpected highlight was the refereeing display of Greg Hartley, the top Sydney official. Mr Hartley arrived in Christchurch on Friday to follow the Australian team, and his efficiency and firm rulings left the players in no doubt as to his decisions. Halswell’s advance in standard, if not in gaining premiership points, continued at Linwood Park, when it held LinwoodCokers until well into the second half.

The joint leadership at the completion of the first full round is still with Marist and Eastern Suburbs - Hertz. Eastern retained its prominent position by beating Hornby yesterday.

Marist-Western 20, Addington 8. Kaiapoi 22, Papanui 16. Linwood 21, Halswell 11. Eastern 31, Hornby 10.

ADDINGTON RECOVERS It is very rare that all of the points in a match are scored at one end of the field.

but Marist-Western Suburbs and Addington shared that unusual distinction on Saturday. Marist led, 20-0, at the Interval. However, there was a remarkable change after the resumption and Marist was required to defend for almost all of the second spell.

There was no doubt that Addington showed sharp improvement in its use of the ball, with the surging prop, Mark Lowe, being responsible for many strong runs. An even greater factor, perhaps, was the contrasting distribution of possession in the two halves.

During the opening 40 minutes the serums and penalties were evenly shared. Marist made the most of its opportunities and produced an attractive brand of football. On the other hand, Addington suffered from handling errors at crucial times. Although the Marist hooker, Bruce Radford, had an 8-4 scrummaging majority in the second half, that was more than cancelled out by Addington receiving 11 of the 13 penalties. The Marist defence, in the circumstances, did well to restrict

Adduigton to two tiles. I An outstanding individual disI play was ' given by the younc I Marist second-rower, Carl Wild. | Whether required to attack or i tackle. Wild was at full pace and I he was a logical choice as the J Grenadier Restaurant “man of '■the match.” i Excellent support was given by .' Mark Broadhurst and Kevin i Franklin, and Terry Gillman's i (strength troubled Addington.! (The Marist halves, Wayne O'Don-’ ’ nell and John MacGougan, com-! ’ bined to create a memorable try I and were prominent throughout,! and Grahame Frew had a fine match on the right wing. < Lowe was back to his most; effective form in the Addington'

pack, and he found some able assistants in Bob Jarvis, Steve McCann, Rick Odering and Alan Eddy. FORWARD SUPREMACY Few other premier forward packs will be able to master their Kaiapoi rivals if ground conditions remain soft, on the evidence of Kaiapoi's victory over Papanui. The big Kaiapoi forwards, and especially Dale Brown, Danny Millward, Mark Fuller and Mike Sullivan, dominated the midfield, and Millward and Sullivan contributed tries after crashing their way past a Papanui defence that was far from forceful.

However, it was Brown who won the McWilliam’s Wines “man of the match” award. He continues to revel in the second-row role which he was given some weeks ago, and it, was a finelytimed reverse pass by Brown which sent Millward across.

The Kaiapoi backs also had their moments. Glen Turton was a sturdy scrum-half, Charlie Paki probed with success in midfield, and Jack Clarke added momentum to Kaiapoi’s manoeuvres with his entrances from lullback.

Papanui faces a tough task to restore its reputation, it oegan with a flourish when, from the first scrum, Greg Roberts raced 70 metres to score. The match was to be completed in similar fashion when Merv Clarkson touched down after a break from a similar distance. But in between those moments to remember, Papanui was poor, occasionally pathetic. The exception was Mike Williams, ever eager to attack from full-back and sure of his tackling, and even his effectiveness was blunted by the blunderings ol his fellows. v Rod Walker did his best to motivate his team-mates, and it was not his fault that his long passes did not serve their purpose of out-flanking the Kaiapoi formation. Papanui had every chance, for both penalties (8-B> and scrums (13-13) were evenlyshared. LINWOOD EXTENDED Linwood had to work much harder than expected before it emerged with two premiership points from its encounter with Halswell at Linwood

Park. ~ The Halswell players, as they did against Eastern SuburbsHertz a week earlier, applied themselves from the start and it was not until the last quarter that Linwood managed to gain the tries which carried it out of danger. . , . „ In spite of Linwood having a marked scrummaging advantage, it led only 8-5 at the interva . Halswell later twice struck back to draw level. . Leading tire Halswell revival was its young loose forward, Andrew McDougall, who has quickly found his niche in the premier grade. Of fine physique for his position, McDougall has proved a fast learner under the guidance of Lester Wilson. The most effective Lintvood performer was David Campbell, another youngster with considerable potential. Campbell has the ability to prise open gaps in opposing back-lines and he was rewarded with two tries. Linwood’s 10-point margin was partiv the result of one of rugby league’s rarities — a ‘ sevenpoint try.” As David Perkms was crossing to touch-down, one of his team-mates was obstructed bv an opponent, and the referee (Mr Ken Blackler) restarted the game with a penalty in front of the goal-posts. Generally, the match was an open affair, providing confirmation that Halswell has improved sharply after some very moderate efforts earlier in the season. eastern easily

It took Eastern SuburbsHertz 11 minutes to score the first of its seven trios. But thereafter, there was no pause as Eastern swiftly, efficiently, and with complete certainty steadily built up Jts surprisingly large winning margin. , . , , x There was a very thin look to the Hornby line-up — it was without Robin Alfeld and Alan Rushton, most signficantly — and Eastern, by way of contrast, was virtually at full strength. It was rather improved, too, by the switching of Gordon Pritchard to full-back, and the Welshman relished the greater freedom thus offered to him. Hornby enjoyed its greatest superiority in the scrum possession won by Murray Wright, but there was otherwise scant comfort. From the swift and sure service of Murray French, the winner of the Mennen “Player of the Match” award, to the wide ranging service supplied by Barry Edkins, Eastern was quite unstoppable. There was the speed on the flanks of Kevin Steele, and Ben Huriwai, and a welcome return to the centres by Kevin Murphy, a former representative player.

Michael O’Donnell (above), of Marist-Western Suburbs, became the most successful gor.Lkicker in the history of inter-club rugby league in Canterbury at the Show Grounds on Saturday. The fourth goal kicked by O’Donnell against Addington extended his career total to 618—one more than the previous

record held by Trevor'. Williams (Hornby) — since j his premier grade debut in 1970.

He had already surpassed Williams’s points: aggregate. O’Donnell has i now increased his total to I 1455 points. Of the otherl present premier players,! Lewis Hudson (Linwood,. 836) is closest to O’Donnell.

PREMIERSHIP POINTS Pts W D L F A Marist 6 1 1 157 no 13 Eastern 6 1 1 180 no 13 Sydenham 5 0 3 162 133 10 Addington 4 1 3 174 128 9 Linwood 4 1 3 128 117 9 Hornby 3 0 5 166 159 6 Papanui 3 0 5 160 162 6 Kaiapoi 3 0 5 107 135 6 Halswell 0 0 8 95 275 0