Old Boys take on Linwood in the forwards — and win

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 17

Old Boys take on Linwood in the forwards — and win

High School Old Boys gave clear notice that they would not easily part company with the C.S.B. Trophy when the side had an upset, 3-0, win on Saturday over Linwood in the first round of the section matches to find the season’s champion senior rugby team. The titleholders finished four places below Linwood in the C.S.B. Cup competition but on Saturday Old Boys displayed new-found depths of forward strength, to beat Linwood in its strongest area — the forwards. However, Linwood might be down, but it it not out. Its prayers- must now be directed towards Old Boys being beaten so that it could still reach the final on a points differential. But all credit was with Old Boys, which by its performance showed that its astute coach, Roley Manning, has been biding his time in recent weeks getting his team ready' for the games that really count. Marist which, together with Linwood, has been widely tipped to reach the final, gave its supporters further encouragement by beating the first round, C.S.B. Cup, winner New .Brighton. This was another hardfought game on a tacky Lancaster Park surface, although Marist was undoub- . tedly the better side, earning victory by the superb way it-} seized its one good try-scor-ing chance. University A came with a late run to beat Belfast and the final score must have appeased University supporters, 1 who, with good cause, were , critical of having to play such an important game with four ' of their backs away with the ‘ Canterbury side. The Belfast full-back,. John i Freeman, joined the season’s ■ century-scorers when he kick- , ed a penalty goal to take his < total to 101. It was small; crumbs for a side which in i truth played well enough to ; win. i Christchurch, the most sue- ( cessful side of the 19705, i came.back into championship ’ calculations with a most im- ( pressive win over Shirley. ’ The stand-in full-back, Gra- ’ ham Gordon, scored 21 of the j team’s 37 points. •’ To the surprise of many } people at Lanscaster Park, t Dave Bowick, the New Brigh- ’ ton full-back took the “player of the day” award there, while the Old Boys captain, t Gary Fuller, was similarly j honoured at Rugby Park. The v surprise about Bowick .was J that he seemed just anotherplayer in a beaten side. There * could be no argument about ’ Fuller, who led his men t magnificently. ‘ ' Results:— t Section One J. Marist 7, .New Brighton 3. ® Christchurch 37, Shirley 10. t t Section Two ' University A IS, Belfast 11. T High School Old Boys 3, t Linwood 0. J TIGHT GAME * Marist took a major step to-' f «.-.rds a place in'the grand final : e by beating New Brighton in- 1 2

conditions that should have been of more help to New Brighton. Marist made valiant attempts to employ its backs, but the greasy ground was inhibiting and it was the Marist forwards who emerged triumphant. They more than matched the New Brighton eight in the tight exchanges and had a' metre or two more speed about the field, especially in the final quarter when thev kept New Brighton pinned down on defence. The game was for the most part a hard forward slog, heavily laced with penalties. Some of the

' handling was down to All Black] standards, although the players here had the legitimate excuse of a slippery ball. Kerry flood had another outstanding game off the side of the Marist scrum. He covered the ground better than any other forward and his suuport play was exceptional. This was clearly demonstrated when he was on .hand to take the pass that brought the game’s only try. . Don Mould, Terry Peterson and Mark Connell were other hardworking Marist forwards and the side had a wonderful asset in its half-back, Adrian Young. He did not always get far with his quicksilver breaks round the scrum, but he gave his forwards a valuable platiorm from which to work. Bernie Stewart had a mixed day. He missed two fairly easy penalty goals — either of which) would'have sewn up the game for Marist well before the end — and some of his field kicking lacked its usual accuracy. But he was on the spot at vital times and. there were kicks that had New Brighton scrambling. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the usual fire was missing from New Brighton’s play. The forwards remained, a formidable unit, but thev were back-pedal-ling too often to create many scoring chances. Bob Davison, with four tightheads to none, was the pick of them. The backline was severely han- ' dicapped when Wayne Burleigh left the field late in the first spell. Without his guiding hand the line never looked likely to i outsmart a solid Marist defence. Trevor Keats made one or two useful breaks from broken play. : Dave Bowick has played better ‘ games and not been man of the 1 match. On Saturday he was i singled out for the award and ' this was probably in considers- 1 tion for his safe handling and kicking from tight defensive situ- i ations. i LATE RALLY With 10 minutes remaining ; things looked black for Univers- ‘ ity A as it trailed Belfast. 3-11. But a penalty goal and two con- 1 verted tries before the finish kept ' University A firmly on the road < to the final. ; With so many players, especi- 1 ally backs, missing. University had to call heavily on younger i players from the club — and I thev did not disappoint. In fact, 1 all the last. 15 points were 1 scored by fill-ins. 1 All the same. Belfast was un- 1 lucky. It had a very good first ’ half and held out tinder heavy i pressure for a long time in the , second spell. The forwards ap- ; plied themselves with great determination. none giving more than Tony Burrows and Tim Ash- 1 worth. J The backs, too. gave University ( plenty of chasing to do and ' both the Belfast tries were' the f results of headv football. Mark < Haase, a half-back seconded from the under 19 grade, made f one of these tries in the course 1 of a fine senior debut and the 1 even younger Marty Vincent was i a lively wing. . ’

The versatile Doug Sharland also had a sound game behind the University scrum, while two promoted players, Tony O’Callaghan (second five-eighths) and Craig MacDowell (fuil-back) displayed much promise. Tony Cookson came back from a long break from senior football to show that his skills have not deserted him. The game was competently controlled by the visiting Canberra referee. Mr John Girdlestone, and it was no fault of his that the match was so laden with penalties. University was

qmost often at fault and many s'were for rather silly offences.. ! Towards the end the University forwards, with lan Stewart - and Mark Meates bearing a f heavy workload, were able to 1 gain a measure of control and : they did so in time to save the i match. ' For this University must be i credited with good management, t although the fact remains that this was a case when the more I constructive team for most of • the game turned out to be the ! beaten one. ! FORWARD STRUGGLE i Old Boys probably surprised . their most enthusiastic support- ; ers with the excellence of their i forward display when Linwood was beaten by three points to nil. There could hardly have been la sharper contrast than that offered by the two matches at Rugby Park. In the curtainraiser, Christchurch and Shirey ran and passed regularly in a swift moving match. The Old Boj-s-Linwood game was just as entertaining, because of the quality of the forward play by both sides, and the intensity of the struggle. It was a tremendous conflict, with Old Boys having to hang on grimly for the first 10 minutes as the robust Linwood forwards drove, mauled, and rucked powerfully. Having weathered that storm, the Old Boys pack came back, and for the rest of the match held a slight but significant advantage. It was a measure of the evenness Of the game that it was 48 minutes old before there was a place-kick at goal: Linwood, in fact, did not have a scoring chance through kicking in the game. The Linwood backs tried to run the ball occasionally, without much success, but in the last 10 minutes they did move well, and Linwood might well have snatched victory from defeat. There were some sharp, determined thrust by Kerry Tamatea on the wing by the Old Boys defence, although sorely tried, kept covering faithfully in the last hard-fought minutes. Between the opening 10 minutes and the .final 10, Old Boys looked to be a winning side. Linwood’s early control of the Hine-outs—a verv decided advantage fo r a while—was lost, and the Old Boys half-back. Phi! Thomas, did his side great service with the accuracy of his punts over the top. They often had Linwood scrambling. Old Boys deserveed this unexpected victory. Twice they were over the Linwood line, and after Gary Cookson had dropped a goal in the twentieth ' minute, four further attempts—onlv one of them by Cookson—failed.

Gary Fuller led his Old Boys forwards magnificently and Mark Harding was at his shoulder all the way. Peter Robertson, a promising young number eight, was very useful and it was good to

see him cooling things down between opposing players on the only occasion that there was a threat of violence. The whole Old Boys pack played with tremendous vigour and skill against strong and resolute opposition. In the Linwood forwards lan Mallard and Mark "Johnston put Thomas under severe pressure in the early stages, while Dave Rowe and Mark Fransen helped Linwood to many iine-out successes. SCORING SPREE Christchurch emerged from

the shadows with a convincing victory over Shirley in a fast moving, highly entertaining match, in which 35 points were scored in the second spell.

Christchurch's fortunes have languished of late, but it gave notice, with its assertive display, that it must again come into contention for the championship. Shirley, however, played far better football than its losing mar-

gin of 27 points might suggest. Its principal fault, a costly one, was the ease with which its defence was outflanked by long, quick Christchurch passes, Or angled kicks. Christchurch led only 9-3 at the interval, and wa s flattered by ■ that margin. But Christchurch made an aggressive start to the second spell, and the points came at dizzy speed—at one stage, 23 in 12 minutes. The game was played at a rollicking pace, the Christchurch pack showing commendable pace anfl mobility on a treacherous surface. The backs ran with confidence and skill in the second spell, and the match was a triumph for the full-back, Graham Gordon. A proficient half-back for some seasons, Gordon adapted himself to his new role satisfactorily, and included a try in the 21 points he scored. Marty Dawson played soundly at half-back. Barry Thomas looked sharp, arid the rest of the backs ran purposefully. Eddie Cutts, on the flank, set up the first try with a superb show of pace. Jerry Rowberry was nearly everywhere, and the strong front-row, Gordon Smith, Mark O’Brien and Neil Porter, also distinguished itself. The Mitchells, Stuart and Kerry, were dominant in the lineouts in the first spell, and Shirley forwards gave-80 minutes of : honest endeavour. tAnton Wils and Frank Jack relied largely on little chip kicks, which were often perfectly placed. Jack showed all his familiar eagerness to get into the middle of the action and Tawhai Taite had a chance to show his speed now and then.