All Blacks find top form against Suva

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 30

All Blacks find top form against Suva

NZPA correspondent . Suva The All Blacks’ tour of Fiji regained some equilibrium when they defeated Suva, 33-4, at the national stadium on Saturday. The Suva side, apart from an isolated blemish which saw its No. 8, Marika Nasegai, ordered from the field in the second spell, performed a good public relations job for Fiji rugby by approaching the game in a clean but hard manner. Under the guidance of the captain and prop, Nimilote Rutudina, the full-back, Pio Bosco Tikoisuva, and the second five-eighths, Pita Kewa, the Suva men went a long way towards eradicating the memories Of the unfortunate events of last Wednesday at Lautoka. They did this by playing undisciplined and unpatterned rugby, which nevertheless at times had the All Black defence stretched to the limit in the extremely humid conditions. While the innovative Suva style was not

enough to stop Andy Haden’s forward pack from establishing the sound platform for a five try to one victory, Suka Waqabaca’s try in the twenty-third minute of the second half was the best of the match. The scoring movement began when the ball went loose at half-way. It was quickly snapped up by Tikoisuva, who threw a huge pass to the centre, Niko Tawayaga. Given room to move, Tawayaga raced down the field before passing the ball to the right wing, Waqabaca, who broke through Brett Codlin’s tackle en route to the All Black line. One encouraging aspect of the match was the return to form of the All Black backs, and Stu Wilson in particular. Wilson broke a bone in the right hand during the first test against the Wallabies, but that was placed behind him on Saturday as he scored two tries. The second came in the thirty-first minute of the second half, when a Suva player fumbled a ball on

half-way. Wilson put his boot to the loose ball, the 50-metre speculator came to rest in the Suva in-goal area, and he won the race for the try. Suva’s cause was not helped when Nasegai was ordered from the field for kicking Canterbury’s Steve Scott. Earlier in the match Ratadina and the lock, Jone Baleidrokadroka, had been forced to leave the field suffering from injuries. Consequently the All Black forwards were able to push their Suva opponents all over the ground and the hooker, Ken Bloxham, in his first game for New Zealand, took four tight heads. A well-behaved crowd of about 15,000 watched the game, and applauded the good play from both sides. Scorers: New Zealand. Stu Wilson (2), Leicester Rutledge, Mark Shaw, and John Fleming tries; Brett Codlin, 2 penalties and 2 conversions, Murray Taylor a dropped goal. Suva. — Suka Waqabaca a try.