Canterbury back to winning rugby form

Press, 24 July 1980, Page 36

Canterbury back to winning rugby form

By.

JOHN BROOKS

A little sinning helped obliquely with the winning when Canterbury downed South Canterbury, 29-0, in an inter-provincial rugby match at Fraser Park, Timaru, yesterday. With almost seven-eighths of the game played out, the Canterbury loose-head prop, Neil Porter, was banished to the sin bin by the referee, Mr David Bishop, after blows had been exchanged among forwards on the fringes of a maul. The temporary loss of one of their strong men stung Canterbury into action in the best possible way. The seven remaining forwards delivered the ball from a ruck to Gary Barkle, who discovered the blind-side virtually unguarded, and scuttled away. Randal Scott ran on to his pass perfectly at half-way, and from there the ball was tossed infield to Jock Hobbs, Rod Latham and finally Kieran Keane, who darted through the remnants of the cover defence to score.

It was an exhilarating move, covering 75m, and it spelt the end of South Canterbury’s brave but often disorganised resistence. Robbie Deans’s conversion put Canterbury 21 points in the lead, and in a heady last 3min both wings; Scott and lan Mather, added tries to the total.

Before the Keane try, some of the Canterbury reserves were muttering to each other that a 15-point lead was not big enough. But after Canterbury’s sweeping move, there were smiles all round. “Now we can go ski-ing,” said one squad member. Even allowing for the fact that; South Canterbury is not as good a team as MidCanterbury, yesterday’s victory by the red-and-blacks represented a vast improvement from the debacle at Ashburton last Saturday. The return to grace was not achieved without some faltering, but in the second half the side rediscovered its confidence and, as a consequence, its character. “We can smile again,” said Canterbury’s chief se-lector-coach, Mr Gerald Wilson, as the game ended with the team achieving its best returns this season — four tries by the backs and a 65 per cent possession haul by the forwards. But one of his South Canterbury counterparts, Mr Doug Nicol, could find no cause for optimism, “What can I do now?” he be wailed.

An outstanding game by the half-back, Barkle, was the key factor in the extent of Canterbury’s success. His judicious variation of tactics, reliable passing, and sharp running complemented the strenuous efforts of a

pack which displayed a lot more cohesion and drive than before, Barkle’s judgment was Sound, and this was reflected in the assured play of the backs. Keane was particularly good at second fiveeighths, and despite playing on a pitch which was greasy in parts, he used deceptive footwork to exploit a midfield weakness in the South Canterbury defence. The home team’s first line tackling was often poor, and some of it was far too high to prevent tl a ball carrier from finding support. Deans made South Canterbury pay dearly for its off-side offences, by kicking three penalty goals in the course of another bright display. But poor Tony Kelly missed six kicks'for South, three in the first 12min.

Pat O’Byrne played a lively game from his front row perch, and won the “Player of the Day" award for his efforts. But the team’s surprise packet was Jock Ross, who gave a spectacular display of ball-win-ning at the line-out, rising high above anguished opponents to bring the ball down, two-handed, to Barkle. For Canterbury, which led, 6-0, at half-time, Mather (2), Scott and Keane scored tries; Deans, in fine form, kicked three penalty goals and two conversions.