Addington, Linwood share Gore Cup

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 22

Addington, Linwood share Gore Cup

By

JOHN COFFEY

Addington and Linwood will share the Gore Cup, at stake between the bottom four teams in the Canterbury rugby league premier competition, after drawing the final, 11-11, at the .Show Grounds yesterday.

It was a rousing, sometimes rugged, encounter. If Linwood claimed three of the four tries in the match, it suffered from misdirected goal-kicking, and was often under severe pressure from Addington in the last 50 minutes.

Addington had to recover from a sluggish opening, and progressively became more prominent, to the extent that it shared the terriorial honours with Linwood and deserved its six-month tenure of the trophy.

The authortative maner in which Linwood started sugsuggested that it would leave Addington floundering. After 25min it led by 11-2 and only goal-kicking lapses, a problem which was to continue to plague it, prevented Linwood from fully capitalising on three early tries. Rex Dalzell, who later retired injured, began Linwood’s period of prosperity when he ducked under the attempted tackles of two opponents to score. Wally Wilson bolstered that advantage by sprinting away from the cover, and David Campbell’s resolute running produced his trv.

Buf those reverses only served to spur Addington into life. Its defences reformed and hardened, combination and penetration were injected into its attacks. Addington drew up to 9-11 by the interval — Chris Towart completing a fine blind-side movement — and only dedicated tackling held Addington at bay in the third quarter.

Mutu Stone and Les McCann were particularly adept in timing their thrusts, and the outside backs, Rick Odering, Towart, and Kevin Alfeld were a. threat to Linwood when with the ball. Similarly, Wilson, Campbell, and Paul Truscott, of Linwood, all had the knack of breaking the Addington line of resistence. No matter how often the play moved from one end of the field to the other, the 11-9 stalemate ' was not broken until the thirtyfourth minute of the second spell; Linwood, deep inside its own territory, conceded three penalties and from the last of them Papa Peters kicked a simple goal to tie the totals. Linwood had reason to rue the eight goal attempts missed by Lewis Hudson and David Perkins, and Hudson was astray with a field goal with the scores level. In the last minute, though, MtCann was also off line with a penalty that would have given the cup solely to Addington.

Even the absence of Rod Walker, for so long the mastermind of its manoeuvres, failed to prevent Papanui from having the better of Marist-Western Suburbs in the game for third and fourth. ■

A strange decision by the referee (Mr Paul Skerten) ruled out the try by Gary Taie which would have brought Marist level midway through the first half and instead allowed .Papanui to race away for another try, but Papanui was later far more effective in moving possession. Kaiapoi completed its programme with an unexpected victory over Hornby in the match for seventh and eighth places. It displayed considerable determination to retain ite lead throughout

the secoind half, staving off a late winning bid by Hornby over the closing minutes. Three tries by its fullback, Kevin Williams, carried Halswell away to a comfortable margin against the top premier B club, Riccarton, in a promotion-rele-gation evaluation fixture. Halswell seems certain to retain its premier standing, but Riccarton still has some way to go to earn similar recognition. The. various “man of the match” awards went to Truscott, John Cole (Papanui), Dale Brown (Kaiapoi) and Brent Weir (Riccarton). Scorers. —

Gore Cup final: Addington 11 (C. Towart try; P. Peters three, L. E. McCann goals) drew with Linwood 11 (R. W. Dalzell, W. A. Wilson, D. A. Campbell tries; D. A. Perkins goal). Half-time, Linwood, 11-9. Referee, Mr T. Drake. For third and fourth: Papanui 27 (J. Stokes two, J. P. Cole two, C. Archer, D. M. Thompson, K. W. Tait tries; Thompson three goals) beat Marist-Western 13 (M. E. Broadhurst two, P. V. Costigan tries; M. W. J. O’Donnell two goals). Halftime. Papanui,' 13-2. Referee, Mr P. G. Skerten. For seventh and eighth: Kaiapoi 13; R. Hampton. K. Turton, D‘. P. Brown tries: S. Dixon two goals) beat Hornby 11 (R. L. Alfred two, D. Hassett tries: B. Cooper goal) Half-time, Kaiapoi, 8-3. Referee, Mr M. Kinnaird.

Promotion-relegation evaluation: Halswell 22 (K. P. J. Williams three, K. Stirling D. Platt, P. Dennis tries; M. Yule two goals) beat Riccarton 6 (W. Morice, B. C. Weir tries). Half-time, 10-6. Referee, Mr W. J. Menzies.