Three clubs lead premiership

Press, 4 May 1981, Page 22

Three clubs lead premiership

Kaiapoi and Marist-Western Suburbs were left with the dubious distinction of being the only two clubs not to have scored any points in the N.Z.I.G. rugby league premiership when they were beaten again at the Show Grounds on Saturday. There was never any doubt that Kaiapoi would suffer a heavy defeat by Addington in the curtainraiser. Its only saving grace was its spirit in claiming two late tries to reduce the margin to 39-6. In contrast, it was not until Vaughan Low touched down for Hornby 3min from full-time that Hornby was certain of beating Marist. Theirs was a far more competitive and exciting encounter, with Bruce Cooper's six goals being a main factor in the 21-14 result.

Addington has joined Sydenham and Eastern Suburbs at the top of the premiership table, but, of the three, only Sydenham has a perfect record. The bye and a postponement have left the positions of the sides in some confusion, for Linwood — which has had only one game — is also unbeaten. Two Marist players, Paul Costigan and- Paul Wakefield, might have earned long service awards on Saturday. They had played throughout the premier B game on the No. 2 ground, and were the reserves for the premier XIII. Both had to have a second match when Michael Brereton and Bob Bozhinoff were injured: Costigan had 142 min football, Wakefield 139 min.

Cooper also had an eventful afternoon. In addition to his goalkicking analysis of six from seven attempts, he had turns at wing and stand-off half, scored a try, and was the Jim Beam “player of the day.” The Scholes Oakley “man of

tne match’' award m the curtainraiser went to Mutu Stone, of Addington. PREMIERSHIP POINTS PL F A Pts

DIFFERENTIAL DILEMMA Marist-Western Suburbs will have cause to be relieved when the referees’ association belatedly adopts the differential scrum penalty from next Saturday. It was consistently penalised in the scrums by Mr Tony Drake and Hornby’s accurate kicker, Bruce Cooper, provided six points from such indiscretions. It was Cooper’s goal-kicking which placed Hornby in the lead after the scores had been tied on three occasions. His steadiness assisted Hornby to a 12-2 advantage at one stage, and kept returning the ascendancy to Hornby whenever Marist levelled the totals.

Some of the Marist players clearly could not come to terms with Mr Drake’s interpretations. Glen Turton, the Marist forward, put his feelings into words and was sent to the sin-bin for lOmin at a crucial time, his sentence being twice as severe as that meted out to Alan Rushton for a head-high tackle.

The ferocity of the tackling in the second and third quarters caused tension between the opposing sides, and Rushton’s misdemeanour was not as damaging as

some that went unpunished. Mr Drake awarded 33 penalties in the match, 18 of them to Hornby. Hornby made its winning break midway through the first half. Cooper sprinted 40m to touch down after intercepting a misdirected Marist pass, and a few minutes later the Hornby scrum-half, Steve Hand, capitalised on some weak tackling. A comprehensive victory seemed in prospect. However. Marist’s defence tightened markedly from that point, with Ray Baxendale quite outstanding. His example seemed to lift the standards of the other forwards. Peter Baughan scored a determined try, and Ron Grossi withstood a fearsome battering from the solid Hornby pack. However, the Hornby forwards never allowed their potentially free-running Marist rivals much leeway. Rushton embellished his 15-11 hooking advantage with a strong display, Dean Taylor, Ross Taylor and lan Gear were just as purposeful around the play-the-ball and Wayne Wallace was rugged and wide-ranging in his covering.. The opposing backs were never given too much freedom to show their skills. Cooper stood out for Hornby, and John Griffiths and Steve Wilkie also proved adept at evading tacklers; Michael O'Donnell was the most positive member of the Marist line, and Hornby had to regroup its defences to keep him restrained. ADDINGTON EASILY Even the Addington captaincoach, Grant Findlay, would probably look back on his side’s decisive win over Kaiapoi with some misgivings. Addington performed well only in patches, and the game was largely a scrappy and errorridden affair.

A pattern developed during the first hour or so. Addington managed to safely handle sufficient passes to add tries at regular intervals — its longest scoreless period was 14min — while Kaiapoi frequently fell into defensive lapses. Kaiapoi was not without its turns on attack, and Charlie Smith actually crossed the Addington try-line without being able to force the ball. There was little constructiveness to Kaiapoi’s tactics on such occasions, and Addington was not too troubled in scrambling back upfield. However, the whole trend of the match changed in the last few minutes. Addington seemed to relax its work-rate around the play-the-balls with the result that Richard Hampton touched down from the dummy half position, and Ray Howard darted across for a try from a Up penalty. Had Addington made full use of Findlay’s 19-14 scrummaging advantage it would have won even more comfortably, but for far too long its retention of possession was as unsound as Kaiapoi’s. The onesided, 18-3, penalty count in Kaiapoi’s favour also disrupted Addington’s manoeuvres.

Blair Corkran compiled 15 points for Addington, and Jack Milford, a transplanted centre, again displayed his penetrative skills from the second-row. Milford and Barry Brown gained two tries each and, with Mutu Stone, Chris Towart and Findlay, were among their side’s most effective players. The Kaiapoi pack was always on the back foot in failing to get on even terms with Addington, and the backs lacked sufficient pace to capitalise on any chances created in midfield.

Sydenham 2 0 0 43 32 4 Addington 3 2 1 74 27 4 Eastern 3 2 1 68 36 4 Linwood 1 1 0 23 10 2 Papanui •/ 1 1 42 40 2 Halswell 2 1 1 29 32 2 Hornby 2 1 1 31 37 2 Kaiapoi •2 0 2 16 70 0 Marist 3 0 3 30 72 0