Firm referee

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 28

Firm referee

Canterbury interlaced a lot of indifferent play with one or two bright passing rushes, most of them involving more forwards than backs, but it never seemed to appreciate the fact that the referee, Mr Geoff King, was a firm disciplinarian. As a consequence Canterbury gave away 13 penalties and got back only five.

Albert Anderson, who even when not given a helping hand from behind, did some fine work in the line-outs, as also did the front jumper, Dave White. Canterbury, in fact, took down most of the line-out possession, although precious little of it got relayed to the five-eighths.

Jock Hobbs roamed industriously about the field and in addition to Deans, who punted the ball tremendous distances, only Steve Hansen, who was out of position on the wing, made a favourable impression in the backs. Craig Green made one or two tidy runs but he did seem to be wanting a little in confidence.

Keane, Green’s mid-field partner, marred his otherwise solid game by two questionable decisions. One was to turn inside when an

overlap was looming and almost at the finish he

kicked when he had a great chance to put Hansen into the clear. ,

But it was the Coasters who justifiably threw their arms high at the finish in a draw clearly being almost as good as a win. i The Coast forwards had* bustled Canterbury into an almost bemused state, but the backs did their bit, tooj The half-back, Colin Stewart, lost little in comparison with Gary Barkle and the first five-eighths, David Foster, gave a better than passable impersonation of a great inside back he rather resembles — Phil Bennett — and Foster would have more tackles than was Bennett’s habit.

Another very good back was Gavin Cook, whose kicking and broken play roniwg gained West Coast a lot ©f ground. The nearest West Coast came to a try was when Cook broke clear near halfway, but unfortunately his left wing, John Conkers, did not have the speed to reach the corner. For West Coast Boon two penalty goals and Cook a dropped goal. For Canterbury Keane al try and Deans a conversionj and a penalty goal. 4