Canterbury lucky against Northland

Press, 1 June 1981, Page 15

Canterbury lucky against Northland

By

JOHN COFFEY

Sporting legends arise from such occurrences as Canterbury’s remarkable 31-30 rentention of the Rugby League Cup against a gallant Northland side at the Show Grounds on Saturday. When the full-time hooter sounded Northland was ahead by four points and seemed certain to have its first tenure of: the trophy since 1931. There would have been few quibbles that Northland had earned that distinction, but in a few seconds all of its hopes and aspirations were to be extinguished cruelly. Barry Edkins, the Catnerbury loose forward, punted the bail high as he heard the hooter and one of his team-mates — out of sight of the referee (Mr Grant Gibson, of West Coast) — knocked it forward in a flurry of arms.

Another Canterbury. forward. Alan Rushton, brought the ball under some measure of control and placed a neat chip kick from which Peter Klink scored. David Perkins, a young centre who enjoyed a most rewarding provincial debut, kicked his eighth goal from 10 attempts to give Canterbury victory. Some of the Northland players protested, but the coach (Mr Tim Johnson) would not be drawn into criticism of the referee after the’game. He preferred to. regard the outcome as “a moral victory” and a further indication of Northlands emergence as a rugby league force. Mr Johnson had good reason to be proud of his squad. It was a tribute to Northland that it was even competitive in the light of

its 24-7 scrummaging loss and 19-9. penalty deficit. That it all but snatched a sensational and unexpected win testified to the purpose and team-work it displayed. The Canterbury coach (Mr Gary-Clarke) had left the grandstand a few minutes from the end and, although normally a non-smoker, was sitting in the dressing room puffing on a cigarette when the cheering of the crowd alerted of the eleventhhour reprieve. "Our defence and handling was shocking. Those are fundamentals that should be learned in the schoolboy grades,” Mr Clarke said. “We might have had the ball from 24 scrums, but we must have tossed it away just as often.”

Canterbury had held a narrow lead, briefly, late in the opening spell and again midway through the second, half, but'it never came to terms with the relentless tackling of its opponent. The ever forward-moving northerners disrupted almost all of Catnerbury’s planned manoeuvres, often jolting possession loose. The “man of the match” award deservedly went to the stocky Northland scrum-half, David Bristow, who scored two tries and assisted in two others.

Danny Campbell, whose clearance from the Wigan club in Britain was confirmed only on Friday, injected confidence into the Northland pack with two decisive breaks in the early stages, and he brought off one particularly resounding tackle of the Canterbury full-back, Michael O’Donnell.

Until then O'Donnell had been one of only a handful of Canterbury players capable of penetrating the Northland line, and both of Perkins's tries resulted from the timely entrances of his full-back. Perkins displayed impressive finishing skills and his first provincial game. But the most courageous and valuable Canterbury player was the stand-off half, "David Field. His two tries were typical of his incisive running and he would have had a third had he not been felled viciously by a head-high tackle when about’to touch down. A penalty try should have been awarded.

The Canterbury forward tactics were somewhat upset when Danny Carson had to retire with a head cut after 30 minutes, but there was no logical explanation for the number of missed tackles. Paul Truscott was one who could be excepted from that criticism.

Indifferent handling and poor passing prevented the Canterbury back-line from mounting flowing attacks, although Field, O’Donnell and the determined left wing. Mike Williams, kept their reputations intact. O’Donnell, however, was one of about six defenders who managed to get in each other's way when the Northland full-back, John Tana, claimed the try which almost gave Northland "the cup. Northland earned its 20-14 advantage at half-time, and was to finish wiih six of the 11 tries in the game. Its goal-kicker, Gilbert Tana, had the creditable analysis of six successes from seven attempts, but Perkins was to be an even more productive sourcce of points. Scorers: Canterbury 31 (David Field two. David Perkins two. Peter Klink tries: Perkins eight goals) beat Northland 30 (David Bristow two, John Tana. Dicky Smeath, Harry Toi. Thomas Murray tries; Gilbert Tana six goals).