League to Papanui in extra time

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 3

League to Papanui in extra time

By

JOHN COFFEY

A spectacular try in extra time by the stand-off half, Greg Roberts, carried Papanui to a thrilling 15-11 victory over Addington in a quarter-final of the Radio Avon knock-out rugby league tournament at the Show Grounds vesterdav.

The two teams had been tied at 10-10 after the regulation 70 minutes. Addington, however, slipped ahead soon after the game restarted when its own stand-off half, Steve McCann, kicked a deft field goal. But Papanui finished particularly strongly, and Roberts skilfully doubled round his prop, Mike Godinet. and was left with a yawning gap to the try-line. Papanui will now advance to the semi-finals against Linwood, which had an 18-11 win at the expense of MaristWestern Suburbs. The other semi-final next Sunday will be an all-Eastern Suburbs affair: the club’s first XIII eliminated Kaiapoi, 33-8, and the B side upset Sydenham, 24-10.

After twice holding a sixpoint advantage in the first spell. Papanui was forced to come from behind to force extra time. Its task would have been that much’harder had Blair Corkran not been uncharacteristically astray with a simple penalty attempt for Addington, but Papanui also suffered a setback when its second-row forward, John Cole, was pinned on his back over the Addington try-line. The Papanui forwards, well led by Eddie Kerrigan, refused to wilt against their

physically stronger opponents, while the inside backs, John Blazey and Roberts, and Mike. Williams were also in fine form. Addington is still seemingly finding its cohesion with a muchchanged forward formation. Linwood appeared set to open a decisive margin over Marist when it was 16-3 in front at half-time in the curtain-raiser. Marist responded to the challenge with two tries — it had another two disallowed for minor infringements — and only a late penalty by Lewis Hudson carried Linwood out of range. It was an occasionally rugged encounter, with John Vaughan (Marist), Paul Truscott and David Perkins (Linwood) having spells in the sin-bin. Both Perkins and Truscott contributed to Linwood’s quite impressive opening half with tries, and Wally Wilson was rewarded for "his earnest efforts with a try on half-time which ultimately placed Linwood just out of Marist’s reach.

The depleted Marist XIII deserved credit for extending its more highly-regarded rival, and but for a rash of errors and the slightly misjudged passes which led to John MacGougan twice being recalled, it would have pressed Linwood even harder. Eastern’s selectors have a wealth of talent to call upon, if the results of the other quarter-finals are any indication. The second XIII always had the measure of a Sydenham team that was quite disappointing and which relied too heavily on the talents of David Field. The Eastern A side took

longer to find its combination. and was only two points ahead of Kaiapoi after 24 minutes. It was then that Kevin Steel scored the second of his three tries, and as the match advanced Eastern’s greater finishing ability arid pace was too much for a gallant Kaiapoi combination. In the plate competition Hornby easily accounted for Halswell and Parklands gradually achieved a measure of ascendancy over Shirley. The “man of the match” awards were won by Kerrigan. Wilson. Tony Smart (Eastern B), Steel. Ross Taylor (Hornby) and Dave Cook (Parklands). Results and scorers.— Papanui 15 (M. Kerrigan. J. P. Cole. G. C. Roberts tries; E. S. Kerrigan two. G. Karaitiana goals) beat Addington 11 (B. R. .Corkran. M. J. Smith tries; Corkran two goals; S. E. McCann field goal) in extra time. Linwood 18 (M. Belcher. D. A. Perkins. P. W. Turscott, W. A. Wilson tries; L. E. Hudson three goals) beat Marist-Western 11 (R. Bozhinoff, G. Leek, M. W. J. O’Donnell tries: O'Donnell goal). Eastern A 33 (K. G. Steel three. J. Stanbury two, J. Rangihuna, N. Hermanson tries; K. Placid six goals) beat Kaiapoi 8 (D. R. Neylon. W. Stanley tries; R. Tuuta goal).

Eastern B 24 (A. Smart. G. Borrie. E. Harris. T. W. Philpott, G. Cox. M. Tyler tries; P. C. Nash three goals) beat Sydenham 10 (A. G. Bailey. S. Hanson tries; D. C. Field two goals). Hornby 36 (R. Taylor two, W. J. Wallace. T. Burnett. B. R. Edkins. L. Andrews. M. Tihcre. S. Wells tries; Edkins five. J. Griffiths goals) beat Halswell 2 (M. A. Manson goal). Parklands 18 (R. Jarden. M. Wehi, A Paul. D. Cook tries; Cook three goals) beat Shirley 11 (J. Maikuku two. G. Keown tries; D. Cockroft goal).