Shirley checks Linwood

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 15

Shirley checks Linwood

Linwood has won a reputation for tight-fisted football this season, but on Saturday, in the main game at Lancaster Park, it used its back regularly, only to lose to Shirley by 12 points to 10. Linwood, suffering its second consecutive loss, scored two tries, and all the winner's points came from the kicking of the first five-eighths. Colin Williamson. Yet Shirley could not be regarded as a lucky winner. Its victory was thoroughly deserved, for it cut down its error rate to a minimum. Linwood, on the other hand, made many mechanical mistakes.

Shirley achieved parity in the line-outs and did rather better than Linwood, rather surprisingly. in the rucks and mauls. Linwood's best line-out forward. Mike Fransen. made some spectacular jumps, but he was put off balance quite often by the vigorous Shirlev forwards.

Linwood, frequently under pressure in the second’spell. not only made many passing and handling errors. The team committed many elementary errors which cost free kicks and penalties. The final count was 20 to 11 against it. Williamson did almost everything right. He not only kicked the vital points. He was a stout defender and had his moments on attack. He was well served by the half-back. Philip Kydd. who

was a more than useful substitute for the injured Steve Scott. In the forwards Kerry Mitchell was a dominant force in the middle of the line-out, and hts namesake. Stuart, made some good takes further back, as well as setting up some telling second-phase possession with his bursts with ball in hand.

It was a clean game, not a great one. but often exciting, particularly in the second half. Williamson had the opportunity of making the result look more realistic when Shirley seized on a dropped Linwood pass. Williamson. all by himself, was left to kick the ball over the Linwood line and fall on it, but his stride was out of rhythm with the bounce of the ball, and it went over the dead ball line before he could force.

In general. Shirley looked just as dangerous in the backs as Linwood, and held its own in a fierce forward battle. Any team which can contain a pack which includes Ru Koha. John Mills. Fransen, and the very energetic' Geoff Hancock has done prettywell. Shirley's triumph on Saturdav will do much for the team. Unflattering margin

The solid, no-nonsense NewBrighton side scored three tries to two in a deserved victory over Lincoln College at Rugby Park. Brighton had a greater command of the match than the close score suggests.

The Brighton forwards struggled a little for set-piece possession, particularly in the line-outs where Lincoln's Albert Anderson leapt and caught superbly. However, the seasiders were stronger than Lincoln in second-phase play, with Peter McLaren running powerfully and setting up rucks in fine fashion.

On its own throws to the lineouts. Brighton kept the ball well away from Anderson and picked up 'a reasonable measure of possession through a variety of ploys. lan Boyce had some success here and he hewed away diligently in the tight. Ross Gibson came to light with two fine tries for Brighton.

He eluded several tackles in a grand run to score his first after McLaren had set up a ruck in midfield. For his second, Gibson burst in from the blind side, shaving the edge of the scrum as he collected the ball from the No. 8. McLaren.

Hyett had a useful game. So. too. did his opposite, Tonv Beverley. Lincoln came back at Brighton towards the end with a great try to Craig Pullar, who finally found top gear. Pullar slipped Gibson and had the pace to beat the cover defence in a 40m run. OLD BOYS’ STRUGGLE

Old Boys struggled all the way to beat an Albion side which suffered through poor goal-kick-ing and the inability to finish off its moves.

Although down. 4-0. at halftime, Albion had the better of the first spell. It moved the ball better in the backs than did Old Boys and it was only some desperate defending that’stopped Albion scoring.

The Old Boys forwards were more of a force in the second spell and it was their size and speed which settled the issue. However, right to the finish Albion kept the Old Boys cover defence bn its toes.

Old Boys played well in patches and the patch in which the side scored its second try, byDon Purdon, was easily the best. Rob Mclntosh figured prominently in the build-up. but the whole pack shared in a drive which covered more than 25m. Ken Pope had a good all-round game at lock for Old Boys and Don Symon made some excellent line-out takes in the second spell. Mark Rhodes was quick about the field and he was the cornerstone of Old Boys' second line of defence.

Jim Tither. up from senior B. was the pick of the Old Boys backs. He made a couple of good runs from broken play and his tackling was very sound. Darryl Park made his one superb burst when he came into the line from the blind side wing, but, generally speaking, there was not a lot of imagination in Old Boys’ back play.

Albion had the two best backs in Ralph Robertson and Nicky Dierck. ONE-SIDED

University A was never in danger of defeat against a below strength Merivale-Papanni side on a cold, windswept Nunweek Park. But the winner’s display never reached the heights achieved against Albion a week earlier.

Most of the game was taken up by skirmishing amongst the forwards. University was much the better at this, arid it also won far more ball than its rival. But it was not a day for sparkling back play, and University rarely showed the extent of its ability, although Warwick Taylor was always impressive whe’n he got his hands on the ball.

Menvale spent much of the match on the back foot, and Alan Lindsay, at half-back, was usually closely attended by the University flankers. Mark Meates arid Colin Currie. Deane McKinnel, Merivale’s first fiveeighths, cleared the ball with a laconic air which disguised the pressure he was under, but the other backs were anonymous figures. Meates. for his aggressive defence. and Dale Atkins, for his powerful attacking, stood out in the forwards for University. Atkins scored a notable try bysheer strength when he burst out of the arms of six or seven defenders in a corkscrewing run.

Two new boys. Michael Watson. at half-back, and Rick Gibson. at first five-eighths, played soundlv for University, but Victor Simpson had few'opportunities to show his jazzy footwork. At full-back. Andrew' McMaster was never at a loss in coping with Merivale’s hopeful kicks. FAST MATCH

The Burnside coach, lan Rodger, was fearful for much of first half that he could be in danger of a heart attack. However, at the finish Burnside had scored 41 points and Mr Rodger’s heart was ticking over beautifully.

Suburbs showed a lot of spirit in the first spell, taking the play to Burnside and being quick to grab whatever chances it could. The loose forwards, in particular, were most industrious.

Nevertheless. Burnside was still ahead. 15-13, at the interval and in the second half it tidied up its game considerably. The support play, in fact, was quite outstanding' arid some movements just went on and on. Kevin Johnston, with three tries (two from peels off the back of the scrum), stood out among the Burnside forwards, and on the same' level was Graham Church, who was the forward most often in the right place at the right time to give a' movement fresh life.

Danny McGuire and Colin Stokes also made some fiery runs and, among the backs, Muri Lloyd and David Farrant excelled. Once the initial Suburbs onslaught had been quelled and Farrant was able to spend time in the back-line, Burnside was a much more assured side.

In addition to kicking 18 points, Malcolm Neutz served Burnside competently on the right wing. His defensive work was sound and he used the chip kick expertly when he was running short of attacking room. Kevin Towart supplied the line-out possession which helped keep Suburbs in the game until half-time and Tony Pugh and Ray Lawson maintained a high work-rate throughout. BELFAST'S EDGE Although the winning margin was not great, Belfast always had the edge over Sydenham in a drab game at Sheldon Park. The strength of the Belfast pack was the deciding factor in the game and had this been backed up by a more enterprising back-line, the score would have been greater. The Belfast

three-quarter line showed little flair on attack and again showed defensive weaknesses. It was not the fault of the pivot pair. Mark Haase and Wayne Smith, that the back-line failed to function. Haase played competently and Smith made several darting runs and also had to do more than his share of covering. John Taylor. Jack Oldridge and Dennis’ Karatea were the best of a well-drilled pack which, in the second spell particularly, gained control and denied Sydenham the chance to capitalise on errors.

Beaten in the tight, the Sydenham forwards showed up in the loose with Tom Chander and Trevor Luke both having good games. Simon Bloomberg played his usual sound game at half-back and the game usually came alive when the centre. Kieran Flynn, touched the ball. STUDENTS IMPROVE

Christchurch had its expected win over University B, but not without a great deal of bother. It also suffered the rather humiliating experience of scoring only two tries while conceding three. If Robbie Deans had played for University instead of Christchurch. the students might well have won easily. The prolific points scorer had an unconvincing game in general play but there is no doubting the prowess of his goal-kicking. Christchurch has a lot to thank him for.

University played with fine spirit and skill.' The students eschewed their usual frenetic, utterly open style of game for a more balanced, sensible approach, and it went close to payoff handsomely. But Christchurch's problems were much of its own making. The forwards won a great supply of good possession, in set play and in second phase. On its own put-in. the scrum was rocksteady and in perfect control, and it stole seven tightheads, six of them in a short space of time in the second half. The backs, however, made ooor use of the feast of ball.

Christchurch's only back try — the other was a somewhat scrambling effort to Ray Waghorn almost at the end of the game — was scored byGraeme Kench in a fine solo run.

John Currie was in great form in Christchurch’s line-out. but he did not have things all his own way. For University, Richard Brookie and lan Lines, especially, won some good ball, and Lines scored his team's third try. when he crashed through a lineout after a fine, two-handed take. For University. Paul Magner was a fiery loo’se forward and John Buchan a charging prop. Craig Bunyon was sound at fullback. CONVINCING Marist managed to record a convincing win over Hornby with a more polished and constructive display of rugby. After making some early mistakes. the Marist backs' capitalised on the substantial amount of possession which their forwards managed to obtain for them. Mark Connal controlled the middle of the line-out for Marist and was well supported in the tight play by his fellow lock. Chris Flood, and a prop. Glen O'Brien. Kerry Flood covered a lot of ground for Marist and was often first to the breakdowns. He also made some decisive tackles. The Marist backs threw the ball around willingly with the half-back. Steve Baker, proving an inspiration to the rest of the team. At second five-eighths, Mike O'Donovan was always a sharp attacker, as was shown by his three tries. Hornby lacked the co-ordina-tion of the Marist team and the ball which the forwards managed to get was not put to good use by the backs. Sloppy passing and misdirected kicks were all too frequent.