Canterbury unbeaten in 19-years tourney

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 14

Canterbury unbeaten in 19-years tourney

Canterbury remains the only unbeaten team after the first three days of the New Zealand 19-years rugby league tournament at the Show Grounds. However, one big hurdle still stands between it and its first national title in this age-group. The match between Canterbury and Auckland this morning will effectively decide which province wins the championship. A win to Canterbury or a draw would leave the home team at the top of the points table. However, should Auckland succeed' and Northern Districts beat Central Districts, then Canterbury, Auckland and Northern would all finish with eight competition points. They would be involved in a count-back of points percentages, a system which would confirm Auckland' as the over-all winner. Two tries in the second quarter enabled Canterbury to slip away to an 11-3 advantage at half-time against Northern in the most vital match yesterday. Northern had upset Auckland

on the first day, but it could., not attain a similar standard in the cold and wet conditions, and Canterbury finished with a 22-8 victory. On Saturday Canterbury had equally comfortable results agianst Central Districts and Hamilton. Auckland was in a high-scoring mood throughout the weekend, and Northern remained unbeaten until its meeting with Canterbury. West Coast and Hamilton are destined to contest the last two places, and they are to play this morning. After the last inter-dis-tricts round. National Tournament and The Rest teams will be-announced to meet in the final game, starting at 1 p.m. today. The individual players are also on trial for the future. A national senior selector, Mr Harry Walker, has the task of noting candidates for the 1983 Junior Kiwis coaching school. Results.— Round 2 — Canterbury 25 (Brent Todd. Martin Crequer, Wally Langatule, Shane Gousmett, Garron Starr, Ricky Brown, Pomare Connell tries;

Crequer two goals) beat Central Districts 7; Auckland 40. West Coast 0; Northern Districts 20, Hamilton 8.

Round 3.—Canterbury 23 (Glenn Grut two. Connell,’ David Billsdon, Brown tries; Peter McClintock three, Crequer goals) beat Hamilton 8; Auckland 39, Central Districts 7; Northern Districts 47, West Coast 11.

Round 4 —Canterbury 22 (Connell, Brown, Starr, Crequer, John Blazey, Richard Setu tries; McClintock two goals) beat Northern Districts 8; Central Districts 33, West Coast 9; Auckland 24, Hamilton 2.

Points.—Canterbury 8. Auckland 6. Northern 6. Central 4, Hamilton 0. West Coast 0.