Canty unconvincing in 20-3 rugby win

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 32

Canty unconvincing in 20-3 rugby win

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Judging by its performance in beating South Canterbury, 20-3, at Timaru yesterday, Canterbury’s prospects of a high placing in the national rugby championship this year must be fairly faint.

The only ray of hope was that while the team as a whole played poorly, there were some' very good individual performances. In just about everv position Canterbury had the better players, but just two tries was a sad indictment of its collective worth. It was . a pretty dreary game, and it was not just a bitterly-cold wind that nearly emptied the ground five minutes before the final whistle. It was obvious in the first 10 minutes that Canterbury was going to win. it dominated the early line-outs, shoved South Canterbury back at nearly every scrum and the backs were beating men with ease. The pattern never really changed. But all Canterbury had to show at half-time for its dominance was three penalty goals off the boot of Robbie Deans and a try which served only to underline the brilliance that was lying dormant In the backline. The scorer was Victor Simpson, who had been fancy-footing his way past defenders just about every time he' had received the ball, and he continued to do so in the second spell, if

sometimes trying to beat just one man too many. However, it was Wayne Smith who sliced the defence to ribbons in the course of a 60m dash and he put Simpson in for his try. There unusually brief discussion between the Canterbury coaches, Alex Wyllie and Doug Bruce, and the team at half-time might have suggested that all was going to plan. The spadework had been done,, the points would be accumulated in the second spell. It was not to be, though. Bill Anderson scuttled over for a simple try 11 minutes into the second half and three more points from Deans’ trusty- boot was the best Canterbury could do. As a spectacle the game lost out on two counts. The first was that for all their slippery running to evade the first line of defence, the Canterbury backs could not carry a move through to its natural conclusion. Some credit, .however, must be given the South Canterbury cover defence, especially Noel Glass, for forming a second wave that was not so tardy on the tackle. The second show-stopper was the heavy diet of penal-

ties and line-outs. There were 29 of the former, 19 in South Canterbury’s favour, which says little for Canterbury's concentration, and more than 40 line-outs. Canterbury won possession from 24 line-outs, to South Canterbury’s 13, and Messrs Wyllie and Bruce could have some sleepless nights trying to work out where all this ball went. Certainly very little of it reached the wings. Anderson never touched the ball until the first half was nearly over and the game was all but finished before Garry Hooper received a pass which he could latch oh to. It was a strange mix, therefore, of Canterbury having forwards doing most things right, backs given to flashes of brilliance and yet nothing worthwhile being achieved. Some of the blame must be laid at the feet of the half-back, Bruce Deans, his kicks over -the scrum were far too deep—the South Canterbury full-back, Barry Gallagher, sent them back with metric interest-and Deans overplayed the blindside, especially when the open side offered the luxury of far greater space. Of the gold to be found among the dross, the biggest nugget was Albert Anderson. His line-out play was better than it has ever been for Canterbury and around the field he was very lively. John Ashworth was another lineout asset.

The loose forwards showed commendable pace and pur- . pose and if Jock Hobbs spent a lot of time in the role of an extra back he could be excused on the grounds that seven Canterbury forwards were the equal of South Canterbury’s eight. It was surprising, however, that for all its forward power Canterbury could not win a tighthead. It was the South Canterbury hooker, Mike Hobbs, who snared the only one and Hobbs, who is built closer to the ground than most forwards, had other uses as well. He ploughed right through the Canterbury pack on one occasion and after Barry Fairbrother had missed five penaltv goal attempts Hobbs took over and his first kick, from around 35m, found its target. Peter Grant, who moved from flanker to lock midway through the game, was another fine forward for South Canterbury. His speed was evident in both positions and he won most of his side's line-out possession. Disappointing and all as Canterbury was yesterday, the game, at least, showed that the side is not short of good footballers. The task now at hand is to develop a 1 good team. For Canterbury, tries by Victor Simpson and Bill Anderson; Robbie Deans four penalty goals. Mike Hobbs kicked a penalty goal for South Canterbury.