Wellington easily wins Rugby League Cup

Press, 9 August 1982, Page 40

Wellington easily wins Rugby League Cup

Bv

JOHN COFFEY

Wellington now has possession of yet another national sporting trophy. It scored eight tries at the Show Grounds yesterday to relieve Canterbury of the Rugby League Cup, 26-12.

The winning margin, decisive as it was. might have been considerably larger. Canterbury had the greater share of possession — the result of a 19-5 penalty count in its favour — and the various Wellington goal-kick-ers missed eight opportunities.

It was Canterbury's first home loss for five seasons, and its biggest defeat since 1974. Canterbury has seldom performed with less conviction in recent years, its defensive pattern crumbling in the face of the determined running of the Wellington forwards and the enthusiastic backing up of the threequarters. Yet, in spite of its inadequacies. Canterbury all but levelled the scores midway through the second half. Trailing 12-15 at that stage. Canterbury almost had two tries in as many minutes. David Campbell was forced into touch' near the corner flag, and from the resulting scrum Michael O'Donnell was restrained less than one metre from the try-line. But any other result than a win for Wellington would have been quite, against the grain of this match. Not long after the near-misses by Campbell and O’Donnell. Wellington again exposed Canterbury's forward deficiencies and its hooker, Chappie Pine, touched down from the dummy-half position.

Wellington was to add another two tries before the finish, and the replacement back. Gary Campbell, managed to wobble the last, simple, conversion over the cross-bar. Remarkably. Wellington's four try-scorers, Joseph Lajpold. Pine. Lance Pupuke and. Rodney Rasmussen. touched down once in each half - and in precisely the same order. There were ominous- signs from the start that if the Wellington pack could maintain its work-rate it would carry the challenger through to victory. It faltered only briefly just before the interval, when Kevin Placid stepped past two defenders for a try that cut Wellington's advantage to 12-9.

But the balance was restored quite quickly, with Kevin Tamati holding his Canterbury opponents off and slipping deft passes to his supports. Snow Waihi was also a formidable figure in the tight, and the others — especially Pine and Peter Mellars — streamed through the gaps that were created. Wellington also held the upper hand in mid-field, with Wayne Rutene and Pupuke moving with a verve that was simply not emulated by the Canterbury, centres. The only really memorable moment for Canterbury was a slick piece of distribution by David Field which left David ' Perkins with a clear sprint to the try-line.

In contrast, the Canterbury forwards — Barry Edkins excepted — generally received the ball when standing flat-footed. It did not help Canterbury's cause that Lawrence Hale had to be replaced after 11 minutes, but the substitute. John Tapiata, was no more sluggish than his fellows even though he was making his third appearance in less than four days. Whereas Wellington mounted combined attacks and tackled as a unit. Canterbury telegraphed its intentions. Eakins, alone of the forwards, could be satisfied with his contribution and although Gerard Stokes and Placid managed the occasional break, they were left to their own resources — and to the eager, Wellington cover. Wellington might well have had more tries. A couple of likely movements were ruined by forward passes, and the Canterbury full-back, O'Donnell. was safe in several man-to-man confrontations. He could do nothing when Wellington had men to spare. Improvement, at least, was expected from Canterbury when it was behind by only three points — it could have been 20 — at half-time, but the second spell was virtually a replay of the one which had preceded it. Lajpold had scored in the fifth minute of the game, and

he repeated the feat seven minutes into the second half. Pine's tries came after 20 minutes and then 23 minutes: Pupuke's in the twentysecond and twenty-seventh minutes of the respective halves; Rasmussen was across at 28 minutes of one half, 35 minutes of the other, and then Campbell spoiled the sequence with his conversion of the last try. Canterbury had earlier kept within range because of three goals by Lewis Hudson, and the steadily-climbing penalty count issued by the West Coast referee. Mr Keith Murdock. Incredibly, the first scrum was not packed until the thirtieth minute, and Canterbury's monopoly of possession increased when its hooker, Wayne Wallace, won five of the first seven scrums. But Pine was to strike successfully in the last five scrums as Wellington began to turn its superiority into points. Wellington will face its first cup challenge from West Coast in Wellington on August 22. Details.— Wellington 26 (J. Lajpold two. C. Pine two. L. Pupuke two. R. Rasmussen two tries; G. Campbell goal) beat Canterbury 12 (K. R. Placid, D. A. Perkins tries; L. E. Hudson three goals). Scrums. Wellington. 7-5. Penalties. Canterbury, 19-5. Referee. Mr K. Murdock (West Coast).