Aust. recovers to swamp Buller

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 42

Aust. recovers to swamp Buller

By

JOHN BROOKS

in Westport

If rugby was a 40-minute game, Buller would have had one of its greatest days in its footballing history against the Wallabies at Victoria Square yesterday.

Fortunately for the Australians a match runs for twice that length of time, and they were able to recover from a half-time deficit to gain a resounding 6510 victory. It came from an impressive 12-try tally, with Glen Ella kicking 17 points in goals. But it was a rags-to-riches performance. In the first half the Wallabies were unbelievably bad. and an inspired Buller team played with enormous spirit to rock the tourists back on their heels.

Just as some of the spectators were beginning to gleefully compare the Wallabies with Wirths Circus, a transformation came over the game. With the sun and breeze behind them, the Australians belatedly got into gear and scored tries at the rate of one every four minutes in a bright, entertaining second half. Buffeted by Australia’s huge pack and mesmerised by the speed of foot and slickness of passing by the backs; Buller’S stern resistence was eroded.

But no-one, least of all the Australians, could deny the local men. their first-half triumph, and the 10-8 margin to Buller at the change-over was a just reflection on events in the first 40 minutes.

The polite Edwardian scene at Victoria Square, with a band playing in its little white-painted bandstand, and the spectators sitting demurely in the sunshine, changed dramatically as Buller began to prosper.

“I haven’t heard a local crowd yell like that for years," said a veteran rugby follower, as the Westport roar became full-throated.

The applause was just as generous for the Australians, once they got their act together, and there was wholehearted admiration for the skilful running of Glen and Gary Ella, Peter Grigg, and the loose forwards, Shane Nightingale, Steve Tuynman and Ross Reynolds.

Grigg replaced Mick Martin, who strained a thigh muscle, on the tick of halftime. He went on to the field bearing a terse message from his coach, Mr Bob Dwyer — “Tell them to wake themselves up.” The message was received loud and clear, and in the second-half the forwards showed vastly improved cohesion and ball control and the backs were transformed from a rabble to'a polished unit.

Mr Dwyer described the first half effort as “disgraceful” and “a poor second grade standard.” He acknowledged that it was difficult for the side to rise to the occasion because it had been told so often that it would annihilate Buller. But even so, he said some of the toward play was “abominable,” the back play was not much better and the goalkicking — there were six misses from as many attempts — defied description. The smooth running and improved handling of the Australians in the secondhalf eased the furrows from Mr Dwyer’s brow, and he was able to relax at last and enjoy the frothy spectacle.

But he did not forget the opposition, and its earnest contribution to the match. He was especially taken with the local tackling and the spirit of a side written off by almost everybody after a sorry season. Once the Australians had regained their confidence by running Grigg into position for two tries in nine minutes on the right wing, the side began to function in true Wallaby fashion. Glen Ella burst into the line from fullback to broaden the scope of the attack, and Paul Southwell and Gary Ella, the centres, distributed the ball cleverly. Up front. Shane Nightingale’s charges from No. 8 which received only token support in the first half, became the thin end of a wedge which drove deep into Buller’s defences, and there was plenty of solid grafting from the captain for the day, Phil Clements, Reynolds and John Meadows in particular. Dominic Vaughan came through a difficult match with credit, clearing the ball reliably for the most part, in spite of a disgracefully sloppy service at times from his forwards in the first half.

However, it was not a good sign for the Wallaby forwards that a heavily outweighed Buller pack came close to gaining parity in the second phase possession. The quickness with which the home forwards wrapped up the ball carrier and massed in support for the ruck provided a lesson which the Australians were slow to follow.