Late try brings Ranfurly Shield to Canterbury

Press, 20 September 1982, Page 17

Late try brings Ranfurly Shield to Canterbury

From

KEVIN McMENAMIN

in Wellington

A new generation of Canterbury rugby players learnt, and learnt the hard way, what Ranfurly Shield rugby is all about when they took the famous log o’ wood from Wellington on Saturday.

The game seemed to be slipping away from Canterbury when Wellington led. 12-10. with six minutes remaining. The powerful Wellington forwards had Canterbury on its knees, literally as well as figuratively.

Canterbury couldn't win a line-out. It went seven consecutive scrums without possession. five being Wellington pul-ins and two being tightheads. bringing to six the total the Wellington hooker. Tony Meachen, took during the game. But then, against the run of play, that something extraordinary happened, as it does from time to time in shield rugby.

Wayne Smith, the Canterbury ' first five-eighths, received the ball from broken play. He was a good 30m out from the line and Wellington had Smart Wilson directly in his path and a wave of four or five defenders to Smith's right. Wilson made the fatal mistake of sticking to his marker. Craig Green, and Smith look off through the gap that had been created. The coyer never looked like getting to him and his try. converted by Robbie Deans, gave Canterbury its 16-12 win.

. Although Canterbury scored the points that mattered in the second spell, it was in the first half that it really w'on the game. Playing with great resolve into the stiff wind. Canterbury restricted Wellington to a 9-4 lead at half-time. The wind helped Wellington kick three penalty goals, two by All Black Hewson and one by Brian Cederwall. who replaced Hewson after 17 minutes.

Hewson suffered a knock in the first five minutes. It left him with double vision, but he must have picked the right posts for his two goals both were fine kicks, one from a very sharp angle and the other from around 48m out.

It was generally expected that if Canterbury was to win the shield it would have to match Wellington in the ’ forwards. It didn't.

Scrums, line-outs (the count here was 16-8) and rucks were all heavily in

Wellington's favour and Can terbury went through an agonising five minutes in the second spell when it was a man short in the pack. Murray Davie being sent to the siii bin for something the touch judge saw. It was a double setback for Canterbury as Cederwall put Wellington back in front. 1210. from the penalty that the referee. Mr Colin Gregan. also awarded..

But if beaten, the Canterbury forwards were not disgraced. The lock, Albert Anderson, had a particularly good game, winning some good line-out ball early and he did some fine work in the mauls.

John Mills was very lively about the field and Jock Hobbs succeeded admirably in his allotted task of keeping pressure on the Wellington first five-eighths, Tu Wyllie.

It was in the backs where Canterbury did better than expected. The tackling was first-class and in a class of his own here was Warwick Taylor. He made some tremendous tackles on Dan Fouhy and this had a big influence on the game. Wellington was keen for a start to use its backs. And that Canterbury was able to do as well as it did in the first half was due largely to the mistakes that they made. There was a lot of loose ball left lying around after Taylor and others had struck and this was ball Canterburyused to advantage. In the second spell Wellington was less interested in using its backs, and this, in the finish, helped Canterbury. Once it got back in front Wellington tried to play out time. Murray Mexted driving on the shortside- from just about every scrum.

The Canterbury defence had some very anxious moments just before halftime, and it was only some quick thinking by Victor Simpson that denied Jamie Salmon a try in the fortieth minute.

Canterbury may have been a little fortunate, too, with one or two decisions by Mr Gregan during this period. He missed . the Canterbury backs away off-side on one occasion and the challengers got some vital scrum put-ins which incensed the home

crowo. The response from the crowd of about 25.000 to the half-time whistle was most odd. The Wellington supporters let Mr Gregan know what they thought of him. while from the Canterburyenclaves there was enough cheering to suggest that the shield was already on its way to Christchurch. Robbie Deans was named the "player of the match" and while he might not have been as spectacular as Smith and Taylor he did play very well.

His two penalty goals, soon after Canterbury had been denied a try because of a forward pass, were vital points, and Wellington soon lost interest in trying to unnerve him under the high ball.

Smith, though, really was the player who stood above all others. He picked up with ease passes that were at his feet, used the high kick with the wind and the short grubber into it with precise judgment and even without his great try was a class above Tu Wvllie.

Victor Simpson had few chances to show his attacking talents. He turned the play a number of times when the ball was loose after a Taylor tackle, and if not the tackler Taylor was he got in the way of the Wellington backs at the right times. Green' and Hooper both had excellent games on the wings, keeping close tabs throughout on their All Black rivals, Wilson and Bernie Fraser.

Gerard Wilkinson and Mexted. in the line-outs, and Brian McGrattan and Scott Crighton. in the scrums, were the outstanding Wellington forwards, and there was certainly a hint of the heroic about the way the pack played the last 20 minutes.

But the ■ Canterbury forwards, with Anderson, Kerry Mitchell, and John Ashworth giving a lead, stuck grimly to their task and for them the final whistle must have been the sweetest sound they had ever heard.

For Canterbury. Garry Hooper and Wayne Smith tries: Robbie Deans a conversion and two penalty goals. For Wellington. Allan Hewson and Brian Cederwali each two penalty goals.