Cantabrians North win open match, 20-9

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 21

Cantabrians North win open match, 20-9

Capitalising on. their superior fitness and ball-win-ning ability, Cantabrians North scored five tries to one in beating Cantabrians South. 20-9, in the curtain-raiser at Lancaster Park on Satur day.

In a wide-open match of attack and counter-attack, there were some players, notably one or two from the South pack, who were clearly feeling the pinch after the first, frenetic 20 minutes. Many of the players lacking recent match practice would have been pleased that the match ran only 55 minutes in all.

Pat O’Byrne and Kevin Gibbons, a • flanker, were prominent in the winning pack, and Glenn Whisker made some telling breaks from centre for North.

North Otago’s star back, Peter Cook, played tidily, at times sharply, at first fiveeighths for South but his efforts were not enough to bring his side to parity with North.

A feature of the play was the duel on one wing between two country players, Gibb Johnson, of Kirwee, and Lamen Hohaia, of Rangiora.

Johnson scored two tries for North and ran brilliantly to set up lan Culpan for a try soon after half-time.

But Hohaia might just about have come out on top over all. He scored South’s solitary try, albeit through the unselfishness of Frank Jack; he stopped Johnson with crunching tackles at crucial times; and his constant covering work for some of his jaded team-mates denied North further points.

For North. Johnson (2), “Ginger” Clayton. O’Byrne, and Culpan scored tries. South’s points came from Hohaia’s try and a conversion and penalty goal by Cook.

In miserable conditions, Waikato squeezed past a revamped Wellington side... 2016, in their national championship rugby match at Athletic Park on Saturday. The Wellington full-back, Brian Cederwall, opened the home side’s account after 14 minutes with a 40m penalty. Five minutes later Wellington’s Dan Fouhy switched play from mid-field to send Stu Wilson over on the blind side to end the latter’s recent drought. Wilson relished playing at centre and directed back play with imagination.

Waikato's John Boe dropped a goal from in front of the posts soon after. The last quarter of the first half belonged to Waikato, which scored two tries, by the No. 8, Geoff Hines, and the wing, Richard Adams, who was a constant menace to Wellington. Waikato’s 13-7 lead at half time was levelled after the Wellington wing, Mike Clamp, scored a try from early pressure, and Cederwall converted. In the twenty-second minute Waikato bounced back when Hines took an infield

pass from Boe and crashed over beneath the posts. The Waikato full-back. Andy Baker, missed an easy conversion but after kicking a penalty to make the score 20-13, Waikato had done enough. Wellington could only reduce the gap to 16-20 after Cederwall kicked his second penalty.

Scoreres: Waikato, Hines (2), Adams, Tries: Boe, dropped goal; Andy Baker, a conversion and a penalty, 20; Wellington, Wilson, Clamp, tries; Cederwall, 2 penalties and a conversion, 16.