Tougher than expected for Hornby

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 3

Tougher than expected for Hornby

Hornby encountered much stronger opposition than expected in beating Pacific, 127, at Tokoroa on Saturday, to reach the semi-finals of the national Wrangler Cup rugby league tournament. That ■ .the rugby league spirit is very much alive in a comparative outpost of the code was soon made very evident. It was not without some anxious moments that Hornby advanced to the final four of the knock-out series.

The defence mounted by Pacific, the Midlands provincial title-holder, was described yesterday by the Hornby coach, Brian Langton, as the hardest that his players had encountered all season.

“Pacific had a physically strong team, and there were invariably three players to every tackle,” Mr Langton said.

The Hornby defence was also extremely forceful, restricting the Pacific side to just one try. Some of the tackling was too enthusiastic, and the Pacific hooker, Ma Taklri, and the Hornby loose forward, Wayne Wallace, both went to the sin-bin during the third quarter. In the early stages Hornby lacked consistent possession and any advantage that it might have had in pace was nullified by the wet conditions. However, its hooker, Gary McLauchlan, dominated the scrums for the final 40 minutes, finishing with a 17-13 margin in set play. Barry Edkins placed Hornby ahead with a penalty in the eleventh minute, and that was the only scoring in the first quarter. The youthful Martin Crequer added another goal for Hornby before’ Ricky Bennion replied in kind for Pacific. The 4-2 lead lasted for 16 minutes into the third quarter, when the Hornby standoff half, John Griffiths, perplexed his rivals with a dummy pass and raced over

to touch down. Crequer’s conversion had Hornby seemingly safe at 9-2.

But Pacific stormed back in the last quarter and was rewarded by a try to its captain and former schoolboy Kiwi, Tama Teakura. Bennion’s conversion cut Hornby’s lead to 9-7, and, according to Mr Langton, “it was nail-biting time.” Hornby’s match-winning try came only five minutes from full-time when Griffiths sent Mel Tihore over with a long, accurate pass. Hornby’s 12-7 success means that it will meet Randwick, of Wellington, in its semifinal. Scorers.—

Hornby 12 (J. R. Griffiths, M. J. Tihore tries; M. P. Crequer two, B. R. Edkins goals) beat Pacific 7 (T. Teakura try; R. Bennion two goals). Runanga had its hopes extinguished by Petone, 23-7, in another quarter-final, at Wellington yesterday. Petone was seven points in front after 20 minutes and was never in danger of defeat. In all matches this year Petone has accumulated 988 points. The most impressive Runanga player was John Griffin, who mustered an outstanding tackle count to complement his 15-10 hooking success.

In the other quarter-finals during the week-end, Randwick (Wellington) beat Taniwharau (Waikato), 15-3, at Huntly, and Otahuhu (Auckland) was too strong for Western Suburbs (Taranaki), 33-5, at New Plymouth.