Town hard to fault in 40-6 victory

Press, 7 June 1983, Page 40

Town hard to fault in 40-6 victory

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Town had its best win over Country for more than 10 years when it won the annual Craw Shield rugby fixture, 40-6, at Lancaster Park yesterday.

It was a fine performance by Town, and particularly from the Town forwards, who were expected to play second fiddle to a Country pack which looked to have the bigger and stronger men. The opposite, in fact, proved to be the case. In just about every department the Town forwards had the

drop on their rivals. Kerry Mitchell and Gary Fuller exceeded all expectations to win the line-outs, 18-14, and John Mills took five tightheads to none, three of them in the last 10 minutes.

Mitchell had an especially fine game, and it was his two-handed takes which gave Town so much quality possession. Some excuse may be found in the fact that influenza was rampant in Country’s ranks, and one of those affected was the usual captain, Don Hayes. Hayes took the field as a replacement at half-time, but with the score at 24-6 there was little hope that one man could turn the tide. Town scored six tries to one, and three of them went to the Cellar Ghost “player of the day,” Craig Green. Green was in sparkling form at second five-eighths, underlining yet again how little inferior he is to Canterbury’s new All Black in this position, Warwick Taylor. Country, if anything, was lucky that the score against it was not higher. Twice in a matter of minutes in the first half Garry Hooper lost the ball as he was plunging for the corner, Steve Baker had disallowed what seemed a fair enough try, and if two or three final passes had been given a fraction, earlier the line would have been crossed.

Howevei, it is hard to fault Town’s play. The forwards did their stuff better than anyone could have expected, and one to make an especially strong impression was the rangy flanker, Rob Moffat, he made some great takes at the back of the line-out, and was a brilliant mover with the ball in hand.

Peter McLaren provided the initial impetus for some of the best drives, and there were plenty of good ones, and Rob Mclntosh, after losing an early squabble with John Ashworth, settled down to make a worthwhile

contribution at prop. The backs functioned very sweetly, as well they should have given the fine service from both their forwards and the half-back, Baker. Baker’s passes brought to mind Lyn Davis at his best and his general play was of an equally high order. Kieran Keane moved the ball tidily at first fiveeighths, giving Green and Victor Simpson ample time to exploit the slow reactions which undermined just about all of Country’s back play. This hesitancy was even more evident when the Country backs had the ball, and only Robbie Deans at full-back could be spoken of in the same breath as the Town line. Some reputations were dented in the Country forwards as well. Andy Earl showed out when he scored Country’s only try, but the best Country forward over all was the flanker, Bruce Harris, whose greatest asset was his mobility. Andrew McMaster, whose display was a big improvement on his unhappy game for Town last year, opened the scoring with a 43m penalty, but Country took

the lead soon after, when Earl followed through on to a ball he had kicked ahead and scored a good try, which Robbie Deans converted. Green scored Town’s first try when he made a clean break on the short side of a scrum and he was over again a few minutes later when he picked up the loose

ball after McMaster had been halted just short of the line. McMaster converted Green’s first try and a penalty goal by him took Town to a 16-6 lead after 30min. Simpson and Garry Hooper

set up a try for Baker 2min later and Green was over again just before half-time when he completed a move which began with a break by Simpson and was carried on by the forwards almost to the line. A neat dropped goal by Keane seven minutes into the second spell put Town ahead 27-6, and although Town continued to control the game it was not until 14min from the finish that it gained more points with a penalty goal by McMaster. However, Town finished with a flourish. Mitchell scored the best try of the game when he completed a movement which Baker began just inside the Country half and involved at least five other players. And right on time Keane scuttled away from a tired defence to score a try which McMaster had no trouble converting. In the lower grade matches, Town won two games and Country one. The Town sixth grade side beat Country under 18, 12-3, and Town tenth grade beat Country under-14, 22-13. The Country under-16 team was successful, 10-3, against Town seventh grade.