S.I. wins last round of the Sony rugby league champs

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 3

S.I. wins last round of the Sony rugby league champs

South Island recovered from a 16-point deficit to beat Northern Districts, 3222, in the final round of the Sony national inter-districts rugby league championship at Huntly on Saturday. The win — which hardly looked a possibility when Northern was ahead by 22-6 in the second half — assured South of second placing on the final points table. Any doubts that Auckland would complete an unbeaten record and claim the title for the first time were soon dispelled in its match with Central Districts at Carlaw Park. Auckland quickly raced away to a decisive lead and had 10 tries in its

52-2 victory. It was Auckland’s first success at Central’s expense since the national competition was introduced in 1979, and earned Auckland the right to take part in the 1984 KB Cup tournament in Australia. It has been a sad season for Central, the defending champion. It simply did not have the depth to compensate for the loss of so many of its more experienced players, being beaten by all three of its rivals. The Kiwi backs, James Leuluai, Dean Bell, Ron O’Regan and Joe Ropati, claimed seven of Auckland’s tries between them in what

should have been a useful work-out for next Saturday night’s return test against Australia at Brisbane. Barry Edkins was a dominant figure for South in the game at Huntly. He scored one of the four tries in South’s revival and added eight goals to accumulate 20 points, a record for South Island. Three goals by Edkins provided South’s only points in the opening spell, after which it trailed Northern at 14-6. Northern soon extended its advantage to 16 points when the match resumed, before South gained the measure of its opponent. ~

Results.— South 32 (B. K. Edkins, B. Kilkelly, G. Gibb, W. J. Wallace tries; Edkins eight goals) beat Northern 22 (T. Looker, W. Toka, T. Clarke tries; B. O’Callaghan five goals). Auckland 52 (A. J. Leuluai two, R. O’Regan two, D. Bell two, J. Ropati, D. Morrison, P. Simons, G. Ackland tries; O’Regan four, N. Wright two goals) beat Central 2 (G. Campbell goal).

Final points.— P W D L F A Pt Auckland 3 3 - 0154 36 6 South 3 2 - 1 68 69 4 Northern 3 1 - 2 54112 2 Central 3 0 - 3 27 86 0