Farce sees Mid-Canty well-beaten

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 32

Farce sees Mid-Canty well-beaten

By

BERNIE CALDWELL

Canterbury B beat MidCanterbury 46-19 in their non-championship rugby match in Ashburton yesterday, in a game which smacked of a live practice. Mid-Canterbury’s players made it obvious that they were not one scrap interested in the match. Although the forwards played well at times, some were walking up to 50 metres away from the play, on occasion.

Canterbury B was fired up for the encounter and must have been disappointed at the response. There was much to admire in some of the tries, but some were tries no other side would dream of scoring against Mid-Canterbury, and that highlighted the fact that only one team wanted to play. Mid-Canterbury provided four players to the South Island team in Blenheim on Saturday, and three of them

played again yesterday. All but one of the rest played club championship finals on Saturday. The Mid-Canterbury coach, Brian Sampson, said: “There must not be another match like this. We did not want it and the players were not going to risk injury with second division championship honours still in front of them.”

Mid-Canterbury has only to beat West Coast to guarantee itself of the South Island second division title and a shot at first division status.

For Canterbury B, Bill Anderson scored three tries, Mardy Vincent two, Steven Hansen, Rod Latham, and Peter McLaren one each; Latham converted four and kicking two penalties. For Mid-Canterbury, Alan Edge and Murray Young scored tries, Edge and Murray Roulston added dropped goals, and John Holmes kicked a conversion and a penalty.