Masterly Marist extends lead

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 35

Masterly Marist extends lead

Marist-Westem Suburbs, a team that is thriving on the firm Show Grounds surface, extended its Canterbury rugby league premiership lead to four competition points in the fourth round on Saturday. In a thoroughly convincing performance, Marist beat Kaiapoi, 18-6, to give it a useful margin over the five clubs which share second position. It was fitting that Chris Charlton and Craig Campbell were responsible for the late tries which assured Marist of victory. Their pace and penetration typify the prime assets of the comparatively light Marist forward pack, while the backs continued to impress in conditions that were perfect for positive football. Hornby, Linwood and Papanui have all played one match less than Marist and are still well within range of the leader. Halswell and Kaiapoi also have four points, but have not yet had the bye. In the other game on Saturday, Sydenham opened its premiership account when it came from behind to beat Addington, 24-6. The Sydenham forwards were responsible for all five of their team’s tries, the scoreboard mirroring the ascendancy Sydenham had in the forward exchanges. Charlton, the Marist loose forward, and Paul Vili, at prop for Sydenham, won the “man of the match” awards.

Marist-Westem 18, Kaiapoi 6 Marist-Westem: J. MacGougan, H. Wihongi, C. Campbell tries; A. Wildermoth three goals. Kaiapoi: W. Amer try; M. A. Bennett goal. Half-time: 10-6. Referee, Mr K. Ireland. The converted try which Marist-Western Suburbs conceded to Kaiapoi just before half-time might, in the final reckoning, have had much to do with its victory. Instead of being able to relax with a 10-point advantage, Marist had to keep up to its work in the face of a determined, if not overlyimaginative, Kaiapoi effort. The scoreline remained at 10-6 for 33min after the resumption before the pressure became too much for Kaiapoi and

Marist claimed two late tries. It was undoubtedly Marist’s most convincing performance of the season, one that entitled it to its princely position on the premiership table. The defence, apart from the momentary hesitations when Kaiapoi’s stand-off half, Wayne Amer, weaved his way through to the try-line, provided a solid base for some outstanding attacking football. For much of the game Marist progressed up-field through the elusiveness of the speedy forwards, Chris Charlton and Craig Campbell, and the evasive backs, particularly John MacGougan, Tony Wildermoth, Hemi Wihongi and Ken Norton. Only the desperate deeds of the Kaiapoi cover-defence and its own misdirected tactical kicking prevented Marist from adding to the one very spectacular first-half try, created by the forwards and completed by MacGougan. Kaiapoi, on the other hand, had to rely on the line kicking of Tony Stanley to move into Marist’s territory, and even then the swift hooking of Michael McVicar more often than not returned the ball to Marist. The loss of Steve Mottershead at half-time further blunted Kaiapoi’s penetrative potential, though Wildermoth and Michael O’Donnell had kept him in check. As well as Marist had performed, it could still have undone all of its good work with any tackling mistakes as Kaiapoi sought to wipe out its four-point deficit for much of the second spell. The strenuous efforts of Lester Cook and Gary Leek prevented Kaiapoi from breaking through near the play-the-balls, and Marist also left no gaps among the backs. After the outcome had been delicately poised for so long, Charlton made the vital break for Marist to provide Wihongi with his try, and then Campbell stepped out of one tackle and stretched out in another to touch down. Steve Dickson, at full-back for Kaiapoi, was extremely safe when tested by Marist’s up-and-unders near his goalposts, and the halves, Amer and Bill Davison, had lively

games. Stanley was the most innovative of the forwards, and Mo Sullivan and Gary Kitson did their utmost to break Marist’s solid defensive pattern. Sydenham 24, Addington 6

Sydenham: R. Wells two, T. Amosa, P. Vili, M. J. Smith tries; P. Griffiths two goals. Addington: G. H. Stocker three goals. Half-time: 8-4. Referee: Mr K. R. Blackler. Sydenham has not always been blessed with the reserve strength of many of its rival clubs, but it benefited from having more depth than a very depleted Addington line-up in the curtain-raiser. However, it was Addington which was first into its stride, two goals by Grant Stocker enabling it to lead until just before half-time. Until then the scoring chances created by Sydenham had been wasted more by poor passing than the excellence of the Addington defence. But it was to be Addington which ultimately suffered more from handling errors in a mistake-ridden match. Few constructive movements came as Addington relied on orthodox football and occasional individual breaks to work its way towards the Sydenham try-line. Tom Amosa, the Sydenham second-row forward, put his side in front when he stepped out of ineffective tackles to touch down. It went further ahead 15min into the second half, the powerful prop, Paul Vili, surging across from dummy-half. Gradually Addington’s resistance crumbled. The Sydenham pack was now very much in control and the hooker, Ricky Wells, backed up effectively to claim two of the three tries added in the last lOmin. The other went to Sydenham’s acting captain, Mike Smith, who displayed pace and a convincing sidestep in his 30m solo run. All of the Sydenham forwards made valuable contributions. Vili and John Fidow were forceful up front, Amosa and Keith Robertson supported them to the hilt, anti both Smith, who also stood out with his covering, and Wells, were quick to support the ball carrier. Because of the nature of the match, there were only limited opportunities for the backs to make their marks. Gavin Tapiata and Paul Pilimai had their moments for Sydenham, and Mark Forsey was as busy as ever at scrum-half. Addington would have been more competitive if it had been able to bring its outside backs, and especially Darryl Flynn and Bob Bozhinoff, into play more often. John Green gave a strong performance in the pack, with keen assistance from Adam Fisher and Harry Tipene, before Sydenham took over the forward exchanges.

P W L F A Pt Mar-WS 4 4 0 117 70 8 Hornby 3 2 1 66 44 4 Papanui 3 2 1 68 58 4 Linwood 3 2 1 62 54 4 Kaiapoi 4 2 2 84 62 4 Halswell 4 2 2 60 67 4 Sydenham 3 1 2 52 58 2 Addington 4 1 3 76 115 2 Eastern 4 0 4 66 123 2