Lincoln beats Burnham

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 12

Lincoln beats Burnham

With all its points coming from penalty goals, Lincoln beat Burnham, 12-7, in an Ellesmere senior rugby match at Lincoln Domain on Saturday. Although the Lincoln forwards played well, Burnham contributed as much to its own defeat as did any deeds of the opposition. Unfortunately for Burnham it lost the services of its best player, first five-eighths, Richard Wixon, after only three minutes and this left the backline thin both in skills and tactical wisdom. The Burnham forwards won their fair share of possession, but the backs made poor use of it and there were times when good ball was wasted through indecision. Lincoln was further helped by Craig Surtee’s penchant for getting off-side and two of the four penalties he gave away were turned into points. In the Burnham pack, Brian Hewson, Tami Matthews and Mark Edlins all played well. There was strength on the wings, .too, but the talents of Jamie Lloyd and Watson Kumu were ignored by those inside them, as also was the attacking ability of the fullback, Grant Julius. If there was a brittleness anywhere in the Lincoln defence it was wide out, but Burnham was too slow in getting the ball through the chain to capitalise on this possible weakness. The outstanding player of the game was the Lincoln No. 8, Phil Kortegast, and he was ably supported by Eddie Kerr and Steve Benyon. Dave Mofffat was another handy forward and he continues to improve with every game. Lincoln did not move a lot of bail though its back, and was generally content to let Burnham make its own mistakes in this area. Both the first five-eighths, Greg New-

man, and the full-back, Greg Jones, had excellent games, especially in getting their side out of tight spots. Jones scored all Lincoln’s points with four penalty goals. Lloyd scored the only try of the game for Burnham, and Hewson kicked a penalty goal Results of other senior games were:— Southbridge 20, Darfield 15. Banks Peninsula 10, Sheffield 0. Kirwee 13, Leeston 6. Lower grade results were:— Senior B.—lrwell 13, United 10; Lincoln 17, Dunsandel 6; Bumham 34, Diamond Harbour 12; Prebbleton 12, West Melton 0. Senior reserve.—Prebbleton 14, Selwyn 0; Waihora 12, Kirwee 3; Sheffield 22, Banks Peninsula 15; Leeston 15, Darfield 0; Bumham 33, Southbridge 0. Under 21.—Waihora 48, Southbridge 4; Prebbleton 14, Dunsandel 12; Bumham 25, Darfield 3. Under 18.—Combined 9, Darfield 7; Springston 40, Leeston Combined 9; West Melton 14, Waihora 8. Under 16.—Lincoln 7, West Melton 6; Leeston 16, Prebbleton 10; Waihora 42, Springston 7. Under 14.—Leeston white 15, Darfield 12; West Melton 38, Springston 3; Dunsandel 18, Bumham 16; Waihora 35, Leeston red 0; Sheffield 14, Southbridge 11; Lincoln 36, Prebbleton 4. Under 12.—East: Lincoln 24, Southbridge 4; Leeston White 26, Prebbleton 8; Waihora 26, Leeston Red 0. West: Dunsandel 34, Selwyn 6; Darfield 24, Springston 12; West Melton 33, Bumham 4. Under 10.—East: Lincoln black 35, Prebbleton blue 0; Waihora 34, Lincoln red 0; Leeston 22, Southbridge 0; Prebbleton white 24, Irwell 4. West: Dunsandel 24, Selwyn 0; West Melton 36, Sheffield 4; Bumham 26, Springston 24.