Marist-Western upset by Addington

Press, 2 July 1984, Page 22

Marist-Western upset by Addington

Marist-Western Suburbs still tops the Canterbury rugby league premiership table, but its chances of retaining that position plummeted when it was upset by Addington, 11-8, at Bishopdale Park yesterday. While Marist was losing to the bottom-placed side, its three closest pursuers, Hornby, Papanui and Halswell, were improving their championship semi-final prospects by winning at the Show Grounds.

Indeed, after these losses in its last four appearances, Marist is little more than a leader in name only. Hornby and Papanui are just one competition point behind, each with a match in hand. ■Hornby decisively accounted for Linwood, 35-8, Papanui struggled for a long time before slipping through to a 22-12 win over Kaiapoi and Halswell comfortably accounted for Eastern Suburbs, 30-6.

Six teams are very much in contention for the semifinals, but Marist and Linwood did their chances little good yesterday. As they faltered and Hornby, Papanui and Halswell advanced, Sydenham was able to relax with the bye. The sole highlight for Marist was Tony Wildermoth’s feat in becoming the first premier player to exceed a century of points. It was not such a memorable afternoon for the Eastern forward, Steve Murphy, who was sent off for an illegal tackle.

The “man of the match” awards at the Show Grounds went to Phil Bancroft who contributed 18 of Halswell’s points, Adrian Shelford (Hornby) and Gary Taie (Papanui). PREMIERSHIP POINTS

Hornby 35, Linwood 8 Hornby: M. P. Crequer, J. R. Griffiths, S. J. Hann, W. J. Waiiace, A. T. Shelford, K. G. McLauchlan tries; B. R. Edkins three, B. S. Cooper two goals; Edkins field goal. Linwood: J. Whittaker try; L. E. Hudson two goals. Half-time, 15-2. Referee, Mr T. Drake. Hornby was back in the groove which made it the ominant side during the 1983 championship play-offs. It made no race of its match with Linwood, running in six tries and overcoming an opponent which had beaten it in the first round.

Surprisingly, it was in the forward exchanges that Hornby was so superior. The Linwood pack had performed some mighty deeds in recent weeks, but its pattern fell apart in the face of the aggressive attacks and forceful defence of Hornby. Numerous breaks were made in midfield as the Linwood tackling buckled under the onslaught of the power and

pace of the Hornby props, Adrian Shelford and Ross Taylor, and second-rowers, lan Gear and Graham Larson. Hornby even the the luxury of being able to replace one South Island representative, Barry Edkins, with another, Wayne Wallace, at half-time. The Hornby back-line was no less in command of its situation wider out Marty Crequer, John Griffiths and Vaughan Low were given plenty of opportunities to display their flair, and Robin Alfeld used Linwood’s tactical kicks as a foundation to launch some exhilarating thrusts from full-back

Edkins put Hornby on the path towards victory when he kicked five points in the opening quarter, and Crequer’s try was a portent of what was to follow. Low, from the other wing, cut through, linked with Griffiths, and Crequer was well positioned to accept an infield pass. Just before half-time Griffiths had his turn to score after Taylor had accepted a yawning gap in the Linwood defence from a tap penalty, and any chance of Linwood responding was extinguished when Hornby’s scrum-half, Steve Hann, dived across from the dummy-half role. Hornby’s forwards were by now in full stride, and they were rewarded with three more tries in the last quarter. Papanui 22, Kaiapoi 12

■Papanui: G. D. Taie two, B. J. Brown, J. P. Cole tries; B. Nicholson three goals. Raia-

poi: G. W. Stanley, G. Turton tries; B. Dryden two goals. Half-time, 6-4. Referee, Mr G. Baxter.

So well did Kaiapoi extend its challenge to Papanui that it had much the better of the first hour territorially and was ahead, 8-6, in the late match on the No. 2 playing field. Although Papanui claimed the only try before the interval, it was much against the run of play, and Kaiapoi struck back when Glen Turton touched down soon after the resumption. But the turning point came 16min from the finish when the Kaiapoi full-back, Steve Dickson, was Injured when bravely and safely taking an up-an-under near his own posts. A moment or two later Taie chip-kicked through and his centre, Barry Brown, was favoured by the bounce, beat Dickson’s desperate tackle and touched down. With Dickson and Turton forced to retire because of injury, Kaiapoi’s previously solid defence became disjointed. John Cole crossed for an easy try when the Kaiapoi forwards were perplexed by a Papanui tap kick manoeuvre, and then Taie — proving that No. 13 need not be an unlucky number — ran past weak attempted tackles for his second try. To its credit Kaiapoi responded again, for Wayne Stanley to touch down. The early spirit shown by the Kaiapoi pack, especially Tony Stanley, Warren Wetere and Kerry Williams, had diminished, while Papanui had more pene-

tration after Wayne Amer entered the game as a replacement against his former club.

As the Kaiapoi tackling lost its intensity, Cole. Taie and Doug Thompson found more freedom around the play-the-balls. It was not one of Papanui’s better displays, though, and was liberally sprinkled with errors.

Halswell 30, Eastern 6

Halswell: S. Davis two, T. Metcalfe, P. Bancroft tries; Bancroft seven goals. Eastern: G. R. Hamburger try; E. Harris goal. Half-time, 16-0. Referee, Mr S. O’Grady.

A fine solo try by the young centre, Todd Metcalfe, and Phil Bancroft’s accurate goalkicking had Halswell 10 points clear of Eastern Suburbs and in a position of relative safety by half-time. Metcalfe retrieved his own tactical kick to strand the Eastern cover.

Eastern prevented Halswell from making further inroads for 15mln after the interval, before becoming increasingly short-handed and falling further behind.

Tony Smart, of Eastern, was sent to the sin-bin and while he was cooling his heels the Halswell hooker, Steve Davis, claimed the first of his two tries with keen backing up. Stephen Elstone was soon to join Smart In temporary suspension, and then Steve Murphy was sent off for another tackling illegality, leaving Eastern with 10 men.

Halswell capitalised fully on Eastern’s undermanned defences. Davis was in again, and then Bancroft dashed past and ducked under poor tackles to score a typical try. All the while he was increasing his reputation as a goal-kicker. Davis, Robbie Rushton, Phil Prescott and Don Swanston had fine games in the Halswell pack, Bancroft was his usual busy self at stand-off and Metcalfe also tested the Eastern defence. It was of little consolation to Eastern that it managed to surge back upfield for a replacement, Greg Hamburger, to gain the final try of a generally scrappy encounter. Addington 11,

Marist-Western 8 Addington: W. J. Parker try, G. H. S. Stocker two, M. Green goals; Parker field goal. Marist: A. Wildermoth four goals. Half-time, 6-4. Referee: Mr R. J. A. MacKenzle. Not for the first time, Addington relished its chance to meet Marist-Western Suburbs at Marist’s home ground, Bishopdale Park. Addington took the opportunity to give its most convincing defensive display of the season, and its scrum-half, Billy Parker, made the difference with his try. Both sides had a turn in front during the opening spell, with Addington ahead, 6-4, at the changeover. Tony Wildermoth’s third goal levelled the scores soon afterwards, before Parker chimed in with his field goal.

Once again, Wildermoth restored Marist to the lead with another goal, but Grant Stocker had the final say when he converted two penalties

into points. It was in many ways a penalty-ridden game, with 31 being awarded. Adam Fisher and Mark Green, in the forwards, and Parker stood out in a quite impressive exhibition of teamwork from Addington. Ray Baxendale was the hardestworking forward for Marist, and its halves, Lee Nelson and John MacGougan, were also prominent Just about everything attempted by Marist, however, was cancelled out by the keen Addington tacklers, or by vital errors in handling and passing. Addington accepted its one real scoring chance and deservedl its victory.

P w D L F A Pt Marist 11 7 1 3206172 15 Hornby 10 7 0 3239 156 14 Papanni 10 7 0 3267155 14 Halswell 11 6 1 4185169 13 Sydenham 10 6 0 4189151 12 Linwood 11 6 0 5175167 12 Kaiapoi 11 3 1 7163212 7 Eastern 11 2 1 8157248 5 Addington 11 2 0 9149350 4