Hornby, Papanui extend lead

Press, 30 July 1984, Page 21

Hornby, Papanui extend lead

Whether Hornby or Papanui wins the Canterbury rugby league premiership, and with it the Massetti Cup, will almost certainly depend on the outcome of their match at the Show Grounds on the evening of August 8. This vital match has been switched from Sunday, August 5, because Hornby, in particular, will be affected by having Sers committed to the Canary side which has a home encounter with West Coast on Saturday.

Hornby and Papanui stretched their competition coleadership to three points when they beat Addington and Sydenham, respectively, by comfortable margins during the fifteenth round of the premiership yesterday. By coincidence, both Hornby and Papanui have a points-scoring diffential of plus 188. It was not all plain sailing for Hornby yesterday. Addington drew level with it early in the second half at Leslie Park before Hornby pulled away to a 34-12 win. Papanui had few anxious moments in beating Sydenham, 30-0.

But it would not surprise if the heartiest celebrations last evening were at the Haiswell clubrooms. Haiswell accounted for Marist-Western Suburbs by a record score of 30-2, and should now qualify for its first championship play-off.

The “man of the match” awards at the Show Grounds went to three forwards, Doug Thompson (Papanui), Dwayne Little (Kaiapoi), and Darryl Hawker (Haiswell). PREMIERSHIP POINTS

Papanui 30 Sydenham 0 Papanui: M. S. Kerigan three, G. C. Roberts, G. D. Taie, M. J. Williams tries; B. Nicholson three goals. Halftime, 6-0. Referee: Mr K. R. Bladder. Two tries early in the second half virtually assured Papanui of victory over Sydenham in the main match at the Show Grounds, and another two just before full-time carried Papanui to its biggest winning margin over that rival since 1976. The vital break was made while Sydenham had only 12 men, its scrum-half, Mark Forsey, serving a 10-minute term in the sin-bin. There was perhaps a suspicion that the peppery British inside back, Andy Gregory, was having an influence on the game, for Forsey’s marker, John Blazey, managed to involve himself in several heated confrontations. As well as Papanui succeeded on occasions in its attempts to move possession wide, Sydenham had much to do with its own downfall. Almost all of Sydenham’s more promising moves were nullified by poor handling, admittedly committed in the face of an unyielding defensive pattern. Five of Papanui’s six tries resulted from its attacking along the flanks of the backline. Mike Kerrigan claimed three on the right wing, Greg Roberts scored in similar fashion, and full-back, Mike Williams, took his turn to carve through and away from the Sydenham defence. Halwell 30 Marist-Western 2 Haiswell: R. F. Rushton two, D. Hawker, N. Sinclair, D. Prendeville, T. Metcalfe

tries; P. Bancroft three goals. Marist-Western: A. Wildermoth goal. Half-time, 16-2. Referee: Mr R. J. A. MacKenzie. Haiswell took an important step towards the championship semi-finals with its decisive defeat of Marist-Western Suburbs in the Show Grounds curtain-raiser. In doing so, Haiswell proved that it will not be out of its depth in the title play-offs. A fine run and pass from a tackle by Alan Davis put Darryl Hawker across for Halswell’s first try in only the second minute and the result was never in doubt from that point. By half-time the margin had increased to 14 points, thanks to good finishing by Neil Sinclair on the right wing and outstanding lead-up work from Phil Bancroft, Glen Grut, and Davis which preceded Todd Metcalfe’s try. The competition leader for most of the season, Marist has managed to score just one try in its last four matches. It seldom promised to interrupt that sorry sequence yesterday, though Chris Charlton was pulled down within Im of the

try-line early in the second half. Kaiapoi 16 Linwood 12 Kaiapoi: W. Wetere, G. Turton, B. Huriwai tries; M. Sullivan, S. Dickson goals. Linwood: L. E. Hudson, J. Whittaker tries; Hudson two goals. Half-time, 16-0. Referee: Mr R. Brott. A strong revival by Linwood in the last 30 minutes almost enabled it to overcome a 16pqint half-time deficit and snatch victory from Kaiapoi on . the No. 2 field at the Show 'Grounds. . -. . s . ■ Indeed, the Linwood players claimed another try when Paul Truscott, seemingly starting a whole new career at stand-off half, followed through a kick to the Kaiapoi in-goal area in. the . sixty-fiftn minute. Linwood then trailed, 6-16, and it had to wait another 10 minutes before Lewis Hudson converted his own try to bring it within range. i The opposing packs took turns to have the upper hand. Kaiapoi was rampant for the

first 45 minutes, with Warren Wetere, Dwayne Little, Russell Tuuta and Tony Stanley all prominent But as the game advanced Linwood wrested the ascendancy, thanks to the dedicated displays of Stephen Blanchard, Jeff Whittaker, and Scott Barrow. A try by Wetere gave Kaiapoi an encouraging start and in the second quarter its backs chimed in with Glen Turton moving impressively to score and Ben Huriwai capitalising on an over-lap on the left Hornby 34 Addington 12 Hornby: W. J. Wallace, B. S. Cooper, M. P. Crequer, R. H. Taylor, G. Hallett, G. C. Larson tries; Crequer five goals. Addington: S. E. McCann, J. Otimi tries; G. H. Stocker two goals. Halftime, 12-8. Referee: Mr K. Ireland. It was not until the last 10 minutes or so that Hornby shook off the restrictions place upon it by a solid Addington

defence to finish with a win in keeping with their respective positions on the premiership Hornby accumulated 16 points in those closing minutes, showing some of the form which has earned it favouritism for another title win. Earlier, it had experienced difficulty settling down against the firm Addington tackling and its cause was not served when Wayne Wallace and Steve Haim had turns in the sin-bin. However, Wallace, relishing the freedom of playing at loose forward, had much to do with Hornby’s revival Addington, having conceded 12 early points, retrieved the situation to be only four points behind when Steve McCann scored from his own tactical kick. The totals were tied in . the third quarter when McCann paved the way for a try to his wing, Joe Otimi. Wallace was to turn proceedings towards Hornby when he sent Ross Taylor over, Grant Hallett started the late scoring spree on the wing, Wallace put Graham Larson across, and an incisive run by Lance Setu created Marty Crequer's lastminute try.

P W D L F A Pt Hornby 13 10 0 3360172 20 Papanui 13 10 0 3 357 169 20 Halswell 14 8 1 5229 179 17 Marist 14 8 1 5215232 17 Sydenham 13 7 1 5221183 15 Linwood 13 6 1 6189185 13 Kaiapoi 14 4 1 9181241 9 Eastern 13 2 1 10171309 5 Addington 13 2 0 11161414 4