Hornby within one point of winning premiership

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 24

Hornby within one point of winning premiership

Hornby retained its sevenpoint lead and can no longer be headed off by any of its rivals in the Canterbury rugby league premiership after its 12-0 victory over Eastern Suburbs at the Show Grounds on Saturday. Only Halswell and Kaiapoi — both trailing by eight competition points and with a match in hand — can hope to share the Massetti Cup with Hornby. But such aspirations are impossible dreams: there is no chance that Hornby will comply by losing its last four games. The Radio Avon-sponsored series will be kept alive by the tussle for the other championship semi-final positions. Papanui further advanced its prospects of qualifying in second place witn a 36-6 win at Sydenham’s expense. Having the bye on Saturday was costly for Linwood. It slipped from second equal to fifth as Papanui, Halswell and Kaiapoi passed it by. Halswell accumulated all 34 points in its game against Marist-Western Suburbs at Bishopdale Park, and Kaiapoi beat Addington, 10-2, to extinguish Addington’s lingering aspirations. It was a profitable day for loose forwards at the Show Grounds, with the "man of the match" awards going to Glen Turton (Kaiapoi) and Gary Taie (Papanui). PREMIERSHIP POINTS

Papanui 36, Sydenham 6 Papanui: M. S. Kerrigan, P. Williams, G. D. Taie, A. J. Wildermoth, J. D. Canneil, S. K. Campbel], T. J. O’Donnell tries; Wildermoth four goals. Sydenham: R. F. Wells try; D. C. Field goal. Half-time, 22-0. Referee, Mr D. Wilson. Papanui has emerged from a fairly even and inconsistent field to become Hornby’s sternest challenger for the major inter-club trophies, and it lifted its rating yet another notch against Sydenham on Saturday. In the first 20 minutes Papanui rattled on 22 points as it made full use of the ball before conditions became near impossible to continue the style of football which had shattered Sydenham’s defences. Mike Kerrigan started the scoring avalanche when he ran 35 metres on the short side of a scrum and touched down in the tackle of the Sydenham fullback, Ricky Kara; Paul Williams was on hand to capi-

talise on a poor Sydenham attempt to smother a high kick; Gary Taie broke away from the back of a scrum for his try, and Tony wildermoth kicked cleverly and retrieved the ball over Sydenham's goal-line. It was probably the rain, slippery ball and slushy playing field, as much as any improvement by Sydenham, which applied the brakes to Papanui’s progress. Several other tactical kicks by wildermoth had Sydenham in difficulties, but Papanui was equally frustrated in its attempts to control proceedings. The second spell was less one-sided, and Sydenham was to provide Papanui with its own embarrassing moment under a "bomb," resulting in a try to Ricky Wells. By then, however, Papanui was 30 points in front. John Canneil had dived through from the dummy-half position, Terry O’Donnell had been first to another kick ahead by Wildermoth and, later, Steve Campbell was to run fast and furiously for a try after Wildermoth had been responsible for the initial break.

Papanui’s forwards were utterly dominant. Inevitably, Mark Broadhurst showed the way, and his team-mates have performed with increasing confidence at his side. There was no respite for Sydenham when Doug Thompson replaced Peter de Goldi midway through the second half.

The Papanui back-line might not be of a quality which would allow it to walk on water, but its members frequently skimmed over the mud with a verve and purpose not emulated by Sydenham. Wildermoth was quite outstanding with his variations, and four of the seven tries could be attributed to his skills.

Perhaps Sydenham’s management had an inkling of impending doom, and sought anonymity by not supplying a team list for the programme. It was not really necessary — the mud soon obscured all numbers. Kaiapoi 10, Addington 2 Kaiapoi: T. J. Stanley, W. J. Young tries; S. R. Dixon goal. Addington: J. J. Green goal. Half-time, 10-2. Referee: Mr K. R. Bladder. Willie Young is quickly establishing himself as a most valuable member of an effective Kaiapoi forward pack, and he was again prominent in the win over Addington on the No. 2 field at the Show Grounds.

The previous week young had the distinction of scoring two tries against Hornby, and on Saturday he surged across from the dummy-half position to claim the try which put Kaiapoi out of Addington’s range.

A curtain-raiser had been held on that ground and it was clear when Kaiapoi led, 10-2, at the interval that Addington would need to produce something exceptional to come from behind on such a day. After all, the penalty goal kicked by John Green in the fifth minute had given Addington its first points for three rounds of football. It was not surprising, then, that the solid Kaiapoi tackling and the extreme handling problems experienced by Addington would contrive to prevent the unexpected occurring. Addington managed to force a distinct territorial advantage in the second half. Seldom did it get too close to Kaiapoi’s try-line, and Kaiapoi always had its eight-point cushion to fall back on. The early Addington lead had not lasted for long. Tony Stanley, on the left wing in his match, put Kaiapoi ahead after 10 minutes when he touched down from an up-and-under. There was plenty of honest endeavour from both sides, with Kaiapoi having a slender advantage while points were still comparatively easy to accumulate.

Hornby 12, Eastern 0 Hornby: S. Geddis two tries; B. R. Edkins two goals. Half-time, 6-0. Referee, Mr J. Bergman. Both teams probably had cause for satisfaction from the early game on the Show Grounds No. 2 field. Hornby moved to within one point of outright victory in the Massetti Cup competition and Eastern proved that an earlier 80-point defeat by Hornby was not to become a regular result of meetings between the clubs. Hornby also managed to rest some of its representatives, Robin Alfeld, Marty Crequer, Wayne Wallace and, for 65 minutes, Adrian Shelford. It did welcome back Ross Taylor after a rather lengthy absence. The deft foot-work of the Hornby stand-off half, Steve Geddis, supplied the only tries of the match. His first was scored midway through the opening half, as Geddis darted through a gap 15 metres out from Eastern’s in-goal area, and the second came 10 minutes from full-time in similar circumstances. A few chances had been wasted by Hornby before and soon after Geddis had opened the scoring. Although Hornby continued to have the better of proceedings until the interval, it was to be denied by the arduous conditions and a spirited Eastern defensive screen.

Eastern took quite a number of turns on attack after the resumption, but it never appeared likely to shatter Hornby’s composure. Both sides used kicks as a counter to the general wetness, without being fully effective. In the final accounting it was Geddis’s changes of pace and direction

which separated the teams. Steve Hann, at scrum-half, was also very efficient for Hornby, and he all but slipped clear of the cover with astute backing up in the first spell. Richard Setu invariably tested the Eastern tackling with his forceful running and Barry Edkins again impressed with his all-round skills. Halswell 34, Marist-Western 0 Halswell: D. J. Parker two, P. W. Bancroft, M. Pitts, P. J. Prescott, D. Prenderville tries; Bancroft five goals. Half-time, 22-0. Referee, Mr G. Baxter.

Halswell proved too strong in all departments in despatching Marist-Western Suburbs, quite convincingly, at Bishopdale Park.

Phil Bancroft ran the show again from stand-off and had excellent support from the loose forwards, Doug Parker and Darryl Hawker. In atrocious conditions, Halswell threw the ball around in the first half and ran in three good tries. The first, to a wing, Murray Pitts, was a fine effort in light of the slippery surface and ball.

Pitts scored wide out after the entire back-line had handled. Bancroft converted well and kept the points flowing when he scored next from a set move close to the posts. Halswell tackled with ferocity and constantly upset the Marist ball-handlers. This resulted in numerous dropped gasses as the game wore on ut Halswell, quicker to follow up, pounced on it most times. Heemi Wihongi provided a flicker of fire to a damp Marist fuse that simply fizzled out late in the game.

P W D L F A Pt Hornby 13 12 0 1436 130 24 Papanui Halswell 13 12 8 8 1 0 4326215 4261 155 17 16 Kaiapoi 12 8 0 4246207 16 Linwood 12 7 1 4213157 15 Addington 13 5 1 7149254 11 Eastern 13 3 1 9136265 7 Sydenham 12 2 0 10187281 4 Marist 12 1 0 11160450 2