Hornby ends Halswell’s winning sequence

Press, 21 April 1986, Page 23

Hornby ends Halswell’s winning sequence

Hornby has at last discovered a formula for beating Halswell at rugby league, though it is not one that its coach, Frank Endacott, would wish to adopt in future clashes between ! the keenly competitive clubs. ■ The 18-12 victory was not achieved until the centre, I! Harry Tipene, touched down two minutes from full-time after a depleted Hornby side had soldiered on with 12 and Sometimes 11 men for most' of the second half. ’ ’

Graham Larson, the forceful ( Homby secondrow forward, was sent from the field by the referee, Mr Ken Blackler, with just over half an hour remaining and Halswell trailing only 6-10. Larson Still be charged with elbowing an opponent aftei tnaking a tackle. Play J bad hardly resumed! when Wayne Wallace) was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, but Halswell was not able to capitalise on Hornby’s having its ranks so drastically reduced. The score was unchanged when Wallace re-eitered the arena.

Hornby) retained its lead in IJie Radio Avon-

sponsored premiership, and Papanui moved into second position after being required to work harder than expected for its 27-21 win over Sydenham.

The third round will be completed on Wednesday evening. Addington and Marist-Western Suburbs, which have won at their only previous appearances in addition to sitting out byes, will meet in the main game. The curtainraiser will be between Eastern Suburbs and Linwood.

Kami Shelford, the Hornby prop forward, won the "man of the match” award against Halswell. PREMIERSHIP POINTS

Hornby 18, Halswell 12

Hornby: A. Davidson, V. F. Low, H. Tipene, B. E. Tuuta tries; K. G. McLaughlan goal. Halswell: M. Frame try; P. W.

Bancroft four goals. Halftime, 10-4. Referee, Mr K. R. Blackler. Hornby’s supporters must have feared the worst when the promising young Halswell loose forward, Mark Frame, stepped his way through a momentarily lax Hornby defence for his side’s sole try 10 minutes from full-time.

The conversion by Phil Bancroft reduced Halswell’s deficit to 12-14 and the scene set for yet another eleventhhour escape and a fifth consecutive victory over Hornby. It might have happened, too, had the Hornby full-back, John Griffiths, not been quick to smother-tackle Bancroft after the Halswell stand-off half had regathered his own chip kick. Even with an additional player, Halswell was not to continue its sequences of successes over its neighbour. Bancroft even failed to find the touch-line with a penalty punt, and Hornby had the final say as the replacement scrum-half Steve Hann, broke clear near the 22m line and gave Harry Tipene a clear passage to touch down. Hornby doubtless deserved the premiership points on this occasion. It claimed four of the five tries in the match, but suffered from the inaccuracies of Gary McLauchlan, Brendon Tuuta and Griffiths, who shared the goalkicking in the absence of Barry Edkins. Hornby was at great risk

after Graham Larson’s dismissal and while Wayne Wallace was in the sin-bin. Halswell should have cancelled out Hornby’s four-point lead, its full-back, Murray Pitts, turning back inside and wasting a three-man overlap on his left

Hornby was reprieved, and Wallace soon made amends for his misdemeanour as he assumed control around the play-the-balls. Wallace’s variations caused Halswell’s defences to be drawn out of position. On the sixth tackle, Griffiths pondered the possi-, bilities of a field goal before choosing to pass, Tipene relayed the ball towards the left flank, and Vaughan Low ran with determination to beat the cover and score.

The other Hornby wing, Allan Davidson, had entered his name on the scoreline in the opening minute. A kick ahead was muffed by Halswell, and Davidson was able to scoop up the ball and run half the length of the field. Tuuta’s try just before the break placed Hornby ahead 10-4 after Bancroft had kicked Halswell back to parity.

The margin was the widest between the two teams since Hornby was a 22-12 victor in the 1984 championship grand final. In four subsequent encounters Halswell slipped home by three points or less. There is seldom anything orthodox about meetings between Halswell and Hornby. The triumph of Hornby over

the odds on Saturday extends what has been an absorbing battle for supremacy, now in its third season.

Larson’s departure followed the biggest of several confrontations between opposing players, and the tackling was uncompromising throughout Both sides, and particularly Hornby, also produced some exciting football in the face of firm defences. That Low, Davidson and Tipene were its try-scorers testified to Hornby’s eagerness to attack through its threequarters. Hornby also wrested a slender advantage in the front-on exchanges between two resolute forward packs. Kami Shelford and Richard Setu displayed their developing talents and maturity in responding to the example of the more experienced Wallace and McLauchlan. The replacement, Stu Wells, was quickly and willingly into the fray in the final quarter. The close attention paid to Bancroft foiled most of his plans, though there was again no livelier footballer on the field. Andy Moore and Nell Sinclair also had their moments in possession without quite escaping the cover, and Darryl Hawker, Frame and Glenn Grut had high work-rates among the forwards.

Papanui 27, Sydenham 21

Papanui: D. Chick two,

M. S. Kerrigan, A. J. Wildermoth tries; Wildermoth five goals; B. Ringdahl field goal. Sydenham: M. E. Forsey, G. Cummings, P. Pilimai, Paul Kaisa tries; R. Kara, Forsey goals; Forsey field goal. Half-time, 18-17. Referee, Mr E. Pilcher. Papanui promised itself an easy win when it was 18-6 ahead of Sydenham midway through the first half. But so well did Sydenham come back it had closed to within one point of its opponent by half-time. In the absence of the player-coach, David Field, Sydenham looked to its seasoned loose forward, Mike Smith, and scrum-half, Mark Forsey, for leadership. That was eagerly given, and the Papanui defence was quite flustered on occasions. Two of Sydenham’s three tries before the interval were the product of Papanui’s failure to smother high kicks. Forsey capitalised on one by beating two team-mates to the touch-down and Paul Pilimai scored from a “bomb" lofted by Forsey and spilled by a Papanui player within his own in-goal area. Glen Cummings, the robust Sydenham prop, had presented a firm fend to three Papanui defenders for his try and, in spite of an injury to the regular goal-kicker, Ricky Kara, Sydenham was back to

17-18 at the break. Indeed, Papanui had cause to be grateful for a 10-minute period of prosperity during which its former schoolboy Kiwi wing, Darryl Chick, claimed two tries; Mike Kerrigan crossed for a third, and Tony Wildermoth added three goals. Chick has plenty of pace and elusiveness, as well as considerable potential.

Any thoughts that Papanui would go clear again after Wildermoth kicked a. penalty goal soon after the resumption were not’ realised. Although Papanui enjoyed a marked territorial advantage, the score stayed at 20-17 until Brent Ringdahl nudged over a field goal 10 minutes from the finish.

The competition points seemed safe for Papanui when the replacement, Greg Roberts, slipped away from an attempted tackle to provide Wildermoth with the room to score in a position which presented no problem for his conversion kick. Sydenham was not to be dismissed so lightly. It surged back upfield and Paul Kaisa's try ensured that Papanui could not relax in the short amount of time remaining. It was to Sydenham’s credit that it came so close even after an enforced reshuffle caused by injuries to Kara and Jackie Jacobs. A secondrow forward, Wayne Dunshea, spent the second half as a manufactured left wing.

P W L F A Pt Hornby 3 3 0 66 22 6 Papanui 3 2 1 55 69 4 Addington 1 1 0 48 2 2 Marist 1 1 0 26 0 2 Kaiapoi 2 1 1 32 54 2 Halswell 3 1 2 54 52 2 Sydenham 3 1 2 61 75 2 Eastern 2 0 2 18 50 0 Linwood 2 0 2 16 52 0