Rugby League Halswell struggling in run-up to semi-finals

Press, 9 June 1986, Page 28

Rugby League Halswell struggling in run-up to semi-finals

Halswell, the reigning Canterbury rugby-league champion, is in danger of failing to qualify for the 1986 championship semi-finals after being heavily beaten by Papanui at the Addington Show Grounds on Saturday. The 34-0 loss has left Halswell languishing in equal sixth place, alongside Kaiapoi and with only Linwood and Eastern Suburbs behind it. While Halswell faltered, Sydenham improved its prospects of finishing among the top four by heading off Kaiapoi, 29-26, in the most entertaining match of a bleak afternoon. Although Eastern could not halt Hornby’s unbeaten run, it ended a long score-less sequence in matches between the two clubs. In the last four games, extending back to 1984, Eastern had conceded 137 points without replying — Saturday’s 18-32 defeat must be seen as a vast improvement on that.

Home-ground advantage was not enough to assist Mar-ist-Western Suburbs halt a recent slide. Linwood was a 10-6 winner at Bishopdale Park.

Because its closest pursuer, Addington, had the bye, Hornby increased an advantage in the Radio Avon-spon-sored premiership to four competition points, and Papanui now enjoys a similar

margin over Sydenham and Marist-Westem. The “man of the match" awards at the Show Grounds went to Tony Wildermoth (Papanui) and Mike Smith (Sydenham).

Papanui 34 Halswell 0 Papanui: D. M. Thompson, K. Pearce, C. A. Feutz, M. S. Kerrigan, R. C. Campbell, J. D. Cannell tries; A. J. Wildermoth five goals. Halftime, 18-0. Referee, Mr D. Wilson. Papanui thoroughly dominated the match with Halswell, steadily assuming a control in the first quarter and never relinquishing hold. The Halswell players seemed leg-weary from their game the previous Wednesday night, though some quite promising attacks were mounted in the second half after Papanui was already assured of victory.

Even the better Halswell efforts were comfortably handled by a most efficient Papanui defensive pattern. Earlier, Papanui’s task had been made simple by the complete lack of imagination within Baisweil's ranks. At least Halswell restricted Papanui to just one try in the first half hour. That was well taken by Doug Thompson, running on to a pass from Tony Wildermoth, drawing the remants of the cover, and stretching out to score. A couple of kicks by Wildermoth took Papanui out of immediate range, and 10 points were rattled on in quick time before the interval. Kerry Pearce angled in from the right wing to scoop up a loose ball and carve a path between several Halswell players, and then Craig Feutz, the scrum-half, caught Halswell by surprise in capitalising on a tight head. Harwell's plight became progressively worse in the second spell as it conceded three more tries. Wildermoth was outstanding as Papanui’s stand-off half, and both Mike Kerrigan and Greg Roberts, in the centres, and Terry O’Donnell, from full-back, prospered because of the slick service given them. Thompson, John Cannell and Ron Simanu all made considerable progress close to the play-the-balls in a fine all-round display by Papanui. Even Harwell's best players, such as the eager attackers in the back-line, Chris White and Colin Tennant, were overshadowed by their markers. Sydenham 29 Kaiapoi 26 Sydenham: R. S. Kara, B. Aupaau, P. S. Griffiths, G. W. Starr, F. Toomalatai tries; Kara four goals; D. C. Field field goal. Kaiapoi: T. J. Stanley two, S. R. Dixon, S. J. Clark, B. Huriwai 1 tries; Dixon three goals. Halftime, 18-18. Referee, Mr J. Bergman. It was perhaps fitting that two of the competition’s less consistent teams, Kaiapoi and Sydenham, should participate in such a topsy-turvy curtainraiser on the oval. Kaiapoi claimed the first 12 points in the match, before conceding the next 12. A converted try each tied the totals again, 18-18, at halftime, and there was a good chance that David Field’s snappy field goal soon after the resumption would provide Sydenham with the matchwinning point. But Sydenham actually scampered away to a 29-18 lead in the next few minutes before Kaiapoi reduced the margin to three and had Sydenham desperately defending in the closing minutes. The full-time hooter sounded with the Sydenham full-back, Paul Griffiths,

catching a "bomb” over his own goal-line. Both sides scored five tries, the best being Tony Stanley’s second for Kaiapoi, after Russell Tuuta had made the initial break, and Craig Small had chimed in as a link between his forwards, deftly switching the direction of the thrust. However, Kaiapoi’s defence was as suspect as that of Sydenham. Weak tackling enabled Ricky Kara and Ben Aupaau to cross for the tries, which cancelled out Kaiapoi’s early lead, and both defences were prone to collapse in the face of only moderate attacks. That made for a very lively encounter, with only Stanley and Aupaau interrupting the scoring sequence of the outside back. Stanley, until he was injured, Tuuta and Duanne Little made much of the Kaiapoi forward running, and Ben Huriwai, Steve Clark, Wayne Christie and Small were all prominent among the backs. The soundness of Griffiths, Kara’s elusiveness in midfield, the finishing skills of Faaliga Toomalatai, and Mike Smith’s aggression on attack and defence were especially valuable assets to Sydenham, which was ultimately rewarded for marginally better team-work. Hornby 32 Eastern Suburbs 18 Hornby: S. T. Geddis, G. C. Larson, A. K. Davidson, D. Gill, H. Tipene tries; J. R. Griffiths six goals. Eastern: W. Morice, M. Elstone, G. D. Nicholson tries; V. F. McCue three goals. Halftime, 20-8. Referee, Mr G. Baxter. When the Eastern full-back Wi Morice, broke through an indecisive tackle by a Hornby opponent on the No. 2 field at the Show Grounds, he not only put his side into a surprise lead, but ended a scoring drought that had lasted for more than 320 minutes of football against Hornby.

Vincent McCue’s conversion and a later penalty goal enabled Eastern to stay with Hornby at 8-8 until 15 minutes before half-time. By the interval, Hornby — without its five South Island representatives — was 12 points ahead, but Eastern earned praise for a dogged display. In fact, both sides scored two tries after the resumption. Darren Gill extended

Hornby’s advantage when he ran on to a timely pass from his prop, Kami Shelford, but Harry Tipene was fortunate to be awarded his try after the ball had rolled forward from a tackled team-mate. Eastern still had plenty of spirit and Mark Elstone surged through to score from a tap penalty, and Gary Nicholas touched down just before the finish. The promise shown by Eastern in the opening and closing periods should be encouraging in a future quest for competition points. John Griffiths continued his run of fine form for Hornby and his goal-kicking was a bonus. Allan Davidson was a strong attacker on the left wing, and Shelford, Gill and Graham Larson stood out in the forward exchanges. Morice was Eastern’s most incisive mover close to Hornby’s goal-line. Mike Collett and Greg Hamburger were effective forwards for Eastern. Linwood 10 Marist-Western 6 Linwood: R. Le Breton try; R. S. Hudson two, D. A. Perkins goals. MaristWestern: L. A. Nelson try; P. Wallace goal. Half-time, Linwood, 6-0. Referee, Mr N. Turner. There have not been too many memorable moments for either Linwood or MaristWestern Suburbs in recent weeks. However, they lifted their standards to produce an attractive game on a firm field at Bishopdale Park on Saturday. A penalty goal by David Perkins gave Linwood a narrow advantage midway through the first spell, and it built upon that when Perkins broke through to give Ross Le Breton his try-scoring chance just before the interval.

Marist-Western resumed more positively than its opponent, drawing level eight minutes later when Paul Wallace converted a try by the scrum-half, Lee Nelson.

The scoreline stayed at 6-6, neither side being able to completely evade the other’s defences in spite of moving possession freely, until Robin Husdon was on target with two late penalty goals. The rival packs engaged in a strenuous struggle for supremacy, with neither side achieving more than temporary dominance. Steve Wentham, Le Breton and Jeff Hollis, of Linwood, and Jeff Bates, Phil Prescott and Carl Wild, from Marist-Western, were prominent.

Nelson kept up his high tackling rate for Marist-West-ern, and a newcomer, Wayne Laws, played well in the centres. The experienced Perkins was Linwood's most authoritative back.

Belts save hassles

South Korean traffic police trying to enforce new laws are offering anarchic drivers immunity from minor hassles if they belt up. As long as a motorist is wearing a seat belt the police say they will look the other way if the driver sounds a horn illegally or commits other minor infringements. —Seoul.

PREMIERSHIP POINTS Pt P W D L F A Hom 9 9 0 0277 92 18 Add 8 7 0 1290107 14 Pap 9 6 0 3232180 12 Syd 9 4 0 5175241 8 MWS 9 4 0 5163238 8 Kai 9 3 1 5202207 7 Hal 9 3 1 5124151 7 Lin 9 3 0 6104205 6 East 9 0 0 9120266 0