Easy Canty league success

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 22

Easy Canty league success

From I

PAT TAYLOR

in Greymouth

The Canterbury rugby league representative team showed its superiority with a 42-4 victory over West Coast at Christchurch a week previously and emphasised it yesterday with a 30-8 win over Coast in the return fixture at Wingham Park, Greymouth. Canterbury’s bigger forward pack again paved the way for success, well led by the former Kiwi, Ross Taylor, after its captain, Barry Edkins, had been knocked out in the fourteenth minute of play and forced to retire.

With both teams showing early determination to run the ball as much as possible on the firm surface and some rock-like defence, early moves were often the sparks for outbursts of bad temper. Soon .after the departure of Edkins, the Canterbury second-rower, John Green, was sin-binned for 10 minutes and he was returning to the field when a Coast secondrower, Dale Jenkins, was being similarly penalised. The referee, Mr Alan Church, of Wellington, dressed down the captains of both teams in the tunnel at the interval, and told them what he expected in behaviour in the second half. His advice must have worked; there was little evidence of foul play. Canterbury rocked West

Coast from the start, with the winger, Steve Mather, bursting down the sideline to draw the defence and send the hooker, Gary McLaughlan, in for a try in the first minute. Phil Bancroft converted.

This six-point deficit so early in the match dampened the Coast cause considerably, and Canterbury kept up the pressure. Coast failed to send the ball 10 metres from the kick-off, and Bancroft attempted a penalty goal from half-way. He missed, fortunately for Coast supporters because an eight-point margin within two minutes could have been too much to bear.

Coast, however, began taking some of the initiative with some good running, but its first points did not come until the nineteenth minute of play when Dan Lee goaled after Green had been sin-binned.

Canterbury was back, with Mather being forced out to play in the corner. But, almost Immediately after, the scrum-half, Brendan Tuuta, scored.

The Canterbury centres, Steve Campbell and Lance Setu, were constantly reinforced by a winger, Pomare Connell, who constantly cut inside to provide an additional man when probing the Coast defences. The Coast scrum half, Glen Gibb, had a quiet day, using himself mainly as a pivot without making some of his

penetrating runs and outside of him, the captain, Chris Menzies, had Phil Bancroft sitting on him for much of the day. The Coast hooker, Brian Atkinson, showed much of the dash in the Coast pack, and his best Support would have been Dale Jenkins playing in the second row with his. younger brother, Terry. Canterbury had a comfortable 16-2 lead at half-time and although Atkinson scored for Coast soon after the start of the second half it was the pressure applied by Ross Taylor, Gary McLaughlin andJohn Green which confirmed Canterbury’s domination. Green ran with the speed of a winger when he intercepted a Wild Coast backline pass to run away an<L score with ease the final try of the game. Scores:

Canterbury 30 (G. McLaughlin, B. Tuuta, J. Griffiths, R. Taylor, J. Green' tries; P. Bancroft one penalty goal, four conversions) beat West Coast 8 (B. Atkinson try, D. Lee one penalty goal, one conversion). Half-time 16-2. Referee: Mr A. Church (Wellington). In the curtain-raiser, Canterbury B beat West Coast B 30-10. Points are:—

P W L F A Pt Canty 3 3 0 102 21 6 Well 3 2 1 37 46 4 Coast • 4 0 4 28 100 0