Halswell a worthy winner of rugby league title

Press, 11 September 1987, Page 22

Halswell a worthy winner of rugby league title

By

JOHN COFFEY

It finally came down to one field goal four minutes from the scheduled end of the

inter-club season, but few would quibble that Halswell was a worthy winner of the most prized silverware in Canterbury rugby league. After Hornby had won the Radio Avon Trophy (pre-season knock-out) and Tavendale Cup as the most consistent side in the first full premiership round, Halswell began to perform with increasing authority. By winning its last 10 matches Halswell in turn reaped the Vivian Cup (top team in second premiership round), Massetti Cup (over-all winner of premiership), Desmond-Rogers Memorial Challenge Trophy (at stake each week), and the symbol of championship supremacy, the Pat Smith Challenge Trophy. On Sunday Halswell will be seeking to add the Thacker Shield at its first attempt against the West Coast challenger, CobdenKohinoor, before travelling to Wellington on September 20 for its first assignment in the Lion Red national tournament. Although Halswell’s South Island representatives, Brendon Tuuta and Phil Bancroft frequently caught the eyes of “man of the match” judges, the basic statistics support the contention of the coach, Phil Prescott, that success was achieved primarily because of team-work.

Halswell was decisively the best defensive unit in Canterbury premier football. In the 16 premiership games it conceded 196 points; the next best record was Papanui’s 248. By comparison, the other championship qualifiers, Marist-Western Suburbs and Hornby, had 284 and 293 points scored against them, respectively. This year Halswell added a new dimension to its acknowledged attacking assets. It accumulated 499 points in the premiership, heading off Hornby (473) and leaving Papanui (441) and Marist-Western (388) well in its wake. The acquisition of Tuuta, Bancroft’s goalkicking accuracy, Glen Grut’s try-scoring touch from the second-row, the experience of Colin Tennant in midfield, and the emerging talents of the youthful outside backs, Peta Milner, Neil Sinclair, and the Miller brothers, Chris and John, were all contributing factors. There were initial hiccups. The loss to Hornby in the knock-out final preceded defeats by Kaiapoi and Papanui early in the premiership. But the signing of Tuuta, who was being courted by his old club, Hornby,, and also MaristWestern, was to be a significant coup. Tuuta and Bancroft between them mustered 34 of 58 points in a big win over

Linwood and Halswell was making headway again. Mr Prescott, himself a totally selfless footballer during Halswell’s worst and best premier experiences, admits to having a smooth passage over the second half of the season. He had returned to the Hornets after spending the winter of 1986 at Marist-Western, and quickly settled back into his former “home” at Halswell Domain. It was to be a dream coaching debut Other clubs could only look with envy at Halswell’s near injury-free record. Mark Frame and Milner were missing for a time in midseason, but returned to restore Halswell to full strength in the championship play-offs. The absence of Tuuta on representative duty proved a blessing in disguise when Gary Pluck fitted into the scrum-half role so effectively that he demanded to be retained. So Tuuta moved to loose forward and made the position his own. The blending of Tuuta, Pluck and Bancroft around the scrum-base gave Halswell a veritable operations room from which to launch its tactical manoeuvres.

Then there were the less lauded team members who went about their duties with little fuss but were invariably conscientious and consistent.

Malcolm Humm bravely defused opposing "bombs” and was a useful attacker from full-back;' Phil Ashton shared an impressive second-row partnership with Grut until Frame recovered his fitness; and the frontrowers, Steve Davis, Darren Twist and Denny Prendeville, were “forwards” in the literal sense of the word, seldom taking a backward step, never willingly conceding hard-won territory. . Over at Hornby there should be satisfaction that one of the club’s finest eras still continues; now

that the disappointment at missing out on a grand final appearance has receded Marist-Westem’s followers can point to an advance from last in 1985 to be within one win of sharing the Massett! Cup; and on Sunday either Addington or Sydenham will be rewarded for a winter of endeavour by possession of the Gore Cup.

But it was Halswell which truly had a Canterbury season to savour and is now the province’s flagbearer in quest of island and national honours.