Eastern beats Sydenham in fourth-round fixture

Press, 26 April 1988, Page 30

Eastern beats Sydenham in fourth-round fixture

i 1 J'ii ■ Eastern Suburbs transformed prom se unto premiership! points when it upset Sydenham. 32-2(4. i in their fourth-round premier rugby ; eague fixture at the Addington Show Grounds, on Saturday. There was the 'prospect 'of another unexpected result'in the main epme. when Linwood scored all eight points in the first half. Bui Papanui improved its performance after the intdrva to win. 20-9. Marist-Weiterm ' Suburbs, which had t?ie bye, and'is the only side stl I boasting a perfect record Addington and Hornby shar'e trie jlead in the Radio Avon-sponsored competition. i The outstanding individual on Saturday was Eastern’s Junior Kiwis second-row forward. Michael Culley, who kicked six I goals from as many attempts and added a try for good measure. Culley and the Linwood, secondrower. Steve i Tuli. were chasen as 'the recipients ofj the "man 1 of the 1 match" awards. i i j

Eastern Suburb; 32. Sydenham 24 Eastern: John Rangihuna two, Michael Culley. Terry Hermansson, Reneta Matehe tries; Culley six goals. Sydenham: Ron Sim inu two, Senara Tia Tia. Steve O’Connor, Vit Mulipola tries; Roy Ah Kuoi two goats. Halftime, 20-16. Refetee. Mr Norm Taylor. If Eastern Suburbs can strengthen its defem es when pressed back near its own goabline. then Sydenham -win not be the last or the least significant of its victims this season. The situatiei looked ominous for Easte n when the big Sydenham frop. Ron Simanu, surged arross to score in the third minute. Eastern was to cone ?de three more tries in simile r fashion as it twice more fell behind its opponent. But tl e Sydenham side, deplete! -by in-' juries and representative commitments. als> made many tackling and positional errors-and was always struggling to counter Eastern's attractive style a! football. Eastern finished or. more

strongly in the final quarter. Terry Hermansson forced his way across for the try whidh put Eastern ahead for the last time, and Reneta Matches touch-down lOmin from fulltime sealed the issue. Earlier. John Rangihuna had claimed two tries in an inspired few minutes, backing up for a return pass and then benefiting from his own tactical kick. Rangihuna. John Stanbury. who switched from wing to loose forward at half-time. .Michael Culley and Dick Ngataki were especially impressive for Eastern. Simanu was the : most prominent Sydenham player J in a generally disappointing i display. Papanui 20. Linwood 9 Papanui: Kerry Pearce. Tony Blazey, Malcolm Ambrose I tries; Pearce i four goals.! Linwood: Steve, Tuli, Dave Kelly tries; Craig Wilson field goal. Half-time, 0-8. Referee, Mr Jim Stokes. |J Kerry! Pearce, . playing for Papan'ui at centre in his first premier grade appearance this season! had much ito! do [ with the demise of Linwood I in Saturday's main game.H j One; of Papan-ui's few effec- j rive performers before the.

interval. be neede-d only Bmini bf the second spell to tie the! totals at 8-8. Pearce replaced' Dean Mayell as goal-kicker, began with a penalty goal and then converted his own spectacular solo try. j ! ' Linwood's stand-off half. Craig ; Wilson, nudged his team back in front wifh a field goal. There the resulf hovered until the Papanui second-rower. Timmy Jones! broke away up the I centre of the field and found a prop! Tony Blazey, in support with (the cover defence in tatters' In the last minute Malcolm 'Ambrose inflated Papanui'S margin with another try. The I Iscoreline actually 1 flattered ; the winner,, which almost ! {bumbled its ‘ way to defeat j I with a very poor first-half ■{effort. i The two Linwood tries were the products of Papanuji .failing to handle high kicks. Steve Tuli claimed the first, a [reward for alert following up, and the left wing, Dave Kelly, ducked under a poor tackib ; to score tbe other. ; But the | Linwood forwards ' could not sustain the pace fdr ! the full !80 minutes. Tull, ; Gavin Fraser and Wilson ini- ! pressed for Linwood, while , Pearce, Mike Williams, Dti- ; ane Little! and Darryl Feutz were most effective for PapaI nui.

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