Canterbury XIII beats New Zealand Marist

Press, 26 April 1988, Page 30

Canterbury XIII beats New Zealand Marist

JOHN COFFEY

By

Canterbury’-t rugby league

selectors had I good cause to be satisfied (with' performances of playeirs on noth sides when .the Canterbury XIII beat New: Zealand l Marist, 2318, at the Xddington Show Grounds last Sunday, i

From the assembled talent. Canterbury should'be capable of fielding a very competitive Emerging Piaybrs team against West Coast. Southland and Otago, : ; The promise displayed by a number bf y'Lurig{representative ccinter.derfj Should, also serve the, purpose! of applying pressure on the (Canterbury A side, which starts' its national champiohshtp I programme against Wellington at Lower Hutt on Saturday! night!

Two Canterbury A forwards. Wayne i Wallace and Gary Leek. whp(e allegiance was temporarily! w-jthi NewZealand Mansi.'lj made solid contributions, 'with Wallace also achieving a 5 2-5 hooking

advantage in the scrums. All of New Ze: land Marist's points were tontributed by members of he Christchurch Marist-Western Suburbs club. Hee rd Wihongi was a replacement 30min from the end. bit that was sufficient time f>r |him to score two tries: Logan Edwards had tour bed down earlier after a ra e ijribbling rush: and Tony Wildermoth kicked three goals rom as many chances. But the Canterbuw XIII had the winner o th 1 match when it rushed tn I) points in just six minut -s after the interval. It seemed that Canterbury might draw awa; to| a decisive victory when ILs stand-off half. Brett Rodyersj linked with his wing. Pi ul Dunn, to complete a try-storing movement which hac started 70 metres from the Marist goalline. But Wihongi then took a hand He emula ed Rodgers

by ranging up inside his wing, Brian Johnson; to have an unimpeded 50m sprint td score. Soon afterwards Wihongi was across again, on this occasion from close range. Fittingly, the Canterbury scrum-half. Neville Wood} ham, has the final say with a deftiy-taken field goal. Woodham had already been chosen as the Canterbury “man of the match." the Marist award going to Edwards.

Woodham and Rodgers combined smoothly and wierfe l largely responsible for Peter, Kaisa's try. Vince .McCue had scythed through for the opening try of the match before being injured and Kelvin Remi. on the right wing, accepted his best opportunity eagerly. The depth within Canterbury's forward resources wisj underlined by the robust ruh-j ning of the props. Moko Rah; giatio and Tia Arona, the effectiveness of the second-

rowers. Stuart Simcock. Mark Frame (who had 40min each}' and Jason Hepi, while Kaisa had another excellent allround game at loose forward.

Edwards, Leek and Wallace ensured Canterbury did not achieve dominance in the forward exchanges, and Lee Nelson and Wildermoth had high work-rates among the Marist backs. Wihongi added another dimension to Marist’s penetration when he joihed the fray. Scorers.— Canterbury XI II 23 (Vince McCue lOmin. Kelvin Remi 42min. Peter Kaisa 46min, Brett Rodgers 63min tries; Paul Dunn two. Brad Stringer goals; Neville Woodham field goal) beat New Zealand Marist 18 (Heemi Wihongi 67min and 75min, Logan Edwards 29mi.n tries; Tony Wildermoth three goals). Half-time, |6-6. Referee, Mr Jim Stokes, j