Canterbury’s coach upset after win

Press, 14 July 1988, Page 52

Canterbury’s coach upset after win

From

BOB SCHUMACHER,

in Blenheim

The Canterbury coach, Doug Bruce, was not a happy man after his team’s 31-22 win against Marlborough in the representative rugby match at Lansdowne Park yesterday.

"Bloody awful,” he said tersely before moderating his tone to add, “disappointing, not too many good points.” Marlborough was never subdued and it will rue its many missed scoring opportunities, although Canterbury was equally as guilty in squandering chances.

At half-time, Marlborough led, 7-3, and although its indecision in the third quarter allowed Canterbury the advantage starting the final lOmin, the visiting team was far from secure at 15-10.

What zany minutes those last 10 were. The madcap machinations started with the Canterbury left wing, Joe Leota, evading the cover defence and scoring as the 3000 crowd heartily booed the hometown referee, Malcolm Taylor, for failing to detect what they considered was an off-side offence at the start of the try-scoring movement.

In a frenzied finale, four more tries came in the last Bmin, two each, as passes were dropped, tackles missed and defensive clearing kicks were charged down. By scoring five tries to three and with greater diligence on defence, Canterbury did just enough to deserve victory, although Mr Bruce’s brief summary vividly illustrated his displeasure of a showing which suggested that

the search for perfection had yet to unravel many of its clues.

In unseasonable weather, beautifully fine, and on a firm ground, Marlborough came out with heels kicking, like spring lambs cavorting around Canterbury rams which had 'known greener pastures. Apart from the lineouts, 1 Marlborough more than matched Canterbury in the forward exchanges and again revealed weaknesses in the scrum.

It was to Canterbury’s advantage that the second half consisted predominantly of lineouts rather than scrums. Marlborough’s captain and All Black trialist lock, Frank Marfell, posed the only real threat to the taller Canterbury line, and the “Red Devils” were forced to try and keep the ball in play with their meagre possession pickings. The more enterprising approach by Marlborough almost succeeded and the “man of the match,” Paul Phillips, at second fiveeighths, scythed through with embarrassing regularity as far as Canterbury was concerned. There were times, however, when adventure turned into misadventure. Mr Bruce’s infelicitous statement — “not too many good points” — inferred there were a few redeeming features. Robin Penney may well

have played his way into the squad for the rest of the season with his exceptional workrate; John Buchan’s mobility made him a useful handyman; Vernon Muir marked Marfell competently and it was one of his soaring lineout takes which ultimately led to Kieran Flynn scoring Canterbury’s first try. Marlborough can take heart from its display. Marfell was an inspirational leader, Rob Avery ferreted the ball from mauls and he and the No. 8, Robert Jones, gave the Canterbury halfback, Allan Lindsay, little respite.

Patrick Norton did a good job in his first full match at halfback, while Phillips, Paul Karena and Tony Hawke may well have made tackling the top priority at Canterbury’s next training run. For Canterbury, Joe Leota (2), Robin Penney (2) and Kieran Flynn scored tries; Shayne Philpott kicked four conversions and a penalty goal.

For Marlborough, lan Stark, Rob Avery and Terry Wilson scored tries; -Stark added two conversions and two penalty goals. In the curtain-raiser, Canterbury under 21 27 (Steve Cleave 2, Dougal Ferguson, Alan Houchen, Richard Wilson tries; Nick Maxwell two conversions, penalty goal) beat Marlborough Colts 13 (Nigel Muir try; Shane Jones dropped,goal; Kerry McNulty two penalty goals).