Another late flurry costs Canty win

Press, 26 September 1988, Page 27

Another late flurry costs Canty win

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

If there is a movement afoot soon to have rugby matches reduced from SOmin to 78min, it would be a fair bet that the instigator would be Canterbury.

For the second time in a week, Canterbury lost a national championship match, at Lancaster Park, inside the last two minutes when it really should have fastened the screws on its opposition well before the final forward flickers of the clock’s hands. The previous week Otago scored a late penalty to turn a one-point deficit into a twopoint victory; on Saturday Counties scored an eleventhhour try to effect a threepoint deficit into a one-point win, 19-18. The defeat consigned Canterbury to a midd!e-of-the-table position in the National Mutual first division championship; it ended the home programme on a depressing note and it offered little in the way of encouragement for the final fixture, the Ranfurly Shield challenge against Auckland on Saturday. Counties may have left its winning run late but its welltimed finishing try was due reward for the attacking capabilities of a backline which was more inventive and more incisive than a Canterbury chain which lost confidence after several early blunders. Ironically, the crucial Counties try was from the result of a line-out win, a rare luxury for the visiting team. Canterbury claimed 18 of the 28 decisive first-half line-outs and it won 13 of the 16 in the second half until Counties secured its fourth take in the closing stages. Quickly the ball was shuttled to the perceptive second five-eighths, Sean Lineen — whose silky footwork in scoring the first try recalled memories of his All Black father, Terry — and he worked a delightful double around the full-back, Lindsay Raki. Lineen’s final transfer found the rangy right wing,

Grant Nolan, galloping at speed, and he bee-lined for the corner 25m away. It seemed that Canterbury had been saved when Mark Vincent, covering from the opposite flank, toppled Nolan a metre from the line. But if Canterbury was aggrieved the previous week against Otago when it conceded a last-minute penalty it was even more vexed that the South Canterbury referee, Colin Hawke, should allow Nolan’s *try. He did not release the ball when tackled and scored at the second attempt, although it could be argued that Vincent, who looked aghast at the decision, did not secure Nolan in his diving tackle. However, if the rub of the green went against Canterbury it only had itself to blame for allowing Counties to be in with a winning chance towards the end. After Bmin, Canterbury led, 9-0, through a penalty goal by Richard Connell, ' who replaced Shayne Philpott after smin, and a try by the posts to the left wing, Andrew Simcock, who burst with alacrity on to an inside pass from Andrew McCormick and sprinted clear over 30m. Canterbury exuded confidence in the first 15min and a sixth successive win against Counties appeared a mere formality. But in spite of its wealth of possession in the first half, Canterbury could only establish a 12-6 lead by half-time and that looked tenuous against an effervescent team which was sharp to counter-attack. The willing spirit of Counties manifested itself in the second half as the tight forwards wrestled away Canterbury ball and the loose trio bludgeoned away at the insecure defence around the fringes of mauls and rucks. •

After 26min of the second half, Counties equalised through Lineen’s try, the

second five-eighths wrongfooting the defence and leaving Warwick Taylor sprawling as he elegantly traversed the 22m to the line.

However, Connell, who did exceptionally well to record a 100 per cent strike rate with his goal-kicking after last having lined up the posts against Mid-Canterbury almost three months ago, was safe with his fifth kick, a handy penalty, and Canterbury regained the lead with Bmin to go. The advantage, however, was lost with the finish in sight. If Counties impressed with its ability to regularly stifle Canterbury attacks and bid the home team retreat, its coach, John Hughes, was enraptured with his side’s security. "We’ve been working on our driving and our defence and our defence hung in there for a long period. I think in the finish that created some opportunities and in the last quarter we got all the ball. Our most pleasing feature was our stickability, something which hasn’t always been there. “We had to guts it out. Although we got behind they never gave it away and they fought back bloody well. Some of our tackling was superb; we’re delighted with the win.” Mr Hughes said that although it was not a match for the purists, the movement was never ending and his players’ fitness shone through. “We had to mix it up, we had to counter-attack which is something Counties do well, and a lot of movement went from hard on defence to hard on attack. We felt we had to break it up that way to have a show and we got the last go at them.” The northern team bettered Canterbury, 23-19, in the rucks and mauls, and credit for this could be attri-

buted to the nuggety props, the captain, Henry Maxwell, and Tom Parsons. Te Rau Clarke could usually be located in the vicinity of the ball and the No. 8, the New Zealand Colt, Errol Brain, is destined for higher honours.

Two relative newcomers to the first-class scene, Gary Thomas, at halfback, and the centre, Gary Millington, gave the impression they were old campaigners, and wedged between them were two fiveeighths with a touch of polish, Carl Murray and Lineen. Murray’s front-on tackle of Grant Mickell in the first half increased in importance as the game unravelled. Mickell, suited by the perpetual movement, had a strong game. Stephen Dods was the surest of tacklers and especially effective in the loose in the first half, and Andy Earl and Robin Penney made sound contributions in the Canterbury pack. But try as they might, the Canterbury backs could put together only one try. Stephen Bachop and McCormick, the main instigators in a sweeping move which ended in Simcock’s try, both manoeuvred into gaps but the support was lacking at vital times. Vincent and Simcock, the "player of the match” award winner, showed some deft touches, but Simcock was caught out of position on several occasions.

Connell, however, did make his mark after watching Canterbury from the reserves’ bench throughout the championship series. He fulfilled his duties so efficiently to pose as a real threat to the incumbent fullback, Philpott, for the Auckland match. For counties, Sean Lineen and Grant Nolan tries; Lindsay Raki kicked a conversion and three penalty goals. For Canterbury, Andrew Simcock scored a try; Richard Connell kicked a conversion and four penalty goals.