Hall impressive for Addington in first-round win

Press, 3 April 1989, Page 24

Hall impressive for Addington in first-round win

The former Aucklander Carl Hall made a free scoring start to the opening round of the Radio Avon club rugby league premiership at the Addington Showgrounds yesterday.

Hall scored two tries and kicked seven goals in Linwood’s 44-36 win over Papanui. The former Junior Kiwi is one of three North Island off-season buys by Linwood and is shaping as the key figure in the team’s bid to make the top four. Addington was the most impressive premiership debutant, easily beating Eastern Suburbs, 29-10, in the main match.

The Magpies tackled well and threw the ball around at every opportunity. Last year’s grand final winner and the pre-season champion, Halswell, was less impressive, struggling to beat the lowly rated Kaiapoi 24-10 after only leading by six points with 10 minutes remaining.

Marist-Western Suburbs scored 25 points in the second half to convincingly beat a disappointing Sydenham, 33-10. The man of the match awards went to John Green (Addington) and Moko Rangiaho (Linwood).

ADDINGTON 29, EASTERN SUBURBS

Addington: John Green, Vincent McCue, Sonny Taiawa, Mike Dorreen, Mark Forsey, tries Green, four goals; Forsey, field goal. Eastern Suburbs: Alistair Thorne, Shane Te Huia tries; Gary McCann, goal. Half-time: 140. Referee: Jim Stokes.

The Addington loose forward, John Green, stamped his mark on the feature match almost right from the kick off.

He converted his own try four minutes into the match, landed a useful penalty goal late in the half and set up the centre, Mike Doreen’s try in the second spell with a breathtaking one-handed pass.

As expected, Addington ground Eastern down with a superior forward pack. The props Adam Fisher

and Shane Gousmett took the brunt of the attack and the loose forwards, Robbie Rushton, Laman Hohaia, and Green were always on the spot when cracks in the Eastern line opened. Addington led 6-0 for most of the first half, but an eight point scoring spree in the final three minutes gave the Magpies a commanding 14-0 lead at half-time. Green kicked his penalty goal, then from the restart, Dorreen broke through, drew the last line of defence and passed to the supporting Vincent McCue, who ran 25m to score. Green converted.

Addington continued the momentum after the resumption with the scrumhalf, Mark Forsey, the catalyst. He marshalled the Addington attack from all positions of the field in a polished display. Addington switched play constantly, catching the Eastern defence out of position. The win, Sonny Taiawa, scored out wide from a Gousmett pass to make it 18-0 after 50 minutes.

The Eastern second rower, Alistair Thorne, crashed over in a muddle of bodies midway through the second half to temporarily arrest the oneway traffic.

It was a brief respite. Addington regained possession shortly after the resumption and drove into Eastern’s half.

Forsey made an incisive break, passed to the replacement back, Kim Turton, who stood in a tackle and palmed the ball to Dorreen for the try.

Moments later it was again hot on attack in Easterns quarter, but Forsey opted for an easy field goal to take the scoreline to 25-4.

Typically, Eastern had its moments late in the game as Addington slowed down. The replacement forward, Nigel Hermansson, tried to inject life into the attack and the scrumhalf, Shane Te Huia, Eastern’s best player, did not give up.

His solid all-round effort was rewarded with a try, converted by Gary McCann, after 71 minutes.

However, his opposite number, Forsey, was not to be outdone by his younger marker, scoring a try shortly before the final hooter.

HALSWELL 24, KAIAPOI 10 Halswell: Colin Tennant, Paul Dunn, Paul Crichton, Walter Wilson, tries; Dunn four goals. Kaiapoi: Glen Turton two tries; Clayton Remi, goal. Half-time: 16-6. Referee: Ken Blackler.

Halswell required 70 minutes to overcome a tenacious Kaiapoi in the early game on Showgrounds No. 1. The pre-season campaign and last year’s grand-final champion struggled to shakeoff Kaiapoi, before two tries in the final 10 minutes gave it a clear break.

Kaiapoi rocked the hot favourite, Halswell, with an early try, the second rower, Glen Turton, finishing a slippery Clayton Remi break. Remi converted to give Kaiapoi a 6-0 lead. Halswell ground its way back upfield with the playercoach, Gordon Smith, putting players through gaps with sharp, accurate passes.

It was from these excursions that Halswell gained the advantage midway through the half. The fullback, Paul Dunn, slotted a penalty goal to reduce the deficit to four points, then shortly after Colin Tennant scored a converted try.

The right wing, Neil Sinclair, was responsible for the try, bursting into the backline from a scrum inside his own half before kicking downfield for the fast finishing Tennant. Tennant scrambled between two Kaiapoi defenders and beat another for the ball as it bounced close to the line.

It was the same lapse defence which let Kaiapoi down minutes later, the robust second rower, Paul Crichton, busting an easy tackle to score near the uprights. Dunn kicked the conversion and Halswell led, 14-6. Kaiapoi was best in broken play with evergreen wing, Ben Huriwai, and Turton making inroads many times. Kaiapoi broke Halswell constantly, but poor last passes let it down.

The Hornets went into the half-time break up 16-6 with another Dunn penalty goal.

However, the veteran Smith, who had been the master in the opening 40 minutes lost his touch in the

second half and Kaiapoi tried vainly to capitalise on it. Turton strode through weak defence midway through the half for his second try and Kaiapoi was again back in the hunt. But the experience of Dunn and sharpness of the promising Walter Wilson, were too much for the Bulldogs as the pair raced in for tries in the final 10 minutes.

The former West Coaster, Whetu Taewu, was the classy performer in the Halswell midfield, while Glen Grut and Steve Davis ploughed through their regular workload in the forward exchanges.

MARIST-WESTERN SUBURBS 33,

SYDENHAM 10 Marist-Western: Gary Leek 2, Bruce Nicholson, Logan Edwards, Colin Hannah, Kelvin Remi, tries; Nicholson, four goals; Jeff Bates, field goal. Sydenham: Wayne Dunshea, two tries; Kelvin Williams, goal. Half-time: 86. Referee: Norm Taylor. Logan Edwards’ switch from the wing to centre was the impetus Marist-Western needed to outplay Sydenham in the second half of the their encounter on Showgrounds No. 2. Marist-Western led 8-6 at half-time, but when Edwards was moved closer to the play, the holes in the Sydenham defence opened. He combined superbly with the representative second rower, Gary Leek, who scored two second half tries, the last set up by Edwards. Neither side gave any' quarter in the tight opening 40 minutes.

Sydenham elected to play the match in the forwards, a ploy which back fired when several scoring opportunities went begging in the first half through the desire to keep possession in the tight play.

There was little imaginative running by the Sydenham forwards, whose habit of turning the ball inside was easily read by the MaristWestern tight forwards, Ricky Flavell, Jeff Bates and Peter de Goldie. Tries to Leek and Edwards in the first 20 minutes of the second half provided the platform for the Saints’ victory. Bates slotted a neat field goal

to give his side a 13 point buffer before Sydenham finally struck back with a Wayne Dunshea try. He scored Sydenham’s only two tries — the first late in the second half — and was its most industrious forward.

Dunshea’s second try did little to spark his team-mates; poor tackling and a disorganised defence let the Saints in for three more tries. LINWOOD 44,

PAPANUI 36 Linwood: Moko Rangiaho 3, Carl Hall 2, Thomas Crowe, Julian Colombus, tries; Hall, eight goals. Papanui: Barry Goldsmith two, Mark Broadhurst two, Andrew Lawrence, Tony Blazey, Andrew Vincent, tries; Kerry Pearce three, Jason Cameron, goals. Half-time: 24-16. Referee: Rodger Brott.

Tackling must have been the last thing on both sides’ minds as spectators were treated to a 14-try feast.

Both teams ran the ball at will, the defence at times was atrocious.

Papanui opened the scoring with a Kerry Pearce penalty goal, but midway through the half it was facing a 2-18 deficit and an imminent thrashing.

Linwood’s North Island imports, Carl Hall, Darryl Henare and Justin Wallace were in a running mood, and the big prop, Moko Rangiaho, charged at anything with a gold and black jersey. Rangiaho scored three tries and was an easy man of the match, while Hall bagged two and kicked seven goals for a personal tally of 20 points. Papanui fought back into the match late in the first half when the centre, Andrew Vincent, broke two tackles wide out to score. There was a brief hiccup when Rangiaho extended Linwood's lead, but tries to Mark Broadhurst and Barry Goldsmith in the last 10 minutes of the first half brought Papanui back to within eight points at the change-over.

The second half was a tit for tat affair with Linwood scoring freely, only to see a 38-20 lead whittled back to eight points at the final whistle.