Wellington flair pips French forward driving

Press, 26 June 1989, Page 21

Wellington flair pips French forward driving

PA Wellington A fired-up Wellington rugby side scored an upset 24-23 win over France in a physical encounter at Athletic Park.

Both sides scored four tries in wet conditions, but Wellington won because its three successful kicks at goal were two penalties and a conversion, while France managed two conversions and a penalty. The crucial period of the match was the first 20 minutes of the second half, when the home side, down 13-10 at the interval, piled on 14 points through three tries and a conversion. Two of the touchdowns, to left wing, Denis Tocker, were the result of superb running and handling by All Blacks John Schuster at second five-eighths and full-back John Gallagher.

Wellington produced the backline flair for which the French are famous. The tourists, with harddriving performances by their back-row of Olivier Roumat, Marc Cecillon and Alain Carminati, ran the ball back into the forwards when they might have chanced their arm out wide. There were a number of niggly incidents, including a scuffle between the two half-back captains, Henri Sanz and Wellington’s Neil Sorensen. Sorensen praised his forwards, outweighed and shorter, for the quality of the ball they were able to

1 deliver. r “We got some good s second phase ball for Schuster and (centre John) Hainsworth.” / The French coach, r Jacques Fouroux, said his i team had made mistakes, q but added: “You have to » talk about the opposition t as well. i "They played with a lot of spirit, as if it was their r game of the year.” Wellington 24 (Denis 3 Tocker 2, Nigel Geany, Marc ;, Verhoeven, tries; John Gallagher, 2 penalties, conversion) beat France 23 (Phi- „ lippe Berot 2, Henri Sanz, □ Stephane Weller, tries; Berot, ■; penalty, 2 conversions. J Half-time: France led 13J 10,

France: Philippe Berot; Marc Andrieu, Franck Mesnel, Denis Charvet, Pierre Hontas (Stephane Weller 60th minute); JeanMarc Lescure, Henri Sanz (captain); Marc Cecillon; Olivier Roumat, Jean Condom, Thierry Devergie, Alain Carminati; Jean-Pierre Garuet, Dominique Bouet, Pascal Ondarts. Wellington: John Gallagher; Denis Tocker, John Hainsworth, Nigel Geany; John Schuster, Steve Pokere; Neil Sorensen (captain); Isaac Adams; Mark Hudson (Jim Meates 53rd minute), Marc Verhoeven, Chris Tregaskis, Rob Cheval; Brian McGrattan, Glen Fraser, Huia Gordon. Referee: Keith Lawrence (Bay of Plenty).