Three-team race for rugby cup

Press, 26 June 1989, Page 22

Three-team race for rugby cup

Marist, Shirley and Burnside are bunched together for the final sprint to the tape in the senior rugby competition’s first division contest for the Trust Bank Cup.

In the final round this Saturday Burnside will be pitted against Marist, which holds a slender one-point lead over Shirley. Burnside is just one point further back. All three sides prevailed on Saturday, with Shirley making the greatest impression. It reversed a first-round result with a flourish, beating University on the strength of a whirlwind opening.

As if to salute their former coach, Frank Jack, who was among the spectators, the Shirley players produced delightful rugby in the first 26min, establishing a 30-0 lead. University rallied in the second half, but the gulf was far too great to bridge. Marist beat High School Old Boys, who will be Shirley’s last-round opponent, to maintain an unbeaten record for the season. But draws against Shirley and Linwood have pulled Marish back to its closest challengers. Shirley might have gained a winning lead in the competition but for an unexpected loss to New Brighton, and the promoted seasiders again proved their worth on Saturday by running fourthplaced Linwood close. New Brighton's stalwart half-back, Ross Adler, and the “Green Machine’s” scoring machine, Greg Coffey, both reached 200 points for the season on Saturday, while Colin Williamson (Shirley) scoredd in four different ways in a personal aggregate of 24 points. Players of the Day on Saturday were both forwards — Tony MacDonald, a Marist flanker, at Lancaster Park oval, and Barry Hammersley, a Shirley prop, at Rugby Park. Points are:—

Marist 22 Old BoyslO Marist: P. Bale, T. Coughlan,

K. Hansen, S. Hansen tries; G. Coffey three conversions. Old Boys: G. Purdon, S. Dods tries; J. Whelan conversion. Half-time: 10-6. Referee: Mr G. J. Anderson.

A rousing performance by the Old Boys forwards, and a slippery ball, prevented Marist from settling into a dominating pattern at Lancaster Park. But the green-and-whites were good enough to score three classy tries and one opportunist effort, to emerge as convincing winners.

Tom Coughlan, Alan Winder and Peter Whiting gave Marist an edge in the line-outs, Murray Henderson was a vital cog in many of the side’s movements, and Steve Baker offered subtle, skilful direction from halfback, having the occasional problem with the greasy ball. Greg Coffey, with a touch of audacity here and there, had Old Boys’ close-quarter defenders perplexed at times, while Kelly Hansen was also a slippery customer. Coffey’s shrewd tactical kicking was a big plus for the side.

On the right wing, Paula Bale lived up to his growing reputation with a lively, aggressive display. He took his try very well, beating two defenders hard along the touchline. On the other wing, Bill Anderson again proved his considerable worth to Marish with his ability to open things up from broken play. It was a sweet infield run by Anderson that led to the side’s second try, well finished by Coughlan after Henderson had popped up as the middleman. The Old Boys pack served notice from the start of its intention to take play to Marist. Steve Ward, barrelling forward from the back of the scrum, and the equally forthright Glen Purdon had Marist reeling on occasions, most notably when Purdon scored the side’s first try after 16min. Steve Dods was always to the fore in the second wave of attacks. But Dods’ try, a full time, had some gloss taken from it because Marist had only six forwards on the field. Shirley 36 University 12 Shirley: C. Williamson 3, N. Katae, G. O’Reilly, D.

French tries; Williamson three conversions, penalty goal, dropped goal. University: B. Williams try; P. Treves conversion, two penalty goals. Half-time: 30-0. Referee: Mr P. J. Duggan. Shirley avenged its firstround loss to University and did so most emphatically in the main match at Rugby Park.

In the first half Shirley played quite magnificently; it secored five tries inside "the first 26min and posted 30 points without reply. The first five-eighths, Colin Williamson, threatened to turn the match into a benefit as he scored two tries and the first 16 points, all within 16min. University had no answer and there were some stern words said in the huddle which all too regularly University formed behind its own goal-line. The persistent rain soon turned the pitch into a skating rink and the wet and heavy ball made it nigh impossible for the students to pull back Shirley’s lead. But University improved its performance in the second spell, outscoring Shirley by 12

points to six. If Williamson let some of his team-mates into the scoring act in the second quarter, he was to have the final say with his third try, an opportunist one, in the second half. So one-sided was the first half that University would not have spent more than smin inside Shirley’s half. It was one-way traffic, with Chris England, Gavin Hill and Bruce Morton making sharp inroads at close quarters in the forwards and the backline displaying superb skills. Allan Lindsay and Williamson combined brilliantly, and the centres, Wayne Steadman and Chris Power, also contributed handsomely to several intricate passing exchanges. University was a transformed team after the interval, no doubt after hearing some curt comments from its coach, Vance Stewart. The two-man line-out was adopted and that brought more possession through the controlled tap-backs by Mark Thompson and Mark McAtamney. With John McCaw and Mia Moto gaining parity in the fight for second-phase ball, Univer-

sity’s new-found competitiveness rubbed off on the backs. Warwick Taylor and Vic Simpson broke the first tackle and Blair Williams tested the tackling with timely runs from full-back. His try was a very worthy one. But the Shirley defence, standing very flat, was equal to all but one of the attacks. Although Shirley could manage just one try in the second half it had done the hard work in the first. Linwood 19 New Brighton 15 Linwood: G. Jones, K. Seinafo tries; G. Bachop conversion, three penalty goals. New Brighton: P. McLaren try; R. Adler conversion, three penalty goals. Halftime: 16-6. Referee: Mr J. Carter (Queensland). At half-time, Linwood must have felt able to win this in a canter, but towards the end New Brighton was sniffing a very real chance of victory. There seemed no reason for the turn-around in fortunes other than a Linwood let-up. The Brighton forwards had swarmed busily throughout, and there was nothing drone-like about their pursuit of the loose ball and subsequent driving and rucking. But it was a different story in set play for Brighton. Its lack of height in the line-outs allowed Linwood's Ross Curd and Mike Fransen to hold sway there, and the green-and-blacks’ dominance of this possession seemed destined to bring a pile of points. There was some scintillating play from Linwood in the first half, most notably in a breathtaking movement which culminated only in Graeme Bachop’s second penalty goal after 24min. The two tries that did come were sharply and sweetly taken. Honours in the second half belonged to Brighton. The side’s try, which brought it within four points a few minutes from the end, was a gem, coming from a sparkling movement masterminded by Ross Adler and Wayne Burleigh and finished in convincing fashion by the storming Peter McLaren. McLaren, Nuku Onekawa and Andrew Thom, with their swashbuckling play in the loose, were largely responsible for denying Linwood a

comfortable ride to victory. Steve Blackler and Burleigh played coolly and kicked intelligently while the strapping Mark Carrington made his presence felt in the second half. For Linwood, the Bachop brothers, Graeme and Stephen, showed their attacking class on many occasions and could be forgiven the odd mistake or error of judgement. Burnside 18 Belfast 0 Burnside: C. Mansbridge, R. Penney, G. Turner, R. Flannery tries; J. Preston conversion. Half-time: 10-0. Referee: Mr T. R. Marshall. Bumside comfortably accounted for Belfast at Sheldon Park, but the honours were evenly shared in the mud-wrestling which made up 80 per cent of the game. Both teams began the match with the commendable intention of trying to run the ball at every 7 opportunity. Burnside were rewarded for exerting early pressure with a try to a prop, Colin Mansbridge. But the weather closed in, it became almost impossible to keep possession of the ball in the tackle, and the match turned into a dour struggle between the forward packs.

There were three sin-binn-ings in the match, reflecting the frustration of both sides with the conditions. Belfast’s Barry Robertson in the first half, team-mate Chris Lee and Burnside’s Robbin Penny in the second half were sent to cool their heels. Burnside dominated lineouts, but some good work from Belfast's loose forwards affected the quality of that possession. Bumside’s half-back, Jon Preston, had an influential game around the scrum. The No. 8, Penney, capped a strong showing with a classic try from the back of a scrum, more impressive for the fact the scrum was set 20m from the try line. There were long periods of wallowing in the mud, with relief offered only by a series of handling errors in the second half. Belfast’s effort, highlighted by the gritty work of its front-row, tailed off, however, allowing Burnside to cross for two late tries.

W L D F A Pt Marist 4 0 2 150 86 20 Shirley 4 1 1 130 78 19 Burn. 4 2 0 157 94 18 Linw. 3 2 1 127 114 16 H.S.O.B. 3 3 0 103 138 12 Univ. 2 4 0 111 129 9 New Bri. 2 4 0 113 158 9 Belfast 0 6 0 48 142 2