Marist made to wait

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 44

Marist made to wait

By

JOHN COFFEY

Marist-Western Suburbs :•' will have to wait ai least , another week before: ( clinching the Massetti Cup j as the top team in the £ ( Canterbury rugby league,;--, premiership. < A' sluggish start cost ] Marist-Western dearly at < the Show Grounds last evening. After trailing by ] 18 points just before the ; interval, it eventually cion- < ceded a 21-16 decision to . one of its strongest chai- > lengers, Adlington. j But - Marist-Western’s ; | first loss to Addington? j ] since 1986 should not cost - S:j it sole possession of the ’ £ cup. It has only to win one - j of its remaining games against Sydenham, Eastern Suburbs or Kaiapoi to be in an unassailable position. While Marist-Western . took time to thaw on a” . chilling night, Addington ' immediately warmed no its task. Shane Gousmett backed up from prop for two of the four tries scored by Addington in the first 29min. In the last 51 min Addington .added r.

only a field goal. From 2-20 MaristWestern claimed a converted try late -in the opening spell And was up to 16-20 entering the last Addington’s pack wilted noticeably and it seemed the competition leader would overhaul its rival. The turning point was a penalty goal attempt from Bryce Nicholson which struck an upright. Nicholson’s previous goal had raised his century of points in the premiership, but this time Addington had been given time to regain some of its composure, it ran the ball back into; Marist-Western territory and Vince McCue’s field goal completed the scoring. Both sides will probably take encouragement, Addington having ended a seven-match losing sequence to MaristWestern, which in turn proved it could run its rival ragged by attacking down the flanks. Linwood kept ahead of Addington on points differentials by beating

Sydenham, 24-8. Although winning comfortably enough Linwood seemed to lose its way a little — it was, admittedly, a foggy evening — after touching down three times in the first 22 minutes. Sydenham scored two of the other three tries in the match.

Papanui slipped into fourth place on a countback of points by heading off Eastern, 24-18, in the main curtain-raiser. Two tries by the Papanui fullback, Kerry Pearce, proved invaluable, first cancelling out an early Eastern lead and then putting Papanui clean llmin from the finish. Hornby was the easiest winner of the round, 28-4, at Kaiapoi's expense. Mark Nixon was especially prominent as Hornby drew three competition points away from the relegation round cut-off, with Kaiapoi having to settle for a late consolation try. Scorers.— Addington 21 (Shane Gousmett two, Graham LarMorris tries; Mur-

ray, Cain two goals; Vince McCue field goal) beat Mar-ist-Westem 16 (Kelvin' Remi, Mike Howse tries; Bryce Nicholson four goals). Halftime, 20-8. Referee, Mr Jim Stokes. ' r

Linwood 24 (Bruce Ashby, Ken O’Brien, Michael Brown, Russell Tuuta tries; Clive Joyce four goals) beat Sydenham 8 (Ron Simanu, Richard Setu tries). Half-time, 14-4. Referee, Mr Wilfred Iti.

Papanui 24 (Kerry Pearce two, Phil Smith,' Mike Black tries; Jason Cameron four goals) beat Eastern 18 (Warwick Taylor two, Tini Edwards, John Rangihuna tries; Rangihuna goal). Half-time, 12-6. Referee: Mr Ken Blackler.

Hornby 28 (Mark Nixon two, Brett Rodger, Wayne Blake, Phil Cross tries; Barry Edkins four goals) beat Kaiapoi 4 (Willie Young try). Half-time, 14-0. Referee, Mr Norm Taylor. Halswell a bye.

P W D L F A Pt Marist 13 10 1 2 261 172 21 Linwood 14 9 0 5 353 247 18 Addington 14 9 0 5 267 183 18 Papanui 13 7 0 6 261 261 14 Eastern 13 7 0 6 207 220 14 Hornby 14 6 1 7 215 247 13 Halswel! 13 5 0 8 218 231 10 Sydenham 13 4 0 9 227 299 8 Kaiapoi 13 2 0 11 280 4