Wild’s first field goal advances Marist-Western to grand finals

Press, 21 August 1989, Page 26

Wild’s first field goal advances Marist-Western to grand finals

No-one was admonishing Carl Wild for disobeying his captain’s instruction after Marist-Westem Suburbs had beaten Linwood, 5-4, in the Canterbury rugby league major semi-final at the Addington Show Grounds yesterday. Wild, aged 31, kicked the vital field goal which nudged Marist-Western ahead only three minutes from the end of normal time, with extra time looming. The field goal, from about 35m, was the first Wild had scored in 19 years of service to the club. A fellow forward, Peter de Goldi, had gained possession from a Linwood fumble and slipped a pass to Wild. His captain, Tony Wildermouth, called for Wild to “work the ball upfield and we’ll set up a field goal.” Wild decided to cut out the middle man in those instructions — "why should the backs have all the glory?” he asked later. Wildermoth replied that Wild’s kick was "not a bad effort for someone who was in President’s grade six weeks ago.” So Marist-Western, breathing a collective sigh of relief, advanced to the grand final on September 3. Linwood now has to lift itself for a second tilt at the title. On Sunday it will line up against Addington, which eliminated Hornby, 16-12, in the minor semi-final yesterday. In that match Addington scored two early tries to slip 10 points clear and tenaciously held on as Hornby steadily cut into its advantage. The last hour was tryless amid many, errors, and Addington will need improvement if it is to have the measure of Linwood in the preliminary final. Marist-Western 5, Linwood 4 Marist-Western: Bryce Nicholson, Tony Wildermoth

goals; Carl Wild field goal. Linwood: Glen Moore try. Half-time, 2-0. Referee: Mr Jim Stokes. Semi-final football can be a complete contrast to all that has preceded it, and that theory was reinforced by Marist-Western’s slender success over Linwood. Their earlier encounters this season had been highscoring affairs, with MaristWestern prevailing by 27-20 and 30-21 on its way to winning the Massetti Cup. Little of that froth was seen yesterday as both sides engaged in a tough, close-mark-ing tussle for the short cut to the grand final. Linwood deserved to be ahead on points, territorially and in the number of opportunities created, as the match neared extra time. But Carl Wild was to come up with his knock-out drop. As the hooter sounded the Linwood fullback, David Perkins, was well astray with his own field goal attempt from long range. It was the type of game that spectators suffer through, then tell their absent friends how much they enjoyed or hated it depending on their allegiance and the outcome. A penalty goal by Bryce Nicholson was the only scoring of the first 54 minutes. Then Linwood came up with the sole try of the match. Close to the Marist-Western goal-line on the sixth tackle, Linwood’s second-rower, Neil Tuli, almost held on for too long. But the ball dribbled back as he was tackled, quick passing exposed a lack of Marist-Western cover and Carl Hall neatly presented Glen Moore with a clear 10m spurt to touch down. The totals were tied 10 minutes later when Tony Wildermoth, who had taken over the goal-kicking after Nicholson was injured, was on target with a penalty shot. The deadlock remained until Wild, who had been a

second half replacement in the second-row, proved that he is far from second class when it comes to snap field goals. But Marist-Westem, on that performance, cannot count on claiming its first championship in what will be its seventh grand final appearance.

It was the first time all season that Marist-Western had failed to cross its opponent’s goal-line. On the other hand, it was testimony to Marist-Western’s own tight tackling that Linwood had not previously been restricted to just one try in any match. However, the Linwood scrum-half, Ken O’Brien, was all but across in the first spell. He reached the line but was prevented from forcing the ball.

Moko Rangiaho and Russell Tuuta, the big men who carry so much of Linwood’s forward responsibility on their broad shoulders, were still draining the energy from their rivals in the final quarter.

O’Brien was a constant problem for Marist-Western with his acceleration, Justin Wallace was quickly into stride as a second half substitute, and Hall, Moore and Darryl Henare saw plenty of action in the three-quarters. The grit displayed by Mar-ist-Western in overcoming a 6.15 scrummaging deficit — ironically, its own hooker, Jeff Bates, took the only tight head — was epitomised by its prop, Peter de Goldi, who had just returned from captaining New Zealand at the student World Cup in England.

De Goldi’s untiring spirit earned him the “man of the match” award, and it was appropriate he should give Wild the ball for his field goal. At fullback, Mike Howse, was outstanding in his defusing of Linwood’s “bombs,” a solo effort which shone in an otherwise diligent

but unremarkable backline performance by Marist-West-ern. Addington 16, Hornby 12 Addington: Kevin Hapi, Pomare Connell tries; Vince McCue four goals. Hornby: Phil Cross try; Blair Harding four goals. Half-time, 14-6. Referee, Mr Roger Brott. Hornby paid the penalty for a sluggish start against Addington in the minor semifinal yesterday. But even after giving its rival a 1 flpoint start, Hornby had the winning of a match in which it started a very warm favourite. Recent form meant nothing in that opening quarter. Addington bounced back from a capitulation of Halswell two weeks earlier, while Hornby never looked like carrying on in the manner which had demolished Linwood in the final premiership round. The bewildering manner in which Addington can completely dominate proceedings for parts of any game was clearly visible as it rattled on two tries and was within a few centimetres of a third all within the first 15 minutes. Lance Setu, surely the most effective all-round player on the field, broke through soon after the start to set the supporting Kevin Hapi up for the first touch down. Setu used to serve Hornby in the centres. Yesterday he tormented his old club with his high work-rate at loose forward. Addington continued to attack, and its scrum-half, Malcolm Aldridge, was held up within Hornby’s in-goal area. It was soon compensated when Pomare Connell made an angled run from the act-ing-half position and shouldered his way across. Just as abruptly, the mood changed. Hornby’s international forward, Wayne Wallace, was suddenly conducting operations. Simon Angel,

so frequently the extension of Wallace’s ball distribution, acted as a decoy, Addington fell for the ploy, and the big Hornby centre, Phil Cross, met with little resistence on his way to score. , For a short period Hornby held command. Angel and others streamed onto Wallace’s deliveries; for variation Wallace took up some of the running himself. But the nearest Hornby came to increasing its total was Cross’s near-miss at retrieving his own chip kick beneath the Addington cross-bar. While Addington edged out to an eight-point cushion at half-time, Hornby could only regret the two costly miskicks by Blair Harding from-short range. The third quarter also belonged to Hornby, and Harding regained his touch to reduce the deficit to only two points. Hornby was dominating the scrums (Michael Crawford had two tight heads in an over-all 12-7 advantage), but its error-rate was rising fast. Addington’s players feasted on Hornby’s fumbles, and Vince McCue, who had a fine all-round game in the Addington centres, gave his teammates a little more leeway with his fourth goal from eight attempts. * Setu and McCue were decisively Addington’s best. Aldridge and Hapi combined effectively in the halves, and Mike Dorreen and Willie Naoupu made the most of too few chances which came their way. The “man of the match” award went to Angel, and Hornby’s supporters can look confidently to the future while it keeps producing forwards as effective as him and Crawford. Mark Nixon caused plenty of headaches for Addington’s cover, and Neville Woodham, Shane Hand and Cross also had their backline moments in a lopsided team performance..