Chris Earl and Cropper shine as Canty wins

Press, 14 September 1989, Page 44

Chris Earl and Cropper shine as Canty wins

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Doug Bruce would have enjoyed his assignment for the North Auckland rugby match at Lancaster Park yesterday much more than when he coached the Canterbury A team in 1987 and 1988.

Mr Bruce’s duty yesterday was to select the recipient of the “player of the day” award, and with Canterbury winning its fifth match in the National Mutual first division championship, 35-21, he could unbiasedly plump for a Canterbury player.

There the choice became more difficult, for Canterbury had three players, all forwards, who uncorked champagne performances — Chris Earl, Phil Cropper and Robin Penney. That was not the case when Mr Bruce’s Canterbury selections opposed North Auckland in his reign. After losses by 27-7 and a record 29-3, he found it difficult to single out any Canterbury player for special awards. The adjudicator nodded in favour of Earl and what a marvellous match the underrated Glenmark tight-head prop had. Even though Cropper — fit, fast and fearsome — became the first Canterbury forward to score three tries for the province since Chris Read, also a flanker, achieved that feat twice in 1970, Earl’s selection was thoroughly merited.

His was the sort of performance that can win inclusion at late notice into teams of a higher echelon. The convener of the All Black selection panel, Alex Wyllie, was in attendance; he could not help but be impressed as he and his fellow selectors prepare to settle on their 30 players for the tour of Wales and Ireland. Earl’s 60m chase of a long kick ahead which forced a somewhat hasty clearance by the North Auckland fullback, Warren Johnston, drew attention but his was not an isolated moment under the spotlight. His lineout jumping at the front, effective all season, was an asset which Canterbury cashed in on and he was ever in support, setting up the ruck, bursting on to the ball as the mauls spun sideways.

It was a different match from the intense, gladiatorial contest that took place between Canterbury and Auckland at the park 'll days ago.

The ball was seldom kept in the tight for long, the match opened up, perhaps too much at times, but it provided entertainment and seven tries, five of them to Canterbury which equalled its best championship try tally this season.

Canterbury scored sev-

eral spectacular tries, perhaps the best being the one which Paula Bale finished off by a direct attack on a fast evaporating defence, but the two tries scored by North Auckland would rate highly in any top tryscoring competition.

Admittedly both came in the second half and at a time when North Auckland was deeply in the red and had nothing to lose — other than the match of course — by chancing its arm.

The first stemmed from a Canterbury error on North Auckland’s 22m line and stopped with Mark Seymour scoring at the other end after superb passing and support play by the backline.

That was after 57 minutes and closed North Auckland to 31-15, but even better was to come. The second try, after 69 ■minutes, covered 100 m and emanated from a scrum on the North Auckland line and the first five-eighths, Kurt McQuilkin, audaciously running the blindside from behind his line. The French sometimes get away with that sort of cheek but most other teams do not contemplate such impudence. McQuilkin, did well, progressing 20m, then the flankers, Neil Ruddell and Willie Phillips, chimed in, and the danger man, Seymour, carried on. Others joined the act before Richard Watts scored a try which the crowd of 6000 loved and let its appreciation be known by way of acclamation.

That brought North Auckland to within 10 points of Canterbury and with 11 minutes remaining the prospects of a glorious comeback were still there.

But the dynamic Cropper, a human fireball, quickly doused North Auckland’s lingering hopes with his third try. ■His first was the product of sheer determination when seemingly held on* the line; his second was the result of a big Canterbury scrum push which netted a tighthead and the loose ball fell to him after Chris England featured in the buildup; his third was attributable to his alertness which had him on the scene when Bruce Deans was lowered with the line beckoning. The 56 points scored were the most between the two provinces in their 20-match history, Bale’s try was his eighteenth for Canterbury this season and equalled the record by Craig Green in 1985,

and Warren Johnston’s 13 points enabled him to surpass his own record for the most points in a season by a North Auck-

lander. He has tallied 166.

For the Canterbury coach, Frank Jack, a number of pleasing features emerged but top of the list was avenging the losses of the last two years. Those losses had been hard felt.

Canterbury’s scrum held firm, the lineout count yet again easily favoured the home team, and there was no questioning the fitness of the players. But Mr Jack said he counted seven scoring opportunities which were missed and he made mention of the spate of errors by both sides which slowed the flow of play. It was probably because of those errors — unforced knock-ons, passing without watching where the pass was going and the failure in midfield to lower the ball-carrier — which influenced Mr Jack to award Canterbury a mark of six out of 10 for the test. North Auckland’s coach, Danny O’Shea, was unable to complete a hattrick of wins. He said that his team made too many mistakes — “and you can’t afford to do that at this level.”

“We started badly and some bad early refereeing decisions went against us. This Canterbury team was a better team than we had played before and we didn’t get as much good possession as we expected.” Mr O’Shea singled out his captain, the lively hooker, Mike Barry, McQuilkin and the resourceful centre, Charles Going, as players to impress him in his team. Of the aspiring All Black lock, lan Jones, Mr O’Shea rated him as a player for the future, Canterbury’s early control and gleaning of points — it was 15-0 ahead after 29 minutes, 21-3 ahead at half-time, and 31-9 in front after 56 minutes — gave it the buffer it needed when North Auckland displayed the brand of rugby it is known and respected for. For Canterbury, Phil Cropper (3), Paula Bale and Wiremu Maunsell scored tries; Robbie Deans kicked three conversions and three penalty goals. For North Auckland, Mark Seymour and Richard Watts scored tries; Warren Johnston kicked two conversions and three penalty goals. In the curtain-raiser, the first battalion R.N.Z.I.R. (Burnham) beat Force Maintenance Group (Linton), 3911.