RUGBY LEAGUE Hornby Beats Marist To Take Clear Lead

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 14

RUGBY LEAGUE Hornby Beats Marist To Take Clear Lead

The Hornby full-back, I. T. Drayton, scored 23 points and was the dominating figure in his team’s decisive defeat of Marist, a win that has now left Hornby seven points clear with four matches to play in the 1966 Canterbury Rugby League championship.

Drayton scored three tries and was one of three players to kick seven goals on Saturday, the other two being J. C. Hawthorne (Papanui) and J. E. Bond (Kaiapoi).

Individual performances were not the only features of an interesting round in which four matches averaged 40 points each. Two threequarters, A. N. Amer (Papanui) and B. McDonald (Sydenham) also scored three tries.

The margin of Hornby’s win was rather surprising but it was thoroughly deserved and in no way flattered Hornby. Marist was just too slow, its positional play was poor and the Hornby hooker, K. Neiman, won the scrums handsomely.

Sydenham caused the upset of the day by coming from an 11-point half-time deficit to defeat Linwood, 23-16. Papanui and Addington scored expected victories over Kaiapoi and Christchurch respectively. Results: — Hornby 32, Marist 6. Sydenham 23, Linwood 16. Papanui 32, Kaiapoi 17. Addington 30, Christchurch 15. Championship points (with Vivian Cup points in paren-

I. T. Drayton Dominates HORNBY 32: I. T. Drayton 3, P. J. Tongue 2, R. A. Netman tries; Drayton seven goals. MARIST t: J. K. Keremata 2, M. H. Mohl goals. Although It was Drayton who dominated the match as the outstanding player and points scorer, it was a magnificent team effort that took Hornby to Its surprisingly easy win. The Marist defence was poor throughout and at times reached posbibly an all-time low for a main game at the Show Grounds this season. On attack Marist was little better. Only when B. F. Dobbs nearly cleared out from the field did it look like scoring but Drayton came across to push Dobbs into touch. Hornby's backing up was very good and it used Its wealth of possesion to move into scoring positions. The strong running of Dravton and the loose forward. Tongue, was responsible for five of the tries but It was the fine approach work of the whole team that led to the tryscoring movements. The Hornby backs were faster all-round and R. A. Neiman, B. W. Langton and J. M. Bray made numerous breaks from set-play that caught the Marist defence standing flat-footed. The young Marist full-back, D. R. W. Baird, had a tiring day and was constantly faced by several attackers with a try already a foregone conclusion. Only P. V. Smith Impressed In the Marist backs as a safe defender from set-play and D. R. Barton was the best of a rather tired-looking forward pack. Tongue, D. W. Moore, and W. Pratley were the best running forwards for Hornby and K. Neiman had a field day tn the scrums. _ _ Referee: Mr T. C. Houston.

well in the Sydenham pack, while F. Clark and Ralstrick posed problems for Linwood from set play while McDonald ran well further out.

E. Kereopa was the strongest running Linwood forward although he spent much of his time amongst the centres. Godfrey was nippy around the scrums and combined well with E. Williams. Referee: Mr K. Henry.

four points behind, but Addington’s quick moving of the ball in the second speU proved too much. Both teams played attractive football with Addington giving one of its best displays for some time. The margin of seven tries to three was a fair indication of the attacking ability of the two sides. Some excellent tries were seen, with McCosh crossing for two very fine touch downs. Christchurch, too, had its moments of bright play and the tries by Williams were the result of very hard running up the line with only a few inches of space in which to work. J. H. Fisher had moments of greatness, particularly in the early stages of the game when he made some excellent breaks with a good turn of speedLater, however, his old fault reappeared and he was found drifting out among the threequarters Instead of being in the thick of the forward work. Addington’s centre, Dewes, gave another very good display of strong running and D. Hooper performed with credit on the wing. D. Robinson and L. Tehuia held the Christchurch backline together and E. Bennett and T. Parker were good value in a pack which refused to give in at any stage of the game. Referee: Mr R. Pont.

theses are):— W L D For Agst pts Horn. 10 0 0 215 69 20 (6) Add. 6 3 1 198 127 13 (4) Mar. 5 4 1 154 131 11 (2) Lin. 5 5 0 151 149 10 (2) Kai. 4 6 0 139 267 8 (4) Pap. 4 6 0 160 157 8 (2) Syd. Ch’ch. 3 7 0 135 170 6 (2) 2 8 0 114 196 4 (2)