From rec.sport.rugby Fri Oct 21 12:09:44 1994
Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby
Path: owl.csrv.uidaho.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!cs.uoregon.edu!usenet.ee.pdx.edu!fastrac.llnl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!ames!waikato!comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix.gen.nz!docdevl!doc
From: doc@docdevl.actrix.gen.nz (Paul Waite)
Subject: NZ NPC
Organization: P&P Wellington, New Zealand
Message-ID: 
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 09:47:02 GMT
Lines: 290

.
  |    |          _________________________       |    |   NZ NPC
  |    |         /oooooooooooooooooooooooo/\      |    |   * Results
  |____|       /ooooooooooooooooooooooooo/ |      |____|   * Reports
  |    |     /oooooooooooooooooooooooooo/  |      |    |   * News
  |    |    |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|   |      |    |
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
         The New Zealand National Provincial Championship

             This article features short reports news,
              and results in the NPC in New Zealand.
                 Weekend of 15-16th October 1994
                           NPC Finals
                            --====--


HEADLINES
~~~~~~~~~
o  The winners of the NZ National Provincial Championship, and champions
   of the First Division are Auckland, who deservedly beat North Harbour
   at Harbour's Onewa Domain ground in Takapuna. The match was badly
   marred by continuous foul play by both sides which resulted in two
   sendings-off, and ruined the game as a spectacle. The final score
   was 22-16.


o  Winners of the Second Division Championship, and promoted to first
   division for next season are Southland, who upset predictions by
   deservedly beating Hawkes Bay by 20-18 in Invercargill.


o  Winners of the Third Division Championship are Mid-Canterbury who
   also upset the tipsters, beating Poverty Bay 26-16 at Ashburton.
   Mid-Canterbury will therefore play second division football next
   season.


_____________________________________________________________________
###   FIRST DIVISION FINAL  #########################################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_____________________________________________________________________
NORTH HARBOUR 16  AUCKLAND 22                        Half-time:  0-10

Harbour          tries  W Little
                 kicks  W Burton(1 conv, 3 pen)

Auckland         tries  O Brown, S Fitzpatrick, J Chandler
                 kicks  S Howarth(2 conv, 1 pen)


The teams      AUCKLAND                NORTH HARBOUR
               ~~~~~~~~                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               Shane Howarth           Glenn Osbourne
               Waisake Sotutu          Peter Woods
               John Ngauamo            Frank Bunce
               Eroni Clarke            Eric Rush
               Lee Stensness           Walter Little
               Carlos Spencer          Warren Burton
               Ofisa Tonu'u            Ant Strachan
               Zinzan Brooke(c)        Richard Turner(c)
               Mark Carter             Liam Barry
               Robin Brooke            Mark Weedon
               Richard Fromont         Ian Jones
               Shem Tatapu             Blair Larsen
               Kevin Nepia             Ron Williams
               Sean Fitzpatrick        Slade McFarland
               Olo Brown               Graham Dowd


Aucklands power-play game in the forwards put paid to North Harbour's
hopes of winning the First Division Final of the National Provincial 
Championship.

Although the gutsy second half effort by Auckland produced some fine
moments, there were far too many aspects marring the occasion for
it to be the sort of showpiece finale that it should have been.

After a number of early skirmishes, which saw Auckland's Robin Brooke
and Harbour's Mark Weedon sin-binned, referee Colin Hawke issued a
general warning to each captain. Unfortunately the niggle continued,
and in the 22nd and 27th minutes of the first half Hawke ordered
Harbour winger Eric Rush and Auckland's Robin Brooke from the field,
Rush for taking Zinzan Brooke out with an elbow, and Brooke for
stomping.

These dismissals brought some order to play, although as a spectacle
it continued to be disappointing, in marked contrast to some of the
superb rugby each side has played during the season.

While they were handicapped by the loss of Brooke and of their openside
flanker Mark Carter, who had to retire when his facial wound was
re-opened, Auckland could thank the efficiency of their pack and their
control in the set pieces and rolling mauls for their victory.

During the second spell Auckland tied up the ball for a crucial period
when Harbour looked like they would use the wind and grab the win,
and this was augmented by a tremendous contribution from prop Kevin
Nepia at the front of the lineouts and in general play.

Halfback Junior Tonu'u also had an outstanding second half with his
choice of tactical options playing into the wind. It was a clever
chip kick for touch by him which set up the lineout from which
poor Harbour first-five Warren Burton fumbled to give Sean Fitzpatrick
an opportunist try. Other than this, Burton had an excellent game,
but it has to be said that he probably lost the game for Harbour
with this disastrous mistake, which was the turning point.

After winning the toss, North Harbour gave Auckland first use of
the blustery wind, and then limited them to a 10-0 lead by the
half-way stage. Auckland's points came from 1 penalty (from 4 attempts),
and one try after 20 minutes when tight-head prop Olo Brown burrowed
over from a maul.

In the third quarter Harbour controlled the game, with Burton and
Strachan using the wind intelligently, and it looked like they
had the game in their hands. Burton landed penalties in the 7th,
13th and 23rd minute of the half for Harbour to get to 9-10, but
it was at this point that Burton made his mistake. From the lineout
he fumbled a good pass from Strachan, knocking the ball forward and
allowing Fitzpatrick to dive on it to score.

This fired the Auckland side up, as they saw the game back in their
favour. A series of strong forward drives after winning a lineout
saw replacement Jason Chandler score another.

Harbour tried desperately to get back on terms, and finally began
to spread the ball wider but it was really too late. Their only
success came late when Walter Little charged down an attempted
clearance by Lee Stenseness, and dived over to score.

This was the last act in a sad affair marred by violence, two
sendings-off, two sin-binnings, a number of injuries, and a good
deal of ordinary play. Colin Hawke, now recognized as New Zealand's 
premier referee, said that it had been the dirtiest match he had
ever controlled.

All-in-all, the NZ NPC First Division Final was a very poor effort
which did a great deal of harm to New Zealand Rugby, and certainly
disappointed a huge number of rugby fans. The only consolation is
that both sets of players must also realise this by now.


_____________________________________________________________________
###   SECOND DIVISION FINAL   #######################################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_____________________________________________________________________
SOUTHLAND 20  HAWKES BAY 18                          Half-time:   3-8 

Southland        tries  S Harvey, P Henderson
                 kicks  S Culhane(2 conv, 2 pen)

Hawkes Bay       tries  A Hamilton, J Karika, J Cunningham
                 kicks  J Cunningham(1 pen)


"The winning of the toss was the winning of the game", so said
Southland captain David Henderson, brother of team-mate and
former All Black flanker Paul Henderson.

Henderson opted to concede the first use of the squally, biting
southerly wind to the Bay. At half-time Hawkes Bay only led by
8-3, and this mistake was what set up the Southland win.

Forced in the first spell to use the wind and aware of their tendency
to start slowly, Hawkes Bay became anxious to see points on the
board, and this anxiety led to mistakes.

For Southland's part, they had devised a strategy to deal with the
strongest part of the Bay game, that of their powerful running
loose forwards Gordon Falcon and Dustin Watts. By hitting these
players with hard, low tackles, they prevented the Bay dominating
the game in this area. This cleverness, allied with an indomitable
spirit led Southland to their deserved victory.

The Bay were unable to attain any continuity, and were unable to
force the ball into Southland territory either by hand or kicking.

Hawkes Bay scored only one try in the first half in the 10th minute,
though they missed another four minutes earlier when George Konia
was narrowly beaten to John Bradbrooke's kick behind the line. The
try came from a Culhane dropout turning back in the wind and being
caught by halfback David Wheely who was caught in possession 5m
from the line conceding a scrum. Falcon detached and drove, and
flanker Jeff Karika hurdled the ruck to score.

Culhane narrowed the margin with a penalty in the 15th minute, his
only attempt into the breeze. On the other hand Jarrod Cunningham
missed four before achieving his only success just before halftime.

Hawkes Bay got a good second half start when winger Aaron Hamilton
scored with a clever kick ahead and chase. Southland responded
within a couple of minutes with a Culhane bomb eluding Cunningham
under the posts and Paul Henderson winning the race to the ball
over the tryline. When Culhane added a penalty two minutes later
it was 13-13.

The Bay achieved one of their longest spells of fluency in the middle
of the second half and from a series of rucks from which Watts and
Karika presented possession, Cunningham scored an unconverted try.

Southland once again had the reply however when outstanding No.8
Stu Harvey dived over from an attacking scrum. Culhane's conversion
gave them their lead.

There was 13 minutes remaining, and only 2 points between the teams.
Hawkes Bay tried to recapture the fluency, and made some impressive
drives, but always managed to squander the advantage at the last
minute. The chief reason behind this was the tigerish Southland
tackling, spurred on by the home crowd.

As the minutes ticked away the Bay effort became desperate, and
players became guilty of making mistakes. Even in the last seconds
they looked to have the ability to gain a try through their driving
play, but Falcon took the ball up too far in his desperation and
was wrapped up.

It was a pity that both of these teams couldn't play in the first
division next season.


_____________________________________________________________________
###   THIRD DIVISION FINAL   ########################################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_____________________________________________________________________
MID-CANTERBURY 26  POVERTY BAY 16                    Half-time:  20-5 

Mid-Canterbury   tries  G Frew, penalty try
                 kicks  S Middleton(2 conv, 4 pen)

Poverty Bay      tries  J Kerr, C Baistow
                 kicks  A Rangihuna(2 pen)


19-year-old Mid-Cantabrian Stephen Middleton kicked his team into
the National Second Division by booting 16 points in their
26-16 win over favoured Poverty Bay on Saturday.

Middleton, who practices goal-kicking among the sheep on his Methven
farm paddock at home, sealed the match with two second-half penalties.

The Bay had a slick backline, but could not match the big-hearted
Mid-Canterbury dorwards. An awesome scrummaging display by
solid tighthead prop David McCrea helped lay the foundation for
Mid-Canterbury's dominance.

They led 20-5 at halftime but turned to face an icy headwind and a
rampant Poverty Bay backline in the second half. A Carl Baistow
try and an Api Rangihuna penalty put Bay within striking distance
with 12 minutes to go, trailing just 23-16. However Middleton
sealed it with a fine kick into the stiff wind seven minutes
from time.

Mid-Canterbury opened the scoring with a try to Geoff Frew, which
was converted by Middleton. Frew, who is retiring and will not play
next season, darted through 2-3 defenders to dot down.

Poverty Bay's New Zealand Schoolboys winger James Kerr, who looked
impressive but got few chances, easily ran around fullback Darren
Cranfield to score for Poverty Bay. However Middleton kicked
two penalties to keep MC in front.

Just before halftime, the MC forwards, led by locks Vernon Muir and
John Smitheram drove to the line but were smothered by Poverty
Bay and referee Paul MacFie awarded a penalty try. The crowd of
4,000 got behind Mid-Canterbury and really gave them a lift.

Second five eighth Frank Walker and fullback Eddie Robinson were
most impressive and always looked capable of breaching the Mid-
Canterbury defence, although flankers Mike O'Halloran and Stuart
Doig were outstanding in the tackle, and deserved a lot of the
credit for shutting out Poverty Bay.

Well done Mid-Canterbury, and enjoy your Second Division football
next year!

_____________________________________________________________________

That's it from the NZ NPC for this year. I hope you enjoyed all the
reports, and I'll see you again next year!

Cheers.
Paul.
-- 
____________________________________________________________________________
Paul Waite                                         doc@docdevl.actrix.gen.nz
Wellington, New Zealand                                       +64-4-233-1764
----------------------------------------------------------------------------