From rec.sport.rugby Thu Aug 18 19:02:55 1994
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From: doc@docdevl.actrix.gen.nz (Paul Waite)
Subject: NZ NPC
Organization: P&P Wellington, New Zealand
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 07:42:24 GMT
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Lines: 165

.                                                         
  |    |          _________________________       |    |   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 13-14th August 1994
                           --====--

HEADLINES
~~~~~~~~~
Counties and Canterbury produced upsets this weekend. Counties upset
Otago 29-24 at Carisbrook, and Andrew Merhtens kicked Canterbury
to a 25-16 victory over North Harbour.

These results helped Auckland to take the lead in the table,
ahead of North Harbour and Otago. However the lead is shared with
Counties, both teams standing on 8 points after 2 wins from 2 games.

John Kirwan featured prominently in the Auckland win over Taranaki
by 34-14. Auckland scored five tries.

Waikato beat King Country 46-10 in it's Ranfurly Shield defence
at Rugby Park, Hamilton. The backs scored 5 of Waikato's 7 tries.


MATCH REPORTS: 1st DIVISION
===========================

Waikato 46  King Country 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waikato won comfortably enough, but only after a poor opening 15
minutes in which they surprisingly struggled to gain possesion.
In a turn-around from last season, it appears as if Waikato's
strength is now more in the backs, with only Steve Gordon and
Warren Gatland remaining of the celebrated front five. Especially
outstanding was young Todd Miller, the 19 year old Waikato fullback.

The second quarter of the game saw Waikato recover from their bad
start, and some exciting backplay resulted in 5 tries to open up
a 31-3 halftime lead. Mathew Cooper got a hat-trick and finished
up with 23 points. Andrew Strawbridge and fellow wing Wayne Warlow
scored tries, as did captain John Mitchell.

King Country got a consolation try in the second half when Mathew
Seavil pounced on a Waikato backline breakdown to score.

Canterbury 25  North Harbour 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North Harbour were missing four All Blacks, and Canterbury were
missing three, but no excuses could take the gloss off this fine
Canterbury win.

Canterbury coach Vance Stewart devised the strategy after studying
North Harbour's 33-18 win over Otago in the early part of this season.
 "Otago tried to play them at 100mph and got shut down allowing North
  Harbour to counter-attack from Otago turnovers. We decided to
  roll a few mauls, get the ball behind them and give ourselves a
  wee bit of room." Stewart said.
Paula Bale with a try, and Andrew Mehrtens supplied all Canterbury's
points.

Counties 29  Otago 24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winger Jonah Lomu used his strength to score 2 tries as Counties
upset an Otago team desperate for points. The first came after
30 minutes when Counties ran a free kick. Lomu stepped out of a
tackle and then exploded for the next 18 metres to score and give
Counties a 15-3 lead.

Otago fought back to score 10 points in the last few minutes of the
half to go in trailing 18-13. Otago in fact looked like getting back
into the match after 30 minutes of the 2nd half and the score was 
21-16, but Lomu scored another try. Otago attempted to run from 
their 22 when Guy Curtis had the ball ripped from him by Counties 
captain Errol Bain, who passed to Lomu for an easy trot to the line.

Otago's chances of making the top four, and hence next year's super
10 competition don't look too good at present. This actually has
ramifications for the Otago All Blacks, who might not get early
match practice in World Cup year. To get into the top four they
must win four of their remaining six matches, with only 1 point
from their opening two matches. 

Auckland 34  Taranaki 15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The NZ Colts duo of 1st-5 Carlos Spencer, and fullback Adrian Cashmore
played excellently in this win for the Aucks which was orchestrated
by their backline, rather than forward power.

Taranaki got off to a great start with a Jamie Cameron drop goal after
only 14 seconds. The traditional Taranaki vigour in the pack worked
well for them, and they forced Auckland into many errors. Missed
chances by veteran former All Black Kieran Crowley cost Taranaki a
commanding lead, but he succeeded with only 1 out of 5, and missed
a drop attempt from right out in front.

Cashmore triggered Auckland's scoring in the 20th minute, when his
speed gave him the space to set Carlos Spencer off on a clear run
to the line. He again made the score when he hit the line hard
from a scrum, and unloaded to Waisake Sotutu to touch down.


MATCH REPORTS: 2nd DIVISION
===========================

Hawkes Bay 41  Northland 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bay showed that they were strong candidates for the National 2nd
Division Championship with a convincing win over Northland in Napier.
They scored 5 tries to Northland's 3, dominated possession and always
threatened to break away.

Gordon Falcon, standing in as captain for injured Dallas Seymour,
scored the first and last tries to cap an outstanding game. George
Konia scored twice within 3 minutes midway through the first half, as
the Bay raced to a 19-0 lead. At half-time the score was 33-15.

Manawatu 33  Horowhenua 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Manawatu played quality rugby in the first half and hng on in the
second to take a 33-22 win in Levin on Saturday. They scored 5 tries
aided by a strong wind, and led 30-6 at the half-time whistle. The
forwards won good ball, and the back conbined well, particularly from
set play.

Horowhenua plicked their game up in the second half, but good defence
held them out until the end.

Bay of Plenty 61  Wairarapa Bush 17
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bay of Plenty scored 8 tries - 5 in the last 20 minutes - to beat
the Bush in Masterton on Saturday. Outstanding for BOP was hooker
and captain Rex George, flanker Brett Sinkinson, and half-back
Joe Tauhiwi. The Bush battled well, and may have had around 50%
possession, but their back lacked penetration.

Southland 29  South Canterbury 19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Southland beat S. Canterbury 29-19 at Invercargill on Sunday. First
five-eighth Simon Culhane scored 19 points with an excellent display of
drop kicking and penalty taking. The Henderson twins Paul and David
put South Canterbury under plenty of pressure and forced many errors
which Culhane capitalised on. The win was mainly due to the forward
effort which was strong and controlled, however the Southland backs
were largely nullified by good defence.


RESULTS TABLES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No tables to hand as yet. Wait 'til next week 8-).


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