From rec.sport.rugby Sun Sep  4 12:26:53 1994
Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby
Path: owl.csrv.uidaho.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!news.clark.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!trane.uninett.no!eunet.no!nuug!EU.net!uunet!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, 30 Aug 1994 23:01:41 GMT
Lines: 228
Status: R

.                                                         
  |    |          _________________________       |    |   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 27-28th August 1994
                            --====--

System Rebuild
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know a few of you have e-mailed me about the NZ NPC, but I'm 
currently in the throes of getting a brand new FreeBSD system up 
and running.

As yet e-mail isn't working reliably, and I know I missed a few which
came in (the system received them and then trashed them :(). I've
also had a good deal of news trashed too, although this now seems to
be working. So sorry if I seemed to be ignoring you, by all means
try e-mail again, or post it as news :)

Curtailed results
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry folks, a bad dose of flu has curtailed this week's effort :(
however here are the basic results, and a few comments etc.

FIRST DIVISION
==============

North Harbour 36  Counties 6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North Harbour brought a touch of reality back to Counties outlook
on Saturday as they thrashed them 36-6 in a scintillating performance.

For Harbour the scoring went..
Tries: Frank Bunce, Glen Osborne, P Woods, Ian Jones, Liam Barry,
       Ant Strachan.
Conv:  Burton 3

For Counties...
Tries: None.
Pen:   D Love
Drop:  D Sheppard

Counties never really looked in the match as North Harbour ran rampant
in the backs with Walter Little and Frank Bunce looking very sharp.
Another player to shine was fullback Glen Osborne, who can't be very
far off an All Black jersey.

The match was played at Takapuna.

King Country 7  Auckland 71
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auckland powered little King Country aside in this match. The scoring
for Auckland was as follows..
Tries: W Sotutu 2, C Spencer 2, S Tatupu 2, E Clarke, J Tonuu, C Dowd,
       R Nesdale. A penalty try was also awarded.
Conv:  Shane Howarth 8

For KC..
Tries: O Turuva
Conv:  W Te Huia

The match was played at Taupo. 

Taranaki 16  Otago 31
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A strangely hesitant Otago did enough to win fairly comfortably in the
end against a spirited Taranaki side, who have lost their insprirational
captain Mark 'Bull' Allen for the rest of the season.

At times Otago played as we all know they can, with superb ball retention
through many phases, however they lacked much of their penetration, and
at times seemed loath to try for the break, being content to gain little
ground whilst rattling through rucks aplenty - a touch of the All Blacks
game where there is often much activity and many phases, with little
to show in terms of ground gained or attacking opportunities created.

Jeff Wilson went off after a niggly little punch in the face from a
Taranaki player, complaining of double vision. He was replaced by
Curtis, who also took over the kicking.

The scoring went like this..
For Taranaki..
Tries: D Asi
Conv:  D Lilley
Pens:  D Lilley 3

For Otago..
Tries: J Timu, P Cooke, M Ellis, J Kronfeld
Conv:  G Curtis
Pens:  J Wilson 2, G Curtis 1

Wellington 31  Waikato 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This result just shows how inconsistent Wellington are still, after
2-3 years of trying to eradicate this tendency. They played some
superb rugby in the second half to beat Waikato on Saturday. This
was a complete turn-around from the dismal effort they put in last
week against Counties.

Despite a distinct lineout advantage through All Blacks Steve Gordon
and Mark Cooksley, Waikato couldn't make their possession count. At
half-time Wellington had competed quite well, and had defended
vigorously, but trailed 16-6 to a determined Waikato.

After the break Wellington came out a totally different side, with
a backline which looked bent on creating chances and running the ball
hard and fast. In the first 13 minutes of the half they scored 3
tries, including a penalty try awarded by NZ's premier referee Dave
Bishop for a blatant trip by fullback Todd Miller on Jason O'Halloran.

To be fair, although Wellington could say they attacked brilliantly
at times, the two other tries were really the result of some weak
tackling.

SECOND DIVISION
===============

Northland 78  Wairarapa-Bush 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Northand..
Tries: N Berryman 7, D Manako 2, J Collins 2, R Hilton-Jones
Conv:  W Johnston 9

Wairarapa-Bush..
Tries: M Mason
Conv:  P Roach
Pens:  P Roach

Manawatu 30  Southland 42
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Manawatu..
Tries: W Furnell 2, J Smith, C Izatt
Conv:  J Smith 2
Pens:  J smith 2

Southland..
Tries: G Blaikie, S Culhane
Conv:  S Culhane
Pens:  S Culhane 8
Drops: S Culhane 2

Nelson Bays 21  Hawkes Bay 44
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hawkes Bay..
Tries: G Falcon 2, G Konia, N Hewitt, Penalty try.
Conv:  J Cunningham 5
Pens:  J Cunningham 3

Nelson Bays..
Tries: P Fitsemanu, M Milne
Conv:  G Wright
Pens:  G Wright 3

South Canterbury 38  Horowhenua 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
S Canterbury..
Tries: J Mawhinney, S Wills, G Dempster, B Laney, D Hunter
Conv:  G Dempster 2
Pens:  G Dempster 3

Horowhenua..
Tries: C McFadyen
Conv:  C Graham
Pens:  C Graham


RESULTS TABLES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
__________________________________________
1st DIVISION  P   W   D   L    F    A  Pts
Auckland      3   3   -   -  135   39  12
N Harbour     4   3   -   1  147   79  12
Otago         4   2   -   2  111  103   9
Canterbury    3   2   -   1   83   77   8
Counties      3   2   -   1   73   76   8
Wellington    3   2   -   1   71   86   8
Waikato       3   1   -   2   93   78   4
Taranaki      3   -   -   3   65  103   1
King Country  4   -   -   4   62  198   -

__________________________________________
2nd DIVISION  P   W   D   L    F    A  Pts
Hawkes Bay    4   4   -   -  201   80  16
Southland     4   4   -   -  144   93  16
Manawatu      4   2   -   2  133   97   9
Northland     4   2   -   2  185   88   8
BOP           3   2   -   1  137   81   8
S Canterbury  4   1   -   3   99  140   5
Nelson Bays   3   1   -   2   69  119   4
Horowhenua    3   -   -   3   65  108   1
Wairarapa     3   -   -   3   36  223   -


NEXT WEEK
~~~~~~~~~
The matches being played next week in the first and second divisions
of the NPC on 3/4th September are as follows:

1st Division
Waikato            vs    Canterbury        Ranfurly Shield match, Rugby Park
Otago              vs    Wellington        Carisbrook, Dunedin
Counties           vs    Taranaki          Pukekohe
Auckland           vs    North Harbour     Eden Park, Auckland (Sunday)

2nd Division
Bay of Plenty      vs    Northland         Tauranga
Hawkes Bay         vs    South Canterbury  Napier
Southland          vs    Horowhenua        Invercargill    
Wairarapa-Bush     vs    Nelson Bays       Masterton

A couple of mouth-waterers here: the Ranfurly Shield challenge by
Canterbury at Waikato's ground Rugby Park in Hamilton, and the
Auckland vs North Harbour game on Sunday.

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