Rugby League: Canterbury Bulls win Bartercard Cup

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The Canterbury Bulls had to wait until just two minutes from time to take the lead for the first time and hold on to beat a plucky Marist Richmond Brothers 32-28 in a pulsating national domestic final today.

In an exciting tryfest - there were no penalties in this one - the visitors became the first team to win the coveted trophy for a second time.

Two late tries from Chris Newton got the Bulls home after the Auckland side had led 12-6 at halftime and 22-12 13 minutes into the second spell.

"It was a hugely courageous performance by all of them," said Canterbury coach Phil Prescott minutes after his captain Shane Beyers had raised the Bartercard Cup at Ericsson Stadium. "It was not our best performance of the year but I always thought we would have enough petrol in the tank to come home as strongly as we did.

"We have trained hard all season and especially in the last few weeks when we have sat it out while the other teams have gone through the play-offs."

Inspired by the work from Taylor Pelenise, who along with Beyers and Lusi Sione was named in the New Zealand A team for the upcoming British tour, Eddie HeiHei and Newton, the Bulls kept themselves in the contest.

Late errors cost Marist Richmond Brothers dearly after they had scored six tries of which only two were converted to take a handy lead with a try 16 minutes from time.

That try, scored by Karl Guttenbeil after good work from Jerome Ropati who made a flying return from Sydney to play the match after being called in as back-up for Stacey Jones, was typical of many of the almost dozen tries scored by players backing up.

After both teams had completed early sets, the Brothers opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a spectacular try when Harry Kapi dotted down wide out after an ambitious one-handed overhead pass from Glen Rota.

After stretching their lead to 12-0 with two more unconverted tries, the home side gave away a couple of soft penalties which gave the visitors the opportunity to play their way back.

Even so, it was not until the 38th minute Canterbury scored their first points when Beyers, playing his 85th consecutive cup match, ran on to a good ball from Sione to score. James O'Brien, who had started the move, added the conversion to close the gap to six points at the break.

Within a minute of the restart, and following a huge midfield burst by Fred Prescott, the Brothers re-established their 12-point advantage. The reply was just as quick when O'Brien broke from the base of a scrum to score and add the extras.

The give and take continued until Newton settled the issue with two tries wide out. "To be down for so long and come back like this is awesome," said Beyers.

"We were a bit rusty after two weeks off but we finished strongly to win for the second time."

Man of the match O'Brien paid tribute to the Canterbury forward pack who paved the way for the victory.

"We knew if we could hang in there until halftime, we had a chance," said O'Brien. "We knew we were the fittest team in the competition. That got us there in the end."

In another thriller, Mangere East beat Hibiscus Coast 30-29 in the curtainraiser to win the Fox memorial for the first time after two unsuccessful attempts in previous finals. Ahead 14-12 at halftime, both teams bagged five tries in a game which could have gone either way.

Canterbury Bulls 32 (Chris Newton 2, Jimmy O'Brien, Vince Whare, Shane Beyers, Toby Wallace tries; O'Brien 4 goals)

Marist Richmond Brothers 28 (H Kapi, B Collins, H Turua, K Guttenbeil, S Lavea tries; T Esera 2, S Matai 2 goals).

Halftime: Marist Richmond 12-6.

Fox Memorial grand final:

Mangere East Hawks 30 (T Taula, S Makahili, M Tawhi, A Wharton, T Tuifelasai tries; T Waipouri 5 goals)

Hibiscus Coast Raiders 29 (R Gilmore, R Enoka, T Thompson, D Avega 2 tries; M Wilson 4 goals, C King field goal).

Halftime: Mangere East 14-12.

- NZPA