Wellington v Canterbury 1978: A ?staggering drubbing?

Above: Halfback Charlie Henderson gets a pass away, with Wellington front rowers, hooker Kevin Horan (left) and captain and prop Al Keown watching on in support. Photo credit: The Dominion 18/9/1978.

Wing Bernie Fraser scored a then Wellington record four tries in a single NPC/ITM Cup match and the man on the other wing, Stu Wilson, was also on fire as part of Wellington's emphatic 29-7 victory over defending champions Canterbury at Athletic Park on 16 September 1978 to effectively seal the first of four of Wellington's title wins to date.

The Evening Post proclaimed of the win that "the capital's staggering drubbing of the mighty Canterbury machine leaves them alone at the top of the table with Counties the only major threat to their title bid."

From a team perspective, Wellington, who had finished sixth in the inaugural NPC in 1976 and sixth again in 1977, had a terrific chance to take Canterbury's scalp and then win their last two matches against mid and lower table contenders Taranaki and Hawke's Bay and the NPC title would be effectively theirs for the taking. This of course also assumed that fellow contenders at the business end of the season Counties also stumbled late - which conveniently they did, losing to lowly Taranaki in their last match and ultimately handing the spoils to the Lions on a plate.

But this was all in the future as the start of a muddled season got underway in early June. In the days before a set round-robin season and the playoffs were introduced, the NPC schedule was nothing short of chaotic. In its infancy the first part of the NPC season at least was all over the place.

In 1978, for example, there was the situation where Ranfurly Shield holders Manawatu had played six of their 10 championship matches by the time that Canterbury had played their first in late July. Similarly, in August, at the height of the competition, Northland played five games, Counties one and Manawatu none at all.

Nevertheless it all came together at the end. Wellington started the campaign in the first week of June with a close 19-15 win over Counties, fullback Brian Cederwall kicking two dropped goals. Three quick second half tries characterised their 14-9 win over Otago in early August, followed by a 7-16 loss to Southland, a 22-10 win over North Auckland (Northland) and a 6-13 loss to Manawatu in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in front of 27,000 screaming fans in Palmerston North. At the halfway stage of their campaign they had three wins from five.

The turning point in the competition came in the second week of September, when Counties beat Canterbury 21-6 and ended their run of 15 consecutive victories. Less than a week later, Canterbury lost to Otago 21-15. At the same time Wellington had gone on to register wins four and five against South Canterbury 26-10 and Auckland 12-6 - and thus their first title was now looking likely if they could beat Canterbury in their next match. Canterbury was just two points behind the Lions, but they had a game in hand making this a huge clash for both sides.

Wellington grabbed their first win over Canterbury since 1974 on the back of some exhilarating counter attacking and running rugby, with multiple try-scorer Fraser and his wing partner Stu Wilson the biggest threats, Wilson setting up three of Fraser's four tries.?

Canterbury dominated possession and territory for much of the game, but were unable to outfox Wellington's staunch defence and couldn't produce any magic out wide.

Wellington attacked with flair off the top of lineouts, with jumpers John Fleming and Murray Mexted ensuring a good supply of ball and leading to Fraser's first try in the 15^th minute. He scored his second just before halftime when Wilson ran back a Canterbury clearing kick that failed to find touch. His third, 15 minutes into the second half, came in similar circumstances running back a mis-timed Canterbury kick for touch. He added the icing on the cake with his fourth try just before fulltime by flying in from a 5-metre scrum.

Wellington coach Ian Upston said afterwards to the Evening Post: "This is like Jubilee Cup rugby, you take each match as it comes and then prepare for the next one."

Upston's Lions duly went on to defeat Taranaki 19-15 and Hawke's Bay 18-10, Counties fell to Taranaki in the last round and the title was Wellington's.

Captained by prop Al Keown, who retired at the end of the season as the capital's second most capped player with 149 appearances, Wellington were the competition's leading try scorers and Bernie Fraser scored eight of them. His Wellington record of four tries in one match was equalled in 1984 by Mike Clamp against Manawatu in 1984 and by Hosea Gear against Counties-Manukau in 2009.

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