Fifty Years Ago - Round 22, 1971

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George's look at the 1971 NSWRFL season from fifty years ago - the last round of action being Round 22.

The weather information below is crucial to understanding the results of Round 22, 1971. 

The final round of the season '71 was thrown into chaos by two rain and hailstorms on Saturday. The first storm caused the postponement of the Easts vs Souths match set for the SCG. It will instead be played Sunday at the Sports Ground. However, that match and four others will go ahead, only after ground inspections necessitated by a second storm, that drenched Sydney overnight. Despite the crazy weather one match was still played on Saturday 21st August.  

North Sydney (15) defeated Balmain (13) and all but snuffed out the Tigers chances of a semi final appearance.  Balmain will need Canterbury and Parramatta to also lose to have a shot at a finals berth. 

On a muddy North Sydney Oval, both teams scored three tries but Bears kicker John Booby kicked three goals while Tigers kickers, Steve Satterly could only manage two. The much-maligned Bears finished the season with wins in Rounds 21 and 22 and SMH correspondent Alan Clarkson, who had torn strips off the Norths players 14 days before, wrote the following;   

"The improvement in Norths, in their approach to football over the last couple of weeks, is nothing short of a football miracle. Two weeks ago, they were thrashed by a virtual reserve grade South Sydney side in a dreadful display. But yesterday week, they downed St George and yesterday they finished the season on a high note by beating Balmain".  

Cronulla (9) defeated Canterbury (3) and finished the Bulldogs season but it could so easily have finished differently.  After 79 minutes of football Cronulla were leading just, 4 - 3, from two penalty goals to the Berries one try.  Canterbury had the ball, but were at the wrong end, just 5 yards from their own line.  In desperation, scrum half Les Hutchings, knowing that their season was on the line floated a pass toward his unmarked winger, but the pass was intercepted by Cronulla centre Bob Wear who strolled across the try line and ran around to put the ball down under the posts.  Canterbury had the territorial advantage and dominated possession, but their goal kicker Gary Dowling missed all six attempts. Of-course in 1971 the leather balls, when waterlogged, became almost impossible to kick, particularly with the ‘toe-poke' method favoured at the time.   Muddied and bloodied, the Berries left the field hoping that Parramatta, like Balmain, had lost forcing a playing off for 4th place.  It was not to be. Col Pearce in his Sunday column praised the Sharks defence and nominated Cronulla fullback Chris Welham as a rising star while adding that Gary Dowling, will be an able replacement should club legend Les Johns, not return for the ‘Blue and Whites' in 1972.  

At Lidcombe Oval, Parramatta (15) defeated Western Suburbs (7) to secure 4th position on the ladder and join St George in the knockout semi-final.  Like all the matches, Parramatta and Wests battled through mud and slush but the Eels were boosted by the return of Ken Thornett at fullback and Keith Campbell at lock.   

Parramatta's experienced forward pack led by Dick Thornett and Bob O'Reilly dominated the Magpies six. Indeed, O'Reilly was described by Alan Clarkson, as magnificent, having a guiding hand in two of the eels three tries. "O'Reilly's ability to "slip" the pass to a support was football at its best".  Parramatta's win saw them qualify for the finals for the first time since 1965 and confirmed the wooden spoon for Wests, who had managed to avoid, ‘the trophy no-one wanted' since 1955.  

Three other matches were played on Sunday, but none had impact on the make-up of the final four.   

Manly (25) (having secured the minor premiership last week) defeated Newtown (5) in a match that was transferred from a waterlogged Henson Park to Brookvale Oval.  The Sea Eagles scored five converted tries to the Bluebags one and the result was never in-doubt.  What is in doubt is whether Peter Peters will play in Manly' Major semi-final against South Sydney.  Second Rower Peters and Newtown centre Brian Moore were both sent off by referee Gary Cook for using a "stiff arm" in tackles. There was some spite in the match which was only held because of the goodwill shown by the Newtown club.  (See below). 

The goodwill gesture by Newtown (allowing their home game to be played at Brookvale) was made so that every match could be completed on time and so that Manly would not be disadvantaged by having to play their final match after the 22nd. Playing later would eat into Manly' 14 days off - their reward for being Minor Premiers.  (Although this was the era of "Match of the Round" and many teams had one or both matches in a season, transferred to the SCG, it was rare indeed for one team to play an opponent twice on their own ‘dung heap' as Manly did against Newtown. No doubt Manly will remember this goodwill when (or if) Newtown find themselves in trouble and in need of a helping hand.)  

St George (17) defeated Penrith (0) finishing the season for the Panthers, who just 4 weeks ago were hoping to overtake Parramatta and grab 4th place.  Losses to two semi-finalists (Manly and St George) and to the Eastern Suburbs ended their season on a low note.  St George, on the other hand, go into next weeks elimination semi against Parramatta in good form - almost as if Coach Jack Gibson, planned it that way. Their loss to the Bears two weeks back was not, as some had written, a harbinger of doom, but rather just an example of how easily a team can lose when they underestimate their opponents skill or desire.  The Saints finished the second half of the season with 8 wins, 2 losses and a draw.  The only bad news out of the Penrith clash was the concussion injury to star fullback Graeme Langlands who'd scored 11 points from a try and four goals, before leaving the field.  Gibson in his usual style told reporters, "he's not too dusty" and indicated he expected his captain to play against Parramatta.  

The final regular season match for 1971 was the postponed match between foundation rivals South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs.   Souths (25) defeated Easts (14) in a match where Souths players threw the final pass for ALL 7 tries.  Souths handled the muddy conditions much better than their opponents. Easts Bill Mullins scored his team's only tries and both were gifts from Souths who treated the match almost as a training run. In both instances Souths were attacking and attempting to score on Mullins side.  Mullins anticipated brilliantly and grabbed the ball and sprinted the 75 yards to score untouched.  According to Phil Wilkins, while these two tries kept Easts in the match, the ‘Tri-colours' never really challenged Souths defence.  According to Wilkins, Souths are a "splendid side" and much of his match report praised Souths players, like second rower Bob McCarthy, half Bobby Grant, 5/8th Dennis Pittard and front rower John O'Neil and (no doubt with more space), could have found others to mention.  Souths, like Manly get 14 days off to prepare for their finals clash on September 4th.  The winner of the qualifying final will sail straight through to the Grand Final having played just 80 minutes football in 27 days.  

Next time: The next edition of Fifty Years Ago will be a preview of the 1971 Parramatta v St George elimination final, which will be on September 10, and then around the 14th, an extended match report. The column will follow this pattern throughout September for the NSWRFL 1971 Finals Series.