FOOTBALL.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19665, 8 July 1929, Page 14

FOOTBALL.

I RUGBY UNION.

CHARITY DAY MATCHES. TWO SURPRISES.

j Itesuit*.— i 'Varsity 8, Meriynle 7. ! Albion 9, Christcbarch C. I Old Boys 59, West Christciureh 0. Sydenham 15, Technical 12. Bleak, overcast v-catjer affected the attendance at .Lancaster ravk on Saturday, when the Charity Day matches were flayed. Probably not it l "re than 5000 people were present, the gate receipts being £232. After the payment of expenses and the charge of the Board of. t.'ontrot, usually reduced by 50 p"r ceiH. for Charity T>ay, the following; v. ,; l] participate: Sanatorium flu'M, UncniplojiDC-nt Vund, St. iS.iviour's Orphar-o~ rt , So-'iely for Profeetiou o' Women and Ch'lrtreu, and Xursc Huudo Association. Speed . and {i;;.-b characterised the O'.at same bv-twen 'Varsity avd Merivale, tltformer pro', ins \ery J5 i, ;<cd registering a surprise wiu by bustling tactics in tlie second spell. Once again the south ground provided l, surprise, cbri-stchurcU tailing before the Albiou onslaughts sa they did beforu those of Limvood. Sydenham aad Technical provided a. willing, but unacioulilic, cxhibilioti on tbe west i-couiid, the former winning by a small margin, aud at the .Show Grououa Jlish School Old i!oys rjassod the half-century tti their game with Vv'cst Christchurch, while the latter did no. register a point. A number of the Matakitaki earthquake rrr'ugees -".cere present as the guests ot the Kugby Union at Lancaster Park. 'Varsity (9) T. MeriTals (7). The teams v ore : Merivolc —M. lirosnsn; A. Howe, K. H. Xovrie. K. W. Fle-A-eilyn; D. Kich, X. Doireen; G. Rhodes; J. Gibson; L. Maginness, T. Kountree, J. Clark, T. lav son, V, Serra, G. Suckling, J. Kirkland. 'Varsity—W. J. Scott; K. X. Williams; X. O'D. Alexander, M. V. Calder; .T. R. Hawkes, W. K. Alexander; P. J. Ueonett; A. K. Smith: G. J. Burrell, J. Buckeridge, C. H. Perkins, M. Wells, J. Billings, K. G. Drummond, M. P. Kales. Tho Christcluirch-Albiott encounter attracted a good deal of attention, but those -"ho watched the game on the Oval 'were we'l rewarded. After a very tame start it became faster and faster, the speed being on all the eecond spell. The kick-off took placo very littlo behind flie schedule time, but there wore so many stoppages due to injuries to players that the match finished in semi-darkness, when excitement ran high, and some of the Merivale men were occasionally dropping an opponent irrespective of whether he had the ball or not. 'Varsitv earned their wid, speed being the biggest factor, although the restful rushes of the Maroon forwards played their part. Commencing badly, tho College backs later bandied generally in sound, and sometimes in brilliant, fashion, and harried the other t;ide with straight running and good tackling. The Merivale forwards were up to standard, but were handicapped in the matter of speed, : while the backs mi3sed Oliver, enterprise being sadly lacking. . Tt was in the forwards that \ arsity suffered the greatest losses through injuries and ] defections. W. Langbein and A. T. Montgomery being unavailable and C. H. Terkins having to go off early. "When W. J. Scott, the full-back, retired hurt, S. O'Brien, who was tried for a while as substitute, shaped rather poorly. Scott himself had been doing well, and his losb was a severe one. Calder was'another who had to go off, and J. ti. Keir went in at centre, N. o'l>. Alexander going to the wing. In the concluding stages Williams scored a couple of fine tries, using his pace to good effect. He was always dangerous, while Calder, on the other wing, lacked hia pace but played soundly. N. O'D. Alexander missed more passes than the other two, and threw away good chances in this way in the opening exchanges. Hawkes made one of Williams's tries by snapping up speedily, and he and the other five-eighths, W. i!. Alexander, handled exceedingly well. The latter is speedy for hiß inches, and has grasped well the idea of cutting through. He spies openings very quickly. Bennett did some clever things at half-back, when he escaped the virile attentions of Gibson, the Merivale wing-forward, and had many chances of opening up the game, as 'Varsity were very successful in the scrums, and monopolised the ball for good periods. Smith, the 'Varsity wing-forward, gave Rhodes no quarter, and nipped many a promising Merivale movement in the bud. Of the other forwards, Wells was conspicuous, albeit he does not know much about giving a pass.

Norrie was the weak link in the Merivale backs, dropping pass after pass at the critical time. He has failed in the same way several times lately, and really Bhould try to effect an improvement. Were he surehanded like Brosnan, victory must finally have rested with Merivale. Brosnan's fielding was highclass, his tackling deadly, and his line-kick-ing generally good. The two wings, Row© and Flewellyn, were sound, but neither was brilliant. They found themselves beaten for pace. Not a great deal was seen of Kich, but he snapped a very pretty potted goal, and Dorreen, although making some good bursts in midfield, found himself seldom attended by his colleagues. When he was, Dorreen did not see them. In tho semidarkness Rhodes nearly pulled the game out of tho fire for Merivale. when he sped from halfway, beating man after man, but instead of passing at the critical time, he did what many another back has done at the psychological moment —tried to beat a team by himself—and failed.

Kirkland is a demon tackier, but what wa3 the matter with the Merivale hooking? Rountree and Suckling strove like Trojans to ovoid defeat, and were ably supported, the Merivale pack, however, finding th'jmselves lacking in pace. The referee appeared to be rather tender with both wing-forwards, and Gibson got round ou Bennett without penalty, sometimes in record time. An excellent dummy and speedy burst from the scrum by Rhodes was the first bright incident, although his pass was intercepted. Drummond was leading the 'Varsity rushes. Gibson went off hurt, and immediately he resumed Perkins left, obviously suffering from a painful injurj-. R. E. Grant took the latter's place. N. O'D. Alexander lost a good chance when he failed to take a cross-kick by Kirkland. Then Calder went pavilionwards, and Kerr filled the vacancy. lFor such a mild game, up to this stage, there [was a surprising number of casualties. Nortrie was weak, and dropped a pass close up, and Gibson's neck embraces were not very effective. Again Norrie flung an opportunity away when, twenty yards out, he did not accept a long pass from. Rich. Merivale wero not to be denied, and Rhodes and Maginness went over together, the former scoring. Norrie failed with a good kick from a difficult angle. After Bennett had made a good run, and was well downed by Rhodes. Merivale gained the ball from several scrums. The 'Varsity backs were handling well, and Williams was dangerous only ten yards out, until Brosnan tackled him artistically. Dorreen cleared for Merivale. The play was getting very fast, but a good deal of it was of a scrambling nature. Once Bennett beat the opposing inside men badly, and he and W. E. Alexander sent the other backs away. Williams crossed, only to be called back for a very obvious offside, some of the crowd hooting an eminently correct decision. Dorreen and Kirkland were the next casualties, but they soon resumed. Presently N. O'D. Alexander was pushed out near the corner, and Wells, following the line out, dived successfully, but failed to convert his try. Scott was hurt twice in quick succession, leaving the ground the second time. O'Brien took his place, but the rearguard formation of 'Varsity was changed shortly after. It was a tackle that hurt Scott, ard he rolled over and over in evident pain. Before the end of the spell Rich took a pas 3 in front of the goal, and poised to take a sure left-foot snap at the posts, the ball sailing over the bar. Speculating marred the opening of the second half. Brosnan made a good, although unsuccessful, attempt to pot, and Wells headed a raking forward rush to halfway. Merivale had to defend desperatelv. all" of the College back 3 fi.kins high passes in meritorious fashion. There was a Ion" delay while Buckeridge received ambulance attention. Dorreen made a fine run; but was smothered, and the ball travelled quickly between Hawkes and William?, who beat Brosnan at the corner. Williams failed to convert. Collrjre were _ a point behind, the being 7-t>. Xorrie missed with a pen-alty-kick, and play in th* cemidarkness be came desperate. At length Williams received another chance through a pass from Alex, ander. and he was again too fast for the defenders. Wells failed with the tirt Merivale lost their last chance when Rhodes made a sensational run, to be erased a f eiT yards short. 'Varsity 9. Merivale 7. Mr A, B, Henderson •»»» tefer««.

Albion (9) t. Chxi*tcb.urcb (6)

i When Albion aud Cbrietchurcb met in tee ' f.'it round, too former von by a concerted ' :rv to ail, b'i; the of tbe R«d acd . B'"acks were cert Jin that their champ-o.:-. ■ v ould get their revenge wten neit the tester ' or Alb-on on Saturday agi-iin "tee.t Chriil i ceurch, this time by 9 points to 6. The game was a hard one, the forward.; ■ of both sides ba% iug a busy tiroe, aitbougi'. it ar;"^^ r ed ti '' the Cbrisichtireh pact, with one or l*o eiceptioas. v ere not giving of : their best. Citr-jtchureh had the advantage in M-eight and belght, but Albton stood u:> i veil to' them, and there vrss more devil ir. i their play. Cbi'ißtchurcb --vere the tirst to ! open the score, a penalty goal kicked by pnttiag them tnree points m ft-3 ' "cad before the match had beer, long i : i ' n-ogro". The iame player got another thrc- • ioiata'bv similar means a little later. Aibio i ' to open tip the fame, but the iacklin- to v.bicb they v.-ere opposed abvayi '■ ni-jpedVnei-* efforts in the bud. During the , Manchester appeared to score a : trv," but it vox allowed the referee eri- , aectly not seeing the incident. There v.-ai i no further score at ha.i-time Sho-t'y after the game had been restarted i -:ie "'cad Crietcburch had was reduced to i tv-o points, Steel letting a field goal. Albion ba"led on the'r forv.-ards doing most o: the afa"kin" 'work, ard their backs assisting i them vith v.-ell-plaeed kiek.. Then came the on'y trv of the matcc. The hall was lande'i i -ust over the line at the comer, and Steel, runnin- tip. beat Stephenson ;n the touelt- ' down. Having plenty of time with the kick. i vrhi'e'i v.-as not charged, he placed the ball ; beautifull'- -betveen the posts, putting his ' side three r.oints in the lead. From this <n~e Chi-istchiirch attacked desperately, but ' o'thou'h a score seemed trithin reach on ttro occasions tho defence proved e<)ual to the ; ( teriTd= t" "'hieh it vas subjected. and I i'lbiou left the field vkh the distlnctioii of '.Mviic- b<'o ten Christehureh in both tho first ; .•.,] . ; eeo-.d rounds. ' " :. r r 3f. O. Sinelair reierpsd. ' Sydenham (15) v. Technical (12). ! Svdouham"3 v. in. tho ijrst they have had \ 'h'b'vear. vrss quite deserved, tor they held i t'ie iiceodaney * most of the v.ay. ~S.ot i that, this fcuperiorily va> greatly asrktvi, ! for the two teams were 'veil enou™h matched Ito nrovide a '4ood tui?ie. ir.deed, in.tho : .-ivoiid spell, -wlhui Iho scores 'were running ' rj.j -! •.- even, r'■ c forv, srd> '.vat-metl to their ' -"oi-'c and '.Ho referee, ha'.'my a full vie'v of ' i r'j "' 'incuicn t. ! ' thought it, better that ' X.. j i'lunmilf'(Sjdcnl-.a.Mi and K. Kutron (Teeh- ! vi.-al) should v.-fb the closing stages, or the come from the touch-line _ _ plajers -especially tra ba_c;.s I ,ro "besinning to fi"d themselves. On ris.ture?v fhev opened P ; a.'-' given tne chance. -nd tbev handled -ieH to bnug oQ t?'. erai ! L-ight movements. This was tne play tho; ~uie them their points. Ibe'i- rearguard has developed much more ,n,i>iy inn te Technical'B, and no team can nftord to taeto •■■' li-'bt'y Rimnier. half-back, Kcslop and !Ni?lehurs't, five-cigbths, and Young, centre, showed up in home good movements on . Paturdav, vrhilo W. Brown continaos to shov.form as" a winger. They seem to have got out ot rhc habit ot running across-held to -■ome oxtcrt. though this may hare been due to the fact, that they did not have to combat sovero opposition in tbe iMjle bncks. In the forwards it was different. Jce.hnieal's pack always ' bu*tles, and. tovera. times, by sheer hard work thoy pushed their opponents back, only to lack that back thrust which would have given tnem points. Technical do not show much enterprise- m initiating scoring movements. Tbey give the impression that they would Booner \we well alone than hazard anything which mignt cost them points. Technical'B score included a good field ~oal from the hoot of Westwood, (rreathatch having opened Sydenham's account earlier in the game with an unconverted try. and Hji churst having added another. Thus, at haUtime Svdenharo were leading by two points. One of' the few glimpses of good play by Technienl's rearguard came early in the second spell, Collier going across. sides began to assert themselves, one to retain tno lead and the other to recover it. A good bout of passing saw Young across lor Sydenham, and another nippy back movement Kiiv him repeat the performance. _ ■ Ne try was converted. Kerr, on tho wicg. added another try, for Sydenham to lead by b points. A willing forward rush by_ thn Greens eaw this margin reduced to a, lor Henderson scored for Technical and Irench converted. Mr R. Kennedy wns referee. Hifh School Old Boys (50) t. Wert Christchurch Old Boys (0). Old Boys were in a scoring mood on Saturday, when they defeated West Christehureh Old Bovs by 59 points to nil. As the score indicates, it was a rapid succession of tries, the winners scoring 33 tbe mood suited them. It was only a matter of the backs getting the ball, either from the scrams or from the loose rushes, and then some brilliant passing bouts would eventuate, the "whole rearguard participating. West Christehureh have played t-ome good games, and given various teams some hard tussles, but Saturday's match was a fiasco from start to finish. The West Christehureh defence was extremely poor, and their attacking weak. There were very few occasions wrien they invaded Old Boys' territory. Harris had very little to do mt full-back for the -winners, whilst the three-quarters had every opportunity of scoring, W. Merritt being prominent in this direction, and also converting a number of tries. Hastie used his speed to great advantage, scoring a splendid try. Innos • and Hay, the fiveeighths, were brilliant, taking the most difficult passes with certainty. The forwards rjut plenty of vigour rata their work, although it was unnecessary. G. EU -was always en the ball. S. J. Burrows, and N. Porterfield also being a tower of strength. A. W. Roberts -was the only back to make any attempt at stemming the Old Boys' onslaughts.

SENIOR B GRADE. At Show Grounds, Old Boya 16 beat Merlvale 7. Referee: Mr J. Gray. At Sunnyside. Sunnyaide 9 beat North Canterbury 3. Referee: Mr D. Barrett. At Elmwood Park, Old Collegians 8 drew with Albion 3. Referee: Mr W. Smythe. At Linwood Park, Training College 24 beat Linwood 9. Referee: Mr J. Bradshaw. At Kaiapoi, 'Varsity 16 beat Kaiapoi 15. Referee: Mr L. Hardie. At St. Andrew's, Christchureh 17 beat St. Andrew's Old Boys 14. Referee: Mr *i. Steele. JUNIOR I. Linwood 23, Albion 0. Old Boys 33, 'Varsity 0. Christchureh 18, West Old Boys e. Merivale 10, Sydenham 9. JUNIOR 11. Christchureh 9, Technical Old Boys S. Merivale 8, Old Collegians 6. Old Boys 41, T.M.C.A. 0. 'Varsity 14, North Canterbury 8. Linwood 14, Aranui 0. JUNIOR in. New Brighton 12, West Old Boys ». Training College 3, Papanui 0. Christchureh 25, Richmond 0. Kaiapoi 8, Albion 6. Old Boys 17, Sydenham 3. Aranui 18, St. Andrew's Old Boys 8. PRESIDENT'S I. Boys' High School 24, Technical Old Boys 0. ' ' St. Andrew'.s 31, 'Varsity 9. Christchureh 34, Christ's College .3. St. Bede's - 42, Linwood 3. Merivale 12, Old Boys - 6. PRESIDENT'S 11. Merivale 22, Christ's College 3. Albion 13, Riccarton 3. Bromlev 10, Richmond 8. Halsweil 5, Old Boys 3. PRESIDENT'S 111. Bovs' High School 12, Merivale 3. Old Boys 6, Sydenham 3. Linwood 6, North Canterbury 5. Sumner 47, Papanui 0. UNDER 17. . Linwood A 6, Old Boys 3. Technical 13, Boys' High School 3. Kaiapoi 5, Sydenham 4. West Old Boys beat Merivale. by default. Xorth Canterbury beat Linwood B by defaUlt" UNDER 16. Richmond 17, Sydenham 9. Technical 12, Boys' High School 11. Merivale 16, Sumner O. UNDER 15. | Technical A 14, Technical B 3. j Merivale 12, Boys' High School B .-.. Boys' High School A 47, West Old Boys 0. SCHOOLBOYS. UNDER Bst 71b. Sydenham 19, Christchureh 0. Merivale 9, Linwood 6. TJKDER Tat. I Svdenham A 21. Merivale 0. Albion 5, Sydenham B 0. Linwood 54, Christchureh B 0. . Old Boys IS, T.M.C.A. 0. ELLESMERE V. PENINSULA. i In its first representative game of the season the Ellesmere team defeated Peninsula bv 14 points to nil to Saturday at Leeston. Tries were scored by L. Ebert (2) and Williamson (1). Ebert converted a try and goaled from a penalty kick. -Mr H. A. Brown refereed. WEST COAST V. DULLER.'. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TEkESHAM.) WESTPOET, July 6. The first representative Ruphy match of the season wa*3 p/:avcd on Victoria s<juarj tHs a'-arnccn, ''Sen West Coast defeated Bugler "bv- 5 poir.ts (a try ecored t>v Mason converted by Bell) to nil The «m. was plaveo under cola and wet conditions. Coast, both in backs ar-d forwards, ?av e a brighter display than did Biiiler Mmm ■YiAu;n"ale BcH, ft™ rreilaa (Coasti and G<x)dalir Stewart, Gardiner, and Grahim (Euller)' played culatiudinjly.

Oaaaipiomaip Tame. P. V.'. J.. i\ A i'LS -■Icrrvaie . . 1'j 8 i; 165 6'.' h Old F.o;-j 10 S •j 247 S3 g Christchai Albion CO il T jo 7 4 156 .11 4 Si 7 U'l 7 ' Varsky JO « 4. 169 iy-j t t.irpveoil I'J r> 5 68 63 n Tc-hnk-al "West Sydenham 3 1 3 11 - . . Jl 1 8 10 SO 159 ; •J 41 ]SJ 1