RUGBY FOOTBALL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23973, 14 June 1943, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SURPRISE WINS IN CHAMPIONSHIP £ AIR FORCE AND R.N.Z.A.F. ? r “ TEAMS BEATEN a Football in the senior division of the Canterbury Rugby Union’s competitions on Saturday provided several surprises, P and the victories of Athletic-University over R.N.Z.A.F., the defeat of Air Force ,j by Linwood-New Brighton-Technical, and ' a Battery’s first win of the season over the Albion-Merivale-Southern team were not consistent with the form shown earlier in the season. The fourth game was bein tween Army, the leading team, and >e Christchurch, and only eight points sepls arated the teams at the finish. The 3- grounds were in first-class order and ■e there was no strong sun to affect the Judgment of players in handling the ball. ’® Following are the results of the senior games;— 4 Linwood-New Brighton-Technical 11, Air Force A 5. Athletic-University 23, R.N.Z.A.F. 21. IS Battery 16, Alblon-Southern-Merlvale 12. is Army A 11, Christchurch 3. d The championship points now stand as follows:—Army A 7, Air Force A 5, Ath,r letic-University 5, Linwood-New Brightone Technical 41. R.N.Z.A.F. 4, Albion-Meri-vale-Southern 21, Christchurch 1, Battery t" J ’ n LINWOOD-NEW BRIGHTON-TECHNICAL V. AIR FORCE A The game on the oval at Lancaster Park between Linwood-New BrightonTechnical and ’Air Force A provided an £ exhibition of hard, vigorous football—e football that at times became hard enough ' for tempers to become frayed with the 1 usual result—incidents that might well ® be left to the wrestling or boxing ring, 1 Playing in front of much more clever backs, the Air Force forwards did not accord the support nor the protection that ? they should have given. Their one idea g seemed to be to hook the ball in the i scrums—and this they did very successs fully—and get it out to their backs at t any cost. The methods were the same a from start to finish and 'played right into ;, the hands of the quick-breaking forwards • on the combined team’s side. Holding 3 the ball in the back of the scrum and putting all their weight into the back did not appear to be known by the Air Force forwards as a counter to the quick 3 breakaways. Always when Air Force ‘ hooked the ball two forwards broke off ? the side of the opposing scrum and hari ried the backs. No team can afford to , take two forwards out of the scrum if the • other remains compact. The lesson 5 might do Air Force a lot of good, for at ’ present it is a back team purely and 1 simply. Linwood-New Brighton-Technical thoroughly deserved its win becabse of the 1 tenacity of its forwards in the hard, tight t scrummages and for the consistent folt lowing up and solid tackling. The sweepi ing forward rushes, admirably controlled, : found several Air Force backs not over i anxious to go down on the ball, and this • is a weakness that has manifested itself : in previous games. Such a weakness spells defeat, for dribbling rushes are seldom ; stopped except by a player who goes down to the ball. Playing thd loose for- ; ward game, Herman was in a position to exercise a firm control over his other forwards. He led rush after rush, played s havoc with the work of the opposing in- : side backs, and was on hand to score the two tries that gave his side victory. As a loose forward, Herman appears to be j up to the best All Black standard. Two other forwards who assisted Herman j greatly in raiding tactics were Mitchell and Lindstrom, two very handy men in ' any team. Waterland, behind the scrum, i did everything a good half-back should ; do, but an impression of McEwan, at ■ first five-eighths, is that he was playing : out of his position. Adopting the wrong tactics, the Air Force forwards were up against it from 1 the start, and in the heavy rucking and in the line-out were inferior to their j rangy opponents. Lee was again the . mainstay, while Martin and Meads were solid. The best back* on the ground was the Air Force three-quarters, Dick, a quick beginner and a very strong runner. His chances were nil when the other backs should have concentrated on giving him every opportunity. Dick is the best wing three-quarters seen on a Christchurch football field for a long time, yet with experienced backs who can handle a ball, inside him, he was not given a scoring chance. Hewitt, behind the scrum, was elusive, but lack of variety in the t play of the other backs was the team’s e downfall. The cross-kick—one of the f most spectacular and best scoring moves— ,t was not exploited by Air Force during F the game. 1..,;;.-Linwood-New Brighton-Technical won r by'll points (a goal from a try, a try. and a penalty goal) to 5 points (a goal from a try). Mr H. T. Coulter was . referee. j ATIHLETIC-UNIVERSITY v. R.N.Z.A.F. o High scoring marked the game be- c tween Athletic-University and R.N.Z.A.F. a teams, at Rugby Park, and a last-minute g try Which was converted, made a total of 44 points for the 90 minutes’ play, a Athletic-University quickly put on 10 points for after Knowles had narrowly t missed a try the backs swung into ac- o tion and Mitchell, with a fine burst of v ■ speed, finished up under the posts with fl 1 a try that Callanan converted. The Ath- v letic forwards, showing their true form, hj swung into action with a bright passing s rush, which ended In Morgan scoring for s Callanan to convert. Wilson for R.N.Z. b A.F. was the next to score. He picked o up a dropped pass In his own 25 and hj after passing, again received the ball to hj outpace the opposition and score under v the posts while a few minutes later Pear- b son cut through the defence and scored k after a 50 yards run. Both tries were con- n verted by Wilson. Waratimi quickly added a try for R.N.Z.A.F., and again Wilson converted, making the score at half-time 15-10 in favour of R.N.Z.A.F. Williams . and Mitchell scored for R.N.Z.A.F. in f quick succession and the score read 21-10 g against Athletic-University. Callanan re- n duced the margin with a penalty goal c and converted a try scored by Mcates, who shewed great dash in his race for „ the line. Interest was keen with the score at 21-18, but Dansey cut in smartly to c make the scores even with Callanan left j, with the responsibility of winning the 0 game. He kicked the goal. j. Athletic-University won by 23 points (four goals from tries and a penalty goal) to 21 points (3 goals from tries and two j, tries). Mr J. F. Parkes was referee. p BATTERY v. ALBION-SOUTHERN- t( MERIVALE e Battery had not won a game before a its defeat of Albion-Southern-Merivale at Sydenham Park on Saturday. It was a F hard game from start to finish. C Tire combined team held an advantage In the first spell and tries were scored by Symes and Sweeney (2), while for B Battery, Strathearn scored a try which Geary converted. Early in the second half, Geary kicked a penalty goal and scored two tries, one of which Galloway S converted. Garrett kicked a penalty goal T for Albion-Southern-Merivale. Battery won by 16 points (two goals N from tries, a try and a penalty goal) to 12 points (three tries and a penalty goal). Mr A, E. G. Rogers was referee. c ARMY A. v. CHRISTCHURCH Played at the Show Grounds, the match between Army A and Christchurch resulted in a win for the former, though determined efforts by Christchurch kept Army A from gaining a decisive victory, b Taking the initiative from the start, H Army A had little trouble in gaining two tries in the first half, the first the result a of a smart back movement early in the game. D. Jones scored with little opposi- 2, tion. Ragged play followed, with Army showing a lack of the combination they had displayed in previous games. Soveral opportunities were missed by the backs, nullifying Foster’s good work at C half-back. The Christchurch backs " showed good defence and the fact that tl their line was crossed but once move in the first spell by a team that had a F big advantage in weight bears this out. To Lindstrum came the sec- D ond success when he swerved outside the wing to complete another P back-line movement. The try was converted by McCammon. Forward play continued loose in the second half, with _ frequent kicking, in which the two fu!i- j" backs excelled. A good penalty ki"k *; by Langford for Christchurch was the 1 next highlight and a signal for a concerted effort by Christchurch. Army n brightened up in the last few minutes and Perkins scored a try, which was not A converted. Army A won by 11 points (a goal from L a try and two tries) to 3 points (a penalty goal). Mr A. H. Cowles was referee. ri Second Division V The Training College team, which was T recently promoted from the second grade hj competition, gave a bright, breezy dis- it play of football against older and more w experienced players in A.S.C., as a cur-tain-raiser at Lancaster Park. The Train- iy ing College players passed the ball about with refreshing freedom and were un- u lucky to be beaten by 8 points to 6. In two successive shots at goal by Dorreen the ball struck the cross-bar and bounced infield. Other games in this division resulted:— Army B 20, Air Force B 7; Kaiapoi 14, Canterbury Agricultural College 12. Second Grade. —R.N.Z.A.F. 3, LimvoodTechnical 3; Albion-Southern-Merivale 19, Air Force 0; Athletic-University 14. Air o Force C 3. Third Grade. —Fijian Naval 16, Llnwood- u Technical 8: Albion-Southern-Merivale 21, Athletic-University B 8; Boys’ High ts School 29, Athletic-University A 6; St. 2, Andrew’s College 17, Christchurch 5; St. C Bede’s College 57, Athletic-University CO. S Christ’s College 3, Training College 3. fi

Under 18 Grade.—Boys' High School 9, High School Old Beys sT~Tgchnlcal 24. Christchurch- West.High 'School 3; Sumner 11, Merlvale 6; Albion 6. Christ’s College 3. Under 17 Grade.—Athletic 9, Merlvale 6; Technical 8, Albion 3! New Brighton 17, High School. Old Boys 16. Under 16 Grade.—Southern 25, Technical 3; Linwobd 14, Kaiapoi 12. . Under 15 Grade.—Technical A 21, Technical 80. Under 7-stone Grade.—Albion 33, Richmond 5: Southern 10, Sunnysl.de B; Merlvale 8, Llnwood 3. Under 6-stone Grade.—Llnwood A 28. Llnwood B 0; Southern 12,.* Albion 5; Christchurch 0, Athletic 0. ■