RUGBY LEAGUE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25181, 12 May 1947, Page 5

RUGBY LEAGUE

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP PREBBLETON BEATS PAPANUI The fifth round of the Canterbury Rugby League's senior comeptition was played on Saturday in excellent conditions. In the senior championship Prebbleton, after leading Papanui by 13 points to 0 at half-time, was hard pressed m the later stages, and eventually won by a margin of only seven points. Other senior results were:— Sydenham 13, Christchurch 5. Rakaia 13, Addington 11. Linwood 31, Riccarton 5. Points in the senior championship are: Hornby 8, Sydenham 8, Prebbleton 7, Linwood 6. Papanui 4, Rakaia 4, Christchurch 3. Addington 2, Riccarton 0. The following teams have had byes:—Rakaia, Linwood, Papanui, Riccarton. and Hornby. PREBBLETON V. PAPANUI In an interesting game at Sydenham Park, Prebbleton beat Papanui by 13 points to 6. Prebbleton scored all its points in the first half, when it held a definite advantage both in the forwards and backs. In the absence of J. Haig, who was indisposed, P. Callanan played at first five-eighths and M. Gallagher at half-back, and combined well w’ith the other backs. The side attacked consistently right through the spell, ahd came close to scoring on several occasions. Forwards and backs combined well and opened up the play at every opportunity. The positional play and the handling of Papanui was not good, although there were some good individual moves. Tries were scored for Prebbleton by P. Smith (2) and Callanan, who also converted two tries. The half-time score was: Prebbleton 13, Papanui 0. The Papanui forwards played with more dash in the second spell and. receiving better support from their backs, they frequently had Prebbleton in trouble. E. Claridge and J. Aitken scored unconverted tries for Papanui. J. Clark and O. Aitken were the best of the Papanui forwards, wl.iß M. Clinton was sound at half-back. Smith, playing breakaway for Prebbleton, was the best forward on the ground. He showed a fine sense of anticipation i and his two tries were the result of speed i and determination. | Callanan, the Prebbleton first fiveeighths, also played an outstanding game. He made some first-class openings, and ; with his straight running and sure I handling was always dangerous. In the i second half, when Prebbletoq was pressed, he showed good defence and frequently ; got his side out of trouble. The referee was Mr A. Hamburger. RAKAIA v. ADDINGTON I In a game in which the football was frequently of a high standard, Rakaia beat Addington at Rakaia by 13 points to 11. Rakaia was without several of its regular players, but was able to make the game an open one, in which a feature was the good handling of both sets of backs, and solid work by the forwards.

Tries were scored for Rakaia oy K. Aifield, A Kerslake, and L. fieri, who converted one try and also kicked a penalty goal. For Addington, tries were scored by R. Price, W. Berry, and M. Atkinson. R. Ward converted one try Price, and Berry were the best of the Addington forwards, and Atkinson, wing three-quarters, showed plenty of speed. C. O’Connor was Rakaia’s best forward, and wa: prominent in the open play. Kerslake. at half-back, played a sound I game and gave his backs every chance. The referee was Mr A. Mathie. • LINWOOD V. RICCARTON I At Riccarton Domain, Linwood secured an easy win over Riccarton by 31 points to 5. Better forwards and more experi- • enced backs gave Linwood an advantage! throughout the game, although it was not unt 4 l the second half that the Riccarton | defence weakened sufficiently to allow ( several easy tries to be scored. The halftime score was: Linwood 3, Riccarton 2. R. Wilde scoring a try for Linwood, and B. Symes kicking a penalty goal for Riccarton. In the second half R. Wilde, wing threequarters, who plays consistently good football, scored three tries. A. Humphries, second five-eighths, who has played sound football in recent games, also scored three tries. R. Coppersmith, whose kicking has been a feature of Linwood’s matches, converted five tries. For Riccarton. W. Adams scored an unconverted try from a good combined movement. The referee was Mr H. Mills. SYDENHAM v. CHRISTCHURCH The game - between Sydenham and Christchurch at Bradford Park, although not productive of any fireworks, was always interesting. Sydenham owed its 13-5 victory to greater experience. Christchurch took the field without some of its regular playeito, and during the game was unfortunate in losing two forwards through injuries.

The Sydenham forwards were the deciding factor, and gave their backs a plentiful supply of the ball. L. Brown, at half-back, shot the ball away at every opportunity, and some good back movements were only stopped by solid tackling by the Christchurch inside backs. Brown was perhaps the best back on the ground, and showed great judgment in varying his play, having a run on his own on occasions, and on these occasions nearly always breaking clear before he sent the ball on The Christchurch forwards, although

well outweighted, stuck grimly to their task till the end, but on many occasions the heavier Sydenham pack was too much. They were unfortunate in losing Price, their best forward, in the first spell, when he retired with a broken jaw. The Christchurch backs, although not receiving so much ball from the scrums staged some good nwvements, but there were too many droppea passes and too much kicking Had it not been for > the fullback, Dunn, Sydenham’s score would have been much larger. His handling was firstclass. and time and again he gained big stretches of ground with his line kicking. In the Sydenham forwards Duke, Churton, and Andrews went well all the time, and in the backs Brown and Grahai i were the pick. For Christchurch in the forwards Renolds and McCallum were always in the thick of things, while in the backs Dunn, K. Cox. and Armstrong gave good displays, with Wilson and George doing some great defensive work. Scorers for Sydenham were Duke, O’Halloran. and Graham (tries), two of which Noonan converted, and for Christ- c church, Armstrong, a try, and Wilson, a penalty goal. Referee: Mr R. Barbarel. ' LOWER GRADES Junior.—Riccarton 11, St. Joseph’s 6; < Christchurch 15, Sydenham 13; Linwood i 13, Aranui 5. j Third Grade.—Linwood 21, Woolston 5: ; Sydenham 20. Dallington 11; Riccarton 6, . Papanui 2. Fourth Grade.—Dallington 9, Christ- i church 6; Riccarton 16. Papanui 2; St. : Josenh’s 13. Sydenham 8. Under 9st.—Sydenham 10, Hornby 6; : Christchurch 10, Papanui 6. < Under 7st.—Hornby 18. Woolston 6; Christchurch 3, Riccarton 2; Dallington 12, : Linwood 3. Under 6st.—Christchurch 12, Addington a. sst.—Dallineton B 12, Dallington C 0; Papanui 15, Christchurch B 0.