RUGBY LEAGUE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25247, 28 July 1947, Page 5

RUGBY LEAGUE

VIVIAN CUP MATCHES d round games in the Canterbury I Rugby- League’s Vivian Cup competition were played on Saturday when grounds I were in excellent order. In the principal J game Hornby had an easy win from Linwood, winning by 28 points to 12. Results were:— Rakaia 19. Papanui 13. Prebbleton 24, Addington 7. Christchurch 11. Riccarton 8. Hornby 28, Linwood 12. PREBBLETON v. ADDINGTON After a closely-contested first half, Prebbleton ran up a good score against Addington in the match at Prebbleton, winning by 24 points to 7. P. Smith, the captain of the New Zealand team to tour England and France, played at centre for Prebbleton, and showed up to- advantage in an unaccustomed position. He made several brilliant openings, and on occasions went through on his own. The other New Zealand representative in the Prebbleton team. J. Haig, did not play The game was played at a lively pace, but both sides made frequent mistakes. Addington scored first when R. Ward kicked a penalty goal. Smith scored a try which he converted himself to give Prebbleton a lead of three points at the interval. Soon after the start of the second spell, G. Thiele scored a good try for Prebbleton, and the same player put Prebbleton further ahead with another try. R. Shadbolt then scored for Prebbleton, while the Addington players were waiting for him to be ruled offside. Smith converted. Addington had a turn on the attack, and A. Lennie scored a try which Ward converted. D. Warren scored for Prebbleton rather luckily, a rebound coming straight into his arms. Prebbleton’s final points came from a good opening by Smith. D. Donaldson scored the try, and Smith converted with a fine kick. The referee was Mr E. J. Smith. HORNBY v. LINWOOD At Sydenham Park, Hornby was superior to Linwood in all departments of the game, and had little difficulty in winning by 28 points to 12. The first 20 minutes of the game were evenly conies tea, but thu Hornby team from then on had all the better of the play. Both teams made the game open, but the Linwood handling was generally poor and dropped passes were frequent. Although Hornby did not always play faultless football, the team had better combination and its positional play was.good. In the first half C. Kenworthy a good opening for G. Moore to score a try, and N. Davis finished off a fine combined movement by scoring. E. Lewis also scored for Hornby after finding a gap in the defence close to the goal line. Lewis converted his own try. The second spell was played at a brisk pace, but again several promising moves broxe down through poor passing and handling. Hornby held the initiative throughout, although Linwood took play close to the Hornby line on several occasions and scored two good tries, one of them by L. Brown, who made a brilliant solo run from half-way. E. Smith, who played a solid game in the Linwood forwards. also scored a good try. A. Humphries kicked a penalty goal and converted two tries. The determined running of L. Lanauze, the Hornby wing-three-quarters, gave him three excellent tries G. Moore, on the other wing, also scored a try. as did N. Davis, the breakaway who was up with the play throughout the game. K. Henry converted one try and played a sound game at full-back. He was safe and handled the ball well. R. Brown and L. Brown in the Linwood backs, defended well. C. Smith and A. Clark were the best of the forwards. The referee was Mr R. Barbarel. RAKAIA v. PAPANUI

At Rakaia tne home team beat Papanui by 19 points to 13, in a game that was notable for good individual efforts rather than combined play. There was, however, some good play between two -evenly-matched sets of forwards, and some bright movements relieved the rather drab display by the backs. L. Gardiner and D. Mead led the Rakaia forwards well, and W. O’Connor. wing three-quarters, gave a sound display. J. Clark and J. Crossen were the best of the Papanui forwards. R Forscutt and M. Clinton played well in the backs. Forscutt made some good openings, but frequently lacked support. For Rakaia, tries were scored by Gardiner (2). O’Connor (2), and A. Kerslake. who also converted one try and kicked a penalty goal. Tries were scored for Papanui by Clark (2), and Crossen. Clinton kicked a penalty goal and converted one try. The referee was Mr H. Mills. ’ CHRISTCHURCH V. RICCARTON Christchurch was peihaps a little lucky to beat Riccarton by 11 points to 8 at Bradford Park. The game was very even, and although not producing a high standard of football, it was kept very interesting right to the final whistle by the closeness of the score. With the score at 8-all Christchurch broxe away from the loose and a good break by Scott ended in Wilson going over for the deciaing try just as the final whistle blew. Had Riccarton made more use of the ball, which it received from most of the scrums, it would nave won. The half-back, Johnson, sent out excellent, crisp passes from the base ol the scrum, but the five-eighths weie mostly standing flat-footed, allowing their opponents to smother up their movements. Johnson, a promoted junior, was easily Riccarton’s best back. Besides giving great service from the scrums he also made some very good breaks. Clarke also played well and had he received better service from his inside backs would have caused trouble for Christchurch. Newman, Riccarton’s full-back, who has been giving some great performances this season, had a day off, mishandling very badly at times. The best of Riccarton’s forwards were Glubb, Dahai, and Ramshaw, with Fanning toiling very hard in the tight. For Christchurch George, at second five-eighths, was the best back. He made some great runs, and unlike some of the other backs he tackled very soundly. Scott, the winger, was the best of the othei s, and besides scoring one try had a big hand in the other two scored by his side. McCallum was outstanding m the Christchurch pack, and was always on the ball. He was ably supported by O’Brien, Payne, and Farquharson. Scorers for Christchurch were Wilson (2) and Scott, one try converted by Dunn, and for Riccarton, Ramshaw (2), one converted by Clarke. Referqe: Mr H. Hamberger. OTHER RESULTS Junior.—Christchurch 21, Sydenham 8; Linwood 18, Aranui 5; Dallington 30, Papanui 9; St. Joseph’s beat Riccarton by default. Third Grade.—Hornby 10, Linwood 10; Riccarton 8, Dallington 3; Sydenham 15. Papanui 3. Fourth Grade.—Prebbleton 14, Dallington 5; St. Joseph’s 44, Papanui 0. Under 9st.—Linwood 22, Christchurch 5. Under 7st.—Christchurch 6, Riccarton 2; Linwood 23, Dallington 0. Under 6st.—Christchurch 15, Papanui 0; Prebbleton 3, Aranui 0. Under sst.—Christchurch A 0, Riccarton 0; Woolston 12. Paoanui 0; Christchurch B beat Prebbleton by default. ’ N.Z. TEAM REFUSED USE OF GROUND (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 25. Because it would be an offence against the Rugby Union’s amateur rules, the Ilkley Rugby Club refused the New Zealand Rugby League’s touring team permission to train on its ground during the coming season. The New Zealanders headquarteis will be at Ilkley. Reuters says that New Zealand and Australian sides in the past have used this ground lor training.