OLD BOYS BEAT ALBION

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25810, 23 May 1949, Page 9

OLD BOYS BEAT ALBION

RUGBY FOOTBALL

TECHNICAL WINS NARROWLY CANTERBURY SENIOR GAMES tnSfry f Ru Jhv n ?T n °!, in the Canshin wa«: sen ior championfoitbah wffi d On . Saturday in good has vet to whieh beating Technical? S' ffi On f C u e U ?hacT r d?d not &a vato' and o chris tchurch beat Merigta ■££"' by g<Sl m a - s and Sydenham scored its first win 01, me season with a Un” letofs le with a l¥ rd S y ' s gan ? as Christchurch leaas with 4 j champio. ship points. Next are Marist and Technical with and old Boys verfiti"4- Sydenh , am . Al bion, and ,Umone 2iiA W t . point ?' Sunnyside-Spreydon ton 0 *’ Linwood I point, New BrlghResuits of Saturday games were:— Old Boys 11, Albion 9. Marist 24. Merivale 0. Sy;e^m rCh i 6 ai^ O e B d rlg s htOn S ' SnlSSy’i S b ““ yßld «-SP«yUon «. A GAME OF THRILLS O!d Boys and Albion JSStHtol i ‘ hrllls and while Albion's Karh Ho? la ? ted was Played at a fast pace. ? d y waa prepared to open up the Jn d X whlle mlstak es in handling al > many and would have been advantage of by fast hunters, the ? p ?"„ ?. a , ra 5 t F r ~o t ,h F same interested 4““.,?F a r.dstan<l until the final whistle, k m *•.> we re handed out generously both sides by the referee, Mr V C E»nPson. and it was from one of these ln hls third attempt, opened the Albion scoring account. Old Boys showed a glimpse of the form the J S r< C K Pa P ,e °1 when after a passing rush had broken down W. Inder snapped up a rolling ball and, before his opposing wing-threequarters, A. Harding, had sized up the position he was streak- !!).?* foi \ the goal-line. With fine anticipation two forwards. W. Purdon and I Sparrow, ranged alo gside Inder and exchange passing left the Albion defence in . th air. Sparrow scored a try aftemovement that deserved the unstinted praise of supporters of both teams. In the first spell there had been many passing rushes which were brought to an end by unaccou table mistakes in handling an easy ball. Albion started the second half with a vim and vigour that looked like bringing results. Particularly smart work between R. Campbell, half-back, and Jackson was spoilt wh6n R. Gerrard, outside nve-eighths, and A. Elsom, centre, failed to take simple passes. Albion kept un the offensive, materially assisted by penalties awarded against Old Boys’ forwards, who w’ere taking too many risks m off-side play. Jackson capitalised on one of these infringements with a penalty goal. Another passing rush by Old Boys was stopped when the wing-three-quarters. J. Kennedy, who had made several promising bursts in the first spell, was well tackled by Harding. P. Vincent, behind the Old Boys’ scrum, who had been giving excellent service to his backs, elected to go solo and his unexpected move left the defence on the wrong foot. He scored a snappy try which he converted. Old Boys did not hold the lead. 8-6, for many minutes, for another penalty gave Jackson his third penalty goal for the day and his fifth in two matches With only a few minutes to go, Albion looked like winning. Cid Boys threw in a last- desperate effort and when an Albion forward came round a ruck too quickly a penalty gave Vincent an easy chance to win the game by 11 noints (a goal from a try, a try and a penalty goal) to 9 points (three penalty goals).

Win Well Deserved Old Boys deserved to win the game because the team took risks in making a game to suit its lively backs and fast forwards. In set scrums no weight was wasted by loose forwards. Too often the Albion scrum included only six or seven men. Old Boys certainly looked the fitter team at the end of the game. The most impressive of the Old Boys’ backs were the two wing three-quarters, W. Inder and J. Kennedy, who handled cleanly and used their exceptional speed in going for the goal-line. Heavy tackling by some of the Albion backs did not deter them from further effort. Vincent, the half-back, hack to something like his old form, took everything in his stride, whipping away good passes, and exhibiting a rock-like defence when it was needed. It was not his fault that the Albion inside backs swooped down on the five-eighths, W. Duggan and B. McCabe, whose handling was not good Blackmore’s play at full-back was patchy He let his side down badly in the early part of the game, only to have a period in which his handling was faultless and his kicking 10. g and accurate. In the forwards Sparrow stood out for sound work in the line-out, speed in the open, and ability to handle. Old Boys fielded a very honest pack, in which W. Hern, A. Trotter, and L. Sinclair were prominent. Lack of physical fitness appeared to be the main reason for the poor display given several of the Inside backs, whose taking of the ball was at all times hesitant and often poor. Gerrard, at second five-eighths, last year showed outstanding form, but on Saturday he appeared to have lost all form, and his lack of understanding with his first fiveeighths slowed up movements that had been started with zest. Only on occasions did the ball travel across field with the smoothness of perfect timing. The outcome was a period of starvation for two verv fine wing three-quarters, A. Harding ana J. Prebble, whose main job was defensive. While B. Campbell, half-back, was not quite as impressive as in the game against Marist the previous Saturday, he appeared to be working harmoniously with Jackson at first fiveeighths. Jackson was again the mainstay on attack and defence, and without his accurate kicking Albion would have been in a bad way. At full-back Edgington again gave a polished display of handling and line-kicking. He has not yet shown up as a good tackler. G. Bond, B. Hegarty, I. Purdon, and O McSherry were again the honest workers in a pack which at times showed splendid footwork and cohesion in dribbling rushes. FAST BUT RAGGED “Kick hard and follow” appeared to be the instructions given to both the Linwood and Sydenham teams, which played fast but ragged football on the west ground at Lancaster Park. Sydenham, last year’s winner of the championshipgained its first outright win of the year by 16 points to 5 Play opened promisingly for Sydenham when R. Bowick received the’ ball and showed some ability before-passing to the forward, J. Crofts, who finished off the movement with a good try. The Linwood forwards, with W Brady, P. Eastgate, and I. Mitchell prominent, commenced several promising dribbling rushes, but the backs could not finish off thp movements. At half-time Sydenham still held its three points’ lead. Sydenham began the second spell wi’ fast forward work, and Crofts, the outstanding forward on the field, racer thrqugh weak tackling before handing on to Rhodes, who scored a try wnich Crofts converted. N. James, wing threequarters, added to Sydenham’s total when he badly beat the defence and scored a try which Crofts converted. A the end of a Linw’ood forward rush I Mitchell took the ball over the line to score a try which Barnes converted. Roberts added a further try for Sydenham, which won by 16 points (two goals from tries and two tries) to 5 points (a goal from a try). Mr W. J. Heslop was referee. MARIST BACKS IN FORM The Marist backs, given a feast of the ball by a well-packed scrum, were much too fast for Merivale, whose forwards played a surprisingly good game. From the start of play the Marist backs swung into action, and only really good tackling by R. Stevens and J. Brazil, at five-eighths, stopped them from making ground. The Marist forwards essayed a passing rush, in which G. Lindstrom and S. Southall gained a big stretch of ground. When the ball was kicked over the Merivale line Dempsey was on hand to score. D. Doake, the Merivale fullback, was prominent for good linekicking. J. Maybury and B. McCormick worked a scissors which left the Merivale defence standing and took play half th length of the field. In a passing rush from the Marist twenty-five McCormic! cut in past Brazil and the centre, G. Couttie, and sent on to P. Kearney. Dempsey received at half-way and fairly outpaced his opposite number. C. Steel, and scored. McCormick burst through the Merivale backs in a passing rush bumped off thfe full-back Doake, and scored a try which P. Kearney converted. At half-time Marist led by 11 points tO The Merivale backs made several good I attempts to open up the game early : i the second spell and, while Marist al- , ways appeared the better team, Merivale did not play negative football. Marist increased its score when K Stuart kicked ; a penalty goal from well out and near i half-way. J. Mullins received the ball ii < a loose ruck and after a good run kicked to a gap. where Dempsey scored ] his third try. Stuart converted. In more i passing by the backs Maybury sent in- « field to his forwards, where H. Kearney received With a 25 yards’ run ahead of ( him. He scored a good try, which Stuart converted. . , , 1 Marist won by 24 points (three goals ] from tries, two tries, and a penalty goal) to 0. Mr T. Whiteford was referee. ]