RUGBY FOOTBALL

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26465, 5 July 1951, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL

UNIVERSITY MATCH CANTERBURY BEATEN BY LINCOLN The sustained vigour of the forwards on both sides, and the brilliance of J. Hotop, the Lincoln College first fiveeighths, marked the annual Rugby match yesterday between Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, and Canterbury University College. Lincoln won by 3 points to 0, Hotop scoring a try in the second spell.

The ground was very wet and badly churned up, but there were more than a few bright back movements. Lincoln thoroughly deserved its win. narrow as the margin was at the end. The winning team fielded a very lively pack of forwards, who fought a tremendous duel with their opponents, and the Lincoln backs looked much better, with Hotop inside them, than the University backs. Hotop’s performance was first-class. He handled beautifully, in orthodox rushes, and displayed an unerring instinct for doing the right thing well. In broken play he was able to take the greasy ball in all sorts of difficult positions while running at top, and his backing-up was always a threat to University. He was frequently on hand to straighten and continue attacks which looked likely to break down, and his defence was sound. His half-back, J. Barton, sent out good passes as a rule, and the second five-eighths, A. L. Booth, also played a useful game. The forwards, all fit arid eager, lasted rather better than their opponents. K. M. Wright was a good performer in the line-outs, and A. Furness showed real leadership when University was attacking late in the second spell, but the others played their part too.

University fielded only about half of its regular players. The best forward on the ground was the University hpoker, J. D. Stewart. He started with a fire and purpose which argued a determination to win the match single-handed, and although in the second spell he had lost a little of his dash he was still playing vigorous and clever football. R. Baran and T. Fitzgibbon were perhaps the best of the others. The University backs seldom made much headway .with orthodox attacks, but in the first spell, which ended without any points being scored, they did well on defence. Three or four times a Lincoln attack was stopped at the last moment, when a try had seemed certain. In the second spell, the University backs until 15 minutes from the end, again tried to make headway with passing rushes and again failed. They then appeared to realise that they were playing with a stiff breeze at their backs, which could have been used effectivly. Even when they did put the ball in the air. in the closing stages, the kicks were often inaccurate, but certainly University looked much more impressive when following those tactics. The teams were:—

Lincoln College—P. A. Flux; D. Hankey. P. Tierney, D. Boyd: A. L. Booth, J. Hotop; J. Barton; P. R. Loe; W. Simmers. A. Furness, K. Hurley. K. M. Wright; P. Ryan, T. Hickmott, J. Cotton. University.—C. Strachan; R. O. McDowell. L. Pearce. R. Steel; D. G. Reid, A Loughnan; B. Campbell; T. Fitzgibbon; W. A. Hunt, R. Baran, Z. Dalzell, A. Legsatt; J - Steel, J. D. Stewart. G. Allcock. The referee was Mr W. A. Fright.

MATCH AGAINST WELLINGTON

CANTERBURY TEAM SELECTED The following team has been selected to represent Canterbury against Wellington at Lancaster Park on Saturday;— Full-back, T. Jackson; three-quarters, W. H. Langley, A. Elsom, K. Davidson; five-eighths, E. Heenan. J. Hotop; halfback, L. Savage (vice-captain). Forwards, P. Eastgate, R. Stuart (captain), G. N. Dalzell, R. Harris, K. Meates, I. Mitchell, D. Young, and A. M. Henderson. Reserves, backs: P. B. Vincent, P. V. Kearney, J. Kennedy. Forwards: N. Teague, M. Williams, F. Hills. K. C. Stuart was not available.

TECHNICAL SCHOOLS’ MATCH (From Our Own Reporter) TIMARU, July 4. Christchurch Technical College beat Timaru Tecnnical School by 12 points (four tries) to 3 (one try) in a match at Fraser Park, Timaru, this afternoon. The forward play on both sides was generally poor. Probably the best player on the field was D. Hewitson, the Christchurch half-back, who sent his back line away time and time again with clean passes.

Timaru opened the scoring five minutes after the start of play, when E. Davis scored a try. P. Mann and N. Crampton scored tries for Christchurch before halftime. In the second spell D. Dell and B. Logan scored tries for Christchurch.

HURUNUI JUNIOR TEAM SELECTED

The sole selector, Mr E. A. Harrison (Cheviot) has announced the following Hurunui junior team to defend the Munro Shield in a match against Ellesmere to be played at Cheviot on Saturday:—C. Martin, B. Macfarlane (Culverden), K. Fincham, P. Guthrie, N. Ginders, L. Hassall, Peter Guthrie, and J. Currie (United), C. Barnes, G. Robilliard, F. Edge, R. Abbott. P. Barnes, and A. Meikle (Cheviot), J. Mackie (Kaikoura). Emergencies: P. Smith and J. Stone (Kaikoura), F. Booker (United), E. Sanford, and R. Edge (Cheviot).

ASSOCIATION CODE

ENGLISH TEAM BEATS QUEENSLAND (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) BRISBANE, July 4. The English Association football team beat Queensland 7-1 to-day in a match played in sunny weather. England led 3-1 at half-time. In spite of Queensland’s valiant defence, England had an easy victory. Goals were scored for England by Sewell (3), Webster (2), Hurst, and Langton (one each).