D.C.L. SHIELD

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26528, 17 September 1951, Page 8

D.C.L. SHIELD

UNASSAILABLE LEAD FOR ALBION

The D.C.L. Shield competition, which promised to provide an interesting finish, came to an end on Saturday, when the leader, Albion, beat University, and the runner-up, Sunnyside-Spreydon, was beaten by Sydenham. With only one game to play, Albion has an unassailable lead. Albion had a comfortable win against University, and Sunnyside-Spreydon was only two points down against Sydenham. Old Boys and Marist, with sadly depleted teams, gave a bright, open display in a curtain-raiser to the representative match; Christchurch easily beat Linwood; and Merivale scored its first win of the season against New Brighton. Following are the results:— Albion 18, University 5. Merivale 12, New Brighton 8. Christchurch 18, Linwood 9. Marist 11, Old Boys 11. Sydenham 5, Sunnyside-Spreydon 3. The following table shows the positions of the teams;—

DRAWN GAME ON OVAL Both Marist and Old Boys, which played a drawn game on Lancaster Park Oval, were without several of their regular players, and injuries during the game required players to move into unaccustomed positions. Old Boys, for instance, had a wing three-quarters at half-back for a time, and then a side-row forward replaced him. In the circumstances, the match was a remarkably good one to watch, although it consisted more of individual efforts than combined movements. Until he was injured, the Marist halfback, P. Collins, was playing in his best form, but the most likelv scoring back on the ground was the Marist second fiveeighths, E. Heenan, who ran very strongly whenever he was given room in which to move. Inside him G. Shaw did nothing spectacular, but this young who has Ailed several positions in the Marist team, gave a sound display. On the right wing B. Simpson scored a . try > but had few chances, and P. O Malley, an excellent substitute for K- C. Stuart, was seldom in trouble at full-back.

The Old Boys backs had fewer chances than their opponents, and it was only persistent backing up and following up which made D. D. Wilson, the first five-eighths, ®“ c , h a thorn In Marist's side. He scored Old Boys only try, and kicked two penalty goals. Marist was superior in the forwards, winning the ball repeatedly, and S. Southall was prominent more often than the others. He did particularly good work .F he old . Boys forwards tried hard all the time, and J. D. Alderson and K. Barr were two solid workers. Both sides tried to throw the ball about from the first whistle to the last, and in the first spell Old Boys enjoyed a definite superiority. Three or four times very likely movements were checked by infringements, and the side was a little unlucky to be three points behind at the interval. A break by Heenan and a resolute effort by Simpson gave Marist its first try, but Wilson kicked a penalty goal after C. Henderson had missed three Heenan made another good run, but was te< ; kled on the line Just before the interval. When the ball came clear Southall was there to score. Marist had much the better of the second spell, and early in it Heenan ran strongly through some unenthusiastic tacklers and scored. Wilson’s backing-up brought him a try when he kicked a loose ball ahead and scored. Near the end of the game Old Boys winning more of the ball attacked, but it was another penalty fevel by Wilson whtch made the scores The referee was Mr F. B. Thompson. EASY WIN FOR ALBION =^l? n iT W ; hlch l . nee - ded 10 win tts match against University to make itself almost 1° win 0,8 Shield, had no trouble in accomplishing its purpose. UniX 8 ? 1 !?’ two ,I nen s bort, struggled hard, Thl *2s was rea)ly ln fibbht. The solid Albion pack took charge althe start ’ and by the lnter " val Albion was eight points ahead, from by Neave and a conversion by Early in the second spell University made a spirited attempt to score, but Albion went further ahead with a fine after u a B°° d run. kicked Infield, and Bond, who has been in excellent fonn in recent matches, gathered in the ball and scored. Dyer converted. R. Steele scored for University after a good w!?u effort ’rS? d i he , try was converted by Williams. The final points came from a am, by D F er .which he himself converted. Albion won by 18 points to 5 The referee was Mr E. Woodhead. MERIVALE’S FIRST WIN

~W” 8 its nineteenth competlm.ac? this season , recorded its first win. at the expense of New Brighton, by L 2 - E°? t A to 8 ' M *rivale scored a try and kicked three penalty goals to New Brighton s two tries and a conversion. Merivale scored first with a penalty f°i?L by , P - Pyne ’ *? ut soon after J - Hecker followed up quickly to score. A good movement by Guilford and Fisher gave Fisher a try for Merivale, but just before the interval New Brighton regained fhrJ, e «h d With a n = a A try ' Carbines went through a gap, Bolton widened it, and Thompson scored. The try was converted by Carbines. Py "t put , Me rtvale ahead with another penalty goal. A New Brighton forward was ordered off the field, and just before th * end p yne kicked his third goal The referee was Mr V. Biggins, COMBINED TEAM BEATEN

rr, Su " nys T ide - s Preyd° n ’s good record in l he s P'P' L - competition was impaired by ? ®’ 3 1° . Syd enham. The combined team had lost only two of its eight matchy and those by only three points each. On Saturday its display was disappointing. The game was scrappy, and it was not

Improved by unnecessaiily hard play. B. Chandler was a good leader of the Sunny-side-Spreydon pack, and,M, Dixon showed ability at five-eighths for Sydenham. Dixon was chiefly responsible for Sydenham’s try. He cut through and sent D. Smith over. The try was converted by M. Gowans. Some blows were exchanged early in the second half. Dixon was a worry to Sunnyside-Spreydon, but towards the end it was Sydenham which had to defend desperately, R. Barnes, a consistent scorer this season, kicked a fine penalty goal, and in the closing minutes Sunnyside-Spreydon attacked hard but could not get over. The referee was Mr V. Empson. CHRISTCHURCH WINS Establishing a lead of 13 points in the first spell Christchurch beat Linwood comfortably, 18 points to 9. It was an interesting match, played at a good pace, particularly in the first spell. J. Houghton, who played a very good game at second five-eighths for Christchurch, scored 12 of his side’s points, with two tries and three conversions. Christchurch wa? well on top in the early and when D. McKenzie found a gap A. Bellamore, a very useful forward. was on hand to score a try which Houghton converted. Then Houghton beat the defence badly with a good run, and he converted his own try. Just before the interval C. McLaughlin scored Christchurch’s third try. Linwood did better in the second spell, Wakelir, and Phillips scoring tries. Houghton put Christchurch further ahead with a try and a conversion, and just before the final whistle Beaton kicked a penalty goal for Linwood. The referee was Mr J. L. Hewland. LOWER GRADES Under sst 101 b (final). —SunnysideSpreydon 21, New Brighton 0. In a match for the Amur! Shield played at Ohoka on Saturday Ohoka beat Cheviot by 14 points to Ji.

P. W. L. Pts. Shield D. for. agst. pts. Albion 9 8 1 0 79 47 8 Marist 10 6 2 2 122 49 7 SunnysideSpreydon 9 6 3 0 99 39 6 Technical 9 5 3 1 106 107 5| Old Boys 9 5 3 1 88 58 54 Christchurch 9 4 4 1 66 73 4J University .. 9 4 5 0 81 107 4 Sydenham .. 9 3 4 2 46 65 4 Linwood 9 3 5 1 76 92 34 New Brighton 9 0 7 2 59 89 1 Merivale 9 1 8 0 40 158 1