COMPETITION MATCHES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27072, 22 June 1953, Page 6

COMPETITION MATCHES

Old Boys And Marist Beaten LINWOOD WINS NARROWLY Seriously depleted of their best players by injuries and the demands of the Town representative team, Old Boys and Marist, which had given a splendid exhibition of football the previous week, were- beaten in the ninth round of the Canterbury Rugby Union’s championship on Saturday by lesser-fancied clubs in University and New Brighton, and Technical, also without its best players, went under to Linwood in a close game. In each game goal-kicking decided the issue. Christchurch, which now shares the lead with Old Boys, was too good for Air 'Force, Sydenham won narrowly from Albion, and Belfast had an easy win over Sunnyside-Spreydon. Following are the results of Saturday’s games:—

University 6, Old Boys 3. Christchurch 19, Air Force 9. t New Brighton 20, Marist 16. Linwood 17, Technical 14. ' Sydenham 15, Albion 12. i Belfast 24, Sunnyside-Spreydon 9. * The following table shows the positions t

LINWOOD BEATS TECHNICAL The game between Linwood and Technical, played as a curtain-raiser to the . Town-Country game, provided plenty of . incident, with the Technical backs mak- ‘ ing every attempt to open up the game, , only to be met by solid defence by the i Linwood backs. j Although Technical opened the scoring j when Taylor kicked a penalty goal, Lin- j wood soon had the advantage, the full- ( back, W. Beaton, kicking -two gdals in ( the next 10 minutes, and he gave his side , a lead of eight points when he con- . a try scored by L. Hunter. P. McGregor gave Linwood a lead of 14 points ( to 3, which was reduced when M. Logan, . the Technical half-back, raced round a , scrum to score a neat try after having i failed with a similar move a few min- ; utes-earlier. At half-time Linwood led by 14 points to 6. Logan gave the Technical backs good service from the scrum, and J. Waine, D. Spence, and D. Taylor handled in turn. Taylor made several strong attempts to break through, but good cover defence stopped him. The Technical forwards headed a fine rush, and G. Sibley scored. M. Stoop finished off a Linwood passing rush with a good try at the corner. Good fielding and a splendid run by Spencer left the Linwood backs standing, and after Taylor had burst through Spencer accepted a return pass to score a good try which Jackson conVC Linwood won by 17 points (a goal from a try, two tries, and two penalty goals) to 14 points (a goal from a try, two tries, and a penalty goal). The Linwood forwards really won the game by their loose rushes, which were well backed up by judicious line kicking by the five-eighths, M. Nunnerley, and the centre. G. Royfee. M. Stoop showed dash at wing three-quarters," and N. Mam, at half-back, sent out good passes and did much sound work on defence. W. Beaton’s kicking earned eight points for his side. In the Linwood forwards, S. and I. Mitchell, D. Tabb, and M. Loveridge were the best. The Technical forwards were not con--1 sistently good, but in spasmodic efforts in the second spell they displayed high- ! grade football. At half-back, Logan was ’ again the pick of the backs, and Waine, : at first five-eighths, was prominent for • sound defence. At second five-eighths, the 1 mercurial Spencer played one of his best I games, and the try he scored was a reward for a brilliant effort. Taylor, at centre, : and P. Logan, wing three-quarters, made I few mistakes in a fast second spell. : Mr K. Noonan was referee.

NEW BRIGHTON FINISHES WELL Establishing a lead of 16 points to 3 in the first spell against New Brighton, at Waltham Park, Marist appeared to have a commanding lead. The second spell, however, told a different story: Marist failed to add to its score, and New Brighton scored 17 points. J. Cadigan, the Marist first five-eighths, gave his side an early lead when he kicked a penalty goal, and he converted a try scored by C. McDonald, who intercepted a New Brighton pass. A penalty goal by M. Hadley gave New Brighton its first points. McDonald badly beat the defence when he scored his second try, and the full-back, P. O’Malley, joined in a passing rush and scored a good try, which Cadigan converted. At half-time", Marist led by 16 points to 3. Hadley reduced the lead early in the second spell when he kicked a penalty goal, ana, fumbling by the Marist backs on their own goal-line, gave J. Stanley a try. G. Bolton, second five-eighths for New Brighton, added a try, which Hadley converted, and the latter kicked another penalty goal, to put New Brighton a point in front. Just before time D. Hockley kicked a field goal. New Brighton won by 20 points (a goal from a try, a try, three penalty goals, and a field goal) to 16 (two goals from tries, a try, and a penalty goal). Mr F. B. Thompson was referee. OLD BOYS BEATEN

No tries were scored when Old Boys, the leading team in the competition, were beaten by University at Lancaster Park South. Old Boys, who were without several of their leading players, were unable to get their share of the ball or to finish off attacks.

University attacked from the beginning, and J. Croucher, playing at fullback, kicked a penalty goal at his second attempt. Three attempts to pot goals had previously gone astray. - For the rest of the first half University was consistently in Old Boys’ territory, but in spite of good runs by G. Falloon, at first five-eighths, and accurate line kicks by Croucher that gained much ground, no try was scored. When V. Preece, playing at second five-eighths, was injured, Old Boys lost their best attacking back. There was a lack of combination in the inside backs which prevented the ball from going to speedy outside men such as R. J. Ward. After Croucher had kicked another penalty goal, D. J. Mayo succeeded with a penalty kick for Old Boys after two attempts had failed from difficult positions. ‘ From then Old Boys strove to even the points with determined forward rushes, often led by E. Bullmore, but good University defence prevented a score.

University won by 6 points (two penalty goals) to 3 (one penalty goal). Mr B. J. Drake was referee. SYDENHAM V. ALBION

A try on time enabled Sydenham to beat Albion by 15 points to 12 in an even game at Lancaster Park West. Albion led by 6 points to 3 at half-time. A brilliant run by M. Murray, playing at wing three-quarters for Sydenham, caught the Albion defence napping, and O. Gibbdn, a forward, was able to score after receiving from Murray. The Albion wing three-quarters evened the score soon after, when he took the ball from a clearing kick, ran down the line, and scored wide out. Playing with determination, J. Ackland, Albion's centre threequarters, cut through with a weaving run to score just before half-time. After a penalty goal had been kicked by R. Cotton (Sydenham), two of Albion’s fittest and most intelligent forwards, G.

Loft and A. Hamilton, scored within a few minutes of each other after loose scrambles near the- Sydenham goal line. M. Kilworth, playing his usual loose, bustling type of game, scored a fine try for Sydenham just before Cotton kicked a further penalty goal to even the scores again. The best try of the day won the game for Sydenham, a good chain-passing movement by the backs giving W. Scott, at wing three-quarters, a try just before the final whistle. Sydenham won by 15 points (three tries and two penalty goals) to 12 (four tries). Mr L. A. Mahoney was referee.

of the teams:— Points Ch. P. W. L. D. F. A. Pts. Old Boys -. 9 8 1 0 146 45 8 Christchurch 9 8 1 -0 140 47 8 Linwood .. 9 6 2 1 109 65 61 Marist .. 9 5 3 1 113 67 51 Sydenham .. 9 5 3 1 112 87 51 Belfast .. 9 4 4 1 81 99 41 Air Force .. 9 3 5 1 85 98 31 Technical .. 9 3 5 1 109 94 31 University .. 9 3 6 0 60 99 3 N. Brighton 9 3 6 0 71 94 3 Albion ..9 2 6 1 71 104 2} SunnysideSpreydon 9 0 8 1 32 229 1