RUGBY LEAGUE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27405, 19 July 1954, Page 13

RUGBY LEAGUE

HORNBY NARROWLY BEATS WOOLSTON EASY WIN FOR MARIST A further round of games in the Canterbury Rugby League’s competitions and Vivian Cup series was played on Saturday on heavy grounds. Sydenham had the bye, and with its win over Woolston. Hornby drew level in championship points and took the lead in the Vivian Cup. Results were:— Hornby 13, Woolston 10. Marist 31, Christchurch 5. Linwood 8, Papanui 2. Championship points are 14. Hornby 14, Papanui 10, Linwood 8, Marist 7, Woolston 5, Christchurch 2. Vivian Cup points are:—Hornby 6, Woolston 4, Sydenham 2, Linwood 2, Marist 2, Papanui 2, Christchurch 0. HORNBY v. WOOLSTON Woolston almost brought off another surprise in its game against the strong Hornby side at the Show Grounds. Although the ground was dotted with pools of mud, both sides kept the ball on the rfiove, and some very bright play was seen. Many passes were dropped, but even so, the handling was surprisingly good. . 5 The game developed into a tussle between the Hornby backs and the solid Woolston forwards, . with Hornby taking the honours through its better combination and greater speed. Once again Woolston showed a very solid defence, and good tackling stopped many promising Hornby attacks. Lack of pace in the backline on attack handicapped Woolston, and most of its attacks were stopped by good covering play by Hornby. The Hornby backs always looked superior, and had the Woolston defence wilted they would have run up a far bigger total. They handled better, moved faster, and had a much better combination. In the forwards, however, Woolston more than held its own, and, their pack gave a very solid display right through the game.. The forwards wasted little time in getting throug'h to the ball whenever it came loose, and their tigerish tackling had much to do in keeping Hornby’s total down. H Swan and Roach set the rest of the pack a fine example with their tireless play and first-class tackling. They received fine support from Ditfort, Holmes, and Speck, who were never far from the ball.

The Woolston backs did not settle down to a happy combination, but Churcher, J. Swan, and Sewell played soundly. Well served by the half-back, Cooke, the Hornby backs made some fine attacks, in which D. and G. Neiman were generally most prominent. Further improvement was shown by the Courtneys, whose pace was an asset on cover defence. Tod showed dash on the wing. The most prominent Hornby forwards were Rutherford. Woodgate, and Luke, with Ward working very hard in all the tight play. Woolston attacked early in the game, and scored when B. Swan kicked an easy penalty goal from in front of the posts. Hornby worked play back, and a fine penalty goal by G. Neiman evened the scoring. The Hornby backs showed up In some good passing movements, and after the ball had moved smartly along the line G. Neiman scored under the posts. He also converted. Hornby had the best of the rest of the spell, and before halftime short passing allowed Rutherford to go over for an unconverted try, which gave Hornby an eight-point lead. Woolston took play well into Hornby territory at the start of the second spell, and when McSeveney was' bustled his clearing kick was snapped up by H. Swan, who sent Sewell over- for a try, which was not converted. Woolston kept attacking, and Sewell went over again, this time under the posts after receiving from B. Swan. Sewell also converted, to make the scores even. Hornby went back on attack, with the backs combining nicely, and D. Neiman made an opening and sent G. Neiman and M. Courtney away. Courtney finished off the movement with a try in the comer, to give his side the winning points. Referee: Mr K. Cox.

MARIST V. CHRISTCHURCH Playing with only three men in the forwards, Christchurch had not the cover defence, backing up, nor thrust to give Marist much opposition, Marist winning by 31 points to 5. The football played, in spite of the greasy ball and treacherous ground, was consistently bright and open, bouts of chain and reverse passing, by Marist players particularly, providing some attractive football. A feature of the game was the small number of penalties. When the Christchurch backs received the ball they looked formidable, particularly the centre three-quarters and wing-three-quarters. C. Paskell, at centre, was more penetrating than his Marist opposite, L. Mulcare, and often ran his wings into position. I. Wilkie, on the wing, showed cleverness and speed, scoring Christchurch’s only try and narrowly missing two others. He was easily the best of the four wings. The inside backs, harassed by fast-breaking Marist forwards, had few opportunities. N. Main, at half-back, made several typically elusive runs. Once he almost scored, but just lacked enough pace to finish his movement. He, too, was well marked. M. Burney, the Christchurch full-back, handled well, but Marist break-throughs often found him out of position. The three Christchurch forwards, defending for most of the game, played very well. W. McCormick being particularly prominent. I. Rickerby and M. Bright gave fine support. J. Thoms, the Marist full-back, shower* much improved form, and converted five tries. He handled well, but still needs experience in fielding a bouncing ball. The Marist backs provided some spark ling back play. K. Roberts, R. Ayson and C. Harris, with their speed and deft handling, often made brilliant moves. J Mulcare was brought from the forwards to play at centre three-quarters, ant played capably, scoring two tries. At half-back, M. Johnstone gave quick, efficient passes and defended solidly. Individually, and as a pack, the Marist forwards played impressively. J. Curtain, until he retired injured, often figured in sorties from the base of the scrum. D. Moore was fast and backed up consistently, scoring two good tries. J. Stokes and B. Newton were the best of the remaining forwards. For Marist tries were scored by Harris, Ayson, Stokes, Mulcare (two), and Moore (two). Thoms converted five tries. Wilkie scored a try for Christchurch, which was converted by Paskell. Referee: Mr W. Forbes.

LINWOOD v. PAPANUI Undeterred by the heavy ground and wet ball, Linwood and Papanui played bright, enterprising football in the early game at the Show Grounds. Linwood won by 8 points to 2 after some surprisingly good handling by both teams in difficult conditions, in which a purely forward game would have been excusable. Winning the early scrums, Linwood threw the ball about freely, and although there were some handling mistakes some brisk movements by the inside backs kept Papanui defending strongly for much of the first spell. The Papanui forwards, however, fought back strongly on several occasions to test the Linwood defence, but they were unable to finish off likely movements.

The second spell was as keenly contested as the first, with the forwards | evently matched, but the stout work of: J. Bond, R. Broadhurst, and M. Pearce, in| the Papanui pack, could not counter the extra dash of the Linwood backs. Linwood owed much to the safe hand-i ling and good positional play of B. Irving, I its full-back. He played almost faultlessly, and made the side’s second try. when, I after a fine break down the middle ofi the field for 40 yards, he sent on to R. Wilson, who gained ground, before he passed to A. Atkinson, who scored under the posts. N. Clark and Wilson, the Linwood five-eighths, handled superbly and combined well. Clark varied £is play well and frequency moved very fast terfind gaps in the defence. Wilson also played exceptionally good football in the poor conditions. His speed and safe handling gave Atkinson a good try in the first half soon after Wilson himself had completely beaten the defence, only to be called back for an infringement.

The Papanui backs were far from disgraced on the day, and they, too, handled well and generally played better football than in some of their fine-day games. B. Campbell, the half-back, made few mistakes and sent the ball out smartly, and outside him J. Rhodes and R. Marsn handled well and made some good individual breaks. Against a strong Linwood defence, however, they lacked penetration, and when they sent the ball along the backline little ground was gained, so that J. Tinning a strong-running centre-three-quarters and the men outside him were given little room in which to work. It was here that the side conceded a big advantage to Linwood.

In the Linwood forwards A. Atkinson, the New Zealand representative, was outstanding. Not only did he show exceptional speed on attack in the heavy going, but he covered a great deal of ground to have his side time and time again with well-judged cover defence. In the loose Atkinson was well supported by R. Keen, and in the tight play there were no better forwards than G. Roberts and L. Blanchard, another forward selected for New Zealand in the first test. Blanchard, solid and unobtrusive, as usual played soundly right through the game. For Papanui, Bond kicked a penalty goal, and Linwood’s points came from two 'tries scored by A. Atkinson, who converted one try. Referee: Mr V. Henry.

MATCHES IN OTHER CENTRES Auckland.—Ponsonby 18, Mount Albert 8; Point Chevalier 10, Richmond 2; Marist 9, Ellerslie 6; City-Newton 3,’ Northcote 2; Otahuhu 11, North Shore 11. Wellington.—Korodale 26, Maritime 9; Randwick 41, Taita 2; Miramar 17, Wateiside 5. Dunedin.—University 21, Celtic 20; Western Suburbs 19. Athletic 3; Caledonian 24, Kia Toa 5.