FIJIANS BEAT MANAWATU

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28347, 5 August 1957, Page 8

FIJIANS BEAT MANAWATU

10 Tries Scored In Bright Game

• New Zeaiana Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH. August 4. In conditions which suited them admirably, the touring Fijians gave a delightful display of their own particular brand of zestful Rugby when they beat Manawatu, 30 points to 12, at the Palmerston North Showgrounds yesterday.

With more skilful place-kicking, the Fijian total would have been considerably greater. Their points came from eight tries scored by J. Levula, N. Nabaro (ttvo eeach), O. Dawau, A. Kunawave, B. Tanivukavu, and S. Vatabua. Vatabua converted two tries and I. Radrodro converted one. For Manawatu, R. G. Lush (wing) scored two tries, and R. A. Kelly (full-back) kicked two penalty goals. A crowd of 7500 was kept fully entertained by the unorthodox passes and straight, hard-running of the Fijians. Manawatu won a large share of the ball from the set scrums and attempted to play the visitors at their own game. There was little kicking to touch even when Manawatu was hopelessly down 30 points to 6 in the second half. The match was played in bright sunshine on a smooth, well-turfed field. The remarkable mobility and vitality of all 15 members of the Fijian team gave tremendous impetus to their movements because there seemed always to be someone on hand to scoop up the ball from passes thrown at random whenever a player ran into trouble.

Hard Tackling The Fijians on attack went into their opponents with their shoulders and it required plenty of courage on the part of the Manawatu players to continue to stand up to the battering they received. Outstanding in this respect were the two Manawatu wingers. Lush and W. S. Freebairn, who played a vital role in stemming the Fijian onslaughts. Both tackled with great deterimnation against the strong barging tactics of their opponents, and late in the game Lush was injured and had to be helped from the field after Tamivukavu had crashed through a tackle to score. The Manawatu full-back, Kelly, also tackled well. Dawai was the life and soul or the Fijian attacking machine, his speed and nimbleness being the source of many breaches of the Manawatu defence at the centre. The Fijians; principal weakness is close to the scrum and some of Manawatu’s most promising attacks began there, especially on the blind side. From one such movement, however, Levula intercepted a delayed pass on the Fijians’ 40-yard line and broke clear for the most spectacular try of the day, racing away from the opposition to score.