RUGBY CANTERBURY BEATS FIJIANS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28371, 2 September 1957, Page 8

RUGBY CANTERBURY BEATS FIJIANS

Bright And Entertaining Play

_ Canterbury need never hold the Ranfurly Shield again to retain the admiration, ,affection and support of the public if the representative team plaj’s Rugby as entertainingly as it did against the touring Fijians at Lancaster Park on Saturday. Never in serious danger of defeat in the last 25 minutes, Canterbury won by 22 points to 16, scored five tries to three, and played football fully as bright and enterprising as that of the likeable, unorthodox Fijians.

Fine weather, a crowd of 26,000 and a hard, fast ground provided the best of settings for what was confidently expected to be the most enjoyable match of the Christchurch season. Play in the last 15 minutes descended to a somewhat ragged level, but before that the large crowd had all the excitement it could comfortably manage. There were many superb, swift movements from both sides, with Canterbury's R. M. Smith on the left wing the outstanding player on the ground. The Fijians lost primarily because they could not win the line-outs and because they had little ability in rucking. The Canterbury backs, therefore, saw as much of the ball as they had on the entire northern tour, and they made the most of it.

Many of the spectators would have liked the Fijians to win the last match of their successful tour, but at least they lost bandhomely, and were flinging the ball about ambitiously until the last whistle. It was their third defeat in 15 matches, but in losing they added lustre to their excellent reputation as footballers and sportsmen. ■ In the last few seasons, some harsh things have been, written and said about the Canterbury team by writers in the north. The sourest of them could have scarce forborne to cheer at Canterbury’s performance. The forwards outplayed a Fijian pack- which showed little ability other than that of individual opportunism, and the backs showed great pace, elusiveness, and cohesion. Canterbury could have won with its forwards, perhaps by a far larger margin than six points, but gvery effort Was made to play the open game, and the three-quarters who have scored so many tries for the province were again given the opportunities they deserve.

Unpredictable Fijians The Fijian backs contributed a full share to the enjoyment the crowd derived from the match. They were unpredictable, and unorthodox. Sometimes a break was made which the most ordinary team would have turned to profit, but the Fijians, in the backs as in the forwards, were Individuals, and their love of* changing the direction of an attack was indulged in rather too often. But several of the backs showed great speed and initiative, and in the first spell, particularly, their handling was delightful The ball was back-handed away, almost indiscriminately it seemed, but nearly always there was a player in support to take the pass. One of the points on which the game hinged was the Inability of I. Cawa, playing as a lock, to dominate the line-outs as he had done in some of the earlier matches. He has jumped spectacularly throughout the tour, but on Saturday, Canterbury seemed .to have little difficulty in winning the line-outs. For a time, Cawa jumped higher than anyone, but was seldom able to get the ball back, apparently having it taken from him by E Hern and W. J. Whineray, usually numbers two and three in the line-out.

Many of the line-outs»were won for Canterbury by S. F. Hill and R. H. Duff, and the regularity with which Canterbury won the ball from the set play and the rucks cost the Fijians the match. Fast Forwards The Fijian forwards made a couple of effective rushes with the ball at foot, although even in these they did not control the ball very well, and it was almost a case of taking it in turns to ruck. In broken play, however the Fijian forwards were much more effective, for they were fast handled well, and were quick to seize an opportunity. S. Sautu, one of the props, and the strong man of the forwards, was one who had his head down most of the time, and T. Lisin, a lock, also played a very good allround game. But the Fijian-scrum was poorly packed, and it lost the ball in the loose head several times. .

The Fijian backs did some extraordinary things. They made little progress from set play, but they were always formidable if they had room in which to move; twice weak clearing kicks by the Canterbury full-back, J. Stuart, cost tries. The Fijian threequarters frequently raced acrossfield with giant strides in their efforts to circumvent the defence, and none of the backs kicked for the line willingly. T. Naidole, the second five-eighths, scored two tries, and his pace and propping were beautiful. The centre, O. Daiwai, was rather more othodox in his attack, although his wisest planning was often set aside by the whims of those outside him. It was this ingenuousness, amounting almost to ingenuity, which gave the Fijians their greatest appeal and their sharpest weapon. The full-back, N. Uluiviti. was a danger on attack, unorthodox on defence. Once he trapped a rolling ball soccer fashion.

Haphazard Defence On defence, the Fijians were sometimes haphazard. Often the man with the ball would be taken with a perfect tackle, but some of the brilliant things done by the Canterbury backs were invited by diffident tackling. Sometimes it seemed the Fijians preferred to stay on their feet and attempt to take the ball from an opponent-, rather than make a proper tackle. The Fijians were extremely popular with the crowd, which would have been well satisfied with a win for the visitors, but was highly delighted with the play of the Canterbury team. The Canterbury forwards must

have enjoyed the lack of opposition in the rucks, but they had a busy time, nevertheless, providing their backs with the ball, for the break-downs in play often occurred in quick succession. Duff, Hill, Whineray and Hern were splendid, and N. S. Roberts covered a lot of ground backing up on defence and attack.

Smith Impressive The inside backs were content as a rule to get the ball along the line quickly, although in the second spell A. Pearce, the first five-eighths, who played an excellent game, made a couple of beautiful breaks. Outside him S. K. Henderson was extremely successful. His swerve and pace made decisive breaches in the defence on several occasions. C. A. McDonald played well at centre, but the efforts of all the backs were dwarfed by those of Smith on the left wing. Smith, singularly unimpressive on the northern tour, redeemed his reputation in no uncertain fashion. In the set play he showed tremendous dash, and on several occasions ran round his marker, B. Tanivukavu. But it was in making play himself that Smith excelled. Nearly every time he came in from the short side he did something constructive, often brilliantly constructive. His speed and swerve were magnificent, his eye for the opening never keener or surer. Smith has never been quite such a superb attacking player as he was on Saturday. On the other wing, A. E. G. Elsom was also at his best, although he had far fewer opportunities than Smith. The Marist half-back, J. Stuart, made two costly errors at full-back, but he played extremely well ’ otherwise. He has more than his mannerisms to remind the spectator of his noted brother, K. C. Stuart, Canterbury full-back for a good many years.

The Flay The teams were:— Fiji.—N. Uluiviti; S'. Domoni, O. Dawai, B. Tanivukavu; T. Naidole, K. Bose; J. Mueunabitu; A. Kurisaqila; P. Nayacakalao, T. Lisio, I. Cawa, J. Tabaiwalu; S. Sautu,

M. Naikovu, J. Saukuru. Canterbury.—J. Stuart; R. M. Smith, C. A. McDonald, A. E. G. Elsom; S. K. Henderson, A. L. Pearce; B. P. Molloy; N. Teague; H. C. Burry, R. H. Duff, S. F. Hill, N. S. Roberts; E Hern, D. Young, W. J. Whineray. Twice in the first few minutes Henderson failed with penalty kicks from reasonable positions, but he made a fine opening from which McDonald almost scored. Then Smith broke through on the open side, sent on to McDonald, and Elsom went round behind the posts. Henderson missed the kick. From a clearing kick by Stuart, Bose accelerated very quickly, linked up with the outside backs and Uluiviti, coming up at tre-

mendous speed, went over in the corner. x

A blind side movement between Stuart and Smith gained ground, but Tanivukavu replied with a superb cross-field run. Then Dawai took a clearing kick, beat several defenders, and sjnt Nayacakalao over for a toy which Uluiviti converted, much to the delight of the Fijian party on the sideline. Domini made a spectacular weaving run. Smith made a long run down the touch-line, but in working a scissors pass with Burry which would almost surely have brought a try, the ball was dropped. Then Smith made a very determined dash for the corner. McDonald sent Elsom a bad pass at the end of a Canterbury rush, but Elsom. after doubling back for the ball, sent it inside to Henderson, who ran Pearce into position for a try which Henderson converted. Then Stuart started another fine movement but Teague neglected two men inside him. The halftime score was 8-8. The Fijians during the interval, were cheerful victims of mobbing by schoolchildren.

Canterbury scored three minutes after the resumption. Young won a tight head and Smith, coming in at second five-eighths, turned infield and caught the defence badly out of step. He scored, with three or four colleagues in support Elsom came in from the short side, made the extra man. and swift passing gave Smith his second try. Canterbury, on defence, tried a blindside move but Naidole, with a superb interception, took the ball and went over unopposed. Uluiviti converted to leave the Fijians a point behind. Smith, on the open side, made another break and Henderson swerved through several defenders to score the third try in five minutes. He converted it himself.

In the closing'stages, Fiji was twice unlucky to be penalised when in promising positions, but seven minutes from the end Uluiviti kicked a penalty goal. Two minutes later Henderson kicked a penalty goal, the kick being signalled over by almost the whole Fijian team and Canterbury was on top until the final whistle. It was good to note that the Fijians, who had sung happily in their dressing room, and who had given a spectacular war chant before the game, were not unduly depressed; as the crowd surged across the field, these happy warriors gave an encore of the war chant as they made their way off the ground. The referee was Mr C. R. Gillies. of Waikato.

Sports Postponed.—Except for the Auckland - Otago representative match all Rugby, Rugby League, and hockey matches were postponed on account of rain at Auckland on SatIgrday—(PA.)