NORTH ISLAND BEATS SOUTH

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28921, 15 June 1959, Page 14

NORTH ISLAND BEATS SOUTH

Convincing Defeat At Wellington

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, June 14.

, The South Island Rugby team and about 25,000 spectators who watched the annual inter-island game at Athletic Park yesterday, were given a lesson on the modern game of Rugby by the North Island. In this, the 51st inter-island match, South suffered one of its most crushing defeats in post-war years when North Island scored 30 points (three goals from tries, three tries and two penalty goals) to 14 (a goal from a try and three penalty goals). The 16 points that separated the two teams, flattered the South Island. In the forward play South held its own in most departments, but its backs, in comparison with the very smooth Northern combination, looked and played like a disorganised rabble.

To a great extent, the play was dictated by a fierce northerly which immense advantage to the North Island when it had it, and often a liability to the South which played with the wind at its back in the second half.

There was a time when South was within eight points of North in the second half, with 20 minutes’ play remaining, but the South backs failed to make the most effective use of the wind and the possession, hard-won for them by the forwards. It was £n excellent and very exciting game, with the North Island providing the best of the play. Gate takings were a little more than £5OOO. Two changes were made in the teams originally chosen, and both applied to the No. 8 positions. The giant North Auckland forward, P. F. Jones, was suffering from influenza and could not play and D. J. Graham, still suffering from a knee injury, was not fit. The teams were:— NORTH ISLAND.—D. B. Clarke; P. T. Walsh, B. F. McMullen, T. P. O’Sullivan; T. R. Briscoe; E. A. R. Pickering; K. G. Briscoe; E. A. R. Pickering, K. G. Barry, L N. Mac Ewan, C. E. Meads, B. E. L. Finlay; I. J. Clarke, R. C. Hemi, W J. Whineray.

SOUTH ISLAND.—D. L. Ashby; E. S. Diack, K. F. Laidlaw, B. McPhail; S. K. Henderson, W. R. Archer; M. F. Whitta; A. J. Soper; M. R. Dunne, S. F. Hill, K. R. Tremaine, W. D. Gillespie; M. W. Irwin, D. Young, G. G. Spencer. Mr A. L. Fleury (Otago) was referee.

Tight Play For long it has been a South Island boast that in the tight rucking play, South Island is superior to North. This was proved on Saturday for in the rucks, the southern forwards held the advantage. But the North Island forwards clearly demonstrated that the ruck—the traditional feature of New Zealand forward play—no longer holds pride of place. They proved that the amended tackle ball rule, if applied correctly and quickly, eliminates the ruck and so keeps the attack moving forward with scarcely any interruption. For this play '*to succeed,. the, most necessary prerequisite is’ speed to the ball and the North Island forwards, especially Finlay, Barry, Pickering and Whineray, were much quicker to the ball than the southerners. The South Island had no answer to it except to tackle, and this also the players—mostly the backs—were unable to carry out effectively.

In the first spell, particularly, if a back was tackled, before any ruck could form a North Island forward arrived quickly, scooped up the ball and fed it to waiting forwards and backs and another attack was developed. Back Play The other lesson taught by the North was in back play. The North Island backs individually and collectively far surpassed the southern line. They adopted a fairly deep formation and moved fast and with great precision. The line was used essentially as an attacking unit throughout, pos-’ session was retained through chain passing movements and the ball was kicked only as a last resort.

From the first lineout it became obvious that the South Island would have great difficulty in countering the jumping of Mac Ewan and Meads and it is to their credit that they partly succeeded. This was done mainly when it was South’s throw-in. The wings, rather than lobbing the ball into the lineout kept it low and fast and Hill, Tremaine, Dunne, and Irwin were not forced to try and outjump Meads and Mac Ewan.

The North Island also had thtf 5 best of the scrummaging, not because Hemi won any tight heads against Young—he did not—but because North had the advantage of more loose heads through mistakes by the. South Island. Hill Mainstay

In the South Island pack, Hill played an inspiring game. He was the mainstay in the lineouts and in the tight, but as well he raced to cover defend and his hard tackling prevented many North Island movements from succeeding. Playing in his first inter-island match, Tremaine was the other outstanding South Island forward. He was quick to follow up. drove through with real fire and in the.lineout play he jumped particularly well. His try. the only one scored by South, was the result of good jumping and fast thinking. Dunne was another who jumped and drove well, but he. and the other two loose forwards. Soper and Gillespie, did not get to breakdowns with the same rapidity of the North Island three. Spencer, another who played in his first island match, marked Whineray closely in the lineouts and in the loose play was quick and intelligent. Irwin was hardly seen *in the open all day. Noting and Hemi. two old rivals, had a great duel but neither had the edge on the other in the : hooking.

Whineray At Best The play or Whineray was hardly that of a man suffering from influenza and the doubts that the selectors might have had about his ability—he has been playing at No. 8 this season without much success—must have disappeared as they watched him set an example which rio other forward on the field could emu-

late. It was Whineray at his very best. The loose play of Finlay, Pickering and Barry was much superior to that of the South trio. Finlay, in particular, stood out with his backing up and sure handling. As a lineout pair, Mac Ewan and Meads have very few rivals in the Dominion. Mac Ewan was often head and shoulders above the lineout and Meads, as well as figuring in this play, did many outstanding things in the loose. The bulk of the tight play was borne by I. J. Clarke and Hemi. although when the occasion demanded. Hemi showed surprising speed in the loose.

The most surprising feature of the North Island’s back play was that it had its origin in a very poor service from Briscoe. On most occasions, however, McCullough handled it well and saved the attack from floundering by sending the ball on quickly. The two outstanding North backs were Lineen and McMullen. In his proper position at centre, McMullen was a constant threat to the security of South’s fluctuating defence and towards the end of the game he beat Laidlaw repeatedly. Lineen also had the edge on Henderson whose early good tackling deteriorated later. These two formed the spearhead of’the North attacks.

Walsh’s Play Walsh had more play than O’Sullivan and he made the most of it. Diack contained him most of the time, but there other occasions when his speed and experience were too much for Diack to handle.

In his full-back play, Clarke did not do better than Ashby, who had by far the hardest task But Clarke’s goal kicking—from long distances—was amazing. He kicked one penalty from 57 yards out, another from 64 yards hit an upright about six feet from the top and other taken from long range lacked only direction. His shorter attempts, however, were poor.

Only two South Island backs emerged from this game with honour—McPhail and Whitta. McPhail did not have one scoring chance all day from a back movement, but his tackling was superb. Through it he saved several certain tries from being scored. Whitta gave Archer a better service than Briscoe, and made one or two good runs.

Archer was disappointing. His handling was mediocre, his passes to Henderson were for the most part aimed in the vicinity of the ear and his tactical kicking in the second, half . was poorly judged. The try scored by Lineen was attributable to Archer, whose pass Henderson tried desperately to take from behind his - shoulder blades. Henderson did not have a good day either. He was unable to breach Lineen’s defences and his own tackling towards the end of the game, was poor.

The Play Within two minutes Clarke attempted a 64 yards penalty goal with the wind at his back, but the ball hit an upright and rebounded. McMullen opened the scoring when Lineen caught the South backs out of position and gave McMullen a pass - Clarke converted. Whitta was nearly over after Young and Tremain had battled their way up to the goal-line. With 10 minutes gone Clarke kicked a mighty 57-yard penalty goal and two minutes later Hemi secured from a lineout and ran about 15 yards to score in the corner.

O’Sullivan came close to scoring, but McPhail, after stopping a forward rush, raced across and threw him into touch by the comer flag. The South forwards drove through again and Spencer went over under several North forwards, but the referee ordered a drop-out twenty-five. Clarke missed a 60-yard kick from in front, but succeeded with a shorter one after Henderson was caught offside.

From the kick-off North was penalised, but Henderson’s kick into the wind fell short. In the ensuing ruck North was penalised and Henderson kicked an easy goal. Clarke missed with another short attempt at goal and a few minutes later missed again from a similar position. A back movement by South broke down and when North secured possession O'Sullivan scored a good try after Finlay had drawn McPhail. Clarke converted The half-time score was 19-3.

Within three minutes of the resumption Henderson missed with a reasonable shot at goal but three minutes later Tremain jumped for the balj in the line-out near the "oal-line and crashed over. Diack converted from well out. The margin was decreased when Diack kicked a penalty goal from a handy position but South was unable to withstand a very strong North attack from the kick-off. Walsh made a good run and centre-kicked and Pickering secured and drove through to score well out.

Diack kicked his second penalty goal to reduce the margain again, but North went further ahead, after Lineen scored under the posts. Finlay was quick to pick up a dropped pass by Henderson and Whineray handled before Lineen went over. Clarke converted.

His way blocked, Henderson attempted a field goal and put the ball between the posts, but in its flight it had been touched by a North Island player and was ruled out One of the best tries of the match gave North its final points. O’Sullivan came into the backline and the ball was flipped quickly along the line to Walsh, who scored in the corner. Then Lineen broke away down the centre of the field and seemed sure of a try when McPhail raced in and brought him down in a copybook tackle.

Locomotive Club’s Match.—Otago retained the Kearney Memorial Cup and the McKinley Cup with a 19-3 win in the annual Rugby match between the Otago and Southland locomotive clubs played at Invercargill on Saturday.