Water Polo Canterbury Beats Otago, Loses To Wellington

Press, Volume C, Issue 29687, 4 December 1961, Page 19

Water Polo Canterbury Beats Otago, Loses To Wellington

Canterbury's water polo representatives made a successful start defending the Miller Cup with a 12-1 win over Otago at the Centennial Pool on Saturday. A return match wild be played at Dunedin later in the season, and the trophy will be awarded on the aggregate scores from tile two matches. In other matches played on Saturday in this annual triangular tournament, Wellington beat Canterbury 8-2 and beat Otago 14-0. Wellington and Canterbury play an annual fixture for the Norden Cup, but that trophy was not at stake on Saturday. The teams were:— Canterbury.—N. Chambers, C. Chambers, B. Monk. I. Farquharson, I. McKenzie. G. Doyle, P. Hatchwell, R. Pocock, I. MacDonald, M. Stevens, L. Mclntosh. Wellington.—R. Hatchwell, I. Hartley, G. Schuster, F. Steiner, R. Stobbs, M. Harvey, W. Penny, T. Richmond, W. Howes, P. Perkinson. Otago.—P Tremaine, D. Trainor, D. Quirk, J. Doubledon, W. Broughton. M. Bell, D. Kilpatrick, C. Raats, W. McDonald. D Paape. These were the first representative matches to be played in Christchurch under the new international rules. These rules allow for the substitution of up to four players at the end of each of the quarters. The introdution of fresher players at the end of the second and third quarters on Saturday maintained play at a faster pac» for the whole of the matches. The tournament was marred from the spectators’ point of view by the difficulty in identifying the members of the visiting teams when they were in the water Under the old rules, with only seven players in a team and the same seven in the pool for the whole of the match, one man wore the same numbered cap for the whole game Canterbury was the only team on Saturday which had prepared for play under the new rules with a full set of 11 numbered caps. Canterbury v. Otago Canterbury, lacking some ot its star players, was still too str s n ?^ for - a young Otago side, and the final score was 12-1 Otago s only goal came from a penalty shot. The standard of play was not high as both sides included players who lacked experience. The home team was well guided by the Chambers brothers. national representatives of some seasons past. C. Chambers in particular excelled in positional play, and his passing was a model of accuracy. Attacking tile Otago goal at every opportunity P Hatchwell gave further indication of his promise Combining well with Hatchwell was Mclntosh and of the defenders MacDonald and N Chambers were responsible for keeping Otago's score down In the Otago side the veterans Trainor and Tremaine were the

On defence, Trainor was very steady. The team misses the influence of G. Leach, the former Otago representative, who has now transferred to Auckland Several players were tried in goal, ana Doubledon was the best of these. Goals for Canterbury were scored by Hatch well (five), McIntosh (three), M. Stevens (two), C. Chambers and MacDonald. Broughton scored from a penalty for Otago. Canterbury v. Wellington Too many infringements slowed upvplay in the first half of this match, and Canterbury did well to hold Wellington to 2-aU at this stage. After half-time Wellington’s fastswimming and quick-passing side proved superior. The Wellington forwards were aided by some loose defending by Canterbury. Hartley', in the Wellington goal, kept Canterbury’s score down to two, with some good anticipation and a fair amount of luck. The home team should have had more goals. Schuster, probably the best defender in the tournament, kept the Canterbury scoring man, P. Hatchwell. well under control. The international players, R. Hatch well and Richmond, in the Wellington side, were well supported by the promising young Harvey. Steiner and Perkinson were other Wellington players to impress. The fast and low passing of these < players was in contrast to the high lobbed efforts of other teams, which allow a defence more time to regain position. It was left to the experienced members of the Canterbury team—C. Chambers, N. Chambers and MacDonald—to try to stem the Wellington attack. Monk and Farquharson. the Canterbury goal-keepers, did their best, but the Wellington players were skilled in shooting goals. Wellington’s goals were scored by Hatchwell (two), Perkinson (two) Steiner. Harvey, Richmond and W. Penny. C. Chambers and Mclntosh scored for Canterbury.