RUGBY YOUTH

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30130, 14 May 1963, Page 6

RUGBY YOUTH

The under-6st match between Hornby and Marist began ordinarily enough—for the first three minutes. It was then noticed that Hornby had eight backs and eight forwards. A roll call was taken and the game resumed—without one Hornby back. Three Marist under sst 71b players have found a way to keep warm on cold Saturday mornings. After their match, S. Dunn, C. Foley and M. Sullivan took the field for the under 6st A team. This is eagerness indeed. Three players who stood out in the under sst B match against Sydenham where Shirley’s B. Ching, G. Leach and D. Leary. They hunted the ball relentlessly and led their team to victory.

The scissors pass was worked to perfection by two Merivale players, G. Barney (second five-eighths) and A. Ebert (centre) in an under--17 game against Christchurch cm Saturday. Ebert ran 40yds through a disorganised defence after the move had been accomplished but was unlucky to be denied a try through the ball being held in goat Terry Marshall, who created a fine impression as fullback for the Merivale under--20 team last season, has a brother, Brent Marshall, who is making good progress in a similar position for the club’s under-17 team. The younger Marshall is a strong kicker and is proving a sound last line of defence.

The under sst 71b match between Marist and Hornby was extremely hard-fought, but largely through excellent play by their full-back, J. Hornby was able to hold a territorial advantage, and finally go ahead to win. The mainstays of a fast and penetrating High School Old Boys beck line in the under-16 grade are L. Legge and A. Tweedie, first and second five-eighths respectively. Tweedie scored a brilliant try against Merivale on Saturday by weaving a bewildering path past half-a-dozen defenders who were grouped solidly between the 25yd line and the goal-line. The High School Old Boys under-16 team’s hooker, D. Escott, played half-back for the team against Merivale on Saturday. Far from showing any signs of uncertainty, he quickly settled into his new position and' maintained a good service to his backs. The Sumner club has a fine pack of forwards in the under 6st 71b B grade. All of them appear to be able to handle well and are vigorous rockers. They took part in some very strong loose rushes in their match against Suburbs on Saturday and proved difficult to stop. That the Cathedral Grammar team in the under sst B grade beat Sydenham 6-3 in a very close game on Saturday was partly because of a fine combination between the half-back and first fiveeighths. The players concerned were P. Pryor and I. Gebbie. A player who was on the ball all through the game was a flanker, 8. Montgomery, Although the Christchurch club is the only one with numbers on the jerseys of all its lower grade teams, some other teams seem to be following suit. Most of the players in the Suburbs under 6st 71b team on Saturday wore them. However, the disconcerting feature of it was that there were at least four jersies with a number 10 and a couple more with nines. The under sst C. Merivale team did very well to beat Christchurch 6-3 in their match on Saturday as they only played with 12 boys—two less than the opposition. A player who stood out—and not only for his bright red and yellow socks, was the half-back, W. McWhirter, who scored two fine runaway tries.