HEAVY DEFEAT FOR BRIGHTON

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30420, 20 April 1964, Page 14

HEAVY DEFEAT FOR BRIGHTON

UNIVERSITY A 20. J. Gibson. P. A. Hutchison and R. Somerville tries: D. C. Leary three penalty goals and a conversion. NEW BRIGHTON 6: G. A. Stan ley and R. Dalton penalty goals.

The powerful University pack | and its alert and sharp backs inflicted the heaviest defeat on New Brighton for some time. Gaining almost unlimited possession from the line-outs, University pounced the New Brighton defence for most of the j match. With the score at half-' time 14 0 in favour of University} the odds on the side runningJ up a high score were favour- j able. But tenacious defence and I some bad handling and passing I by the Univeisity backs nullified i the efforts of their forwards; and in the second half Univers- j ity scored the same number of; points as New Brighton—six. I The match did not quite reach } the standard that could have: been expected. Both teams' were guilty of bad handling and passing and much of the play was scrappy and indecisive. There were some golden moments. Twice the University backs and forwards swept more than 70 yards in passing rushes: from one came a superb try to J. Gibson and the other movement stopped just short of the corner flag. Then New Brighton, not to be outdone, moved the bail through its forwards and backs in a 50-yard dash before the final player was forced into touch. Winning Factors University won, and won so easily, because its forwards were dominant in gaining possession and its backs when they did move into action did so with far more assurance. The University pack, with M. C. Meikle outstanding in the line-outs and C. R. Hockley and T. H. Moynihan the leaders in the tight, stifled New Brighton's attempts to break the game down into a pattern of loose Play. There were moments when New Brighton, led by 1. H. Penrose, broke away from the tight control imposed by the University pack but they were very occasional moments and New Brighton was never allowed to begin its swirling, rushing, forward movements which have proved so successful in the past.

In the backs University was too polished. New Brighton made valiant attempts to open up play but hesitancy, particularly from R. Dalton and F Bishop, stopped many promising moves. The University backs made some errors but in the last few’ minutes they were moving so well, sparked off by the nippy combination of R Somerville and B. Prestige, that only the fantastic defence of

the New Brighton team stopped the score moving into the thirties. P. A. Hutchison and R. C. Moreton were a dangerous pair in the mid-field and Hutchison's break and timing of his pass to Gibson was Rugby symmetry. J. Gibson had a good game on the wing. C. V. Smith did good work for New Brighton at first five-eighths and G. A. Stanley played his usual sound game. Meikle was a mighty figure in the University pack and Hockley and Moynihan were always prominent. Penrose at some times seemed to be playing University on his own but he had good support from E. Leask and B. Bowick.'

The referee was Mr R. O, McDowell.