Leary, McCormick Were Brilliant Full-Backs

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30497, 20 July 1964, Page 14

Leary, McCormick Were Brilliant Full-Backs

LINWOOD 14: W. F. McCormick a try; P. Jellyman a conversion and three penalty goals. UNIVERSITY A 11: R. Vivian a try; D. C. Leary a conversion and two penalty goals. With a strong nor’wester blowing down the ground from the embankment corner, it seemed that Linwood would need a substantial lead before playing into the wind, but the 11 points it had in hand at halftime were only just enough. Passing, as well as kicking, was difficult in such conditions and University A had a desperately difficult first spell, for its efforts to attack often broke down and gave Linwood chances which were eagerly accepted After the interval, the wind was an advantage to University, but it was not nearly as strong as It had been earlier. Linwood made better use of the wind, and that applied particularly to the displays of the full-backs. In the first half. Leary was sometimes in trouble because the ball often bounced awkwardly and high, but he played with his usual cool competence. McCormick hardly put a foot wrong all day. He used the wind with superb judgment, and against It he kicked strongly and accurately. Many Tight Heads

It was a tremendously hard battle in the forwards, but there was more running among the backs than might have been expected. It was obvious that Linwood would have to score its points, or most of them, in the first half, and when, in the first minutes, R. Eastmond was taken from the scrum to become an extra defensive back, it seemed that Linwood might not have appreciated the tactical situation. But this phase did not last long. For nearly all the game. Linwood tried to use its backs, and so did University. An extraordinary number of tight heads contributed to the flow of the game: University took nine and Linwood four. If the game had been decided purely on possession, University would have won hand-

somely. In the first spell, it had an edge in the line-outs, and its possession was nearly always quicker and cleaner than Linwood’s. For most of the second half, University held almost complete charge in the

line-outs, and the backs were sent away time and again. It seemed, 15 or 20 minutes from the end, that University’s persistent attacks would run even Linwood’s stout defence ragged, but Jellyman, kicking his third penalty from an awkward position 13 minutes from time, left University the considerable task of scoring twice to win.

Leary kicked a penalty nine minutes from time, and narrowly missed another four minutes later. It required desperate defence from Linwood to hold out, but Linwood has a fit, strong and determined team; in the closing minutes University also had some periods of anxious defence. Dawson Resourceful

McCormick was an outstanding personality, with his fine kicking and tackling, his flair for running at the right time. He set off two or three excellent movements, and he scored his side’s only try. The half-back, J. Dawson, played a strong and resourceful game, and N. Stokes outside him • looked a

very good player indeed. He made two or three sharp thrusts, defended ably and twice narrowly missed with drop-kicks. The second five-eighths, K. Gimblett, twice broke past R. C. Moreton in the early stages and he was always something of a danger to University. When Linwood was getting some line-out possession, it was usually through G. Cron or R. Tabb, and these two were prominent in the loose, too, with Tabb adding his quota of clever defensive covering. Not that he was alone in that. In the last desperate stages, Linwood’s forwards covered ground at an astonishing race, spurred on by their captain, A. Holland. University’s line-out successes came mainly from M. C. Meikle and N. W. House, although the wings varied the depth of their throws very considerably. In the first half, House often took the ball from the man at five or six and wheeled round to begin a

mid-field attack. Later C. R. Hockley performed this duty with some distinction. University was unlucky to lose P. Lee through injury at the start of the second spell, for he was playing particularly well; the centre, P. Hutchinson, went off at the same time. R. Sommervllle played capably behind the University forwards, and if A. F. Orme had some bad moments, he did some things particularly well. He certainly gave the men outside him many chances in the second spell, and it was Moreton’s swift double-round outside his centre which sent Vivian in for a delightful try. B. M. Weenink sometimes ran very strongly, and Leary brought off some prodigious kicks in the second half. Referee: Mr A. R. Taylor.