N.S.W. Magnificent In 32-10 League Win

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30752, 17 May 1965, Page 15

N.S.W. Magnificent In 32-10 League Win

The New South Wales Country Rugby League touring team scored a convincing, 32-10, victory over Canterbury at the Show Grounds on Saturdav.

It won because it was a team of professionals thoroughly drilled m the importance of pace, possession and position playing against a team of amateurs who never gave up trying but who were outclassed in the fundamentals.

The visitors dominated possession by a ratio of about six to one. although they won the scrums at the much smaller average of 17 to nine. They went through their work at a terrific pace seldom equalled by New Zealand teams and were much too fast for Canterbury, particularly in their forward play from the play-the-balls. The Country team's positional play was such that it seldom needed a full-back and Morachi was able to come into the back line at will. Whenever a pass was to be sent out there were usually two or three Country players backing up to receive it. Penalised 19 Times The referee (Mr E. Gutberlet, of West Coast) penalised Country 19 times, mostly for blatant obstruction and scrum infringements—indicating a different interpretation of the hooking rule in Australia and New Zealand—and awarded the Country team one penalty. in the first minute of Play.

HEW SOUTH WALES COUNTRY: L Morachi; R. Horne. R. Weir J Schrader, C. Bryant; A. J. summons (captain), A. Fenwick; T Pannowitz; B. Carlin, B Reath; D. Schofield, R. Hopper K Hatch.

CANTIRBURY P. J. Tongue; R Moffat. B. W. Langton. R. Naish. C. C. Preece; P. V. Smith: R. S. J. Irvine <vice-captain): L. White; I. T. Drayton, E, ravendale; M. H. Mohi. J. H. Fisher 'captain. replaced by B I Barron). G. Turner.

For Country. Morachi, Beath and Weir scored two tries each. Pannowitz and Summons one fry each and Carlin kicked four goals. Drayton kicked five goals for Canterbury, one a brilliant effort from 55 yards. Lack of Possession

Canterbury suffered mostly from lack of possession. Its captain. Fisher, was injured 10 minutes after half-time when the scrums were fairly even. When Barron, a specialist hooker came on as the replacement the Country hooker. Hopper, dominated the scrums in spite of the increasing penalties that nffuenced the crowd of about 3000 to cheer for Country. Whenever Canterbury won a scrum the Country loose forwards would be swarming around Irvine and Smith like flies, and very troublesome flies at that. The Canterbury players did not use their little possession well and often the ball was frittered away fruitlessly and the loss of a try and in minutes’ hard chasnng would result.

The major difference in the forwards was the tackling. It w a case of the professional ityle—one man round the legs another smothering the ball higher up—against that of the amateur —an arm flung out

hopefuly and a look of despair when the elusive attacker had simply lowered his head and passed by.

In one phase of forward play Country showed a similarly effective style to that of the Southern XIII earlier in the season—they could turn in a tackle and the ball on after drawing two or three Canterbury defenders whose high tackles neither put the man on the ground nor smothered the ball.

Because of the sparseness of possession the Canterbury backs

I received few chances. Whenever the ball <K<l reach the : centres they were surrounded by a bevy of maroon and yelow jerseys. Country did not have a field day. but they probed until the gap opened and then brought Morachi—a magnificent attacking full-back—into the line to create havoc among Canterbury’s cover-defence. i™ many va.-s Canterbury cannot be blamed for the difference in the scores. It never gave up against players who had been drilled in ruthlessly grinding down the opposition

and then running wild. Had Canterbury given up after halftime Country, could well have declared its innings closed well before the end of play. However, Canterbury's fallability from the play-the-ball was rather disheartendqg. Country scored six of its tries from these moves, simply because Canterbury delayed too long in getting back into position. The intelligent, experienced captain, Summons, fully exploited these weaknesses and switched piay accordingly although he was given little room to move hiimse'.f. Smith shadowed him all day and only twice was Summons able to run from set play. Brilliant Taam-work

His try could not be blamed on Smith nor anyone else for it was a magnificent piece of team work fully appreciated by the crowd. Summons began the move by running the blind and passing to Morachi; the ball then Went through Horne, Summons, Beath, Summons, Pannowitz and finally back to Sum-

mons for the fourth time for him to score following a movement that covered 60 yards. Apart from Summons, three Country players shone in a very good team. There was Morachi. a full-back in the mould of his countryman, K. C. Thornette, and the former Kiwi, G. R. Phillips. He attacked all the time, running hard, handling well and backing up to score two beautiful tries.

Then there was Pannowitz. a loose forward every bit as impressive as M. L. Cooke on his best days. Only 20 and very slight in build, Pannowitz was as strong as a prop, as fast as a wing and as hard to catch as an express that leaves, an hour too early. Schofield was the director of the forwards’ tactical play. He neve rlet them rest on their laurels but kept them working almost until they dropped. In this he found a willing performer in Beath, small for a forward but one who used his size to duck under the high tackles of the Canterbury for-

wards. In his head gear he stood out and the crowd murmured with anticipation whenever he received the ball, which was often.

The cnly blur on the Country team’s performance was the obstruction tactics of some of the players. In this Country was not always fully to blame, but many offences were senseless and could well have been deliberate to gain possession from the resultant penalty. Only one Canterbury forward came out of the game with any honour. This was White, whose enthusiasm for defensive work was worthy of admiration. Had the other forwards followed his example Countrv would have been harnessed to a much greater extent. Fisher seemed to be burdened by the captaincy and was not really effective as a leader. Turner and Mohi played poorly, neither showing any ability for turning tn a tackle. Apart from White, Canterbury lacked a player who would run 10 yards and send the ball on and too many who ran 20 yards straight into a tackle.

Turner, Tavendale and Drayton each made one long run. but these Were only individual efforts. There were a couple of minor flare-ups amongst the opposing forwards but there was nothing serious as the likeable Country players showed their desire to play constructive football and Canterbury slogged back on to defence once mote.

Smith’s performance in holding Summons was really remarkable for he was considered to be only a stop-gap by many people. He chased Summons everywhere and cancelled him out for 70 minutes, a feat that many of the world's greatest defensive halves have found impossible.

Irvine was another to defend impressively—but faultless defence is expected of this determined young player, even after being flattened by a severe tackle as he was on Saturday. Oh attack he was given no chance and the suddenness With which the captaincy was pressed on to him was unfortunate for, like Fisher, he is not a firstclass leader. Naish Sound Defender

In the centres, Naish and Langton did all they could. In his first game for Canterbury, Naish showed a sound defence. Langton also kept his man in check and was unlucky not to score on one occasion. Smith lined him up beautifully inside his own half and Langton went off on a 50-yard run, during which he beat Morachi and was pushed into touch feet from the corner only by a magnificent tackle by Pannowitz, who came from nowhere. Preece and Moffat received few opportunities, while Tongue could not play his usual attacking game because of the lack of possession. The Country backs were solid and fast. Weir and Schroder took a lot of stopping, while Fenwick was an intelligent scrum-half.

The goal-kicking was a mixture of good and poor. Drayton kicked five goals from 10 attempts, including his 55-yard effort, while Carlin converted four of the tries, two of them magnificent goals from the side line that made the high uprights look as small as fence posts. League Draw The matcn between Hornby and Christchurch will be the major attraction of the fifth Rugby League club championship round next Saturday. The draw is: Hornby v. Christchurch, Show Grounds No. 1. 2.45; Marist v. Linwood, Show Grounds No. 2, 2.45; Sydenham v. Addington, Show Grounds No. 1, 1.00; Kaiapoi v. Papanui, Kaiapoi, 2.45.