Rugby Youth WEEKLY REVIEW

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31365, 10 May 1967, Page 34

Rugby Youth WEEKLY REVIEW

Whether or not early- primary or preschool boys are ready to be exposed to the rigours of competition Rugby, the hundreds of boys given a parental clearance each Saturday are receiving excellent grounding in the fundamentals of the game.

When a team coach can use an interruption in the play to space his back line in defensive array along the goal-line like a woman arranging her prize delphiniums in front of her fading flora, the tension associated with the midget game becomes a fallacy. The man who did this was Mr B. O’Connor, coach of the Albion under sst 71b team’s back-line. He was not assailed with protests, although the opposing team, Linwood, had a big following of parents.

Rule Explained The referees in underweight Rugby govern proceedings with discretion, for the players would never break into a run if the rule book was followed to the letter. Mr T. McJarrow, who controlled the Linwood-Albion game, let pass minor infringements, but the off-side rules, which are best learned early, were explained to both sides before penalties were invoked for the more flagrant breaches. The five-stoners play most entertainingly. The best Rugby is rarely seen near the touch-lines and, when play is in mid-field, few lads could kick that far or would wish to in the first place. Although its centre, Leslie Davidson, developed a blister inside his new boots and had to retire early, Linwood was by far the superior team in tbe first half against Albion. But Mr O’Connor’s sound advice to his backs to tackle low and some stern lecturing by the forward coach, Mr R. Ryan, prevented further scoring by Linwood; the second half, in fact, developed into a sort of impasse. The Albion forwards retaliated so strongly that lineouts seemed to provide a respite for both packs as they formed strange standingscrums, supported each other’s weight and flailed at interminable lengths for the ball. Keen Tackling Further along the back-lines tbe tackling was so keen that players of both sides shed a few tears, and it was not surprising that an Albion wing, claiming a mark that was unheard by the referee, was treated with sympathy by a group of advancing Linwood backs who stopped a few paces away and awaited, with their quarry, some official intervention. Mr McJarrow ordered a line-out.

The policy of the Rugby Union’s junior advisory board to relegate or promote during the season if results demand some change or if a bye can be avoided, is accepted in various ways by coaches. The Albion team in section two of the 6st 71b grade led 204) at half-time against Shirley and was told by one of its two coaches not to worry about scoring tries and to ignore goal-kicking opportunities in the second half. School

boys, especially when winning, are irrepressible and 17 more points were added.

After a mortifying experience in its first game against Linwood, the team has not bypassed many scoring chances. Albion had only 12 boys against Linwood but led 6-0 at half-time after playing into a strong north-west wind.

Complacency and a wind reversal early in the second half very quickly drew Albion’s teeth and the team lost, 6-9. Since then its record has been two wins in two games, 66 points for and none against.

Six Tries The team’s most promising player is Wayne Hegarty, an intelligent No. 8 who understands the duties of his position, whether on attack or defence. He has impressive pace and a good swerve and sidestep, all assets which earned him several games as a centre last year. Wayne has scored six tries this season.

There was no attempt by Mr G. Tait, a St. Andrew’s College master, to trammel his under--15 team when it led Sydenham, 264), at half-time. “You won’t get another opportunity like this for a long time, so make the most of it,” he told his unbeaten team at half-time before hurrying off to Lancaster Park to play for Christchurch seniors in the main game on the oval;

With its fast back-line, extremely heavy pack (its average weight is 121 stone) and style of Rugby that Mr F. R. Allen is keen to see at the top level, St. Andrew’s has a very good chance of remaining unbeaten.

Possession was won quickly and cleanly, and the ball rarely failed to reach the wings, lan Wallace and Ronald Mottram, who scored eight of the team’s 13 tries in a 55-0 win.

The St. Andrew’s pack has a solid front row and Gavin Marshall, Robert Turpin and Paul Ackroyd conceded only eight scrums to Sydenham in the entire game. As great as the thrill of winning a game can be the presence of a senior referee. Mr R. Bull, who retired from senior refereeing at the end of last season and who is now vice-president of the Canterbury Rugby Referees' Association, controlled the HornbyAlbion 7st 71b game on Saturday. Boys Benefiit The boys benefit from having a senior man to point out errors and give advice, while for the referees the pitterpatter of little feet can—parents permitting—seem like green pastures far from the crucible of senior Rugby. It is a policy of the referee’s association to give under-age and under-weight experience to seniors after the Union’s top five referees have been selected for representative games and as candidates for international matches.

“This is done mainly to give the kids something to talk about,” said the association president (Mr L. A. Mahoney) as he watched and advised a number of novice referees at South Hagley. “At the same time it is in our interests to give first and second-year referees experience in the higher grades. Within the next few weeks all our referees will be examined by

a committee to determine their grading, but whatever the result they will return from time to time to the lower grades.” New Members The association has had 30 new members this season. “We are just holding our own with about 140 active referees,” Mr Mahoney said, “but the teams are increasing every season and we would feel happier with about 20 more”

New referees go into the under-weight grades and, because there is still a slight

shortage of men, a few of them control three games in a morning. Although the association is the only one in New Zealand which provides referees for all grades of a major union, its standards are high and new members, regardless of. their experience, attend coaching classes before taking their first game. The mainstay of the movement was the retired senior player who wished to return something to the game, said Mr Mahoney, but there were also a few current senior players who refereed morning games. Great Joy Considering it had lost its three previous games, all by at least 25 points, there was great joy in the Teachers’ Training College after its B team in section two of the junior grade had inflicted the first defeat on University B. The latter is a social team, composed of the remnants of disbanded law students’ teams and nostalgic elements of the

infamous “Timpson’s Tigers" social XV that roamed abroad in the early 19605. University seemed a most colourful team, quite apart from the seven foreign shades or colour combinations that clashed with its regulation maroon jersey. Training College, by comparison, was well turned out, which added to the impression that it is keen to improve. The college coach's little sprints along the touch-lines and his assurances to his team, during stoppages, that it looked much the fitter side, contrasted with the quiet dignity of the University coach whose sole concession to gamesmanship was a loud renouncement of the fitness claim and a pointed reference to a bootless college man who was being “worn off his feet.” But his esprit de corps was really manifest at half-time when he strolled about, handing out oranges to his players regardless of whether they had properly taken up their positions for the second half or collapsed on hearing the half-time blast.

“Get Up” University, leading 6-5 for most of the second half, was often under considerable pressure and it was as well that its practices, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. each Friday, have been concentrated on tackling. All college’s hopes seemed to have sunk because of it and its coach wore a hagged expression of resignation when he told a player, “You should be back on defence. Now get up.”

But most games contain a latent drollery whereby long periods of superiority can be annulled by a moment’s carelessness. So it was that the excellent tries of John Thompson and Ed Sullivan were made for nought by a University enthusiast who was caught offside in the last seconds of play. It was typical of the type and grade of Rugby that the first player to leave the field (from Training College) inquired about the result, grinned all over and returned, as the victor should, ■to shake hands.