FIGHTS DURING HARD GAME Australian pack masters Meads and his men

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33003, 24 August 1972, Page 24

FIGHTS DURING HARD GAME Australian pack masters Meads and his men

(N.Z.PA. Staff Correspondent) TAUMARUNUI. Australia beat King Country 13-6, in a scrappy game at Taumarunui yesterday. The Australian forwards relished the hard ground and fine weather and won plenty of ball.

However, the Wallaby backs played poorly, holding their passes but making mistakes such as changing direction when they had a clear run and running into the King Country forwards.

Fighting broke out several times during the game, sometimes yards behind play, but it was always quickly stopped.

In an incident, C. E. Meads and another King Country player argued vehemently and pushed Wallabies, R. Cocks and R. Thompson, while the Australian centre, D. S. Rathie, scored a try 40 yards away. Meads played a determined game. He ran hard and well all day, and has lost none of his fire and vigour. Prosser injured In the hard-working Australian forwards, who were more than a match for the strong King Country eight, R. B. Prosser, who suffered a head injury late in the game, was hard, strong and tireless. He had a long tussle in the scrums with G. Whiting. The hooker, R. Thompson, a keen and enthusiastic player, worked well and fast in the loose, but conceded the tight-head count, 2-3, to his opposite, the former All Black, T. McCashin. G, Fay, B. Stumbles and

R. M. Wood won a lot of line-out ball for Australia. The Wallabies won the line-outs, 18 to 12, but the scrums were shared, 22 each. Both full backs, the Australian, R. L. Fairfax, and N. Gordon, had good games. Fairfax displayed all the flair and elan New Zealanders saw in the Commonwealth Games matches earlier this year. If he had a little extra pace, he would have scored at least two tries. He was always safe as full-back, and his line kicks were well-timed and shrewd. Gordon was barging and tough, and many of the Wal-

labies found him hard to bring down. J. McLean, the Wallaby wing, was not given enough opportunity to use his speed, but he played intelligently, and it was his little Rick over Gordon’s head that led to Rathie’s try. The other Australian wing, J. Taylor, had an unhappy day. He had an almost total lack of sidestep on attack, and was fooled by the simplest of sidesteps on defence. Good centre P. Rowles, selected as a first five-eighths, but playing at centre, had a great game in his second appearance on the tour. He tackled well, handled efficiently and was always up with play. He made a fine break through the King Country line, but his speed let him down and he had no-one in support. His tackling was good. The Australian half-back, J. R. Comes, got little protection from his forwards, but served his backs well, and ran strongly. Scorers—Australia: R. N. Wood, Rathie, tries; Fairfax, conversion and a penalty. King Country: Gordon, two penalties.