Old Boys move up

Press, 10 May 1979, Page 30

Old Boys move up

High School Old Boys moved into second place in the C.S.B. cup last evening at Denton Oval after comfortably beating University B, 17-7. It is now one point behind Christchurch. For Old Boys, however, it was not a particularly satisI factory win against the competition’s bottom side. Missing from the ranks were three key players. — Alwyn Harvey, lan Mather and Phil Thomas — and the result was often a lack of cohesion and purpose to their play. When Old Boys did achieve supremacy, near the end of the first half, the pressure was not kept up and University was able to come back into the game when points shou'' have been going against them. It was a disappointment to the meagre band of spectators that the Old Boys backline could score only two tries. Although clean ball came plentifully along

> the chain, movements often i broke down after an initial ; break had been made. Simon Brown proved an elusive and speedy second ; five-eighth but often his efforts fell flat through a lack - of support. Although at- ’ tempting to mark its oppo- ’ nents closely, the University ’ backline gave a poor display ■ of tackling, with misses and 1 half-tackles occurring far ! too frequently. In spite of their errors, 1 the Old Boys backs were the . feature of the game as they ) constantly adopted a policy ’ of attack. ! The University back'ine's , opportunities were rare and . infrequent. Sloppy ball often , made things difficult, wn’le it lacked the precision and - finesse of its opposition to f make use of what opportu- . nities did arise. ' In the forwards, a morel i even battle was waged. Oidi ; Boys generally controlled!

i the scrums and lineouts 1 while, in the mauls and loose play, University was ! often prominent. Allan j Croad and Rob van Lent . wert rarely challenged in ; the lineouts and their clean ‘ two-handed takes were a . feature of the set play. For Old Boys, Mike Toner , was an ever present headI ache for the University . backline, while, at half-back, i his brother Chris, making his senior debut, was steady ; and reliable. Among the ' backs none could match the , attacking abilities of Brown whose acceleration and! swerve allowed him to often break through. John Matangi I and Chris Allen were promi--1 nent soldiers for the Univer- ’ sity cause, while Ross i George was steady at first ' five-eighths. Old Boys 17 (G. Anderson, S. Brown tries; G. Cookson >[3 penalties), University B 7 1 (A. Muir a try, R. George a I (penalty).