RUGBY MATCHES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 178, 26 April 1938, Page 7

RUGBY MATCHES

“Club Day” Encounters In Wellington GROUNDS HEAVY Some Promising Form t Shown A preliminary to the opening of. championship Rugby matches at Wellington, the ‘‘club day” games set down for last Saturday, the proceeds from which will go to the gymnasium funds of the clubs, were marred by inclement weather and an unusual set of circumstances which nehrly brought about the postponement of ail fixtures. The Wellington Rugby Union’s postponement committee cancelled the fixtures, but later the clubs made arrangements resulting in all but the Marist Old Boys-Pirates game at Athletic Park being played. ' The grounds were soft and the weather overcast, but little rain fell during the afternoon and the games served as a useful try-out for most of the teams. ‘The results were: — Athletic 18. Hutt 10. Petone 3, Poneke 0. Wellington 6, Johnsonville 3. College Old Boys 47, Eastbourne 13. Miramar 13, Oriental 3. In addition other clubs arranged practices. Some promising form was shown, and indications are that a good standard of Rugby should be witnessed when grade games begin on Saturday. With practically the same side as last season. Athletic triumphed over Hutt because of superior combination. Despite the loss of Wells, the pack is a heavy and powerful one and the backs solid. The Hutt team contained a big percentage, of voung players and looks like moulding into a good side. Petone and Poneke were evenly matched, a penalty goal to Petone representing the difference. Poneke had the advantage in the forwards, but the Petone backs were more versatile. College Old Boys were too fast for Eastbourne. Playing at Johnsonville, Wellington had a hard struggle with the home team, whose forwards showed excellent form, with 11. Kenny a sound last line of defence. The excellent leadership of Cooper, the former Oxford University captain, and solid play among the. backs gave Wellington its victory. Miramar owed its victory over Oriental to greater ability to take advantage of opportunities. Athletic Beats Hutt Better combination enabled Athletic to beat Hutt 18-10 at the Hutt Recreation Ground. The game was fast from the start and more even than indicated by the score. The Athletic forwards had a slight advantage oyer the lighter. Hutt, pack, but the scrums were evenly divided, and both sets of backs had a fair share of the ball. •- Tindill an‘d Karsten showed excellent understanding, but the handling of the other Athletic backs was disappointing. Burton was the best of the Hutt backs, and his tackling .was consistently good. Perkinson played a sound game for Hutt at full-back. Tries for Athletic were scored by Tindill (2), Caradus, and Forbes. Mclntyre converted three. For Hutt, Simpson scored a try, Sargisson potted a goal, and Perkinson kicked a penalty -goal. The teams were :— Athletic: Mclntyre, Forbes, (Thurston, Glengary, Jones, Karsten, Tindill, Wales, Mollier, Gilmour, Guiniven, Guy, Bishop, Gunn, Caradus. Hutt: Perkinson, Kyle, Denby, Williams, Burton, Sargisson, Kilmister, Kemp, Moran, Blair, Foley, Flanagan, Corkin, Perno, Potter. The referee was Mr. D. Matthews. Hetone’s Penalty Goal Though the Poneke forwards had extra weight and used it to good advantage throughout the game against Petone at the Petone Oval, they were unable to score, and Petone were the victors, 3-0. Petone’s points came from a penalty kick late in the second spell when a Poneke player was ' penalised for off-side play near liis line. C. O’Halloran took the kick and made no mistake.

The outstanding .players were W. Crisp, full-back for Poneke,,and H. Love, first five-eighth for Petone. Crisp made no mistakes and handled the greasy ball remarkably well,, and his kicking was accurate. Love, who played only in the second half, put sting into the Petone team’s attack. Conditions made it a forward game, but the standard was not impressive. The backs on both sides fumbled frequently. The forwards were untiring, but were not very constructive in their methods. The teams, which were changed at, half time, were as follows :— Poneke: W. Crisp, H. Brown, P. J. Frain, E. Christensen, J. L. Griffiths, L. G. Reece, D. Hoskin, J. Rose, A. Arnott, D. H. McLauchlan, C. J. Pringle, R. O’Neill, E. L. O’Brien, G. Sealy and V. Calcinai. In the second half Sharpin replaced Hoskin, S. Calcinai replaced Sealy, and Arnst replaced Arnott. Petone: Al. Symonds, R. Knowles, W. Archer, N. McGurk, J. Jones, A. Edwards, C. O’Halloran, T. Adams, R. Cleland, C. Grifiin, S. Donoghue, M. Alitchell, E. Haine, A. La’mbourn, and T. Fuller. In the second half the Petone replacements were: G. Thomas, P. Dougan, H. Love, Hurst, R. White, R. Scott, N. Clayton, and B. Smith. The referee was Apr. D. O. Lawson.

Wellington Extended i

Wellington’s six points,, scored in the first spell, and Johnsonville’s three, scored in the second, give a good indication of the run of play in their game at Johnsonville.

Wellington had much the better of the first spell. Though able to hold their ground, the Johnsonville forwards were unable to hook the ball from the scrums with the result that the Wellington backs, whose passing was good, got away nearly every time. Johnsonville's tackling was weak. In the second spell Johnsonville’s hookers were changed and, with the backs getting a better share of the ball, play was evened up considerably, Johnsonville attacking most of the time. Shaw and Fulton scared for Wellington and J. Burns for Johnsonville, none of the tries being converted. The teams were:— Wellington: Patterson, Shaw, Fulton, Compton, Veitch, Jamieson, Thompson, Childs, Cooper, Aforrisscy, AlcLean, Coupland, Climo, Ranford, Stevens. Johnsonville: H. Kenny, Brown, Iveney, T. Liddle, J. Burns, G. Burns, Lyons, Alcßride, Dean, Al. Kenny, L. Liddle, A. Kenny, Bowler, Cunningham, Coulter. The referee was Air. E. Alildenhall. Several changes were made in the second spell, Bell and Webb replacing Coupland and Compton, for Wellington, and Hallowell, Angell, Krebs, and Welsh replacing Ivemey, Coulter, Cunningham, and Lyons, for Johnsonville. Miramar In Form Faulty handling of the ball and a slippery Held mitigated against good football when a practice match was played between Aliramar and Oriental at the polo grounds. After leading seven points to nil at half-time, Aliramar won by 13 points to three. From the kick-off Aliramar took play into Oriental territory and some good skirmishes were seen. Aliramar’s first points came when Arbuthnot potted a goal. Oriental tried to reverse the position several times but the Miramar backs played well and the defence was too sound. Aliramar again attacked and after a short passing rush Greenall scored a try. The kick failed and the spell ended in favour of Aliramar. . Changes were made in both sides at half-time. Shortly after the opening of the second spell, Greenall again scored for Miramar. Eollowipg a forward rush

Humpherson scored a try for Oriental. Miramar’s third try was scored by Dumbleton. The teams were:— Miramar: McLennan, K. Minock, Baird, Arbuthnot, Greenall. Dumbleton, Horsefall, J. Minock, Hull, Troy, Clark. Grint, Neilson, Thomas, Logan. -Oriental: Gladding, Brien, Bartlett, A. Rowlands, Hawthorn, Dalison. Nolan, Humpherson, Jarvis, Robb, J. C. Haugh, C. Edwards, P. Sullivan, Heslop, I. Kemp. The referee was Mr. W. Hawker. UNIVERSITY CLUB TRIALS Excellent Form Shown A bout 70 players took-part iu the trials of the Victoria University College Football Club, held at Prince of Wales Park on Saturday'.afternoon. In spite of the unfavourable condition of the ground, the play was fast and the players threw the ball about and handled well. Judging from the form shown by players in the game between the first and second fifteens, the prospects of the club’s first fifteen are excellent. Burke, the first fifteen’s hooker, played an outstanding game. He hooked the ball from a large majority of the scrums and was always at the head of any loose rush. With Bridges, of Christchurch, and Thomas, of Auckland, both New Zealand University representatives, on . each side of him, Varsity will have a dependable front row. A valuable addition to the pack is MacNicol, an ex-Wellington B representative. Eade, Blacker and Meads, all members of last year’s team, played well. All of the first fifteen backs gave good performances, O’Regan being outstanding for his speed on attack. Buddle at half and Larkjn at first five-eighth combined well. Larkin is particularly, fast off the mark and, given a, good service from the base of tlj,e scrum, he should do well on attack. Bryers, who represented King Coii'ntry last year, played well in the second five-eighth position, but would probably do better at centre or on the wing, where he would have more room to move. Tricklebank, a member of the New Zealand University team that toured Japan in 1935, played satisfactorily at centre, though his usual position is that of fullback. On the left-wing McElwain, who represented Victoria University College three seasons ago and has since been playing in England, was sound both on defence and attack. Kissel gave a good display as full-back. Among those absent were Dean and Wild, last year’s second five-eighth and centre respectively. Palmer, a second fiveeighth who has represented Hawke’s Bay, and Eastwood, who played for Wairarapa last year. Palmer’s game against a team from H.M.S. Achilles a fortnight ago showed that he is a conspicuously sound tackler. Varsity’s only loss has been that of Stewart, one of lasj year’s wingers. In the second fifteen, Shannon played a good game iu the forwards. Among the backs Brock gave a sound exhibition at half and McGowan, a newcomer from Auckland, showed himself a reliable fullback. With three strong candidates for eaeh of the second five-eighth and full-back positions for the first fifteen, the duty of the selector will be an unenviable one. IN OTHER CENTRES By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch. —The senior Rugby competitions began on Saturday afternoon on soft, muddy grounds. Results: University 16, Technical 12; Linwood 12, Athletic 10; Sunnyside '9, Air Force 3; Sydenham 9, Christehurch 3; Merivale 5, Old Boys 3. Dunedin. —The senior Rugby competition opened on Saturday in beautiful weather. Results : —Kaikorai 10, Pirates 9; Southern 18, Alhambra 0; University A 25, Union 3; Zingari 13, University B 9; Taieri 9. Dunedin 5. George Nepia praises “O.B.” Football Boots. Famous “All Blacks,” too, favour the extra comfort, lightness and durability of the .patented “O.B.” football boot, 22/6. Even after the hardest game on dried fields the studs do not hurt the feet. “O.B.” football boots with, the patented sole stand up to all tasks and guard against “foot fag.” If unobtainable from your sports depot or shoe store, write M. O’Brien & Co., Ltd., Christchurch, for nearest retailer. —Advt.