RUGBY GLEANINGS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 259, 31 July 1939, Page 11

RUGBY GLEANINGS

Referee Compelled To Retire UNUSUAL INCIDENT On Saturday, for the second time this season at Athletic Park, a referee had to hand over the whistle to another referee because of an injury received in the course of the play. On both occasions the same referee substituted. Earlier in the season, Mr. D. C. Lawson injured an ankle in the curtainraiser, Mr. A. Hooper carrying on. On Saturday Mr. J. S. King, one of New Zealand’s leading officials, who controlled two of the Tests against the Springboks, strained a ligament during the first spell of the Athletic-Wel-lington game and had to be assisted off the field. Mr. Hooper, who was one of the line umpires, replaced him, the game being held up for a short period while he changed. Needless to say, the retirement of Mr. King, who is an extremely popular official, was eagerly seized on by the crowd to hand out some cheerful advice, a remark by one grandstand spectator, “Blister him and turn him out,’ causing amusement, as did also another interjection, “He’s broken down in his preliminaries,’’ when Mr. King tried his leg out in a short run to see if he could carry on. Next Saturday’s Games. The chief championship attraction next Saturday will be the meeting of Wellington and Petone at Athletic Park, with Athletic and Johnsonville providing the curtain-raiser. Marist Brothers Old Boys will meet Poneke. Though Wellington have a strong grip on the championship, they must win their remaining games, and the splendid performance by Petone on Saturday against Poneke, wjien the backs gave easily their best display this season, is not likely to make Wellington’s task an easy one. Should Wellington win, it is probable that the championship may be closed and the following Saturday devoted to the National Mutual Cup game, thus avoiding the big break that would occur through several representative games occurring, beginning on August 19. Club Championship. Leaders in the club championship, Petone had a poor run on Saturday, their record being the leanest for many seasons, consisting of three wins, two draws and six losses. At the same time, Petone still has a commanding lead of 18 points over Wellington. The positions of the clubs are: Petone, 193; Wellington, 175; Hutt, 165; Athletic, 123; Poneke, 115; College Old Boys, 96; Miramar, 92; Johnsonvile, 81; Onslow, 81; University, 76. Pick-p.-Baclr. The unusual spectacle of the referee “riding” on the back of a player was seen at Athletic Park on Saturday. During a strong atatek by Athletic under Wellington’s posts, Mr. A. Hooper, in endeavouring to dodge the ball and a bunch of players, suddenly found himself on the back o£ R. Veitch, who had dived under the referee’s legs to secure the ball. The frantic efforts of both the player and the referee to become disentangled was not the least of several bright incidents during the game. Consistent Burke.

The consistently good form of Burke, the University hooker, this season, should bring him well into line for selection in the representative side. Burke is one of the best hookers in the Dominion and has few superiors in dribbling rushes, his control of the ball being highly proficient.

Taylor’s Line-kicking. Twice on .Saturday J. M. Taylor, the Wellington, full-back, fielded a long kick under his posts, and found the line outside big own half. He repeatedly gained big stretches of ground with ’his kicking.

Out of Luck. No one, least of all the Wellington players, would begrudge Athletic their well-deserved victory on Saturday, but twice Wellington were unlucky. A penalty kick at goal by Taylor hit an upright and bounced back infield, and a misdirected pass lost an almost sure try.

Positional Play. Probably as the result of Athletic getting so much ball, Davidson, the Wellington five-eighth, stood close to the scrum, with the result that he was frequently not in position to take Dixon’s passes. On one occasion, however, he showed real class when standing in what is now recognized as the correct position for a five-eighths, taking the ball at top speed and cutting out several defenders with a great run to give his supports the overlap, a try resulting. Davidson has more than once shown marked ability as a five-eighths, his greatest assets being his speed off the mark and his accurate handling and passing. He filled Thompson’s place on Saturday, the latter being on tbe injured list.

A Record? On Saturday, for the first time in four years, D. Potter was absent from the Hutt pack. He twisted an ankle when playing against Oriental the previous Saturday.

Leading Scorers. W. E. H. Auld (Athletic) on Saturday added a further six points to his tally in club games this season, bringing his total to 124. J. M. Taylor’s only points were from a converted try, bringing his total in club games to 92, and to 117 in all games, 25 points having been secured in two representative games. H. R. Baldwin (Old Boys) is now level with Taylor in club games with 92 points. Next are:

W. Crisp (Poneke) 66, H. R. Pollock (Petone) 62, J. Burns (Johnsonville) u 7, B. O’Malley (Marist Bros. Old Boys) 03, A. Rowland (Oriental) and Sanson (Eastbourne) 51, Brilliant Patches.

There were some brilliant patches in the Wellington-Athletic game. Though seeing less of the ball, the Wellington backs turned on some sparkling movements. Their work was more crisp than that of their opponents, but the latter also produced some moves above the average. In tbe second spell, when Athletic were attacking strongly, Evans was pushed out at the corner once, and hit the corner flag on another occasion, after some crisp passing. Had this type of play been more sustained, the game would have reached great heights. The promoted players in the Wellington side did very well, indicating that this club has splendid talent.

Donoghuo’s Form. Another consistently solid game was played on Saturday by P. Donoghue (Pctone). His form this season has been excellent. In recognition of this he was chosen as an emergency for the Marlborough representative match, but he has since been passed over. Donoghue fills the lock position very ably in the Petone pack, which is one of the best in the competition.

Guy In Form. ’ If E. Guy, the Hutt front-row forward, maintains his form of recent games he may well gain a place in the Wellington representative side. With the exception of M. McG. Cooper, the Wellington captain, there is probably not another forward in the senior competition who plays so intelligently and there are few who hunt the ball so keenly. He played another outstanding game against Eastbourne on Saturday and his efforts were rewarded when he scored a try Into m the second spell.

Good Fielding. A feature of the Hutt-Eastbourne game was the fine fielding of the two full-backs, Sanson (Eastbourne) and Evans (Hutt). Both took the ball faultlessly, even from the. most difficult angles. Sargisson, the Hutt captain, also made one or two fine catches.

Kicks Hit Goalposts. . It is not unusual to see a place-kick fail as a result of the ball. striking a post, but it is unusual to see it happen more than once in a game. On Saturday both Duffv (Hutt) and Sanson (Eastbourne) had the exasperating experience of kicking “posters.” From another place-kick by Sanson the ball landed on the crossbar and skated over.

Good Full-backs. . , . . G. Thomas and H. Kenny maintained their reputations as first-class full-backs, the handling of both on Saturday being excellent. Thomas was exceptionally accurate with his line kicking and had much to do with Marist’s success.

Marist Backs. . , , , The handling of the Marist backs against Johnsonville was delightful. Good passes from the scrum by Brown were smartly picked up by Fitzgerald, who linked up well with O’Malley. At centre B. Vile showed thrust and initiative, evidently having benefited by his experience in the representative match during the week. Rongotai Old Boys.

An appeal to all old boys to link up with tbe club, which had the option next year of changing the present name to that of Rongotai College Old Boys, was made by Mr. O. Wrigley at the old boys reunion recently. The club, which was at present known as Seatoun and Rongotai College Old Boys. fielded four teams, one consisting of Fort Dorset players and the other three of Rongotai College old boys. He pointed out that, while there were more than 1600 old boys of this college, only 40 were members of the club. If sufficient support was forthcoming, the name would'be changed at the next annual meeting. Mr. Wrigley said he looked forward to the day when Rongotai College Old Boys would be able to place a senior team in the field.

Backs Disorganized. The loss of J. Burns upset the Johnsonville backline on Saturday. P. Pearce, the English county player, who took his place, lacked the same dash and accuracy nt half. G. Ivamy, who came on when Burns retired, played well first at centre and later at first five-eighth. K. Morgan at second five-eighth and afterward at centre, was uncertain in his handling and his defence was not too sound. SEDDON SHIELD HELD Buller Beat Marlborough By Telegraph—Press Association. WESTPORT, July 29. On a sodden ground with rain falling in heavy showers almost up to the opening of the match, Buller (holders) retained the Seddon Shield by an 8-0 win against Marlborough. The game was hard and, despite the slippery ground and ball, very fast, with forwards playing vigorously and the backs handling well. Buller showed greater penetration, but each side in turn hud narrow escapes from tries being registered against them. There was no score at half-time. Buller’s score was made in the second spell when I . Neighbours, following up a kick through by himself, beat two Marlborough players for the ball. Alexander also scored, for A. Dunn to convert. Outstanding for Marlborough were Hammond, Mason, Furness, W. Worthy (forwards), and Jackson, Forsyth, Mellish, and Gonsall (backs). _ The Buller forwards played as a pack with G. Mason, Wilson, Phipps and Robertson particularly prominent, and F. Neighbours, Alexander, Dunn and Weenink the best of a good set of backs.