RUGBY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 22

RUGBY

, BY "GROPKICK"

, IMPROVED FORM All BLACKS ON TOUR : FIRST TEST PREPARATIONS Tho difficulties encountered by the All Blaws during tho early part of fn«ir t tour in- South M frica appear to have now been ovcrcomo to a considerable extent, and in recent matches their form has been more in line with that which was expected of them. By all accounts there was no fluke about tho win jn the return match with Transvaal, and tho .tourists proved themselves to be greatly superior to Western Transvaal. 'The results' of those games have improved tho prospects of tho Now Zealanders for, tho first Test, at Durban next Saturday. For this important event-the selected Springboks are being given a series of practice games next week in.order to run theni into working order. Tho New - ■ Zealanders, of course, Will bo making tho most of their time 'next week, and their noted 'improvement in recent matches points to the fact that they will bo- an even harder proposition than they were against Transvaal, who, as a team, lacked nothing on tho scoro of lind'orstanding. Tho Springboks will need all tho team practice they can get noxfc week.to bo moulded into per-1' foct working order, although iho team will no doubt bo made up largely of players from. two provinces—Western '. Province and Transvaal. . . • Results of matches played to date, and -. the fixtures ahead are as follow:— ' May 30.—v. Western Province Country Clubs, at Capetown; won 11-3. 1 Juno 2 —y. Combined Capetown Clubs, at Capetown; lost 3-7. ■ June C-^v. Griqualand West, at KimtierIcy; won IU-10. June o—v. Transvaal, at Johannesburg; lost 0-6. - . . -.•.-• [ Juno, 13—v. Orange Free State, at'Kroonstad; won 20-0. June 16—v. Transvaal, at Johannesburg. ■ won 5-0. * June. 20 —v. Western Transvaal, at Pot- . . sliefstroom; won-19-8. June 23—v. Ifatal, ; at Maritzburg. June 30-iy. SOUTH AFRICA (First Test), v at.Durban: ' ..' ' ' July 7—v.- Northern Districts (Trarisvaal, .' ' Free State, etc.), at Kimberley. July 14—v. Bhodesian Fifteen, at Bui* wayb. . ...... July 21— v. SOUTH' AFRICA (Second . Test), at Johannesburg. . July 25 —v. Pretoria Districts, at Pretoria, .; ..... July 28—v. Orange Free-.State, at Bloem..fonteini . Aug. I—v. North-Eastern Districts, at Burghersdoi'p. _, Aug. 4—v. Border, at East London. Aug. B—v. Border, at. Kingwilliamstown. ' Aug. 11-r-v. Eastern Province, at fort Elizabeth. Aug.. IS— v. SOUTH AFRICA (Third '•Test), afPbrt Elizabeth. Aug. _22—v. - b'outh-Western. Districts, , at. , Oudtshborn. Aug. 25—v. Western Province, at Cape- . . . ' town., ' ' Sept. 1-v. SOUTH AFRICA (Fourth Test), at Capetown. Poneke and Athletic. Although neither side, was at full strength, Ponekp and Athletic provided a stem and interesting contest at Ath-letic-Park, tho forwards, as,is''not unusual with these teams, playing: the major part. '. They battled away in good' style, .with Poneke generally getting the better of the deal. The work of tho Poneko forwards showed more finish than that of tho opposing pack, and the result was that the P'oneko backs wero faypurcd with more attacking opportunities than tho Athletic rearguard. Even'soj.'it'. was'a/very 'difficult matter to '.tuni Jtlibse 'opportunities to account, as. tho, Athletic defence was .' sound. On the other ■ hand, Athletic ; - also met a solid defence. \ Poneke's winning margin of nine points was represented in goals, all of which wero registered by a promoted full-back,' Curric., This player potted a . goal, kici;ed s a; penalty-goal, • and converted]'U Jt'ryv' Quite apart from, goalkicking; ■■'howev.er, Ponoke . were the bc,tter.tbam on the day,' even though the forwardsv' : were. without their excellent leader;'J.iShearer, who was suffering ■from, ai'cbld,-and tho backs were without Edgar, who had a good substitute 'in Murphy. Early in tho game Poneke also lost; the services of Turner, but they must, have lost nothing in confidence/when Fred. Tilyard filled the'i vacancy.,.;: ; . ■ ' • Athlpfie felt the loss of M'Naught, their best ;forward, who, after the previous match, had tp go to' hospital account of concussion. His absence j made a big difference' to the work of tho pack.. The others, however, worked with a. will, with Porter-always a live wire, and Morrow battling away solidly. Pope was locking the scrum, and used his "weight to advantage. Edgar and Wallace showed up in tho loose. In the second spell Warwick, although hardly; fit for play, filled the half-back position^ Kinlock going to wing threequarter' through tho retirement 'of M'Dougall. The outstanding back on the Athletic side was W.hinham, who is showing consistently good form. Sutton was also a trier all the way, and Pelham, this time in tfte tlfrec-quartor line, . did well,, with Siitcliffc (five-eighth) showing some nippiness. . H. Tiiyard gave another good performance: as half-back. He has been consistently good this season. The other backs linked tip rather better than usual, but met a solid defence. Among tho Poneke forwards Jessup was as usual a solid toiler, and Piekrang showed great dash in the loose and in the open. fTho pack as a whole, however, was in, gdod working order, with Wilson a capablo wing-forward. Eastbourne and Wellington. . ' ,An even game, but one which did' not' provide as much of the bright and open type of play as anticipated, result.cd from the meeting of Wellington and Eastbounie at, Athletic Park. Certainly, on oe'easions the 'Eastbourne backs rose to the occasion and showed their ' pace in some telling advances into Wellington territory, but nevertheless there was a good deal of the loose order, par-'. 1 ticularly,'. So in the opening stages of the second: spell. For all that, Eastbourne' obtained a good- win, although there ■vtere some who considered a draw would have been a more fitting conclusion to tho gamo. ■i'!ie Wellington forwards, a heavier lot than' their opponents, had the bet: tor of matters in the 1 tight, work, the Eaitbo'urno pack being seen to greater advantage in the open play. Tho Wellington packs, however, were not in the name class as the Eastbourne rearguard. Julian was an exception, although he was not as good «s usual.* Wellington have not a sound back division this season by airy means. Toilers all tho way, tho Yellow forwards havo played some good games, but with the absence of good, snappy backs behind them a good deal of their ei?'M't has often gone for ■' nought; . Kilby and Joh^.son aro undoubtedly;, missed. Tlic timing.of the second spoil of the match has caused some comment, and .ji. letter- from the Wellington Club, on ."the subject lia3 led tho Wellington Itugby Union's. Management Committee to refer the matter to the referee concerned. The officials of tho Wellington Club, while not wishing their

statements to bo regarded in the light of an. appeal against'the result of the fixture, arc of the opinion, as are certain members of the Bugby Union's Management Committee, that the spell was not,of 40 minutes' duration. It is only natural that the Wellington Club should have something to say on the matter if for no reason, tho spell was inadvertently curtailed. Wellington were tho aggressors in tho concluding stages of the game, and a few more minutes of play possibly-might have made a difference to the score. A player who gave a good account of himself in tho match 'was tho Eastbourne ful-back, who extricated his side from a number of difficult situations during the courso of the gajie. Murray was good on tho left vring for Eastbourne, and Jowett, at centre, also, went well. His try in- the second spell, gained after going through the opposition from half-way, was an excellent one. ' ' The Foley brothers were nippy, and Martin gave good service behind tho Eastbourne pack; - The Eastbourne forwards wero a little disappointing at times, but Price, Buckingham, and Cullimore all went well in tho open. University and Petone. The fact that over half a century pi points are scored in a:gamo with only 5 points separating the two teams might bo taken to indicate that, both aides were weak' in defence, but when University defeated Petone by that margin on Saturday it was in a game in which every try scored was well earned. Taken all'.hrough the,tackling of both' sides was sound but the ability to throw the bal 1 around, and the strong backing up which was a feature of the match often caused the defence to be shattered before the sc/rer received the ball. Further it must be remembered that 25 of the points scored came from kicks. ' ' '■.'.' The forward play was mainly open and, on the whole, even. Both packs generally broke up quickly in order to block • the opposing rearguard. A great spoiling gamo was played by Parker, Petone's veteran wing-forward, who often went on tp lead a dribbling rush after topping the ball from reach: ing the Green back line. Ho was well supported in this respect by Thomas and Carr. Blacker was about the best of the Varsity forwards and was .partic-' ularly prominent in the line-outs. Cormack and I Hart were always to the fore, in the loose and O'Began also worked well.' The Green backs were superior on attack but did not defend as strenuously as did the home backs. M'Kenzie overshadowed Lambourne and was the best five-eighth on the ground. He' generally ran straight and he paved .tr-*s'. Wav for at least two tr.es. Irwin handled better than usual and used his speed to advantage. In fast three-quarter line Bamson^s handling was not too sure at times but he was worth is place for his placo-kicking.* Brown made the most of tho opportunities that came his way and went over. for three tries. The cx-Wanganui Technical boy was alwayß a ,f ast determined runner, but the company of players of his own calibre was needed to bring out his football abilities to the full. Noble-Adams played well at full-back and repeatedly saved his side with powerful line-kicks. . Coman was the mainstay of the Petone1 backs and was the outstanding player on the field. He whipped the ball out quickly to. the backs when the opportunity offered and'when he elected to go on. his own he proved a very elusive runner. His kicking boot 'accounted for 13 of his .side's points. Lambourne was good, at tinies but was 'too anxious to get on to M'Kenzie arid the' latter often had a' clear run when he received the ball. Udy was strong on attack and; defence,.,the, try ho scored near the posts being a particularly, smart piece of. work, v 3, Thj coaching of tho University side is now in the capable hands of F. Glasgow, a member of the 1905 All Black team. . . ■ Oriental and Berhampore. i Although the match between Oriental and Berhanvpbre resulted in au exciting finish, the general standard of play throughout was poof.; Berhampore had a light breeze in their favour' in. the first half and their first score came from a free-kick at half-way, by Pickering.' Their second score,.,a try which was converted, resulted from a mistake by Oriental's full-back, Loehore, who waiteS for the bounce and missed.1 Both sets of forwards worked: hard,- but the scrums were poor, neither team packing . well. . The Berhampore backs broke away in many promising rushes, but these were often spoiled by slow passing. Oriental did not get going well in the first half, and Berhampore continually forced them to defend. In the second half, however, their play im-, proved and the game fluctuated. ' Oriental's full-back, Lochore, did not play up to his .usual standard, and was too inclined .to wait for_ the ball to bounce. , . The.Oriental backs were welljnarked, and. their passing rushes did not gain a gr^eat deal of ground. The outstanding player in the rear division was the first five-eighth, Davies. He was very sure in handling the ball,; and his vigorous dashes were instrumental in securing Oriental's victory. ■> ' ■'.' M'Nicoll was unlucky in being injured early, but he continued and played a steady and.effective game. Walker played a fast game on the wing, and was successful in scoring Oriental's only try. '. V Pringle was the lead in most of the1 attacks by the Oriental forwards. He was unlucky with his goal-kfcking, however, the ball went hopelessly wide on several occasions.. Lincoln', Pinkerton, and B. Smith also played good games. ,; Many of the passing rushes by the Berhainpore backs were spoiled by Love holding the ball too long. Throughout the match he played an excellent attacking game, but when he broke away he was inclined to < wait until ho was tackled before lie passed out. Weaver, proved a speedy man on the wing, but hewas'not well enough fed by the inside backs. Lang, on the opposite wing, played a steady game. Taylor wa* sure in handling the, ball from behind the scrums, but the loose play by the forwards did not make for many clean passing rushes. Mollier, Mouat, and Gleuning were prominent among the Berhampore forwards. • Senior B Notes. Johnsonville are playing good football at present, the side having nardly a weak spot. They have started the second round with good prospects of championship honours. Johnsonville's team against Oriental last Saturday was:—A. W. Moore, J. C. Moore, H. E. C. Chancy, D. Mason, E. .Neal, W. M' •. Clclland, Money, A. S. Catheart, S. D. Shearer, F. Law, L. Myers, J. Bryant, A. Craig, S. Styles, A. Bramlcy. Peryman is at present on the injured list. The team work is good, and with a well packed scrum the team has pjenty of opportunities to use the .ball. Of the forwards last -Saturday, Myers, Craig, and Bryant were best, 'though all were workers. Money was a little slow at half, and inclined to take too much on his own shoulders. - Neal (Johnsonvillo) is very consistent, and is playing good -football. A very young player, ho has only to keep on to earn higher honours. He and Chancy are good partners, and between them work many a trick. ' Chancy has scored in every match so far, and has to his credit twelve tries in the eight matches. These are two versatile backs, with triekincss and dach, as' well as being 'good on defence. ' ''•".'' . Tho other Johnsonvillo backs aro sound, Mason using his speed well in following up kicks. A. Moore is tho

best of tho men tried out at full-back, and.is fairly reliable. Oriental wero more or less a disorganised team last Saturday^ . They called on several emergencies, and also had some new men. Their team was: Eeid, Foster, Bamsay, Biggar, Wiclcens, Collingc, Mills, M'llraith, Hill, Persson, Smith, Oliver, Jackson, Bcdingfield, George. , . Persson is a newcomer to Oriental, but is a;i experienced player, having represented Manawhenua and Wanganui. He'wa'S Oriental's best forward last Saturday. Biggar is the Thorndon and ex-Nelson College cricketer. Oriental's greatest strength was' in the half and five-eighths, but the play was stereotyped, and tho passing" was ne'v ( er sure. The team stood up to the play well. Mills (half-back) put in one particularly fino run. It is difficult to for Wellington's sudden lapse from form. . At tho beginning of tho season they played good football, but their display on Saturday was a far remove from those given earlier in the season., Schvyn wero not brilliant, but they' gave.a good hard exhibition, and^earned their victory over Wellington. ■ ' Cudby stood out as the best of the disorganised Selwyn backs. . He has a strong run and his try was a good solo effort. Puller was taken out of tho pack and placed at full-back, where Jio. gave a creditable display. Luggat impressed as half-back. Webb, 'as first five-eighth, for Wellington, was the best back on the ground. Several times he beat the opposition with a brilliant run, but he was' not backod up., Prendeville was* the pick of the Wellington forwards, ablyj.supported by Fergusson and Parish. - . . „ < ' With the All Blacks.' Travelling with the All Blacks as representative of tho South African Rugby Footbal^ -Board is Mr. D. W. Magennis ( . He is a member of the Pretoria sub-union, hailing from the Eastern Province. Mr. Magennis devoted a considerable amount of his time,to the advancement of Bugby, and, while ho lias represented Transvaal in interprovincial games as far back as 1919, it is oil the administrative side thatJio is best known. 'In this connection, his advice is sound in every respect. Ho iWa's mainly responsible for the promotion of Pretoria Police to tho senior competition, arid once again he showed keen foresight. Mr. Magennis gives much of his time to the encouragement of the younger players of tho Pretoria team, for which club ho acts in. the capacity of honorary secretary. Much of the success of the Pretoria Club, too, during the last seven or eight years is due to the untiring efforts of Mr. Magennis, and while he has been fortunate in having the support of Mr. Charlie Ciark and others, he is largely responsible for the club's; proud position in the log during tho period mentioned. Ho is, by the way, a bro-ther-in-law of Vie. Joyce, who played for Diggers, and, subsequently, for Pretoria, incidentally gaining provincial honours as a forward. Mr. Magennis is a member of the Auditor-General's staff at'the Capital. The Points in Other Centres. The leading teams in the other four cities, with their championships points, are as follow:—Auckland: Pdnsonby 13, University 13,' Marist 0, Manukau 0, City 8. Christchureh: University 7j, Merivale C, Old Boys SJ, Christchurch 4.'• Dunedin: University A 16, Kaikoiai 16, Pirates 13, Alhambra 11 (University A have a game to the good, having yet to meet their B team). Wanganui: Marist 12, Pirates 7, Kaierau 6, County 6. Notes. ' ' • . . ' j.l Steel, ,ex-All Black, has boon out of' the game in Canterbury for some weeks owing to. a broken collarbone. •■The suspension- of two players by the;Ashburton Kugby Union, has caused quite a stir in the district. The case was reopened'and fresh evidence taken, but tho union decided that its decision ■would stand. An allegation camo from one quarter.that one of tho playors suspended was the Victim of vindictiveness on the part of the referee. Johnston, the Wanganui representative forward, who is under1 transfer to Wellington, is not likely to be down hero until the end of the season. Coulton, a Wanganui hooker who did well'in the New Zealand trials last year, is reported to be showing /good form again in Wanganui this season. Although A. Pringle, the ox-Now Zealand representative and a player who has had more than his share of . bad luck, is not taking the field for Oriental this season, ho is doing a great deal of hard work in tho interest of the team. No little credit is due to.him for the senior A team's showing to date.- ," " At Tuesday night's meeting of the South Canterbury Bugby Union an inquiry was held into an incident which occurred in the Old Boys-Zingari match on tho preceding Saturday, and after hearing evidence from the player concerned, the referee, and a lino umpire, it. was 'decided to suspend a Zingari player for life for-wilfully, kicking an1 opponent. ' The player's contention in defence, that ho kicked only tho ball and the ball struck the Old Boys' player, who had no marks bf injury on. hjm,' was not upheld, the meeting,being of the opinion that although it was unlikely that he had kicked the other man intontionally he had at least taken an unjustifiable risk. Reviewing the Auckland-Waikato game played on 4th June, a northern critic writes: "Badeley was the best back on the ground, his form being reminiscent of four or-five seasons ago. He. engineered a good many of the scoring movements and quite out-generalled the Waikato backs." Hook played a very fine game, his handling of tho ball being brilliant. Paewai gave: a sound exhibition at full-back.. ITiilwasser at second five-eighths, was a trifle too quick off the mark and occasionally over-ran Badeley's passes. He gavo the impression' that he would be more at home at wing-three-quarter, and it is posssiblo that Paewai will be moved up to fiveeighths to allow Butler to come in at fulback. Auckland's showing against Waikato was considered very promising by tho "Herald," and it was thought, that although the sole selector, might feel disposed to make ono or two alterations, the majority of the team would hold their places. The backs played some brilliant football, and it was their ability to start movements from any part of the field that took fhesting out of the big forwards opposed to them. Some of the forwards took a hand in the" movements and handled the ball as well as the backs. The forwards were up against a solid pack, but every man did his share and their condition enabled them to keep going to the. last. Catheart played "an outstanding game, while Finlayson, Batty, and Wanoa were also prominent. Beviowing tho Wanganui-Taranaki match, the "Chronicle" says: "Bolliss was one of tho outstanding players on tho field. Ho played with much of his old vim and kept the Wanganui backlirio constantly moving in tho first spell. ... . Brown, at centre, was tho brains of tho amber and black rearguard, and played consistently to tho weak spots in the home team or to places wliero the.dcfcuco was sadly out of position. His kicking was well judged, his trickling sound, and few could touch him for. speed.