NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 14

NOTES AND COMMENTS

THE PLAYERS REVIEWED

There -was evidence on Saturday that local referees are not going to show any leniency to players who play the man after he has got rid of the ball. It was also apparent that a more serious view is being taken of "lying on . the ball. Indiscriminate kicking, too, should be severely dealt with. ***** Wellington College Old Boys were without Williams (transferred to Nelson), and McNeile (injured), two of their best torwards, and their places on Saturday were taken by Blakeley and Darroch, both ot whom were conspicuous in the loose. Darroch, in one fast follow-up, just failed to reach the ball for a try before it went "dead." • * • • • Although the scrummaging work . and the heeling were fairly evenly divided, the Eastbourne backs were given more opportunities at handling than was the case with Old Boys. For a long time Atkins and Dustin "did a freeze." • . » • • ♦ Late in the Eastbourne-Old Boys' game there were two replacements. Clayton (Eastbourne) had his face injured and was replaced by Lamb. The Old Boys' half, Sadler, was jarred severely on being thrown and his brother, B. Sadler, relieved him. Coman had a hand hurt but carried on. • * • * * * Old Boys again hung together as a good hunting pack against Eastbourne, but their rushes generally were not quite so spirited as in their previous games. • » • * * Eastbourne's backs had plenty to do against Old Boys, but an exception so far as attacking work was concerned was Fuller, who, fortunately for Old Boys, also had but two attempts at goal-kicking. Fuller's defensive work was marked by not a little cleverness. The crowd would have liked to see him in action on attack, and they were anticipating, no doubt, more than they saw of his goal-kicking prowess. Apart from the exceptionally fine kick (from near the touchline) with which he converted Eastbourne's only try, Fuher had only one shot at goal, and that from near half-way early in the game. It was unsuccessful. Not once during the remainder of play did Eastbourne have a penalty kick in the opposing half. On the other hand Old Boys had five chances to land goals from penalties, and they succeeded with one. • * * * * . T. McLaughlin, Upper Hutt's fine centre three-quarter, will be out of action for some weeks with an injured shoulder. * » ' * Wellington College Old Boys wore black arm-bands on Saturday as a mark of respect to the late Mr. W. Alexander, a College master, whose death occurred that day. • « • • • Just how valuable a good goal-kicker is to a side was shown in the Wel-lington-Marist match. Diack, Wellington's centre-three-quarter, converted two tries and kicked three penalty goals, a total of thirteen points. Similar success was achieved by the Marist fullback, Hepburn. • • » • ' • McGregor, a fine stamp of a forward in the Upper Hutt team, showed his best form against Johnsonville. * « ♦ J. Wyeth, promoted from Upper Hutt fourth grade for the match with Johnsonville, played very ably, and his hooking was an object lesson. # ♦ « Macdonald was still unable to take his place in the Marist back division. Cuming and Robins went fairly well together as the five-eighths in the first spell, but Cuming subsequently injured an ankle, mid, after having changed places with Robins, finished up as a wing-three-quar-ter. Both Robins and Cuming had a hand in two fine pieces of play, each of which resulted in a try, the first being scored by Cuming. • » • • • McHardy, Butler, and Ottaway played well among the Marist forwards. Of the Wellington forwards, Robson, Fell, and Thornton were good workers. The crowd watching the Hutt-Athletic game at Hutt were surprised when, after Killeen had apparently forced the ball and kicked it back to the twenty-five line, tlie referee, Mr. D. Paris, awarded a penalty to Athletic. Unfortunately for Athletic, the kick missed. The reason for Mr. Paris's decision was that Killeen dropped the ball out of his hands on to the ground, thus not forcing it, and when he kicked the ball back to the .twenty-five line one of the Hutt players touched it; hence the kick was for this player being offside. McLaughlin, F. Hughes, Morton, and Ward (injured) as well as Cunningham and Anderson were missiDg from the Upper Hutt team against johnsonville. ♦ • ♦ ♦ A fine exhibition of refereeing was given by Mr. D. Paris at the Hutt Recreation Ground in the game between Hutt and Athletic. The referee did not allow players to lie on the ball, that being an offence he immediately penalised. Any-

thing in the nature of too vigorous play was stopped. The crowd did not agree with all of Mr. Paris's rulings, but the game was made more enjoyable for the players by his firm control of it; this was shown by the handshaking that went on between the two teams as they left the field. • • • • « Apart from a tendency to run too much with the ball, Killeen played a fine game in the Hutt backs as centre three-quarter. He made several brilliant runs. Feeney held on a little too much, but he made up for it by a few good runs. • • • • • Although the Johnsqnville forwards were beaten for the ball in the- set scrums against Upper Hutt, their line-out work was good and their loose rushes took some stopping. A. Kenny was 'the outstanding forward. Cathcart also was good, but gave away a few penalties for off-side. * » » A feature of the Hutt-Athletic game was the number of "bunched" line-outs, both sides crowding close in to the line. Watson worked like a tiger in the Athletic pack, and was the best forward in leading the team down field with the ball at toe. Watson has played consistently good football lately, and should be a strong candidate for representative honours. . Mollier was another great worker. He is a valuable man in the tight, and is almost equally good in loose play. • • • • • Tindill's reputation as a half-back has been increasing of late, and he gave another good exhibition on Saturday. He whipped the ball out smartly from behind the scrums, and was unlucky once or twice in not getting a try. • •••». Griffiths played another fine game as Poneke's second five-eighths on Saturday. Always dangerous on attack and making the way clear for the winning points, he was a tower of strength ou defence, his accurate line-kicking repeatedly" checking Petone advances. • • • • « Pollock, Petone's All Black of last year, gave further evidence that he is regaining his form in the niatch against Poneke, his cleverness and speed being frequently in evidence. Xeal played an average game as first five-eighth for Poneke against Petone. His defence was good, but his handling in passing rushes was often faulty. N. Ball (Poneke) has been one player ■\\lio has failed to come up to expectations this season, mainly because he has had very largely to make his own opportunities. Against Petone on Saturday he showed several times that his ability to break through the defence is as great as ever, and he gave the Petone supporters many anxious moments. • • • • • Several penalties for not putting the ball in the serum properly were awarded in the Petone-Poneke match, most of them against Julian. The hooking honours were fairly evenly divided, and both teams gained an almost equal share of the ball from the line-outs, where McPherson and Gair (Poneke), and Reid, Martin, and Whittington (Petone) were prominent. J. Lambourne played another sound game in Petone's five-eighths line against Poneke, and Whitley made few mistakes at full-back. Valk played one of. his best games for the season on the wing, and Huxtable also gave good service at centre-three-quarter. ***** Though rigorous, play in tho PetonePoneke match was very clean, as it generally is, and the only stoppages were for minor knocks. • . » • • Whittington again showed to advantage as a loose forward for Petone against Poneke, Carr also showing up in the open. Most of the hard work was done by Martin, Reid, and Lambourne. ••♦ • • • The St. Patrick's College Old Boys' inside backs, O'Connor, Jeffries, and McCarthy, have fine understanding, and on Saturday against Melrose-Selwyn gave their wings every opportunity. They handle the ball cleanly, and run straight and hard. • • . • • • •The Melrose-Selwyn team seems to lack leadership, especially in the back-line. Against St. Patrick's College Old Boys on Saturday they played more like a set of individi*!s than a team. •*! • • • University organised a series of passing rushes against Miramar, but their backs failed to gain much ground. _ Ihe threequarter line, comprising Dickinson, -K«ru, and McKenzie, did good work throughout the game, particularly the last-named. Kilby, Wellington's half-back, and Page, playing first five-eighth, did riot find their style so cramped against Marist as they have in some of the recent games, me reason for this was that the scrummaging by the Wellington pack was better. Both Page and Kilby did some fine work.