NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 31, 6 August 1934, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

THE PLAYERS REVIEWED

The curtain fell on, the senior first division Kugby championship with a swish. Driving rain had spoiled what promised to be a rattling finale, but even go it had its thrills, the players—Hutt and Wellington College Old Boys—carrying through with a task far more gruelling than Bad been anticipated. A scoreless draw could not have, been a,"-nTore . fitting result to the match itself, though a. previous advantage of one point enabled' Hutt to take the championship honours. What would have happened on a dry ground is a matter of conjecture. Old Boys definitely were favoured, but Hutt have shown, too, that of late they have been a faster.-moving machine, with individualism less apparent than previously. Whatever the views one way or the other, there can bo no doubt that the wet is: a great leveller. Most followers would like to see the teams under butter conditions. Tho chance ivill be offering next Saturday if tho weather is kind. The teams meet in the National Mutual Life Challenge Cup match.

Consistency, not only iii this season s competition, has brought its reward to Hutt, who are to be congratulated upon their success in, winning their second senior - championship.- Hutt took the honours in ,1031, and since then they have always been one of the strongest forces in senior Kiigby.. East year, when Old Boya won. the championship, Hutt were given the honour of playing, for the ■National Mutual Cup, and they won this trophy in a stirring encounter with tho champions. This year they are champions, and well equipped, they deserve tho honour. No small share of the credit for their success must go to their coach, Mr. S. D. Shearer.

Immediately after the match on Saturday, J. R. Lainason, captain of the Wellington: College Old Boys' team, led his men to tho Hutt dressing-room, where the Old Boys gave three cheers for the new champions. The gesture was greatly appreciated by the Hutt players, officials, and supporters.

One of Hutt's fust thoughts after the watch was of their two representatives, H. T. liilburne and E. -P. Barry, in tho

was lost in cabling news of tho win to the Hutt captain aud his club-mate.

Pinning* faith in their forwards Hutt set out Ho stick to the leather, arid the pack accomplished this work admirably against a pack Which never stopped striving in the tight in efforts to overcome the first big obstacle in getting under way with those loose rushes which take ;i power o£ stopping. 'Hutt tackled, the harder part first in playing-against the wind in the first spell. It was risky but it came off, though Hutt wore rather fortunate that no points were registered against them in that session. After that it only meant keeping Old Boys at a safe distance. Old Boys, however, never let up in their stupendous tu.sk, but rnrcly in this spell were they dangerous. Their ■ big chance was missed in the first spell. All the playcfs in the _ final deserve credit for the way in which, they came through the ordeal. But if one deserved more than any other it was Sadler, the Old Boys' half. He could not have'done more for his side in his etforts to set them on attack. Many times he iouncl the ball so greasy that he simply had to bowl it to the open to get it away from the Hutt forwards. His value on defence was tremendous. . . . Jarman. the Hutt full-back, hardly put a foot wrong in the final, and E. Nealwas another of the suburban backs to show up conspicuously. Killeen was limping for the greater part of the game, but he did some fine line-kicking. « • * • On the showing made by Phillips on Saturday it is surprising that more has not been seen of this fine stamp of a wing-three-quarter in the Hutt first fifteen. Coulston, Peck, arid company were in their element in the hard battling between forwards in the Hutt-Old Boys encounter. G.. Roberts threw his weight about in plenty, but the forward to serve Ids side to the greatest extent in all-round play was Stevenson, who has a fine conception o£ what is required or a player who is given a roving commission. Hewitt, iivthe Old Boys' pack is a tiger for work. He was right m the thick ot it on. Saturday against Hutt, and some hard knocks did not curb his eagerness for work, even though one knock dislocated his nose, Bydder's services .unfortunately were lost early through an ankle injury. Dustin was, as usual, a shining light among the Old Boys' backs. Some.of his snappy penetrative work looked like bringing results, but it was not. to be. It was thought on one occasion that a great chance was missed through his passing infield instead of sending the ball to Hollis. However, there wis good reason for Dustin doing this, as Feeney had turned round to close the gap on the wing. Moreover such moves have been profitable to Old Boys quite frequently. * # * * As the last line of defence Crisp (Eastbourne) gave a sound display against Petone. Although conditions were such as made- accurate: fielding very difficult, Crisp seemed to find little trouDle in picking the ball up from all angles, whilst his line-finding was without fault. A feature of the play in the EastbournePetone game was the remarkably accurate handling by the Eastbourne backs. In practically every movement the ball travelled right through to the wing-three, quarters, $a which position both Buller and Dingle proved dangerous, Fuller was again outstanding, his defensive play being particularly worthy of mention. «•. # * It was the Eastbourne forwards who were mainly responsible for Petone's downfall, and in this respect the Dellabarca brothers played a big part. There was hardly one Eastbourne forward onset in which these two were not prominent figures, and they toiled solidly from start to finish. N. Dellabarca was the more aggressive, and, although he did not score himself, he paved tho way for others to do so. Abrim, Suudgren, and Selwood were responsible for some fino work in the Petone van, and tho heavy going seemed to suit the big forward, Martin. Although the odds were against them they never Jet up for one moment, and on one occasion Siindgren came very close to scoring. *** * / Coman (Petpne) was not given many opportunities in the game against Eastbourne, and found muchi difficulty in handling the ball. Tho fast-breaking opposing forwards smothered the majority of his attempts to open up tho play, and consequently he found it more profitable to stab-kick, which ho did to great advantage. His defence was excellent, * * • * Pollock (Petone) was kept busy against Enstbourne, and he did very well nndor the circumstances. He gained applause more than once for the plucky manner in which he repelled the rushes of the Eastbourne forwards, and he often turned defence into attack with his lengthy kicks. Conditions at tho Prince of Wales Park on Saturday in the game between Poncke and Wellington provided little opportunity for good football. Play was confiued very largely to the forwards, although in the second spell the Wellington backs moved quite well on occasions. a»* . * Prydc, on the Wellington right wing, was 'in good form against Poneke. He scored a smart try in the second halt and was unlucky not' to have got across again. ■Ball, on ■ the, left wing for Wellington, gained a couple of. tries. . In the first round of the championship .competition Marist defeated Athletic at Newtown Park by a margin ot three points. On the same ground on Saturday the winning margin was again three points in favour of Marist, but, whereas in the first-round game 21 points were scored, Marist's. three points in the game on Saturday were all that wore obtained. * ■.:'•' • j s* Two prominent players were standing down on account of injuries in the match between Marist and- Athletic—Twdill, the Athletic ■' half-back, whose nose was injuredl in the match against Eastbourne, and Robins, the Marist captain, who iniured a knee in a match.during the week. He expects to have fully recovered before the end. of "tho week. .-".-.■.-