NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 103, 3 May 1937, Page 5

NOTES AND COMMENTS

THE PLAYERS REVIEWED

The great feature of the Poneke v. Wellington match was the debut of D. Hoskin, at half, for Poneke. The ex-New Plymouth player came up to expectations, and the Poneke Club has a real find. Hoskin got the ball away from ihe scrum accurately and quickly, and took all his chances in the open play. His opening which brought Ongley|s try was a gem. The Poneke pack proved too good for Wellington, and played with great verve and dash throughout. They had the better of the scrums, with Kirschberg doing the hooking, and another good thing was the greater tendency to stick together instead of dissipating energy by breaking too soon. Ongley, Kirschberg, Pringle, and O'Brien were the principal men, whilst a new man in Devereaux, a burly: forward from Inglewood, Taranaki, was noted as a worker. Cooper, Coupland, and Carlyon were the most prominent men in the Wellington pack, which was outmatched on the day. J. Vartan played an outstanding game for Poneke at full-back. It is a long time since one saw such accurate handling ar\d long-range line-finding as that shown by the ex-Hawke's Bay player. His gains of long stretches of ground were a decided help to the [forwards^. ■_ The Poneke five-eighths, Griffiths and Le Quesne, showed good combination which improved as the game progressed. No doubt their better showing was the result of the excellent service from Hoskin. Reese, playing at centre, showed a great improvement on previous form and looks likely to be a fixture in the position. The Wellington backs did not receive many opportunities, but a couple of movements were well done. For the greatest part of the game the. ball, when it did get out to the backs, was accompanied ■ usually by a posse of, Poneke men. . Valiant efforts were made by individuals, but Poneke were tasting success and the side is difficult to overcome when: in winning mood. ""■•Oriental should,- as the season advances, field a strong second division team. Humpherson and Searle were prominently associated in every dangerous attacking movement on "Saturday against Miramar and their enterprise was : one of the main factors in their team's success. Most of the Miramar senior second division team are promoted junior players and though they are fit, they require more senior experience before they can gain any measure of success. Stoppages because of injuries were so frequent in the Miramar v. Oriental game that the second 'half- was completely spoilt. The hold-ups were not caused through questionable tactics, but in most cases by some of the players not being fit enough. In" one* of the* Senior A second division games on Saturday there was a shortage of football boots, so one- of the players surrendered his footwear_to a team-mate in need The »°°.y.es;> one played in the full-back's position minJs one stocking, and though he covered the ground at a fast clip, he evinced a pardonable disinclination to participate in melees. The outstanding player in the St. Patrick's College Old Boys back division against.Athletic was the speedy wing-three-quarter . McCashm, who scored two tries spectacularly. On a third occasion," when he was robbed of a try through obstruction, .the referee rightly' awarded three points. P. O'Connor, playing at centre, also gave quite a good .display, and Paino. on the other wing, gave the impression that he would have made matters interesting had he seen more of^ the ban. In the set scrums and line-outs the St. Patrick's ■ College Old Boys forwards had matters much to f their own liking against Athletic. Kilkelly and Todd were well in the picture, and Gill and Ready - also caught the eye on several occasions. Although Athletic" eventually won very' decisively from Marist Brothers Old Boys at Athletic Park, the g°in2 was not as easy or as comfortable for them as the final score of 21 points to 3 in their favour suggests. Marist proved a tough proposition for ■ the greater part of the two spells, and gen-erally-managed to throw a spanner, in the works to upset Athletic s plans. Athletic kept going and in under ten minutes in the final quarter of the second spell put on 13 points. This burst of fast scoring naturally aroused keen excitement among the crowd of 5000 and compensated to some extent for much of the abortive play that had gone before. Wells, the Athletic captain, was absent with an attack of influenza, Thurstoh leading Athletic. While this player, who has claimed favourable notice since his return from the Manawatu, did a great deal of valuable work he was rather apt to try to go a little too far on his own in the first spell, instead of sending the ball out to the men alongside him. ' But he was not alone in this fault. The tackling by the Marist backs, with the forwards also very active, and good spoiling work generally contributed greatly to Athletics difficulty. Of the Marist forwards. Ropata was very much on the job, and good assistance came from Meadows. Among the Athletic forwards, Guy, Kerrigan, and Bishop were usually to be found in the thick of the fray. For Thomson, the Athletic left wing-three-quarter, it was a great match. He showed greater penetration than any of the others, was quick to act whenever the ball came his way, and displayed both pace and elusiveness. His three tries were all fine efforts, which did not go unrecognised by the crowd. He turned on play with "pep" in it. Playing with great confidence and sureness, Mclntyre, the Athletic fullback, gave another fine performance. He was called upon to get Athletic out of, some awkward jams at times, but kept a cool head always, even'though

there was not much room in which to work. His fielding of the ball and goalkicking were also first rate. Frost, the Marist full-back, had a more strenuous time, and there was a good deal of merit in much of his play. Jones, the Athletic centre-three-quar-ter, backed up well, and, in association with Thomson, should.be able to give Athletic much good service. The University senior A (second division) team showed improved form on Saturday. Under the coaching of Mr. J. Parker, perhaps the greatest wing-forward New . Zealand has had since the war, they may mould into a strong side. The material is there. Blacker is still the leader of the forwards, and Wild on Saturday was the best of the inside backs. O'Regan ran strongly on'the right wing. The Wellington senior A (second division) team has a fine pack of forwards, but the backs seem .to lack initiative. On Saturday against University, they were slow to get unaei way, and as a result they frequently made no ground at all. Hudson (Petone) played an outstanding game against Itutt,his speed several times taking him right through to Evans, the Hutt full-back ; Pollock's kicking for Petone was of a very high standard. He frequently found the line with a margin of only a few feet, missing no easy placekicks, and converting a try almost in the corner. t . ' # Cartner and Mitchell were particularly hard workers among the Petone forwards. Neither the Hutt nor the Petone packs are particularly heavy this year. O'Hallorari (Petone) played a very reliable game as half against Hutt, and was not afraid to go on his own when circumstances really justified it. towards, Knowles, and South also did well. ; # .«■'■* Kilmister stopped several, dangerous Petone thrusts. Denby and Perkmson were also generally reliable m defence. Denby twisted his knee rather badly in the middle of the second half and had to be the field. No personality in the early game at Athletic Park between Pirates and Johnsonville save the "crowd more satisfaction than H. Love, second fiveeighth for Pirates. Love is playing his first season in Wellington. Formerly he was ranked as extremely promising in Marlborough football. At any rate. Love had to make his own play on Saturday, because the Pirates forwards gave their backs little of the ball. In the first spell he tackled like a demon, low. hard, and extremely determined. His defence, in the second, was also good, and he made three runs, each outstanding for cleverness, pace, and discretionary use of the dummy. He can be rated a definite prospect, with all the Maori habit of producing something quite unexpected at a vital moment. ■ # Johnsonville's attack in the match with Pirates suffered.in. the first spell, despite a plentiful supply of the ball, by crossfield running. In the second, things brightened up. Chancy was strong and determined at half, though a little inclined to slowness in his passing. , J. Burns, the u:ual half, .was at centre and five-eighth, and was the best of the backs with some welljudged- running. Merv Kenny kicked goals splendidly, and his 19-year-old brother Mick, at full, came-through his work creditably. ■ ;'■'•". # . The terrier type of bustling forward has served Johnsonville well in the oast and again this season the suburban side has a good pack. Against Pirates on Saturday.' 'Trenchard. Kenny, and Grant were three good workers who kept the Pirates pack defending, hard throughout. In the Pirates, team, the scrummaging, could have'been better. Burket>did well. To do well in the second division this season, Pirates will need much better cohesion among the backs than was: revealed against Johnsonville. Even such a dangerous man as Love was' starved and the wingers had few chances. At full-back. King was plucky, but his handline and judgment cave.the team's supporters uneasy moments. ' " Burns on the day was the best wing-1 three-quarter in the Eastbourne-Old Boys match. The ball seldom reached Watt, and the Eastbourne wingers spent their time mostly on defence. King, the Eastbourne half, is improving with each-game. Against Old Boys-he passed cleanly from the scrums and was übiquitous on defence. Crisp, of Eastbourne, bids fair 'to take Fuller's place as goal-kicker. His full-back play against Old, Boys was well-nigh flawless. He- repeatedly saved his sjde by daring play and by judicious kicking. Wellington College Old Boys' forwards played fine football in the open against Eastbourne, their handling at times gaining a great deal of ground. Bydder was an ideal leader, and Souiiess was always on hand to join up with the backs, his first try being a greai effort.■ Although Sadler did not get so much of the ball from his forwards as against Poneke, he played wonderfully good football against Eastbourne. Very few players sense an opening so quickly as Sadler. His quick thinking paved the way for the winning try, scored by Souness. Old Boys missed Lamason as goalkicker against Eastbourne, Baldwin succeeding only. once in about eight attempts to pilot the ball over the bar. The Athletic second-division half. Littler, showed' improvement against St. Patrick's College Old Boys. His defensive play was fine but his passing was erratic.