OTAGO DEFEATED BY WELLINGTON

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 52, 30 August 1937, Page 15

OTAGO DEFEATED BY WELLINGTON

UNINSPIRING MATCH AT ATHLETIC PARK

The Otago provincial sides which have played in.Wellington in past years,,notably those of more recent years, have turned on performances in their matches with Wellington's representatives that have fired the enthusiasm of local patrons af the game and have led them to look upon the clashes between these two provinces as among the best of the interprovincial contests. But at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon the match between the representatives of Otago and Wellington did not reach this high plane. As a spectacle it was disappointing, and the showing of neither side was impressive. Wellington made most of the play, and their win by 12 points to 6 Was deserved on the run of events, but the team, under all the circumstances, should have done better. The match was made the occasion for/ tile reunion held an-, nually of former Wellington representative players, and there was a good representation of men who had taken the field for Wellington prior to 1933. They were the guests of the Rugby Union at the. match and afterwards at a social function. There was an attendance of between seven and eight thousand.

The Otago team was one of the j'oungest which has been, sent on tour, but they had had v the advantage of playing together and the indications were that some of the exciting events of' the past might possibly be repeated, but as things panned out the element of excitement so highly developed in the last three matches played between Otago and' Wellington at Athletic Park was conspicuously absent. There was little in the game to enthuse over; in short, the standard of play was below expectations and never at any stage reached any great heights. PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES. Wellington had greater opportunities. Lambourn hooked the ball with great consistency in the set scrums and Guy did very fine Work in the line-outs,' securing possession often, but not nearly enough use was made of these very big and definite. advantages, and that this should be so was not. due so much to any markedly brilliant defensive qualities-on the part of the Otago side but rather to. the lack of zip gnd. thrust of the Wellington team. " ' ' Wellington's backs had by far the greater share of the ball, but they failed to make the most of the advantage thus given to them. O'Halloran repeatedly was-able to send the ball on from scrums and line-outs, but it was seldom that the rearguard was able to do much with it. Much of the passing was' just purely a lateral movement and at other times faulty handling by the inside men resulted in blemishes. In the first spell in particular when it was found that no progress was being made by other methods Veiteh endeavoured to find gaps by kicking through, but this also did not bring, results and in fact the kicking Was somewhat overdone. The t#o Wellington backs showing the greater thrust were the wing-three-qiiarters,' :A. Wright and N. Burns. Usually when the ball came to them they had no room in which to manoeuvre, but they always gave it a ' "go" and, moreover, ran straight. ' the Forwards. The forwards did not have a notably hard tussle. Wellington showed undoubted superiority in the scrums and in. the line-out' play, but in the loose there, was not a great deal of difference between .the two packs. Their play'iwas' neXter,/'fiery and at:•..times seeraeiite J3c;k : #§&&>,. Apart,&pra4h.e.: specialist;:■ work.OT'Lambpufn-and .Guy men tibned/eai'lier;. Wells stood:dutoccasidnallyj.and also .Andrews. .Of the Ot^gqi packi; the butstanding man in the':lqbs6-was Neipeiy with Laney (the captain) and also J. Mahony conspicuous , with some play at .times in; the first spell. • ' With-' the forwards beatenl for the. ball in, the scrums How.den, the Otago

The referee was. Mr. J. A. Wilson.

: half-back, Was at a disadvantage, but he made two or three smart runs and ! gave the impression that he would have been well to the tore had he '< been better supplied with the ball. i Berghan, the Otago first five-eighths, . j was another to Impress. He made some penetrating dashes in the early stages of the game, but thereafter his work largely was confined to defensive measures, and in this department of,the game he was also sound as generally were the rest of the Otago backs. The Wellington rearguard found it extremely difficult to pierce the Otago defence. When towards the end of the game Churchill retired with an injury, Trevathan, the Nevr Zealand representative five-eighths, came on, and his appearance was greatly welcomed by the crowd, applause rippling around the ground as he trotted on. There were no opportunities for Treyathan to bring his goal-kicking boot into operation, but he added a touch of sparkle to the dying stages of the game with a smart run down the grandstand touchline, followed by a .good centrekick, which R. Mahony followed up, but Wellington managed to get possession again and Treyathan thus did not have the satisfaction of seeing this constructive, piece of play of his topped off. ■'■•■■-.. Taylor, at full-back for Otago, did not give the display he turned on as full-back for New Zealand in the Test. His penalty goal with which he Opened the scoring in the first minute of play was a splendid effort, particularly as he was kicking against the Sun, but apart from that he did nothing out of the way. He had more to d 6 than Wellington's full-back, Crisp, who with the opportunities he had for kicking goals could have considerably inflated Wellington's score. But for Crisp it was not a good match; he could only manage two points—a conversion. THE SCORING. Taylor's fine penalty goal for Otago, followed not long afterwards by a try for Wellington by O'Halloran (the way for this.being paved by A. Wright) tended to make prospects' look bright for, an interesting contest, but the three points by each side was the only scoring done in the first spell, during Which .Otago faced the sun and had a light wind from the south at their backs. « Wellington were on. the move early. In' the second'spell, but neither individual nor collective efforts brought results until O'Halloran potted a goal. This, was followed by a smart dash from a scrum by Veiteh, who sent Thurston across for, a try. Crisp converted. Otago's other three points came from a.penalty goal—a "sitter"— by Taylor.