RUGBY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 61, 10 September 1945, Page 8

RUGBY

SERVICES' FIELD DAY

INTER-ISLAND MATCH

Football, music, and ceremonial made up a full afternoon of sport and entertainment for close on 12,000 spectators at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon. Those who went for spectacle found most of it in the performance by the Band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which went through various manoevres with machine-like precision to its own music during a display as an acceptable break between matches and in itself well worth the visit to the Park. The band was making one of its final appearances before making a tour of Australia, and its contributions to the afternoon's proceedings were roundly applauded. The main Rugby football match, played by Service teams representing the North and South Islands, did not reach the high standard of performance to be expected of the elect of players in the three, arms of the Service, but it was not wantmg for action, and it may have been that over-eagerness jolted the smoothness of performance to some extent, with the strong northerly wind always having an influence upon the run of play. Though the North Island side was three points down at the interval, there was never any doubt about its superiority, and it was largely due to solid defensive work, in which a close watch was kept on every attacker, that the South Island team was not beaten heavily. North won by 14 points to 3. Not many of the spectators were at the Park in time to see the first of the afternoon's matches, played by selected boys from Wellington's Rugby nursery. The boys from the newlyinstituted Saturday morning competition, represented Wellington and Hutt Valley, and for players so young they acquitted themselves splendidly. They were followed by the' senior champions of Wellington and Marlbbrough —Athletic and Opawa. respectively. This match produced liberal measure of the good play which comes of team work and experience. Both sides included players who have figured prominently as representatives. Honours were easy when time was called, and that, with the interlude provided by the R.N.Z.A.F.Band, set the crowd up well for the main event, preceding which the band headed the teams in a march" round the northern half of the ground to the centre of the field, t^his ceremonial entry being followed by the National Anthem, PLAY AND PLAYERS.' From the advantage of the wind in the first spell the South Island side made little beyond territorial gain. Chances were offering in penalty kicks, but only one was turned to account—by Fitzgerald. The general striking power was insufficient to break down a solid defence, and there was not the ingenuity to work a passage successfully to the objective. In their turn the North players also experienced a tough defensive line, and it was not until they had the wind behind them in the second spell that they succeeded in getting through for tries. Souths forwards played quite well in the loose and, as they welded < into a pack, they applied some solid I pressure, but it still did not prevent the North pack from gaining possession of the ball. The hooking by North was a feature of play, and to this end the scrum packed well, with the forwards then wasting no time in getting out into the open. As the play progressed the North Island forwards took up the passing game when opportunity olTercd, and in. this they j did well as they did in the loose. How- 1 ever, the most dangerous attacking j medium was the North rearguard, and j its action was the dominating feature j of play, * ; With the ball coming his way in [ liberal measure, the North half, Goldstone, was not wanting for activity, and he made the most of the offering, sending the ball on with crisp,passes and using judgment in varying that procedure by moving on his own. His backing up was also good; in fact, his I play all round stamped him as one of : the leading performers in the match. Another in that category was Pearson, on the right wing for North. He never failed to do something worth while when the ball came his way. There would have been much more play for the wings had the inside backs functioned more smoothly. Barchard, at' first five-eighths, was not always sure, in handling and was also inclined to j go too far at times when in possession, his efforts in this respect making him a conspicuous figure. There was one occasion when Barchard. who is at his j best as a half-back, made a big break in which, after losing the ball, he car- J ried on with the leather at toe and went close to the objective. Colquhoun, at second, was always sound, but Deas was uncertain, though when the ball did go through the line the movement was pretty, particular examples of this being the combined efforts which brought about two of the North's tries —one scored by White after the ball had gone through to Pearson, and the other scored by Pearson,. The other try to the North Island resulted from a smart dash by Goldstone- on the open side. One of the tries was converted by Wishnowsky, who also kicked a penalty goal, and who showed up well throughout the match as the North full-back. King was one of the most impressive players in the South team, his performance as centre being marked by some fine efforts at penetrating. Ex- . cept on defence, the South rearguard was overshadowed by the opposing set, though Ingram came into the limelight on occasions as a five-eighths on the lookout for openings, of which • very few offered. Harvey, at half, was handicapped by lack of service, but McHugh at full-back had plenty to do and came through creditably. Shannon land Hamilton shone in the loose play by the forwards, and Lindstrom was j amongst others to put in a lot of the more solid work. Johnson, apart .from efficiency in hooking, was well to the fore in the North pack, and White j and O'Donnell were there, too, with the others all showing up at times, h Generally, however, the team work by both sides was open to improvement. The teams were:— ; North Island.—B. A. Wishnowsky (Army, Wellington); F. L Pearson (Air Force. Waikato), L. W. Deas (Air Force, Auckland), A. Cooper (Army,; Auckland); L. H. Colquhoun (Army, Wellington), D. Barchard (Navy, Auckland); W. Goldstone (Air Force,; Wellington); D, H. O'Donnell (Army) Wellington), E. Todd^ (Air force, Manawatu), captain, K. Cr. .LUiott (Army, Wellington), F. Bryers (Air Force, Auckland), R. M. White (Army, Wellington), J. McCormick (Army, Wellington). A. Johnson (Army, Auckiland), B. Waldegrave (Navy, Auckland). Late in the match Johnson retired hurt. . . . i South J.sl.iml.—J. McHugh uArmy,.

Burnham): E. Kerr (Air Force, Wigram), P. King (Air Force, Harewood), R. S. Thompson (Air Force, Wigram); B. Jones (Air Force, Harewood); A. H. Ingram (Air Force, Harewood); G. Harvey (Air Force, Harewood), captain; J. Shannon (Air Force, Nelson), D. H. Hamilton (Army, Burnham), P. Fitzgerald (Army, Burnham), G. Smith (Army, Burnham), G. Lindstrom (Army, Burnham), C. H. Miller (Air Force, Wigram), J. Deyell (Army, Burnham), Martin (Air Force. Christchurch). Fitzgerald retired hurt late in the match. I. Grant (Air Force, Harewood) and J. Longville (Air Force, Woodbourne) acted as replacements (one for the North Island).

Mr. I. Ramsey was the referee,