SOUTHLAND BEATS MANAWNENUA

Evening Star, Issue 19949, 20 August 1928, Page 4

SOUTHLAND BEATS MANAWNENUA

[Per United Press Association.] INVERCARGILL, August 18. After a poor exhibition of Rugby Southland beat Mamiwbcnua by Id points io 4. 'flic weather was line, but dull, and the ground was in capital order. During the game there wore very few- movements to enthuse over, both sides finding difficulty in handling the hall with any degree of certainty. Several of the. .Manawhenna players occupied positions to which they were not accustomed, and their combination sulfcml as a. result. 'file Southland backs failed to link up, bad handling crippling a, ntynber of rushes before they bad been effectively launched, 'file, most pronounced feature of the play was the solid defence by each side. The opening exchanges were rather tame, each side indulging in a lot of kicking. The Southland hacks won' making repeated efforts to open up the game, but. Ilie bustling taeiic.s of the opposing forwards made rapid work necessary, and in trying to beat the oncoming breakaways the home banks were forced into errors. The Mannwlmmia backs then showed out in a parsing rush. From a. linc-out the ball travelled out to Westwood, on the wing, wiu> was safely grassed before gaining much ground. Play was taken to Southland’s twenty-five, where another rush was started, T. Pa rata just missing the lino. One bright movement was initiated by Taylor, the visiting fullback. who ran info position to send Strange away, but. fortunately for Southland Strange’s pass infield was taken off-side. Play was taken to the visitors’ twenty-five, where the attackers were awarded a penalty, and Diaek kicked a. goal. The next incident of note was a combined attack by the Manawhonua vanguard, each man handling in turn, and a try appeared to be the inevitable outcome, but solid tackling by Porter saw Westwood upended when making tbo final dash for the line. Uninteresting piny followed till half-time, with no further score. The visitors were first to attack after the interval, strenuous efforts to break through meeting ivith solid defence. Eventually Manawhenna wore rewarded. The ball was kicked back to Taylor (full-back), who side-stepped an opponent, .steadied himself for a moment, then dropped kicked a fine goal.

The Manawhenua forwards followed up this success with a loose rush, hut n good fhaiu'O of scoring was lost hy kicking too hard. Southland forcing. Southland regained the lead ten minutes later, when, Diack kicked a goal from a penalty. "" Confused and irregular movements marked the exchanges lor a time, a light shower adding -to the players’ difficulties. The first try of the match came shortly afterwards, when a Southland forward rush carried play to the corner, and after ,a, scramble M‘Leod was awarded a try. • Diack failed to convert.

More ragged play followed, a slight advantage resting with the visitors, but several, infringements pulled up promising movements. Geddes gained ground for Southland with a couple of

spirited dashes, hut on each occasion was forced into touch. From a senrm in midfield Bell cut through tho defence. and when within a few yards of the line passed to O’Driscoll, who just failed to touch down, Manawhenua forcing. Southland canto back again, and had the visitors on the defensive. Tho attack succeeded when O’Drisooll forced his way across, but Diack failed to hauce the score. The game ended rub< mediately afterwards. Southland J2 Alanawhenna ... 4