RUGBY LEAGUE West Coast Tactics Good

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 July 1946, Page 9

RUGBY LEAGUE West Coast Tactics Good

Match Against England

Reviewed

The West Coast, in its match against England on Monday, took tjisks, which, however, were justified by the result achieved. In many respects the football was unorthodox, brought about by the conditions, and it was not surprising that the Englishmen appeared to be baffled by the West Coast tactics.

Extra Back Played Considering'that the forwards were conceding something like a stone per man in weight, it was a big risk to take K. Mountford out of the scrum, already being pushed off the ball, to play as an extra back on many occasions. England got the ball, naturally, but then the Coast strategy was apparent, for Mountford was there, with Ord and McNaughton, to see that the English halves were un-‘ able to do much with it. These smothering tactics brought their reward, in keeping the fast English outsides starved of the ball. Of course, the standard of the football was thereby lowered, as far as back play on both sides was concerned, but West Coast recognised that, to have a chance it had to deny possession to the English three-quarter line, and to a great extent succeeded in this task.

Good Understanding As with the backs, the West Coast forwards played to a pre-conceived plan and their cohesion and understanding was a tribute to the efficiency of their brief training. By keeping together, they presented a solid front and it was surprising to see them break through the heavier English pack, with the ball at their feet. Bearing in mind that, like the Englishmen, they had not played on a waterlogged ground previously this season, their ball control was good.

Many 1 nfringements A surprising feature of the game was the number of infringements by both teams. The referee, Mr J. Mathews, was strict in his interpretations, as a referee in top grade football should be, and the fault lay with the players who should know the •rules. The keenness of the game had much to do with the penalties, both teams obviously taking chances with the offside rule, in particular. West Coast players were not exceptions in this regal’d but, on the run of the play, they could not be blamed. It appeared to many that West Coast gained a tremendous advantage through penalties,- but an analysis does not bear this out. There were 38 penalty kicks awarded, 22 of which were against England and 16 for it. England,- however, made more mistakes on attack and with the potentialities of their three-quarters as scoring men, they were costly. Meeting Postponed

Owing to the long hours spent by members of the management committee of the West Coast Rugby League in arranging details for the match with England, it was decided to postpone the combined meeting of executive and management last night until next week. Officials and members of the English team were loud in the praise of the arrangements made for them at Greymouth and no doubt the “work behind the scenes” was just as good an advertisement for the code in this district as was the result of the match. New Zealand Team

Apart froirl the opening of a new senior competition next Sunday, chief interest will be taken in the selection of the New Zealand team to play in the test match at Auckland. Some comment was made at the fact that an Auckland member of the New Zealand Selection Board’ was not present at Monday’s match, and in view of the performance of several West Coast players who were not in Auckland with the South Island team, it was to be regretted. However, the three games in which leading West Coast players have taken part this season should be sufficient to guarantee that this district will have good prepresentation in the New Zealand team. Of course, with only one test to be played and the “no replacements” rule, chances of selection will be limited. It will be next season, if the New Zealand tour of England is arranged as expected, that chief interest will be taken in the decisions of the-selectors as, on this season’s form, the West Coast should provide a fair quota for a touring party of about 30. New Senior Team After several non-competition matches, and successes, against junior club sides, the new Hokitika team will enter senior ranks with the start of the one-round competition. The officials of the Hokitika club are keen and if they get the support that they expect from players the new team should do well. It is difficult, in any branch of sport, to launch a new team in the middle of the season, and it will probably be next season before the true strength of Hokitika can be gauged.