RUGBY LEAGUE Taranaki's Showing Surprised West Coast Tourists

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1947, Page 3

RUGBY LEAGUE Taranaki's Showing Surprised West Coast Tourists

[Special reporter] ; WANGANUI,- Thursday. Taranaki, by securing a draw against the West Coast tburihg team St New Plym'otith, provided /fed major surprise’ of the Rugby League season; It was kribWri that the standard had improved iri fee' province as a result of the’ coaching of A. Falwfisser,- but rid one iri Rugby League circles believed tHat the Taranaki tea'rh would sdfioUsl'y extend the West Coasters, after their performance’s in Auckland and. Huntly. However, on the day, the Taranaki side deserved better than a draw, arid it will be a long time before the Wset • Coast takes ahy risks with teams from that province. 'The final result was not flattering to the tourists, arid it must be admitted their p'erformarice was also riot flattering. Both backs, and forwards failed to adap't themselves to the heavy going arid Taranaki played rhOre constructive football.

From the West Coast point of view, the brightest feature of the match was the performance of the fullback, A. Hines. Some criticism was levelled at the selectors for going down to the senior reserve grade to obtain a second full-back for the trip, but Hines’s display fully vindicated their judgment,. "Baby” , of the Team Hines, only 18 years of age, is the "baby” of the side and was actually playing his first senior, as well as his first representative game. He showed signs , of nervousness early but quickly settled down. His, handling of the heavy, mud-caked ball, was excelled only by the experienced Taranaki full-back, J. Broughton,- and his kicking was. excellent, showing good length arid direction. Actually, his line kicking was more accurate than that of Soster in Auckland and Huntly. With R. Nuttall (away with Kiwis), J. Soster and now Hines, the . West Coast .Rugby League looks to be Well served with full-backs for many years to come. . The other young backs in the team, A. O’Donnell and R. Forrest, did not do- so Well. O’Donnell scored a nice try,- by following up—one of the few times in the match when the back-ing-up' was up to standard —but as a whole he did not reach the standard he had shown in club football. R. Forrest also failed tb impress. He found difficulty in handling the admittedly difficult ball and lacked penetration on attack. Playing his third game, J. Mundy was easily the best of the forwards, although the solid Taranaki tackling gave him few charices to get into the clear When he had the ball at toe. R. Neilson was not nearly as impressive as he was in Auckland and was apparently feeling the strain of the two hard games he had had previously. He aid grand work in the tight, however, and repeatedly stopped the Taranaki rushes by going down on’ the ball. The young Hokitika forward, K. Mosley,-had his first full game’ of the toui’ yesterday (he went on as an emergency at Huntly) but hC did not relish the type of-play-.-He .lacked th© fire of the Taranaki forwards and -.did not show up. Coll in Form

Next to Mundy, the best West Coast forward was P. Coll. He was a real toiler in both the tight and the loose. He had bad luck with his place kicking—under most difficult conditions. All of his kicks were' perfect as regards direction, and lacked only-a little in length. He failed to win the game with the last kick by a matter of only about two feet- ' . „ In the heavy going, AV. Mountford did not show much penetration,- but his ’ cover defence was excellent. Without him-, West Coast would have had much more difficulty in keeping Taranaki out. The game \yas really a triumph for the heavier Taranaki forwards. Led by O’Shannessy and Pomare, both of whom are good class forwards, the pack gave the West Coast team no respite. Others in the Taranaki team to impress were the half-back, H. Kettle, the five-eighths, J. Matuka, and S. Clarke and, of course, the full-back, J. Broughton. On his display yesterday, Broughton would hold his own in any company in New Zealand. The result, naturally, was pleasing to Taranaki where the code is undoubtedly progressing, .if a little slowly. For a real Wet day the attendance was excellent , and it was disappointing to all concerned that the weather prevented a true indication being obtained of the “drawing” power of a mid-week match at Pukekura Park. An invitation has been extended to the Taranaki Rugby League to return the visit next season and the officials are hopeful that it will be possible to undertake the trip to the West Coast..

Team For Today’s Match At Wellington v WELLINGTON, This Day. today’s niatch, West Const v Weilingfon, at Newtown Park, is expected to be one of the hardest of the tour. The weather is fine, but the ground will be soft after heavy rain yesterday. „ r , The majority of the tourists have survived the hard tour well, but Dunn and Mountford are both unavailable. Dunn’s' shoulder, injured at Huntly, is still troublesome. Mountford was injured in hard training at Wanganui yesterday. The West Coast team will be: Soster X Gibson, Forrest, A. O’Donnell, Pascoe, Curnow, Ord, Mundy, Neilson, Coll, . McTaggaft, Ord, O’Donnell.

AUCKLAND DECLARED WINNERS OF SCHOOLBOY TOURNEY Winning all five matches' played,. Auckland won- the championship of the New Zealand Rugby League schoolboys’ tournament, which was concluded at Athletic Park, Christchurch, yesterday. Canterbury was the- runner-up, winning three games, drawing one, and losing one. Taranaki’ was third (two- wins, a draw, and two losses), and South Auckland and West Coast were-fourth (two wins'and three’losses each.) West Coast beat Taranaki by 5 points to 2 in a game in which there was no score in the first half. West Coast produced some of the form expected of the team,- and Grindle scored the only fry after a good ruffi. Russell converted.- Taranaki’s' points

came from a kick from a penalty by McKay. Griffin, the captain of the West Coast team, showed an excellent snirit by sacrificing many personal Sarices-to shine to get the best out of his side. ’ The match, between Auckland and Wellington, wliich the former team won by 27 points to 8, was played in a very ‘sportsmanlike manner. The Cafitetbury-South Auckland match decided the funrief -up in the competition. Canterbury won by 13 points to