RUGBY LEAGUE Tired West Coast Team Easily Defeated By Strong Wellington Side

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 September 1947, Page 3

RUGBY LEAGUE Tired West Coast Team Easily Defeated By Strong Wellington Side

[SPECIAL REPORTER]

WELLINGTON, Saturday.

The West Coast representatives were a tired team when they took the field at Newton Park on Saturday and they played accordingly, being well beaten in all phases of the game. Coming at the end of a hard tour, the game found the West Coasters without a counter to the shock tactics of Wellingon, a fit and well-trained side. The West. Coast team failed to reproduce the form it had shown at Auckland the previous week and was stodgy by comparison. Wellington eastablished an early lead and was never in danger of defeat. West Coast fought on. and played better football in the closing stages, but the honours remained with Wellington who won by 23 points to 10.

Two of the West Coast threequarters, W. Mountford and L. Dunn, were not available for the Wellington match because of injuries, and several of the others, including Pascoe and Mel Ord, went on the field suffering from injured limbs. As a result of the hard ground.encountered at Huntly, almost all of the team still carried bruises. The fact that the West Coast team was below peak fitness, however, does not detract from the merit of Wellington’s win. The city side was a surprise even to its own supporters. It gave a splendid exhibition of Rugby League at its best, with the lively forwards keeping a good back line well supplied with the ball. Veteran's Fine Display

The star of the game was the veteran Maori full-back, J. Hemi, who gave the best exhibition of full-back play seen on the tour. He handled . and kicked with precision and frequently ran up to make an extra back in the Wellington passing rushes. In the first half, the West Coasters failed to appreciate the Hemi “menace” and kicked to him, with fatal results. In contrast, J. Soster, the West Coast full-back, was a long way below form and gave a poor display. As a whole, the West Coast backline was ineffective, being too slow and orthodox in its movements. The ball frequently travelled along the line, only to be brought to a stop at the wingers. The five-eighths attempted to counter the Wellington bustling tactics by employing the short punt, but with a strong wind blowing, this served only to supply Wellington with the ball, as Hemi was always in position to receive. The best of the backs were J. Pascoe and J. Gibson, while A. O’Donnell made several good runs. In contrast the Wellington backline was always effective, with Hemi frequently coming in to give an overlap. Hawkins gave splendid service from the base of the scrum and both live-eighths were dangerous on attack, Evans (second) being one of the best backs on the field. The d'ci’mer West Coaster, A. Stenhouse, I at centre, also played well, although Ihe was caught in possession a number of times. The Wellington forwards played a similar game to that which almost brought West Coast success in Auckland. They packed a solid scrum, but broke quickly to spoil the West Coast passing from the base. They were heavy, fast, and vigorous, and outplayed the West Coast pack both in the tight and the loose.

Lacked Fire The West Coast forwards showed the effects of the hard tour and failed to find the “fire” which they showed in earlier games. They were also handicapped by the referee’s interpretations, which appeared to favour Wellington and which led to several “incidents.” On two occasions ths forwards were warned when the play became too “hard. J. Mundy, although he received an injury in the early stages, was the best of the Coast loose forwards, with good sup - port from Mel Ord. R. Neilson was the hardest worker in the tight, with A. McTaggart also doing well. The former Ngahere player, Mulcare, did great work in the loose for Wellington, while R. Bolton and R. Westerby were also effective. In the early stages, West Coast got most of the ball from the set scrums, but in the second half Wellingtons weight told and its backs had a feast of the ball. The Wellington weather was also a factor in the West Coast defeat. J, Curnow won the toss and elected to face a high wind, with the hope of exploiting the advantage v fully in the second half. On the changeover however, the wind had dropped to less than half its earlier strength. Overhead conditions were fine, nut the ground was heavy after the pie-

vious days’ rain. , The teams were as follows:— West Coast. — -J. Soster; J. Gibson, R Forrest, A. McDonnell; J. Curnow, J.‘ Pascoe; M. Ord; J. Mundy, RNeilson, P. Coll, A. McTaggait, Ord. R. O’Donnell. Wellington. —J. Hemi; H. Jamieson A. Stenhouse, J. Parata, N ’ Evans, J. Tawhiwhirangi; J. Hawkins; P. Mulcare, F. Andrews, R. Westerby, J- English, R. Bolton, A.. Knight. The ScoringWellington’s first try came from a West Co.ast penalty. Soster s kick, from his own line, was blown acros the posts and Bolton raced through to touch down a loose ball under th posts. Hemi converted. A tew minutes later, after Soster had been, caught in possession deep in West Coast territory, West Coast hooked from a scrum, but Ord failed t secure and Hawkins picked p dive over in the corner. Hemi tailed tO Fielding a long kick from Hemi, J Gibson made a good run and passed infield to R. O’Donnell, who transferred to Pascoe, who scored one ot the best tries of the match, near .the posts. Soster converted. Hemi kicked a nenalty goal from 40 yards out and shortly after he initiated' another scoring movement, cutting through the West Coast five- eighths m his own 25 and sending on to Evans, to Mulcare, who ran 40 yards tojscor . Hemi failed to convert, hut shortly afterwards he kicked a splendid field goal from just outside the West Coast 25. Just before half-time Hemi added another two points with a penalty goal, to make t|ie score. e lingtbn 17, West Coast 5. The Wellington forwards continued to bustle the West Coast fullback, and when he was caught in possession, Mulcare headed a

dribbling rush to the line, where Hawkins picked up to score in the corner. Hemi failed to convert. Coast made great efforts at this stage and Mel Ord was unlucky not to score from a dribbling rush. Soon after, Pascoe broke through from half-way and passed to Curnow, to R. O’Donnell, to Mundy, who put in a great run. from the 25 to score in the corner. Coll goaled almost from the side-line. The final try was scored by Wellington, following a good run by Jamieson. He was tackled almost on the line, but from the play-the-ball Westerby picked up to go over in the corner. Hemi failed to convert and the game ended: Wellington 23, West Coast 10. Mr Russell (Wellington) was referee. NORTH DEFEAT SOUTH IN BOYS’ GAME , AT CHRISTCHURCH The interprovincial schoolboys’ tournament ended at Christchurch on Saturday, when a match was played between teams representing the North Island and South Island. At the end of the game, Mr D. Wilson, chairman of the Canterbury Schoolboys’ Football Board, presented the Amalgamated Theatres’ Shield to. P. Gordon, captain of the winning Auckland team. J. Mcßobie, captain of the Canterbury team, received the Farmers’ Trading Cup for the run-ners-up. The inter-island game was a clever exhibition by two keen and competent teams. North Island won by 13 points to 7, and owed its success to its ability to seize chances quickly. Although there were plenty of interesting movements, a natural lack of combination was in evidence, and the game did not reach the high standard of most of the tournament matches.

Possibility of Tour The possibility of a tour of New Zealand by an Australian boys’ Rugby League team was mentioned by Mr D. Wilson when presenting the trophies at ths conclusion of the boys’ interprovincial tournament at Athletic Park on Saturday. Although arrangements had not been completed, it was hoped that the team would visit New Zealand during the present season. When the names of the “best 13” of the year were announced, it was stated that these players would represent New Zealand against Australia if the tour took place. The team selected was as follows.—G. Sutcliffe (Auckland), W. Lisle (Canterbury), K .Russell (West Coast), O. Cairns (Canterbury), J. Percival (Auckland), J. Campbell Wellington), P. Gordon (Auckland), captain, G. Tamiti (Taranaki), B. Johnson (Auckland), P. McKay (Taranaki), A. Mitchell (Auckland), J. Mcßobie (Canterbury), vice-captain, J, Wilson (South Auckland).

NGAHERE STILL UNBEATEN IN ONE-ROUND SERIES

The West Coast Rugby League’s one-round competition was continued yesterday in fine weather, although the grounds were soft after rain. With the representative team still absent, most of the senior teams contained a number of reserve players, but the games were keenly fought. Ngahere maintained its unbeaten record in the competition by a convincing win over Marist, at Ngahere Several of the Ngahere reserve players showed distinct promise and some good tries were scored. At Hokitika, Brunner showed improvement to defeat Hokitika by four points, in a keenly-fought game. In the senior reserve grade there were no surprises, although Rapahoe was fully extended to beat Lake Brunner in a fast game at Wingham Park. Results in all grades were as follows: — Senior. —Ngahere 31, Marist 10; Brunner 24, Hokitika 20. Senior Reserve. —Ngahere 13, Paparoa 5; Rapahoe 16, Lake Brunner 10; Cobden 38, Marist nil. Third Grade. —Brunner 18, Kumara 2; Marist 52, Runanga 2. Fourth Grade.—Brunner 15, Blackball 8; Marist 11, Runanga 10. Midgets.—Marist A 9, Marist B 3. Representatives Return After travelling almost 1500 miles by bus, including nearly 1000 miles in the North Island, and playing five games in eight days, the West Coast Rugby League representative team returned to Greymouth last evening. The team was defeated only once, at Wellington, had two wins and two draws.