FORMER COASTERS PROMINENT IN OTHER DISTRICTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1948, Page 4 (Supplement)

FORMER COASTERS PROMINENT IN OTHER DISTRICTS

Two former West Coasters, W. A. Meates and T. R. O'Callaghan, were outstanding players for their respective provinces, Otago and Wellington, in representative matches last week. The Otago Daily Times, referring to the Otago-Southland return match at Invercargill said:“W. A. Meates was perhaps the most outstanding back on the field, and if ever a player showed All Black form as a wing three-quarter rhe former Kiwi did. His first try just before half time was the culmination of a spectacular movement which was initiated by the full-back, G. J. Moore, from his own side of halfway. The ball swung infield to Haig, Elvidge, and Kearney, and Meates. racing up in support, took a perfectly-timed pass to score a brilliant try.” O’Callaghan, a former' West Coast captain, played a conspicuous part in the Wellington-Canterbury return match at Wellington. Had it not been for him the scoreboard at the finish might Avell have shown Wellington to be soundly beaten instead of drawing with Canterbury, 14 points all. O’Callaghan had conditions against him when it came to demonstrating what has become his most conspicuous asset, namely, his goal-kicking. Yet he kicked four goals in five attempts to give Wellington 11 of its 14 points. In four Wellington-Canterbury matches, two for each side, O'Callaghan has scored 53 points. With his- two tries against Southland last Saturday, W. A. Meates brought his total points for the season to 104. As he did not begin playing until after the beginning of June, this is a particularly good record. Meates’s points were made up of 28 tries and 10 conversions. In interprovincial football he has scored 15 points, in sub-unions’ matches, in- j eluding games for the Combined Sub • ; unions, he has a total of 30 points, i and the remaining 59 points have I been scored for the Ranfurly Club. DELAMORE SHINES AT WELLINGTON There are experienced authorities on Rugby Avho assert that G. AV. Delamore is the best first five-eighths they have seen The large crowd who admired Delamore’s brilliant exhibition for Wellington against Canterbury at Athletic Park last Saturday probably left the field satisfied as to the grounds for such high praise, says the Evening Rost. In conditions which were all against the scintillating style of play at which he excels, and in new company, Delamore scarcely put a foot wrong. Only once did the slippery ball elude his hands. The artistry with which he took his passes was equalled only by , his prompt and accurate dispatch to , his second five-eighths, T. R. O'Cai- j laghan.