RUGBY FOOTBALL COAST HAS MATERIAL FOR TEAM TO RETAIN SEDDON SHIELD

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 July 1950, Page 3 (Supplement)

RUGBY FOOTBALL COAST HAS MATERIAL FOR TEAM TO RETAIN SEDDON SHIELD

West Coast lias won the Seddon Shield for the sixth time. The task is now to hold it longer than on four of the five previous occasions when the West Coast team was unable to survive a full round of challenges. But, judged by the standard of football achieved by West Coast when it lifted the trophy from the

determined Buller holders last Saturday, only a serious lapse in form should prevent the ’province from emerging as the*season’s leading Seddon Shield district team. The first challenge to be faced by West Coast will be a match tomorrow week, when Nelson will seek to lift the trophy at Greymouth. Confronting the visitors is the fact that Nelson has not, in the shield’s 45 year history, defeated West Coast for the trophy at Greymouth. It was Nelson which first gave West Coast the trophy in 1923, and also a de'eade ago, when Coast won 19-12 at Nelson. Since then Nelson has,not been successful in winning a shield match. Nelson drew with Marlborough six-all last week, and the game did not produce enthusiasm for either team’s chances at Greymouth, but this can- hardly be accepted as a final pointer. Good Record Marlborough, which has second challenge, has a good Seddon Shield record and;has held the trophy for 15 of the 45 years of its history. Coast has once lost the shield to Marlborough, this being in 1934 (3-nil), but won the trophy from this province in 1937 (15-8) and in 1947 (9-8). The third and last challenge for this season—Buller, having lost the shield, cannot challenge again this year—will be from the Golden BayMotueka team, which should be quite a formidable side at the end of its tour of southern sub-unions. The Bays’ team has held the shield only twice in its history, but it ended West Coast’s first possession of the shield in 1923, taking it from Coast 3-nil, after Coast had taken it from Nelson and then narrowly held it against Buller, when the score was 3-3. Golden Bay has not successfully challenged for the shield since 1929. Gruelling Match Future opposition for the West Coast this season is not likely to be as strong as that at Westport last week, particularly as far as the forwards are concerned. Saturday’s match was a gruelling struggle between two hard-hitting packs. Each of them should be more than a match for any other pack in the shield district. The West Coast back-line as a unit was not able to show its real ability,

but its members certainly showed their individual qualities, both on attack and on defence. The material is there for a matchwinning combination well up to the class of previous West Coast shield teams, and, with the forwards, opposed by forwards of lesser calibre than the spoiling Buller eight, able to give more assistance on attack, the stage seems set for a great effort to be made to keep the Seddon Shield at Greymouth for a much longer time than in the past.

SIX COAST PLAYERS HAD SECOND SHIELD TRIUMPH

' Six members of the team which took the Seddon Shield from Buller oh Saturday, were members of the combination that succeeded against Marlborough in 1947, and they also played in the next game in that year in which Buller won the shield. The backs are J. Lindbom, E. G. Walker, and R. Stoop, who played in the same positions on Saturday, and . the forwards, G. Nelson, D. McKendry and R. R. Eastgate, who also occupied the same positions in the scrum. Three of them, Lindbom (penalty goal), Walker and Nelson (tries) were responsible for Coast’s score of nine , points against Marlborough. The team which Buller fielded in ' unsuccessfully defending the shield on Saturday contained four of the players who helped to take the shield I from West Coast in 1947. They were IR. Hawes and W. Dickson (backs) and W. Mumm and G. Anderson (forwards). I The coach and selector of Saturday’s West Coast team, Mr R. R. King, the manager of the team, Mr B. Kelly, and the official West Coast touch judge for the match, Mr A. S. Fong, were all members of the successful 1932 combination which took the shield off Buller at Westport—the only other time in history—and held it for two seasons.

MULLEN WITHDRAWS FROM TEST TEAM , AUCKLAND, July 27 (PA.).—The ! captain of the British Isles Rugby team, K. D. Mullen, will not play I against New Zealand in the fourth I and final test match at Eden Park on ■ Saturday. He supervised the team’s final training run at Eden Park today, I but was still hobbling from the foot ; injury he suffered in the Auckland , match last Saturday. D. M. Davies, of > Wales, will hook. | It was announced that J. Matthews, i the Welsh centre, would be fit to play. Matthews broke a bone in his left I hand while playing against Northland 10 days ago. The All Blacks trained on the Avondale racecourse. The British team has completed its training for the match, but the. All Blacks will have one more very light run tomorrow. All members of the All Black team were reported to be fit. Tomorrow’s Matches

The teams to play in the main

club match at Rugby Park tomorrow have met twice previously (one a second competition match), and vastly different performances have been registered on each occasion. In the first match, Celtic fully tested Blaketown, which won by only nine points to six, but in the second match Blaketown had almost a walk-over, .scoring nearly 30 points. A more even contest can be expected! tomorrow, however, and if Celtic reproduces the'form that nearly upset the leading Cobden team, Blaketown will have to do its best. The other senior match at Greymouth will be between Cobden and United, while Excelsior and Star and Kiwi and St Mary’s will play at Hokitika.