West Coast Rugby Team Experienced Combination

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 September 1950, Page 4 (Supplement)

West Coast Rugby Team Experienced Combination

Experience played a big part in fashioning West Coast’s good Rugby record this season. Only one member of the “first fifteen” was having his first season as a representative, and the members of the first team have now a total of 375 representative fixtures behind them. This excludes a number of matches against visiting Sub-Union teams, from Southland, and Canterbury, which have played here during recent seasons. These matches are not recognised by the New Zealand Rugby Almanac as first-class matches, and, accordingly, are not entered in the season’s records. Combined BullerWest Coast matches, against Australia twice and against other combined Seddon Shield districts in trials, are also excluded from the figures. The full-back J. Lindbom, who has had to miss matches in the past few seasons because of injuries has the best record. He has played more than 52 matches in nine seasons, all for West Coast. Lindbom first played in 1942 when he made two appearances, and he has played each season since. Missed One Match The present captain, G. W. Nelson, a- breakaway forward, has played the next greatest number of games for the West Coast —more than 48. His representative career began in 1944, when he played in all six matches, and in the six years since then he has missed playing in only one representative match. That was the first against Canterbury last year.

Others with plenty of experience behind them include the winger, J. Gillan, who had his first game for the West Coast in 1940 and has played for the province in eight seasons, gaining South Island honours this year. Gillan’s total is more than 32 matches.

The powerful centre, E. G. Walker, had already played five matches for Southland when he came to the West Coast in 1946, first representing Southland in 1945. Including these five matches, but excluding the interisland and All Black trial matches in which he has figured, Walker has made 30 representative appearances. Injuries have restricted his appearances in the past three years.

Brothers’ Record

The other three-quarters seen out in the final fixtures of this season, R. Stoop and M. Stoop, have played 35 matches for West Coast between them, Rex having made one more appearance than his brother, in spite of being unable to make the southern touring team last year because of an injury. Both commenced their representative careers in 1947. In spite of two years playing Rugby League—he captained the West Coast League side for a full season, when he made about nine or 10 appearances— M. Thomas has played in at least 20 Rugby representative matches. He first played in 1943 and was a Rugby representative in each of six seasons. Though he has been playing only three seasons as a representative, the other five-eighths, R. Breeze, has made 15 appearances. The half-back, J. Robinson, in his first representative season has had eight matches for West Coast. Apart from G. Nelson, R. R. Eastgate has had the most experience in the forwards, and actually the backs as a whole have the biggest share of experience. Eastgate has played in almost every match for West Coast since the 1947 season, when he was first selected, and his total is over 30. The only match in which he has not 'played was in the Otago match at ’Hokitika this season, he having been 'injured. , , I M. Wells has played 19 matches, beling dropped for the last two this sea'son, and hookers. D. McKendry and IK. Fisher have each played on 17 representative occasions. W. Hornby 'and A. McCone have played m 14 jmatches each, A. McLean in 12, inI eluding two in 1943, R. Thompson in 110 spread over three seasons, and M. 'Herrick in nine, including five m 1948.

! Records Compared I Because of the extra games played I this year, the season’s record, is diiIficult to compare with previous years. Of the 10 games played, six were won, three lost and one drawn, and lot) points were scored to 113 by the opposition. , Last year nine games were played for only one win, seven losses and a draw for a total of 74 points for and 99 against. In 1948, four of five matches played were lost and one 'won, and only 44 points were scored to the opposition’s century. Other records during the past decade are as follows: 1947 four wins, three losses 63 points for 57 against, 1946 two wins, three losses, one draw, 52 points for 71 against; 1945 two wins, four losses, 52 points for, 65 against; 1944 two wins, three losses, one draw, 38 points for, 53 against;

1943 one win, four losses, 41 points for, 62 against; 1942, two wins, one loss, two draws, 43 points for, 46 against; 1941 four wins, three losses, one draw, 84 points for, 46 against; 1940 four wins, one loss, 78 points for, 64 .against. Only in three of the past 11 seasons did West Coast score more points than the opposition—l 947, 1941, and 1940—and only in five did it win more games than it lost. Over the decade West Coast has won 29 first-class matches, lost 36 and drawn seven. It has scored 670 points about 100 fewer than the opposition’s 776. ‘Safety-first’ Boys In SJ. Team: Tactics Criticised Up to the closing stages of the inter-island Rugby match at Auckland last Saturday, South dominated play principally by virtue of a welldrilled pack of forwards, plus tactics that almost invariably win matches but with even more surety will drive the paying patrons to other sports attractions. With the relentless persistence of a debt collector, the South plugged for the line and there would be no disputing the fact that over 90 per cent of the 58 line-outs went to the credit of the safety-first southern boys, states an Auckland report. With its forwards playing with persistent vigour, South gained a firm grip of the match over the first 10 minutes. But, instead of exploiting its advantage and giving the public something to look at, South locked up the game in a bag and threw the key away. There was no question about the ability of the South forwards, or of the fact that they, as always, were admirably drilled. But I find it extremely difficult to understand why, after having subdued the North pack, the backs did not work in and add the finishing touches to what, on the run of play, could have been a clear-cut victory.

In fact, it could be said that South lost because, on the face of things, it apparently did not want to win. Paradoxical though that opinion might sound, that’s the way it looked.