REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY

Grey River Argus, 22 June 1925, Page 8

REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY

BULLER y. WEST COAST Win for Home Team BY NARROW MARGIN RESULTS AT A GLANCE. West Coast, 8; v. Buller, 6 . Blaketown II (6) v. United II (3). United IV (24) v. Technical IV (0). ba the presene.’ of n crowd of about fi'iren hundred the first inlerprovincial match of the season, between Builer and West Coast, took place at Victoria I’ilk on Saturdiy in line weather, i ho teams when they took the field appeared to by e'e.i'V matched, although, as. the game p’Ogressed, folhmers of the sport rightly formed the opinion ■’ r the Buller fu’w.. :- *-: - b-iur tk-.n the Coast -o-v. aids, and the Coast it’i-hb were vast’. superior to the Buller backs. Fro:.’. ’.lie point of view of th' 1 spectators tl.’ game was not up to representative s’-anda: .', the hooking, while in f ■ ' mr of the Const, seldom passed the back rankers, consequently having the effect of making the game for Hie greater part a forward one; whilst, bad passing and failure to take the ball in the backs especially on the lout Of West C.mst spoiled any spectacular play that may h.-iv? been expected. Big things were expected from the All Black J. Steel, in the three-quarter line; but during the game few chances came his way. When the ball did reach him he found himself crowded on the line, with not sufficient room to work upon, and regarding his line kicking, and his usually good goal kicking, he apparently had a “day off.” Several good move meats on the part of the Coast backs were ’nullified by Thomas (centre), who tried to beat the opposing field on occasions and whose passing’ was lamentably- weak. With the advantage of a fair wind in their favour, Coast had the better of the first spell, keeping Buller on the defensive,

and their first score came from thc Hokitika player, Owen Walker. The ball bounced into his arms 'near the Builer line; but he made no mistake in crossing and forced the ball between the posts. The second spell was mostly in favour of Buller, whose first score came from O’Brien, who cross-kicked allowing the fast following up Thorn, ton to score wide out. Shortly- afterwards, Warnes cleverly evaded both Buller’s five-eighths and centre and

scored a well-deserved try, finishing off his achievement by adding the major points thus putting Coast bn the lead. From then on shortage of time debarred Buller from equalising, although Goodall (Buller) kicked a fine penalty The teams were: — — Buller:—T. Davis, O’Brien, Bernard, Thornton, Griffiths, Corby, Bidwell, T. O’Neill Gardiner, Morley, Goodall. Ford, Loekey Skilton, McKnight. West Coast: —A. Jamieson, J. Steel. Thomas, 11. Steel, Warnes, G. McKay ? McCleary, Jardin, McNabb, Devaney, M. Jamieson, Bannister, Walker, Perham. Griffen; emergency, Lamberton.

WEST COAST 3; BULLER 0. West Coast won the toss and kicked off, favoured by a fair easterly wind. They at once put Buller on the de. tensive but a promising passing move- , mciit was missed by Warnes, the ball going on to Steel, who kicked up field. Davis returned but offside play by Morley allowed Steel to maintain Coast’s advantage by finding thc line Buller’s 25. McCleary got the ball from the iuc-out and passed to Thomas, ■s coming up and taking the ball well, transferring to Steel. The latter, however was crowded on to thc line, a few yards being the only gain. Thornton (Buller) extricated his side from their dangerous position by intercepting a pass, along the ground, thus completely putting Coast on the defensive. After some exchanges of kicks the ball went to the West Coast forward, Devaney, who passed to J. Steel, the game going again to Buller ’s 25. In the nesnwig play, O’Brien cleverly intercepted and going on, had only the full back to beat. He short, kicked but Steel boat him for pace and saved his side with a good line kick which landed at half way. In the play that followed bad passing by Buller culminated in Coast’s first score, the ball going out. From the line out McCleary and J. Steel were associated, in a uassing rush, and after drawing Griffiths and Corby, passed to Warnes. With only Davis to beat, Warnes pass ed to Jamieson, who. knocked on near the line. From the scrum Steel secured and passed to Thomas and Warnes, the movement, a lucky bounce into Owen Walker’s arms, being finished off by a score under the posts. 'Steel did not convert. —Coast 3; Buller 0. From the kick off Buller attacked, and a pass from Bidwell to O’Brien resulted in a force down. A strong kick out by Steel saw the ball go over the line. Davis did not force, the ball, and play was in Buller’s 25. Following a line otic, from a scrum Buller were for the time being relieved. However Steel’s return found the line in Buller’s 25. and Coast’s hooking the ball from the scrum, another passing movement was established the hall traversing from McCleary, McKay Warnes to Thomas, who missed the pass. During the play that fol lowed Coast were penalised through

McCleary picking the ball out of the scrum, and from a ’•eturn kick Thomas got the ball ,and, 11. Steel following up fast had bad luck in not scoring for 1 Coast, thc ball being declared over the dead line. After the kick out a Buller’ forward rush, headed by Loekey, took play to the Coast territory; but an in-, fringement allowed McCleary to clear. At. this stage after a. Buller passilng rush, 11. Steel injured his knee and went off, Lamberton taking his place. From the scrum th? ball travelled to J. Steel, who, having only a few yards to work on, was well tackled by Lockey and Bernard, when within scoring distance. Playing a good game, Bidwell (Buller) turned defence into attack by passing to Corby and Thornton and taking the play to Coast’s 25, where from a free kick, Griffiths found the line. M. Jamieson altered the situation by breaking through and taking the play to Buller’s 25, but was successfully tackled by Davis, and then Thornton, backed up by McKnight was responsible for hostilities being carried into Coast’s 25. No good result eventuated from this advantage, and after exchanges of kicks, half time saw Skilton and O’Neill, and Corby and Goodall prominent in a Buller attack.

The second spell was decidedly in favour of Buller and good work by Goodall and Loekey kept Coast busily defending. Tight play ended in Corby marking, and having a shot at goal; but M. Jamieson charged, the only result being that Coast were still defending. In the next few minutes of play Coast’s defence was severely tested, and after a series of scrums near th e line Griffiths kicked too hard, allowing Pip. Jamieson to force. Coast made another effort after the kick out, but Thomas spoiled the attack by trying to get through tin whole team, and .’ater on, when Steel got possession Thomas failed to take, a pass, another piece of good play going for nought. Up and down play followed, during which Warnes essayed a goal kick, which was unsuccessful, and from the return kick another passing rush allowed Thomas to reach Thornton, whose kick kept play about midfield. Then Steel secured possession, but he was well tackled by Griffiths. Devaney carried on, and a scoring forward rush was stopped by a marl; by Thornton. His kick was charged down, and a scrum followed. For offside play by breaking through thc scrum Buller were penalised. McCleary took the kick and the ball went to O’Brien (Buller). O’Brien tried to find thc line on his right wing, and ho and Thornton followed up fast, and finding Lamberton and Jamieson in doubt about taking the ball, Thornton gathered up and crossed over. Griffiths’s kick failed:—Coast 3; Buller 3.

Thornton (wing) and Loekey (forward) were responsible efor the play which kept Coast on the defence, after the kick off; and after a general melee MCleary secured and passed to Lamberton who failed to get his kick in; and forward play by Goodall and Skilton made matters dangerous for the Coast. However, from a scrum, McKay raced through initiating some good open play, which was spoiled through Thomas’s failure to take Warnes’s pass. Loose play then was thc order until Walker secured the ball and passed across two players to Brown. A score was probable, but Brown was collared by Davis. Thornton saved Buller by a good line kick; but McCleary was nippy on the ball, from the line out, and beating Griffiths, Bidwell and Corby transferred to Warnes. The crowd became excited as Warnes raced through the field, and there was applause for him when he luckily evaded Bernard’s tackle to score a great try under the posts. He added the finishing touches by increasing his try to five points. —Coast 8; Buller 3. Immediately after the kick off Coast were penalised and from half way Goodall kicked a splendid goal:—Coast. 8; Buller 6. Tn the couple of minutes before time Buller were attacking strongly, and when within scoring distance, A. Jamieson kicked the ball out, thc gamrending, Coast 8; Buller 6, Mr J. Guerbn was referee.

NOTES ON THE GAME. (By “Line Out.” From a spectator’s point of view, the game was not a very brilliant display of Rugby. There was altogether too much kicking, mis handling and bad fielding among the backs; while the forwards seemed to prefer to mill instead of indulging in loose rushes. For the home team Jamiesoci at full-back gave a fair display, although he made several mistakes that full-back Goodall would not have made. McKay at fiveeight was particularly good, and I would have no hesitation in saying he was the best back on the ground with McCleary, half-back, a close second. Warnes was fairly sound on defence, His try was certainly a good effort; but if he had done the same on several previous occasions, instead of looking round for some one to give it to, he would have crossed over at least, twice. Thomas at centre was weak. This player seems to have a penchant for kicking the ball, particularly when he is in good scoring positions. J. Steel was not asked to do much, and in the writer’s opinion was just as well pleas ed although I should very much like know why he ran infield so often in the second spell. IT. Steel on the other wing retired early with a bad knee and was replaced by Lamberton.

I fail to understand what claim for preference either of these players have

before Ticker Reynolds or Duneraft. The Coast forwards all worked well, with, perhaps, Brown, Griffen and O. Walker more in the limelight than the others. The hooking was poor, the ball coming out cleanly on very rare occasions, and this accounted princi ■pally for the absence of passing rushes. 11 would be difficult, to single amy of the Buller forwards for special mention except perhaps Loekey and Goodall. These two were the best, of a hardworking, bustling pack who kept things on the move from the word go. They knowing the weakness of their back division kept the bail among themselves as much as possible and had the home team thinking all the time. In my opinion they were much the superior of the Coasters in all departments of forward play. The Buller ■ backs gave a very indifferent display. Snowy Griffiths hung on or kicked. Corby, Thornton, Bernard mishandling, and O’Brien, their star man only had two runs altogether. In the second spell, however, the blue hacks brightened up a little and Thornton played a rather sound game. His try was a good one, th e result of a good kick from O’Brien and well deserved. The blue full back was sound although he missed several easy catches at the commencement of play. Th e tackling of the teams and particularly of the Buller backs was a feature worthy of comment, and this made up for the errors they committed on attack. The penalty which Goodall kicked was a fine one, and it was so close that the spectators were in doubt until the referee’s whistle. Mr Guerin’s hand ling of the whistle was excellent, and both teams and supporters alike were I .fully satisfied. The Blaketown team proved equal to defeating Uniteds on Saturday, in a hard game. The score till near the end was three all. Then Blaketown got a try, and landed the \ ictory Me. Enaney and Watson, scored for the winners. United fourths proved quite too good for Technical, and ran up a big score against them. WESTLAND MATCHES. The chief games in Westland on Saturday were a couple of junior fixtures. At Hokitika, thc Kanieri team notched a runaway victory over Ilari Hari by 39 points to nil. The play was not of a combined nature, the scores coming from individual efforts. Kanieri have a good pack, and the South Westlanders failed to stand up to them. At Kokatahi, Ross proved too good for the home team, winning in good style by 17 to nil. The School team defeated Excelsiors at Hokitika in the third grade competition by a fair margin. WELLINGTON CLUB GAMES. WELLINGTON, June 21. Eight thousand people saw Ponek? defeat ’Varsity by 27 to 16. It was a most exciting game. Thc teams were level, each sixteen, until nearly the end of the second spell, when l’o_ ueke forged ahead. Poueke now leads in the championship. Oriental 8 boat Athletic 3. Petone HI beat Marist 6. Wellington 12 beat Selwyn 3. Hutt 3 drew with Old Boys 3. CHRISTCHURCH RESULTS. (Special to Argus.’ CHRISTCHURCH, June 21. Ycstjerday’s senior Rugby matches here resulted as follows:— Old Boys 27 beat ’Varsity 6. Christchurch 8 beat Merivale 3. North Canterbury 6 beat Linwood