LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 14 August 1937, Page 7

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

TO-MORROW’S GAME. The meeting of the champions. Blackball and Marist, at Wingham Park to-morrow, in the Bradshaw Cup, will be the main week-end League attraction. Blackball can be relied upon to provide bright open football which should keep the Marist defence well tested. Runanga and Ngahere, two fairly evenly matched teams, will play at Ngahere, and lower grade games will be played at Wingham Park, Kumara, Rapahoe and Blackball. Brunner juniors: Hoggarth, Lee, Meagher, Moth, Bernard, Johnston. Ladbrooks, Barber, McKean, Browning, Pryor, Hoggarth, Fleeming. Emerg: Miller, Bell. NORMAN COX MEMORIAL CUP. Mr. W. Moore has been selected as Manager for West Coast Rep. Team which will play Canterbury on August 28th. for Norman Cox Memorial Cup. Marist Juniors v. Rapahoe (bus leaves 2 p.m.)—M. Power, W. Beans, I. Beams, Grogan, Wells, Knapp, Crase, Price, Mulqueen, Gough, L. Beban, D. Greaney, .J. Minehan, L. Zampesi. NOTES AND COMMENTS. More ideal conditions than those prevailing on Sunday could hardly be expected. Contrary to expectations under the conditions, back play was noticeably absent in the Marist-Nga-here clash, and in the game at Runanga, Blackball backs provided the best play of the day. Blackball’s five! - —nil, win was not unexpected, but was none the less meritorious. Not till the last 20 minutes could either side score for Blackball’s territorial advantage was checked by the splendid defence of the Runanga backs. ******* Veteran Goes Well: Since his re-appearance this season; J. Dodds, the Blackball veteran has; played some fine games. Once againl on Sunday he demonstrated that he! is the brains of the red and black i backs. He sent his men away time. and again with clean crisp passes, and ■ his defensive play was excellent. ****** Good Performance: Runanga’s team has been much 'changed this season, and on Sunday a youthful combination was placed in the field. Their youth and vim had to be seen to be appreciated, for every member of the team put up a splendid performance. Next season Runanga will be a hard proposition if this year’s team continues without drastic ' alterations. Continual population movements must be disturbing to the Runanga selectors, who have had frequently to call upon the juniors to field a senior team this season. ******* Lucky to Win: Strangely enough Marist can ascribe their win over Ngahere to better fitness, for towards the end of 1 Sunday’s game at the Park, the country team lacked any semblance of vigour. Marist had to draw upon several juniors to field a team and S. Knapp, in particular, played an outstanding game. His one fault was in poor handling, but it is idle to suggest that he could have done otherwise than missed some of the badly directed passes of M. Morell. Knapp showed fleet feet to the Ngahere backs on a couple of occasions, and was a definite acquisition to the Marist wing. ******* Poor Scrums: The scrummaging was about the poorest seen at Wingham Park this season. Neither pack showed any inclination to make it otherwise, and Balderstone, the Ngahere half, was more than fortunate in escaping the notice of the referee many times. His placing of the ball in the scrum was crude to say the least. Backs Tired: A few knocks early in the second spell upset the country backs, who thereafter' spread out to such an extent, that Marist’s attacks went straight through them. J. Weir, who was in good kicking form, was the only back to maintain form until the end. but his efforts were wasted, due to the slowness of his team mates. ******* Safe Custodian: A. Gibson, the Ngahere full-back, definitely outshone R. Pollock until a leg injury gave him trouble. He

was as safe as a rock and looked on at fast forward rushes quite unperturbed. His defence was parti :uiarly sound, and his kicking left little io be desired. On the other hand, Pollock was quite erratic at times. His mis-handling, followed by obstruction of Balderstone, cost Marist three points.

Not up to Former Class: J. Webber, who formerly played for Pirates, has lost a lot of his former dash.

J. Devonport as a player, is slipping. His continual failure to give his backs a chance by passing before being taken, was responsible for Ngahere’s half-time lead. T. O’Connor showed that on attack he has a long way to go to return tc the form which took him into the South Island team. ******* Few Chances: P. Mulcare, the Ngahere centre, had few chances of handling, and would probably have done much beL ter on the wing. A young player, he shows splendid promise. ******* Good in Loose: P. Malone and P. Beban were the pick of the forwards in loose play, both showing bright form almost throughout the game. D. Pierson and P. Affleck were the best Marist forwards in the many hard rucks which made the game comparatively uninteresting. However, there does not seem to be any reason why Affleck should always do his best to play unnecessarily hard football. ******* Late Starting: The Marist-Ngaherc game, due to start at 2.45, was held up until after three o’clock, owing to the failure of the Marist team to arrive on time. Late arrivals of the Marist seniors have been features of play this year and should be dealt with once and for all time. * In Fine Order: Wingham Park has this season not been used excessively, owing to the fact that there is only one town club. Its condition, therefore, has been splendidly maintained, and on Sunday the ground was probably in better order than for some considerable time. In the Park, the West Coast League have a wonderful asset, and the maintenance of it is due in no small measure to the excellent work of the Grounds Committee. ******* More Defaults: Three scheduled games did not take place on Sunday, and some action must be taken without delay, if the interest of those players relegated to the side-line is being considered by the controlling body. To accept any explanation from the offending clubs may be quite in order, but the question is: Does it assist those young players who miss their game? The expressions of the disgust of some of the younger players, should seriously influence the League. ******* New Zealand Does Well: A 12—8 defeat was no disgrace to the New Zealand team, which met the Kangaroos at Auckland on Saturday, before 20,000 people. That the Australians are a first-rate team i> not doubted, and it seems that they met. their match in the New Zealand which is only natural, and outdistanced New Zealand in scrum work. C. H. Davison, of Canterbury, once more showed that he is a back player above the ordinary. His defence was sound and on attack he proved his versatil-To-day’s second Test should be an even more thrilling struggle for supremacy. The South Island part, the result indicates that the code is - gaining around in New Zealand. Auckland provided the majority of the players as usual, but several of the North I*3 land provinces had representatives in the team. Next, year, if the present solid foundation is maintained, the New Zealand League will be able to field an even better team.