RUGBY FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 21 July 1941, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL

RUNDLE CUP Coast and Buller After a dull exhibition in the first half, play brightened up considerably in the second sped of the game played at Ru°-oy Park on Saturday afternoon between West Coast and Buller, who drew with six points each. There was a large attendance, and weather and ground conditions were perfect. At half-time the score was three all, the game to that stage being rather in the nature of a tight forward scramble. In the second spell, nowever, both sets of backs opened up the play considerably, and there were some exciting movements. West Coast did not reproduce the form which gave them a win over Canterbury, the forwards beim -articularly unimpressive, whilst the backs failed to get. going owing to the deadly tacKling of their opponents. The Buller forwards, younger and lighter, showed great dash and gained possession more frequently than West Coast although in the second spell, the Coast captain, R. R. King, completely monopolised the line-outs. Showing some real form towards the end of the game, the Buller half-pack R. Weenink, showed that he is a player of considerable promise. Sweetman. the Coast half had fewer opportunities. due largely to the■ speedy manner in which the Buller forwards broke from the scrums. Both full-backs, J. Gillam and M. Robinson played soum. "ames, Gillam's defensive play being slightly better. Robinson saved his side from several dangerous spots, and his line kicking was uniformly good. The Coast three-quarter line, C. Monk, R. H. Scott and J. Wareham was definitley superior to Buller’s. O. Smallholme at centre being one of the best backs on the field. Scoß who has not been playing much recently owing to injuries, put in some line clearing kicks, but was less successful with goal kicking. One attempted field goal he was unfortunate to miss by the narrowest of margins. For ail round play S. Hendry outshone the other bapks on the field, his defence being invaluable to West Coast. A. Vaughan had few chances, but his handling was not the best. The Buller five-eighths, R. Bolitho and A. Cummings both -'laved sound football. Amongst the visiting forwards, a tendencey towards offside play, which the referee, Mr J. R. Bell promptly detected, spoilt many chances in the first spell. L. Stuart, T. Coyne and J. Fox were the best of the visiting forwards, with N. Stack showing some fine speed towards the end. K. redder, the Coast hooker was less successful than usual, bu the Coast forwards, led by King and Birchfield overcame this by repeatedly screwing the scrums and coming through. W. Blair and R. Weiblitz were also prominent. The team were:— West Coast: J. Gillam; C. Monk, R. Scott, J. Wareham; S. Hendry. A. Vaughan; L. Sweetman; J. Sinclair, K. Redder, R. Godfrey. W. Blair, R. R. King. R. Birchfield, R. Weiblitz, W. Croudis. Buller: M. Robinson; W. Neighbours, O. Smallholme. T. McMannus; A. Cummings, R. Bolitho; R. Weenink; J. Burt, T. Coyne, A. Moseley, C. Dalzell, L. Stuart, D. NeighboursJ. Fox, N. Stack.

THE PLAY. Coast defended the northern end, ana me rsuner bac-KS immediately cook piay to tne opposing 20, wnere jtsirchiieia was penalised lor onside piay, cummmgs missing an easy kick, miner continued tne pressure, out ofrsiue piay tost them me advantage. Gniam cieared well in face oi anomer rusn by tne opposing rorwards. bcott missed a penalty kick lor a scrum intrmgement oy Buiier, tne Dan being omy inches under me crossoar. irom a 40-yard kick, a long Rick oy rtooinson oounced oil Henary at the corner Hag, and Sweetman cleared wen Horn tne scrum. Stuart goaied for Buller v.'itn a penalty kicK 3U yaras out, alter 12 matures piay.—Buller 3; West Coast u. 'the coast forwards in a last rush took play to miner's line, but rtooinson cleared safely. A scrum infringement by culler gave Scott another kick, 2o yards out, but tne ban went wide. Almost immediately fox was penalised 4U yards out, ana Scott opened Coast’s account with a line Kick. —Buller 3; West Coast 3. Smallholme round toucn 1U yards from the flag alter a penalty against Scott at hali-way. Bad handling oy tne Buller backs cost them a tr- m the ensuing piay. Weiblitz was offside 40 yards out but Btuart's kick failed. After a period on defence, Bcott put in a long Kick to find touch at the corner Hag. A knock-on by ivionk robbed Coast or an opportunity of scoring. Buller took up the attack and were almost over when they were penalised. Const cleared for a few minutes, but Buller came back and Stuart missed a penalty from a long distance shortly before half-time, when the score was Buller 3, West Coast 3. Soon after the resumotion Burt retired with a head injury and was replaced by Beveredf?e. The Coast forwards became more aggressive, and some delightful ’day followed. Hendry put Buller back on their line with a long kick, Robinson forcing. Moseley retired with an injury and McHerron replaced him. The Coast] backs now kept play in Buller tern- ( tory Hendry finding touch at the, corner. Robinson was just able to l beat Scott and Wareham to force; after Hendry kicked over. Buller nexti broke through, but Scott forced. | Wareham brought the spectators to | their feet with an exceptionally fine run down the side line, kicking over the heads of the Buller backs, but Robinson ,was able to clear. From a scrum on the line, the Coast backs secured the ball and Scott’s attempt at a field goal missed by inches. Weenink opened three Buller attacks, the first being stopped when his pass was intercepted b-- Wareham. In the next he kicked across field to McMannus, but Monk intercepted. Again the Buller backs took the initiative and a determined effort was only stopped by good defensive play on the part of Scott and Hendry. Gillam cleared from a Buller forward rush, and Coast attacked. A long pass from Bolitho was not taken by McMannus when he had a clear field. Weenink then produced one of uie brightest pieces of play of the day. Securing well towards midfield from a scrum, he put in a fast run cutting past Gillam and scoring about 15 vards outside the posts. Stuart missed the kick.—Buller 6, West Coast 3. Scott missed a penalty 40 yards out, and Sinclair put in a fast run. being stopped by Robinson who was penalised for holding on. Scott raised a kick from the side line. The best movement of the day was reserved until near the end, when L. Sweetman secured and sent on to Scott, who in-passed to Wareham. The latter put in a tricky run, through the r - ~'osin°- backs to score a great try near the posts. Scott missed an easy kick, and the game ended with the score Buller 6, West Coast 6. In the principal curtain-raiser, Grey thirds defeated Westland by 1.3 points to 3, in an interesting game. For Grey J. Bendall. B. Mettrick and Henderson scored tries, T. Parsonage kicked a field goal. Laing scored a try for Westland. In the other cur-tain-raiser Technical fourths defeated Blaketown by 16 points to nil.