AMONG THE PLAYERS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 September 1934, Page 7

AMONG THE PLAYERS

CLARKE AGAIN OUTSTANDING GUDGEON A TOWER OF STRENGTH FASTIER A COMING ALL BLACK. (Comment, by “Poster.”) The team opposing Taranaki contained seven players who have been members of an All Black team. Five were members of the team which recently returned from Australia, while the other two were All Blacks of a year or two ago, these being Busli and Heazlewood. The 19-34 All Blacks were McLean, Hadley, Knight, Corner and Caughey.

The changes made in the Taranaki rear division, and also in the vanguard, were more than justified. What was particularly pleasing- was the manner in which the inside backs displayed initiative, and were quite obviously not being tied down with instructions to the extent that was the case ' in" previous matches. Three of the tries were scored by the inside backs, and what was the most pleasing feature of the match was the fact that the five-eighths were not caught in possession, which has been the general fault all through the representative season this year as far as Taranaki is concerned. There was a general combination among the' backs which was used to considerable advantage, and the dropping of Ken Fookes, through inability to travel, was not the tragedy which many supposed it. would have been. In all cases when a passing rush was initiated the backs doubled up on each other with telling effect. There was no crowding out, and neither was there any selfishness displayed. In addition, there was complete harmony between the front and rear divisions. On the day's play few provincial teams in the Dominion would have stood up to Taranaki a marked contrast to the fiasco at Napier a fortnight ago. The forwards, led by the übiquitous Ray Clarke, dominated the opposing vanguard from start to finish. They secured possession from the set scrums more often than not, and in the loose more than held their own. In the. li'neouts. the advantage, through the 1 “knock-back” was occasionally against them, but the presence of three All Blacks and one ox-All Black in the Auckland vanguard did not upset their morale one Lit. They played like forwards should do, and the Aucklanders were delighted with the exhibition and many were heard to remark that tlie “cow-province” still had the best forwards in New Zealand. The best forward on the ground was Bay Clarke, as has been the case in every representative match he has played, in .the last two months. He was under the keen eye of Mr Y. B. Meredith, the All Black selector, on Saturday,, and on his exhibition would be. one of the first forwards selected next year when the team for England is being; chosen. His inimitable method of starting a dribbling rush from almost anywhere brought the crowd to its feet time and again. FINE BREAKAWAY GAME.

The next best forward in the Taranaki pack was Pastier, who played a breakaway game magnificently. He never tired from end to end, and was more than a source of annoyance to the opposing half-back, Corner. Blakeney was an asset to the pack, and worked hard in both tight and loose. The other five, Murphy, Preston, Armstrong, Young and Fowler, were in complete synchronisation with the others, and although not standing out as shining stars ,by virtue of their positions, did remarkably well, and held the pack together in the set scrums, and also iii the loose. Armstrong showed up to advantage in the line-outs, and occasionally participated in a passing rush. The last try scored was largely the result of his efforts. After receiving the hall from Kinsella, ho forced his way through, llie most difficult portion of the opposition before passing on to Fowler and Fastier to complete the movement. Gudgeon, behind the scrum, gave convincing proof that lie is the bestj half-back in Taranaki and this year the only one up to representative •standard. ITe gave a delightful exhibition and worked in complete harmony with Brown at first five-eighth. He was - unorthodox in some respects, :and being so, showed plenty of initiative. He did not suffer from lack of •possession from the serums, as the ball was heeled to him more often than not, and there were times, particularly near the line, when he did not pass immediately, but made an opening round the serum before handing on. His play was almost faultless.

best game this season. To Claude Brown, the first fiveeighth, must be handed a great deal of credit for playing an excellent game. In fact, it was easily his best, representative, or any other game, to date this season. ITe did not show any lack of initiative, either, but although by no means selfish, he did what he should have done in previous representative matches, made off on an offensive himself when there was a gap. He did this repeatedly on Saturday, and after being; ’mainly instrumental in’ scoring two tries, capped them with a fine try himself. He went for his man in a decided ' manner, and seldom missed him.

Sangster filled the second five-eighth position iii a manner indicative that he is going to lie n keen rival for Fookes for the position next year. He tackled well and his passes were clean and snappy. There was complete harmony between the five-eighths for the first time tliis year. Townsend was. safe nt centre, and proved that he is versatile. He seldom let Cuughoy pass him and gave the best display at centre that “Poster'' has seen in Taranaki this vear. He made the openings before

sending the ball on to the wingers, and that tries were not more frequent from that direction was not his fault, nor altogether the wingers. Townsend opened Taranaki’s account with a magnificent try. After starting Kinsella going he ran round and snapped up the ball when the winger was grassed and scored in the corner.

There was little to pick and choose between Kinsella and Sullivan on the •wings. Both‘displayed a rare turn of speed, and were hard to catch up with once they got into action. Unfortunately, on many occasions they did not get room to move and did not have sufficient weight to force tlieir way through the opposition. However, their exhibition was much better, than Hamilton and Kedgley, the Auckland pair. Sullivan was a decided improvement on his form at Napier in every respect. He went for his man well enough, but he was inclined to tackle too high always. Still, it was better to do that than to refuse to tackle at. all. Kinsella displayed, when he had tlie opportunity, a turn of speed which was a treat to watch, and lie ran infield instead of being pushed' out of touch. Certainly, there were times when the latter was quite unavoidable, but at the same time lie used his head and played far better than his form in tlie trial match at Stratford indicated that he would.

Ten of tlie points scored came from the boot of Collins, and he was generally reliable in other directions. He was the cynosure of all eyes as the All Black fuli-back, and probably came in for considerable criticism because of that. Although it is by no means suggested that lie played badly, it must be admitted that his form was hardly that of an All Black, and Auckland opinions were very divided as to his ability. He tackled well, but there were occasions when he seemed as if lie did not think quickly enough. It was Collins' ability to snap up the ball and get in a judicious stab kick with the forwards almost upon him which saved Taranaki when their goal line was ;in danger. But when the Aucklanders had the ball and were making for the line he was not so brilliant.

ALL .BLACKS NOT IMPRESSIVE. The All Blacks among the shield holders were not at all impressive.] Knight “loafed” all through the, match, and he was badly needed by' the pack. Hadley was no match foi Fowler on the day as far as hooking j was concerned, as he could not get the ball in one scrum in five. In the open there were many better forwards on the ground on the day. McLean did his job well, and was the outstanding player in the home pack. Corner did not get the ball very often, but when he did Gudgeon was more than a match for him by comparison. Corner had Fastier to contend with, and the latter was relentless in his attack, giving the half-back few opportunities to set his backs moving from the orthodox scrums. Caughey was not up to standard, and seemed disinclined to tackle. Hedge was the best of the Auckland rearguard, and had he a bit more weight would be a strong contender for a'u All Black side. Taranaki won on their merits, and won well, indicating that the seiving of youth will be a deciding factor in the building up of a strong representative team next year. The side was referred to as a second fifteen, but they proved more man equal to the occasion. and in every' respect were the superiors of a side which was strong enough to lift the premier Rugby trophv from Hawke’s Bay'. The game did not indicate that Auckland will hold the trophy for long.

New Scuth Wales Final

(TJmrf.j Pips* Assnci.'iticn —By Electric T-'h-grapu Or-pyright.) SYDNEY, Sept. 16. In fhe Rugby Union final Hand wick defeat-eel Manly by 13 points to 12 after a tremendously fast and barcl game.