Rugby Notes

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 4, 28 June 1944, Page 5

Rugby Notes

JHLTJTT 12 versus ATHLETIC 6. Once again the glorious uncertainty of Rugby football was fully demonstrated on Saturday when the Hutt scored their second victory over the Championship leaders, and even allowing for Athletic being without James and Roberts, so well did the Hutt forwards play, the writer is one who thinks that Hutt would still have won even if these two players had been in the Athletic side. The Hutt backs were rearranged from the previous Saturday. E. Bligh took the second five-eights position and this led to much more solidarity close to the scrum, and this was badly needed. Now, although Hutt won weli, there is still much room for improvement, and if rumour does not lie, and the I-lutt are to play Army at the Park next Saturday, some sharpening up will be necessary in certain phases of their play. To begin with, the Hutt are not getting enough of the ball' from the set scrums, and on Saturday it was obvious some of our forwards were not sighting the ball coming in. Too many times heads were up - before the ball had been won, and the forwards in question did whether Hutt had it or Athletic. Remember, every forward plays a part in winning the ball. The best hooker in the world cannot win the ball if the weight is not applied u! the right time, and Rugby being a game of possession, it behoves every forward to give every ounce he has to that end. My remarks abou' sighting the ball were made chiefly with reference to the two side row men. How many times 'did we win the ball only to see it kicked cut

the half back's hands. Suie.y if 01 side row men were sighting the ball they knew how to make their via-a-vis take the longest way round to get to the half. Another bad weakness was in following up and tackling, Burns in the first spell being a-n exception. One forward, or even two forwards up, will rarely get a back, but try three forwards up, determined to tackle, and clever indeed is the back who can get away. No one expects the locks for instance, to be the van, yet in the second spell Boughan was up first on several occasions, and what is more his tackling was low and hard. Now lor the backs. Firstly, witli regards to drop outs by their opponents. Nobodys responsibility; time and time the ball going loos?, allowing the opposition forwards to come through and gain the advant age also forcing somebody to go down on the ball and take a knock. If your opponents are dropping out to a particular side, ||r should be the job of the first, to field it, and automatically the backs will take up their position from h|m, antare ready for attack or defence. If the opposing forwards are slow at getting up, his backs are in position to start a passing rush; if they are quick at getting up, all he has to do is claim a mark, and he has al 1 his men behind the ball. In fact, in almost every case it is good rugby to mark the drop out. On Saturday, particularly in the first spell the pass ing was shocking; lob passes thrown anywhere, and why some of them were not intercepted is a miracle. Not once did the ball go through the chain of backs to the winger, giving him the overlap which is the hallmark of good back play. Try and get rhythm in the back line by letting the ball go through the chain of backs W gain the overlap for your wingers, and they will score tries as shown by their efforts on Saturday.

If your wingers cannot get away, then let your centre three-quarter give it a go to break through, and if not successful, then your fiveeights try, but your first efforts should be made by the wingers and you will also find that if a team is capable of getting the ball out to the wings, after it has gone to them two or three times, one of the inside backs will run through as a result of the opposing backs chasing the pass. E. Bligh made some splendid runs Saturday, two of them in particular leading to the tries scored by Giant, who in turn showed a surprising turn of speed. The try scored by Perrett was aso due to good work by E. Bligh, and Perretts dash for the corner flag was typical of this good wing three-quarter, being full of determination. Arnold played his usual solid game, which we have come to take i'or granted, and this despite a bad knock received early in the game, and Brown was particularly sound on defence. In passing," remember that forwards play the chief part in winning and backs are only effective when your forwards are on top. I! thitis remembered next Saturday at, we hope, Athletic Park, the .writer ; s confident that the Hutt team will uphold the confidence of their supporters.