FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1932, Page 7

FOOTBALL

OXFORD V. CAMBRIDGE. THREE NEW MEN PLAYING. LONDON, Dec. 10. One of the most exciting and keenly fought of ‘Varsity matches was witnessed at Twickenham on December Bth, when before a crowd numbering 48,000 Oxford gained a victory over Cambridge by a dropped goal and two tries (10 points) to a try (3 points). The contest was one that all spectators will remember, and victory went to the better side. Never, however, has a losing side played a more' gallant game.

The story of the play, as described by “The Time” representative, reads: Cambridge kicked off from the South end, and, at the pace set by both sides, it was not surprising that an occasional dropped pass or charged down kick added to the excitement, and one or two backs, not qnite fit, snatched any suspicion of an interval to bend over, hand on hips, in pursuit of an early second wind. Cambridge had the more anxious time at the start. Smeddle once had to cover a charged-down kick almost on his goal line and Lamport started a breakaway on the blind side that did not end until his forwards had crossed the goal line and been called back for a knock-on. Still, the Cambridge tackling and kicking were not giving Oxford too much encourage* ment, and relief came by means of a confident, jf risky, bout of passing started in the ”25”, Tallent had to stoop and pick up his pass, hut he was nope the Jess able to give Smeddle a run. The Cambridge forwards also began to take a strong hand, and, at the end of a quarter of an hour, they and the lmlf-backs suddenly sent the right wing away in a promising position on the Oxford ”25” line. Tallent then made the best of an opening, and Smeddle completed the move by a strong run and a most determined plunge over the line, just inside the corner flag as Adamson went for his legs. Smeddle also took the kick, but failed to add to the goal points.

Cambridge continued to press more lmrdly than they were pressed for the next quarter of an hour, though another charged-down kick and a swift exchange of passes by Osier and Hovde that nearly brought a try at th e corner flag must have caused them anxiety. Before half-time, too, Roberts justified his persistence in trying to find a weak spot in the Cambridge centre. It was Roberts who made some solid forward play worth w hile by taking his partner’s pass in his stride, drawing his defeltce by a short dodging run, and then punting .across, so ingeniously that it only required a favourable bounce to make a try certain for P. C. Minns. Smeddfe’s tackle came quite a couple of seconds too late. W. E. Henly, the man who had saved Oxford last year with a penalty kick, had a fair chance to make the try into a goal, but, ah thou 'h he s e 1 e l to take infin t > p ins and even wiped the too of his boot with a pocket handkerchief, the result

was only a bad slice. Then, almost immediately afterwards, with Cambridge once more the livelier side, came Simpson’s rather unlucky failure to find no one quick enough to cover a pass that went, astray. Druitt rubbed-in the mistake by dribbling away and forcing Anderson to kick dead; this produced a scrummage from which Lamport sent out a splendidly accurate pass to Roberts, who for his part was coolness and precision itself in dropping a goal from about 20 yards out. Cambridge returned to the attack hotly before th 3 interval, but their passing always broke down at the critical moment. Neither side obtained any respite in the second half and, although the play began to be closer and the kicking to touch more frequent, the cheering also kept up a high standard of intensity. It was indeed, impossibe to make up one’s mind which side would crack or relax first. Roberts always was trying to break through, and, if Tallent and Smeddle, on the Cambridge side, were give no more chances, Rees got jo several good runs. Both packs bad their good moments in the scrummage, but the backs were too closely marked to find an opening. The first signs that Cambridge were not likely to make the supreme effort that was necessary to turn a deficit of four points into a lead airived about quarter of an hour from no-side. Then Oxford forwards with Druitt again prominent, began to gain the upper hand in the loose as well as in the scrummage. The advantage was not much, but, supported by sufficiently accurate kicking and the keenness of Lamport. Oxford pinned down their opponents to a defence that eventually broke down under the strain. Tallent, fresh at the start of the game mig.it have got in the run and clearing kick he attempted in the closing minutes vusterda.v, but, instead, the ball went loose, Osier dribbled it over the goalline' and Horde's speed at hist came in useful in racing up to g l ‘L the touchdown first.