FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1937, Page 2

FOOTBALL

WEST COAST DEFEATS CANTERBURY. The annual rugby football match be tween West Coast and Canterbury was played yesterday afternoon oil Rugb. Park Greymouth, under perfect condi tions of ground and weather. The gam resulted in a, win for West Coast by 23 points (4 tries, two converted, ipotted goal and a penalty goal) to 1 points (4 tries, one converted). Canterbury defended the souther goal, and a visiting rush was stoppe by Davidson marking. Canterbury started getting the ball in the scrum but several free kicks against then for lifting spoilt their efforts. Tiie a fine passing run went away clean ly to the Coast line. A penalty re lieved and Coast forwards broke away a nice kick by Stapleton gainin ground. Following a line out in Canto: bury quarters a penalty gave Gilber a shot in front, 35 yards out which h piloted over, for Coast to be 3—( Coast returned to the attack, but Mori lock opened out the play nicely an went up field but Wheelan was pena lised for picking up a dead ball. Bac, came Canterbury, the backs passin snappily Bound being almost over a the corner. The Coast forwards too play to the 25 but back came anotiic passing run, which Davidson stoppeu Play was . near the side line when i nice kick across the held nearly gav. a. score and then from a scrum the ba came out to Hooper who cut in clean iy, leaving the Coast backs standing t score a fine try.’ Nolan goaied. 5—3 Play went to. the Canterbury quai ters following the kick off and Coas indulged in a bout of passing that wen to the line where Gilbert badly bea the full back, but the chance was stop ped by a sound tackle by Mortlock Play went back past half way where . passing run saw Chinnery break awa, and badly beating the full back wen over to score a fine try, Nolan’s kick bit the post on the outside. B—3.

From the restart the Coast took r hand and the ball coming to Mann h made a nice opening and after j. couple had handled Gilbert went ovei well out, the kick failing. 6—B. . J free to Coast went into Canterbury quarters and from a scrum Coast gavi Davidson a chance and with Hendry Roberts and Gilbert handling,- the ba! went to Agnew who dashed over for ; fine try well out, which Gilbert con verted with a fine kick, 11—8. Canterbury attacked and the bal went to Stapleton who let it pas: through his legs and the red forward dashed through Rankin scoring a ver soft try; Nolan failed to improve If—ll The closing episode before the lull time was a fine dribbling effort tha McAuliffe stopped just as a score seem ed imminent..

The second half opened with Ague', having a pot that went . wide, and tin ball at once came back to Hendry wli potted a pretty left foot goal, quite 1 nice effort.. Coast 15—11. Canterbury were now getting the ball from every scrum, and not getting much resuh from the line out were taking serum instead. The ball came out clean! in rapid succession to McAuliffe wli gathered and sent out in great styl the Canterbury backs having the bal for half an hour, with the Oast back and forwards chasing, and tacklin'' finely.. Canterbury back attacks 10l lowed in rapid succession and two clos calls ended in force-downs, but Canter bury were not to be denied and nnothe passing run saw several ljhridlo for Chinnery to score.. Nolan’s kicking wa not successful. 14—15. , Another Can -terbury passing run. gave trouble but a gross offside by Williams relief. Then a flee to Canterbury brought the play back id- Coast quarters where Round, dropped a pass thru should have ended in a score. From a following scrum the forwards broke to the Coast goal posts lmt a force re suited. The Coast forwards went away from the kick out and mishandling by Chinnery- let them carry on. to the Can terbury line, where Davidson was nearly over from a scrum. From a follow - ng scrum just on. the line Coast gave Davidson the ball again and he made no mistake going over round the scrum : n one of his, typical. dashes to score. Gilbert failed to improve 18—11. Can terbury made great efforts to score, the ball coming out among the backs but twice in succession Chinnery failed t:> handle making bad misses at the . critical end of a pajsing run. Solid Coast tackling held the attack. Nolan cam up from full into the passing runs, but the Coast luck held,. and mistakes in handling let the ball away, a loose Coast rush taking play to Canterbury 25. Here Davidson got possession ou 1 of a loose rush and making an opening passed to King who made a fine das to score a good try well out. Gilbert goaied with his best effort of the day. 23-14.

With a substantial lead in the closing quarter of an hour, the Coast held somewhat the better of the play-, and though Canterbury threw* the ball about very freely, they could not penetrate the defence, though there were several close calls, and the game ended in a Coast victory by 23 to 14.

The score in a way flatters the Coast, though they deserved to win, as they put up a fine defensive game. The forwards though badly beaten for the ball in nearly' all the scrums, did nqt let up, and their tackling generally was of a first-class nature. All battled well, and they had a big part in the victory. The bnc-ks for most of the game were on the defensive, thongft on a few occasions they showed to advantage in passing. Stapleton retired soon after half-time owing to an injury, and Agnew went to full-back Roberts on the wing, Mann to centre, and Caldwell on the wing. This redistribu-

tion proved of advantage to the backs. Davidson did not handle from the scrum once out of a dozen, McAuliffe having a monopoly of the ball, but his defence was sound throughout. Gilbert was in the picture all the afternoon and was the soundest of the backs, Mann not having much play beyond tackling. Canterbury forwards got possession in a big majority of the scrums, and heeled perfectly, but were penalised repeatedly for lifting. They held theii own well till the closing stages. The backs all handled well, but after Hooper had dummied through with success in the early stages, any attempts to break through broke down, and ball went repeatedly across the ground, the passing run being stopped when it reached the wing, though there were many chances of scoring that just failed, owing to a dropped pass at the critical point. Nolan gave a good performance, making only one bad mistake, but his place-kicking was not as good as usual. The other backs handled well but they failed to show that thrust that should have followed their repeated command of the hall that they had. and this cost their side the game. Mr N. Eggleton was referee. There was a very large attendance present, and the gate totalled over £250.