CITY RALLY AT LAST MINUTE

Northern Advocate, 10 May 1937, Page 3

CITY RALLY AT LAST MINUTE

At Maungakaramea, City ♦showed that, although beaten on the first two days, they can still play the game. The match resulted in a draw, 8 all, and this is a fair indication' of the play which was fairly even throughout. Both teams packed well in the scrums, Maungakaramea having the heavier forwards, but the hooking was never up to senior standard;. There were too many infringements in forward play and both teanjs lost many golden opportunities because of this.

Of the Maungakaramea’ pack, the Morresey brothers and Sloane were the pick, of the bunch, although all the forwards worked , hard. . Some, however, are far from fit and tired noticeably in the second spell, giving City the opportunity they were seeking. Of the City forwards. Strange , and Clotworthy were always prominent where there was work to do. Of the rest little can be said except that the team is, carrying one or two passengers in the pack. On the whole, Maungakaramea back? showed better combination than did those of the City team, although the latter played their best game this seafeon. McDonald, the local half was fast, and fed his backs well. His bad habit of picking out of the scrum however, brought many penalties against his team. Costello, at first five-eighths, was the best back on the ground. This young player has that power of anticipation which is possessed by one player in a thousand. He excelled in all departments of the game, and except for a slight tendency to hang on to the ball a little long at times his play was faultless.

Wilson at second five-eighths played a fair game, and the- best in the threequarter line were Winterburn and Mclntosh. Fraser, at full-back, often looked as though he would have liked a basket with which to collect the high ones, but, apart from this poor handling, his play was'sound, his kicking especially being very hard and accurate. The City Backs. At half-back for City, Green played a good game, although he, too, had a tendency to pick out of the scrum. He fed his backs fairly well, and it was not his fault that they did not make more use of the opportunities he gave them. Roos played *a sound game as usual, and Lane at second fiveeighths is a player will no doubt .do belter later in the season. At present he has plenty of dash, but lacks a penetrating finish. Conaghan on one wing had the misfortune to receive a slight concussion in the first spell and was a little shaky throughout the rest of the game. Shepherd, on the other side, has a bad tendency to pass before he has run right up to his man and lost what appeared to be a certain try for City because of this. Armstrong, at centre, did nothing remarkable and the fullback Thorpe was always safe. His handling and kicking were good throughout the game.

The teams were:— Maungakaramea: Fraser, Murray, Winterburn, Mclntosh. Wilson. Costello, McDonald. Morresey (2), Hudson, McNeil, R. Thompson. H. Thompson, Sloane, Cuff.

City; Thorpe, Shepherd, Armstrong, Conaghan. Roos, Lane, Green, Strange, Clotworthy, Whelan, Robinson, Dempster, Taylor, Benfell, McKenzie.

’Karamea Ahead at Spell

A few minutes after the start the local team were penaliesd and Roos failed in his attempt at a goal. Play swung back and this time City were penalised', but Costello failed in’ his effort. Maungakaramea appeared to

have difficulty in getting their back line working well, but eventually they took play to City’s line, where Morresey picked up. but lost the ball right on the line.

City cleared, but again the locals came back and again failed. Their third effort, however, was rewarded with success when McDonald picked up in the loose and got over. Morresey’s kick caused the line umpires to lift their flags, but the referee thought otherwise and the score was: Maungakaramea 3, City 0. The interval came soon after. On resumption Roos made another attempt from a penalty, but was again unsuccessful. Maungakaramea came again and after City had thrown them back from the line more than once, McNeill scooped up and scored a sec-

ond try for the locals. Fraser took the kick from two or three yards inside the side-line and the ball fell over after bouncing on the baL It was a fine kick and made the score: Maungakaramea 8, City 0. City then began to take the upper hand, for the country team seemed to tire. About 10 minutes before time Roos at last broke through and sent Conaghan over, but the kick failed: Maungakaramea 8, City 3. With this encouragement, City worked hard and the locals could not keep them back. In spite of being penalised, I they took play back and Clotworthy scored between the posts. This time Roos made no mistake. With the score eight all, both teams worked with a will and it appeared that Maungakaramea would get over. City cleared, however, and time came with them on the Maungakaramea line. Mr Flavell carried the whistle.