Otamatea v. Northern Wairoa

Northern Advocate, 27 July 1938, Page 2

Otamatea v. Northern Wairoa

Sickness in the .ranks left Otamatea with a depleted fifteen, and for the game against Northei'n Waived, the back-line was re-arranged. B. Cullen went to full-back, Homan to centre, while Burke, the Central full-back, was brought on to the wing. Cullen was rather overshadowed by Gossar, who gave an impressive display under shocking conditions. His handling and picking up of the ball at fop speed had to be seen to be believed. Cullen found difficulty with the greasy ball, but if he did nothing spectacular* he did not let his side down. Hamlin and Burke had little to do, as the ball seldom reached them, but what they had to do they did well and gave their opponents no opportunities. Ray Bonner showed out Well for Wairoa on several occasions. Rewa and Topia showed a-mice understanding, while their handling was the best of the two back-lines. Taken all round, they played a solid game under muddy conditions. . Homan, although ou: of position, was quite safe at centre, but his opponent, Bradley, watched him, .closely and gave him few opportunities to put on one of his devastating runs.. ... ; ; ; $ ' $ Ken Fergus got through a busy afternoon with credit. On attack his passes were somewhat slow, but on defence he was faultless, and, - time and time again, drove the Wairoa pack back with heady line kicks. Hackett showed to advantage all through; and I played a solid attacking game, marred only by being too eager and giving Otamatea an easy penalty goal. c « * ■ . « Considering that both teams were more or less of the scratch variety, both packs. gave a remarkably fine display. Otamatea were up against a heavier eight, who used every ounce with telling effect. It would be hard to single out any member of the local pack, as they all gave of their best, except towards the latter stages wh,en one or two, were not putting in ias much weight as possible. For Wairoa, Edwards and Wilson showed out as a pair of fine dribblers. ;