OUT I THE OPEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 17 June 1936, Page 8

OUT I THE OPEN

RUGBY FOOTBALL NOTES COMMENT ON SATURDAY'S PLAY HOME AND HOME MATCHES The first home and home matches of the season will be played on the 27th June when the Nelson and Marlborough representatives meet at Trafalgar Park and the junior representatives play for the Ryder Cup at Blenheim. it is anticipated the Nelson senior Learn will be announced by Mr W. Fieed after next Saturday's play. Nelson v. Waimca Screwing the scrum frequently and hooking the ball from the set scrums almost at will the Nelson forwards proved superior to Waimea on Saturday. However, in the loose play the country team’s forwards were very fast and were always dangerous. Waimea’s backs were far superior to Nelson’s but their chances were restricted owing to the inability of the forwards to gain possession. Scoltock played his usual safe game as full back for Nelson. .Blair is a greatly improved winger who is fast and can tackle, and he has a good chance of getting one of the wing positions in the representatives. As an attacking force the rest of the Nelson backs were poor. Phillips and Cooke defended well. H. McKegnev, Drummond and Hawthorne were a trio of solid workers for Nelson in the tight work, while McLean played a splendid game in the loose. Hawthorne’s try was a fine solo effort. Lovell (Waimea) was the best forward on the ground. A powerful worker in the tight he was a fine leader in the loose. He plays fast, hard football, and will prove a valuable leader for the representative forwards. On Saturday Craig again proved himself a fine forward, his play being of a similar type to Lovell’s. This pair were strongly backed by McHarg and Bird. By his play on Saturday Fowler made himself almost h certainty for the representative half position. He shot away splendid passes and handled his work well against fast breaking Nelson forwards. Hardy showed himself as a resourceful five-eighths, and Brown played a game far in advance of his previous form when a member of the Old Boys' team. The other outstanding country player was Brooks, at full back for Waimea. He went down before the opposing forwards in fine style, and his anticipation of the play could not have been improved. Old Boys v. Rovers In the match between Old Boys and Rover, played at Wakefield, the Old Boy backs proved themselves too clever for the country players. The forwards on both sides in the first half did not settle down, and therefore the backs were not given many chances. In the ruck too many heads were showing and a certain amount of useless kicking, instead of fast, clean hooking, resulted. However, the second spell opened with both packs working hard and the ball was thrown about in fine style. Old Boys’ three-quarter line was very strong, with Busch playing a fine game at centre. Vass had more chances than Rowe and made good, determined efforts to cross the line. Morris was much improved on his previous Saturday’s -play. At first five-eighths Richards was poor in the first spell, but he played well after the interval. Behind the scrum McArthur fed his backs well. In the forwards Wood, Mabin and Grant were prominent. Wood is a good type of forward and should gain representative honours. McKay is a clever player in the loose and it is unfortunate he is so light. Playing full-back for Rover, Best was very safe, but he was missed from the scrum. The Rover backs did not appear to have finish to their play, and as a result their movements were fairly easily stopped. N. Wratt figured as the most outstanding. while Gray and O’Donnell also played well. The Rover pack held the city team’s forward, but they were unable to hook and thus prevent Old Boys’ back line from being dangerous. B. Baigent played an excellent game, being always on the ball. White, Snook and Bint toiled hard throughout the game. Rival v. Pirates Rival forwards played a hard game and were perhaps slightly superior to their opponents. However, there was no outstanding player. Carey had a good share of the ball and sent it away smartly. Vass and Phillips are a promising pair of young players who seemed to improve as the game progressed. Watson is an object-lesson to all players in straight, hard running, hut his handling was faulty and he was inclined to neglect his wings. McKenzie was the better of the wings-, making several good runs. Biggs at full-back was quite safe and kept his line intact all day. Pirate forwards worked together fairly well, especially in the first half, but they seemed to tire towards the end. McKane again played a fine game, getting the ball away well and showing fine anticipation in defence. There was little co-ordination among the other backs, and in the second half especially there was a distinct weakness in the inside defence. Newman, in the first half, played an excellent full-back game, besides piling up ten points, but in the second half he was inclined to wait for the bounce. He went up to centre towards the end, but little improvement was noticeable. Ruling Under the heading of “Ruling,” the minutes of the meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union of the 3rd June read as follows:—“The Nelson Rugby Union forwarded a request by their Referees’ Association for a ruling as to what penalty is to be enforced if a team leaves the field at half-time and does not. return for the resumption of play when the whistle is blown. It was decided to reply to the Nelson Union pointing out that the spell is of only five minutes’ duration, and to ask the Nelson Union to co-operate with the Nelson. Referees’ Association in an endeavour to have the rule correctly carried out.”