CANTERBURY V. WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1695, 24 August 1904, Page 56

CANTERBURY V. WELLINGTON.

A WIN FOR THU! LOIA.L TEAM. At the Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon the annual game between representatives of the Canterbury and Wellington Rugby Unions was played. There was a muster of about two thousand spectators. . The teams were as follows: — CA NT EE BURY WELLINGTON (Red and Black) (Black) FULL-BACK. A. S. Love G. Spencer THREE-QUARTERS. P. Menzies A. C. Mclntyre Lavery t D. S. Gray K. 01 livicr D. McGregor FIVE-EIGHTHS. R. G. Deans W. J. Wallace .J. Byrne J. Barber HALVES. P. Burns E. Roberts FORWARDS. L. Corbett A. Griffiths (wing) W. Shannon E. 11. Dodd P. Vincent E. L. Watkins F. Newton J. Calnan C. Pearce 11. R. V), right H. Rich E. H. Best C. Denham J. Sweeney J. Roddick (wing) T. Cross Referee: Mr Norris. The goal-posts were placed north and south, and from the northward half a gale of wind blew. When Wellington won the toss they practically won the game, for the Canterbury forwards, after forty-five minutes of hard bullocking against the wind, were so lagged that in the second spell they failed to play with the dash that marked them in tho earlier stages. Lr the first set-to the Wellington backs shaped poorly, but Canterbury rearguard, notwithstanding the wind, did very well. The second spell saw two reversals of form: Canterbury backs failing to repeat their first spell effectiveness, and Wellington rearguard doing better work, though still blemished by inexcusable errors. All three scores were gained in the first spell; the second spell was mainly a succession of scrums, line-work, futile passing, and not very effective kicking. Ano rice able feature was the prevalence in the play of methods shown by the British team. Wellington’s second try was directly due to the adoption of the centring system, and frequently each side managed to make the 'ball rebound from the legs of the forwards without properly entering the scrum. This was dene when the referee was on the opposite side, and thus penalties were dodged. Roddick distinguished himself at kick-off by smothering tho Wellington return. A few kicks with the wind, however, gave Wellington a big advantage. Thereafter Canterbury were hemmed in their own ground lor the greater part of the first half, but their forwards defended splendidly, while Wellington backs were “ tied in knots” through their own bungling. After twenty minutes had been spent in defence, Canterbury forwards shifted play to midfield, and from there a long kick to the full-back (Love) enabled that player to make a fine run from near his own goal to the half-way flag. There he passed to Menzies, but that player failed to take the ball, and as it lay on the ground McGregor grabbed it up, and made a fast run down the touchlino. Near the goallino lie was tackled by one of the Canterbury men, so lie transferred neatly to Wallace, who dropped over the whitewash with two men hanging on to him, and scored a try. He made a fine attempt to convert it, but the wind carried the ball off : 3 —o. Play was soon in Canterbury quarters again, and the Wellington forwards were getting the ball from most of the scrums, but this advantage was spoilt by the Wellington backs, who were handicapped through the field being no more than regulation width! '(Several times the ball passed through five pairs of Wellington hands, and the full width of the field was covered, without more than three yards being gained. The second try for Wellington was largely due to McGregor’s work. He got the leather when he seemed to have a fair chance to streak oast his oppon-

enta and over tho line himself, but ho punted to midfield. The wind carried the ball across the line, and there Love, of Canterbury, and Wright and TV all ace, of Wellington, dived for it, Wallace gaining a try. He again made a good, but unsuccessful attempt to convert: 6—o. Just as half-time approached, Lavery, Rich, and Shannon led a rush to Wellington twenty-fives that was one of the host hits of play in the first half. There followed a 1 urn-out, and then a scrum,after which By, ue and Deans, by a clever passing dash, beat all the Wellington defence line save Spencer. Then followed a scrum on Wellington goal-line, from which P. Burns dived smartly round when the ball came clear, and notched a try for Canterbury that was not bettered: 3—G. Roberts, Mclntyre, Gray, and Barber were associated in two good runs just before half-time, but Barber failed to pass at tho right moment, and two good scoring chances were thus lost. Barber's play, however, had good points in it as well as bad—he was the only back on Wellington side who “cut in” occasionally, instead of running into touch. The second spoil was spent almost wholly in line-work and scrumming. Cross, Griffiths, and C ain n were conspicuous in some occasion good.sprints for Wellington, while Shannon, Roddick, and Newton worked hardest in a strong set cf Canterbury forwards. The Southern backs lost odd chances to score through wild passing. Lavery did some occasional good defence-kicking that broke up Wellington attacks. Twice Canterbury had marks within easy range of goal, and twice it seemed that Wellington would lose tho match by a margin of cue point; but on each occasion the bull missed the uprights by a small distance. The last ten minutes of the game were put in on the western touch- ] .no, whore much uninteresting buHocking work by the forwards took place. Canterbury were taking scrums in preference to line-work, a procedure that favoured Wellington. Just before time was called Calnan and Cross rushed the ball to Canterbury quarters, and it was in touch near the twenty-five-line when tho no-sido whistle was blown. The game, as a whole, was disappointing. There have been at least two games played in this year’s local championship contest which were marked by better football than Saturday’s representative game. The Wellington representative:! should take a course ot cold tea and wet bandages, preparatory to studying out a plan of campaign for the match against Otago next month. They cannot reasonably expect to win two matches on luck!