LATE SPORT

NZ Truth, Issue 978, 23 August 1924, Page 8

LATE SPORT

RUGBY

WELLINGTON.

As the season advanced, so the standard, of football deteriorated, and for the last of the. club games m Wellington the star attraction was nothing to enthuse over m the matter of brilliancy. At Athletic Park, Berhampore repeated the- dose they gave Petone a couple of Saturdays ago and made | Poneke bow down to them, when they rattled up 17 points to the red and blacks' 10. From two of the leading teams, such as thepe, one would have expected a better display of Rugby, more so when the match was to decide who should meet the winners of he championship. The spectators were more than a little disappointed at the return for their money. Neither team showed anything like decent combination, and the game practically devolved itself into a forward scramble, m which for the, greater part Berhampore had the upper hand. Berhampore, playing with great vim, opened up the scoring and drew first blood. Poneke lost many opportunities through not makipg fuller use of the wind, and instead " of the high kicking tactics, which Berhampore adopted when they had the wind, they relied on their backs, who made some very poor attempts, at passing. Poneke' b flrat : five-eighth invariably was at the "attention" position /when he received the ball, likewise the man alongside him, and it wasn't until the ball reached Algar, at centre, that the machine commenced to work. The passes themselves were nearly all without direction, and some of the backs did well to get a good grip of the leather at all. Berhampore took full advantage of the wind m their turn, and by playing the up-and-under style of game, came out winners by a substantial majority. Their forwards had matters all their own way m the second half, and although the backs did not indulge m any passing rushes, they reaped more benefit by. giving the ball a good boot in.'.the air and leaving their forwards to do the rest „.•'■■;■ ! Berhampore fully deserved their win, and were much superior .to Ppneke on the day. In fact, the latter , team managed to get out of their own half only twice m the Second spell, and were never m the hunt. Probably more infringements were registered m this game than In any other played, at Athletic Park this season, and when the game wasn't held up for a -penalty, it was the loss of someone's apparel that caused a stoppage. If the game was wretched, the refereeing was worse. The whistle was consistently being blown tor trivial infringements when more glaring, once were allowed, to pass. Some of.:, the players became a little too vigorous at times. Turner, of Poneke, made his exit from the game, at the referee's request* for having too much to say for himself. . For the winners, Walters' was the only .back deserving of mention, although Lang kicked judiciously and was responsible for eight of' his side's tally by this means, / ■ Brown was the best forward on ; the ground, and substantiated this by scoring two good tries. ..-.- 1 - Dee^e was a close second, and never lost sight of the ball. • The best back on the ground was Algar, who played centre for Poneke, On several occasions he broke through the opposition, but a try went begging each, time for lack of support. Hickey again displayed great dash on the wing, and scored a try out of the box, when he beat several players m the' course of his flight and finished up under the posts. He had a bad habit, though, on some occasions, of running infield, <andj through this, was often put of place. ■: Hair gave a better display behind the pack than did his yis-a-vis, Charles, but ' his efforts came to nil because of the want of an enterprising five-eighth alongside him. Great improvement was shown by Wright, the full-back, In speculating, and, Indeed; this was a feature of hisl display. :. ' J. Shearer and Calcinai, at wingforward, -were the pick of an even lot. Though we have All Black precedent for the fact that two hookers who known their business can: beat three indifferent ones, it was proved at Kll-. birnle last Saturday, -when Old Boys hauled down their" colors to Welling*r>" qvt, t^-ree can beat, two, all else . being equal. Viv.-.ui. ok uii's hookers secured the ball every time without fail and the additional weight m the scrum allowed Wellington to push the Old Boys pack out of the wriy m any case. ,- In ordinury circumstances this would have given Wellington an immense advantage, but as a howling gale blew with unrelenting violence across field the backs were able to do little with the leather/when they had it. The angle of the wind was m Wellington's favor m the first half, and they had the ball all the time, but yet could not cross their opponents' '.line. The Old Boys light pack and nippy backs defended like tigers. Brunsell, half for Wellington, delivered the goods all right, but Johnston, the five-eighth, was too well marked. Mansfield and Uhderhill (till he had to retire with an injured collar-bone) were on to Johnston like lightning and smothering him up. . Frater played a great supporting game at centre, and his potted goal was the only score of the match. However, it was not a backs' day. It was more of an till m, ball at toe day, with tons of work for the full-backs. The pace was a real cracker, with hard knocks everyone's part, and it was refreshing to see the capital sporting spirit which pervaded both outfits. For the second spell it looked odds on for Old Boys, but Wellington's forwards carried all before them. When Underhill went. off the vacancy was filled by Kelly, but he was not a; strong, centre link m the Mansfield to Bedell .chain. Mansfield proved better on attack than defence.' Lack of weight is a big handicap to a* first five-eighths when the forwards are coming "down like wolves on the fold. ' Bedell's handling wasn't perfect, but ho was a useful man considering the handicap of trying to field the ball m a gale. He was not a notable offender,- but Old Boys' backs were badly out- of ponition on many occasions m the geeond spell. • Malcolm, at full-back, got a ton of work to do, and stood up to It well. The kick of the team, he had a couple of shots which the wind dealt . with harshly. l Of the forwards', Preston, who has caught the selectors' eyes as a pos-. sible rep., was m great, nick. Loe, I wing-forwardi did a lot of usefulspollling and fast following up. Menzies. Laurie and Jones kept the pace up well also. It was n hard day for the pack. Reid was a good man m the open work and often got away with the ball at his toe. Ambler, the place-kick of the Wellington side, didn't get much chance to show his prowess m that department. Johnston, at first five-eighth, was m great form, and had he not been watched so carefully there is no saying what he might not have done. Berhnmporo put up v great club performance la«t Snturduy, when It played six matches m different grades and won them all, acorlnp 101 points as against 18 scored against them. Tho figures were: — Seniors 17 to 10; juniors 35 to nil, thirds 27 to 8, intermediates 26 to nil, fourths 33 to nil, sixths 23 m •■nil.