A Fight For Supremacy In All Codes

NZ Truth, Issue 1079, 5 August 1926, Page 15

A Fight For Supremacy In All Codes

•iuiuii!''iiimmim'!ii > ■•iiiiiiiiuiiuiiiiitintiiiiMtifiiiiiiitniiiiiiiiiiiniiiuiiiiliiniiiliiintiiiiiiii>iiiiitiiiiiriitiiiii|iiiitiiiitiiiiiliiltiiiiiliitiililiiiitiii(iiii<iiiiiiiiiiiMtiiii<itiiiuiiiiiiiiiii<itiiitiiiiiitiiifiiiii i CANTERBURY OLD BOYS LEAD Filial Games In Senior Competition (From ','Ttuth's" Special. Christchurch Representative.) . The. • to^ ii^wnes m the s^or A competition of the Canterbury Rugby Union were played on Saturday. Apart from the Christchurph-Meiivale the result of which had some bearing on the contest for the final round challenge cup, there was not a gTeat deal of interest i ip. the matches, as Old Boys were assured of the premiership two weeks ago.

"THE ;-.» first, :' ; spell •v.of :the. Merivale— 1 'Christchurch game was" '■ evenly , contested, ""< but riii ' the second half Merivale made v ho race, of 'It. - They simply walked' all over Christchurch, who hardly had a look •m. Merivale 'put on the. whole of their. 28- points m the second, spell. „ ',■ After the way .they , played on . Saturday followers of the g«;me are wonderIng why Merivale. didn't win the premiership this season or at least come closer to it than they have done. . : 'By beating C.hristohurch, Merivale maintained their lead m the final round and Old Boys, who were inthe lead, at the end of the first round, now have, the right to challenge Merivale for thb final round Challenge Cup. : Old Boys of . course need not exercise this right, but it is . presumed that they will. ■■.■■•'-.•►. :■••,.-•• ■■:■.■'■,:,:■■] '..'. ■•;■.-■• ■; ' The game,, which, it is understood, is to be played next Saturday, should prove' a. .great- dra^,.; ln spite of the counter-attraction of the races. Merivale have already beaten Old Boys twice this season, m the first round by 23 points to 12 and ah* the; third by 12 to 3. In the second ,' round Old Boys won by 9- points to .6.The defeat : of Christchurch by Merivale has increased the .final .lead ofv. Old Boys to '3% * points. Merivale and Christchurch are. runners-up with 9 points each, Albion ifoiirth with/ 7, 'Var - sity fifth with 5, and Linwood-last with 2^. . '

Curiously enough, MerrvaJe and . Christchurch also came second, equal, last season to Old Boys, who have now. been champions for three seasons m succession. Last year Linwood came fourth, Albion fifth' and 'Varsity sixth. , At half-time m the game between 'Varsity and Linwood on Saturday. 'Varsity were leading by only 3 points to nil, but m the second spell they rattled on 19 points and the game ended m their favor by 22 points to 3. «Tho result came as a bit of a surprise, especially as the previous Saturday Linwood nearly beat Old Boys. Although at the bottom of the championship table Linwood have given the leading teams surprisingly close games.. They drew twice with Christchurch. In the first round Oil Boys beat Linwood by only .13 points to ,8, m the second by only 11 to -6 and m the third by only 7to 5. Old Boys were lucky to win the third game. Jn the first game of -the season Linwood were somewhat unlucky not to beat Merivale. Meri- ' vale won by 19 points to 13, but they put on nine of their points m the last few. minutes. In thp second round Merivale beat Linwood by only 11 points to 3. The game between Old Boys arid Albion- on Saturday was played out at Halswell m aid of too funds for improving the Halswell domain. It resulted m a win for Old Boys by 13 points to 9, but the luck was with the Whites.

iiiiuiiiiiiniiiiMiiiiiiii»miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiii!!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiii»iiniiiiiiititiuiiimiHui "inn iiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiimiiiiiiininiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiimiliiniiiiiuiiuiUHiiiiiuiiiniitiiiiiiiinniiiiiiiiniiH \Nelson TOWN Wooden Spcfoh For Waimea Fifteen (From "Truth's" rJelspnKep.) . 1 Nelson, byrdefeatirig , Old Boys by 12 to 6 on Saturday have now a firm hold on the Senior Cup. The Nelson— Old Boys -fixture ■ opened with plenty of vim on both sides. '• , . Taylor arid Brownlee were Nelson's sta,r forwards... Reed. , was the cleverest back, ' , Bolton was Old Boys' forward m a burly pack. . McGregor and Snodgrass were the . liveliest m the rearguard. Mcllwraith, Wallace (Rivals), 1 and Bowers; Savage and Cross > (Waimea) were always m the > limelight on No. 2 ground, where Rivals defeated 1 Waimea by 18 1 tO 9. ■■•...■ .-./ . - Half the regular '\ players were absent from the Rivals' team, and Waimea could only muster a dozen. This was due mostly to illness. *Arty Woolf, Rivals' stalwart skipper, has left Nelson for Wellington. He will be 1 hard to Teplace m the club, which won the . championship under his leadership last season. Woolf has represented Nelson on : several occasions," arid was a great goal-kicker. ' iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini)!iiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiii(iiiii-

llllimiimiinnilllUllimmmiiUlwmilTll.Tm.mmllmmTmrimi.imr.iiiiirrn.imiinmirm OTAGO PIRATES ARL RUNNLRS-UP Kaikorai Once Again Go Under * ' ■ ■....■ ' ■ ■ " ' • ■ ■ . ".... (From. '"Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative:)' The final round of matches ;:-for the 1926 season saw Pirates down Kaikorai 14— -9, which places them second to 'Varsity, who just staved off a hot challenge : from Alhambra, 1 ( 2— 11.

DERATES effectively established . their 1 , claim as the "next best" and will • play 'Varsity for the Ainge Shield on August 21, m the last local club match of the season. The following week Otiigo University, as Dunedin premiers, will meet Old Boys, the champion oliib team' from Canterbury for the Payne Trophy, at present held by the. latter.. Although the four leading teams were meeting on Saturday, the football was not good, but as with the majority of games this season, the. finishes were close and exciting. MuaimumiMimmmmmiuuMmmmiuiiiiiiiimmimiiiiimiiiimiiiuimmim Wanganui Rep. Games (From "Truth's" Wanganui Rep.) T*HIS has been a lean season so far as representative matches m Wanganui are>concerned. Thames Valley will play here on August 14 and North Auckland on August 26. The return match, Wanganui v. Taranaki, will take place at New . Plymouth on September 4. iiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiuiiiuuumuitiumJimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiinitiiiiiiiii Alhambra rattled up 11 points against, ' Varsity A m the first spell and looked winneTs all over, but failed badly m the later stages of. play when 'Varsity piled on 12. ' ' '' '• '■'•■■• The students' backs were' inconsistent. Pacey dropped passes repeatedly, and seems to. have lost form. Hanan staged some brilliant dashes m the second spell. Don Stevenson, the All Black, turned out but is still suffering from an injury to his right leg. He was scarcely able to do himself justice, but was very safe.

Ross was sound and must- retain his place m the five-eighths UneL —Varsity are still 'worrying about their back formation, but on - playing- form Ross and Mitchell appear, the most suitable five-eighths. • Practically Hhe, deciding factor . m the Pirates-Kaikorai game was that the Pirates (jack proved a match on the day for their redoubtable opponents, but the team ■ took, a. long time to swing into stride. . • , Kaikorai as usual stepped off with great dash and rattled on 3 points m short time. ' Chas. Sonntag, Tom. Sonntag, Hicks, Glengarry and Quirk were -prominent m several slashing loose rushes. Their forte was m heeling the ball to the side of the scruni, wheeling aiid breaking up quickly. These tactics met with considerable success as Kaikorai were winning the majority of the scrums. The second spell saw Pirates re- ., juvenated. Led by Jackman and Milne, the forwards smashed through the opposition. The former scored two rattling tries. One of the thrills of the play occurred during a great dash by Walker, the Pirates wing. i In a great effort to get: past Foun- j tain he threw all his weight into the tackle, but both crashed' with a thud. Walker is one of the most improved players of the season. His speed and determination are used "to the best advantage and should find a place m the rep. team. . . In the remaining matches 'Varsity B defeated Union 22-5, Dunedin prevailing over Taieri 9-6, /while Zingari, beat; Southern 11-0.