A WATERLOO

NZ Truth, Issue 1173, 24 May 1928, Page 14

A WATERLOO

0H Boys Give Jolt To Greytown (From "N.Z. Truth's" Masterton Rep.) 'By their performance on Satur- ' day, when they defeated. Greytown by 24 points to 14, it is already .considered • that Old Boys should have no fear for the championship. THE 'game attracted the largest crowd this season, and certainly it was worth the price of admission. • Greytown, although without the services of -Bob Jury to help their back line.'/went on with their teeth set,; because so far they had not been beaten. They received a jar, however, when Old Boys penetrated their line within the first minute of play, Smith giving 1 the backs an opening for A. E. Cooke to streak through on a diagonal line of greased lightning. But then, there is no reckoning with a player like Cooke. . v .•'■.. Cooke was at the , ; top • of. his form. His footwork and his .anticipation .of openings was am object lesson, and while he never missed a pass, he was never selfish with them. He had several opportunities to use his phenomenal speed, and at one stage of attack, he cut out two opposing backs m beautiful style. His contribution to the day's score was four tries, of which one was converted. CLOCKS WOUND UP Old Boys' backs worked with clocklike precision. Smith made some good openings, and Chesterman, Yates and Faulknor worked m well with Cooke. Indeed, the sureness of the passing by the reai-guard of both sides was a feature. . Yates knew to whom to give his passes, and did not figure among the actual scorers, . except for a brilliant field goal. . Cor.mack, at Old Boys' full-back, played a spund game throughout. He never missed a mark, and was responsible for some good line kicking. Barney, the Maori full-back for Greytowri,' also^. proved a worthy foe, and for part of the first spell was the chief worker,.:f or. the defence. Later m the game, however, he missed badly with the ball, as a direct result of which he let Cooke. through. , While Barney is thoroughly reliable when he has time to kick, it would be interesting to see how he would shape when pushed into a few more tight corners. A somewhat > unexoected .feature of Old Boys' pay.-was. -was the excellent work of their forwards. ' £ •,, Anderson and McCalmont m particular played exceedingly well, while the burly Jack Le Quesne seems to have found his proper , place at fast at lock, where he used his weight to advantage, besides , bringing off one of his inevitable 1 tries before the; game was over/ He was also securing frOm the lineouts frequently. s Buckley was willing, but too hotheaded. Lawson proved not- too stable at wing three-quarter, and made several foolish mistakes. '• '■•■■■■ ' . ' Old Boys . have not yet found anybody to satisfactorily fill this position. Indeed, this position, is- likely to worry the selectors . ..when the matter of Wairarapa's representatives is being considered,- as wing three-quarters are not strong.in the district. For some reason Greytown's forwards did' riot shape at all well. ~P. Jury and Greathead were prominent, but Fairbrqther t was most often: riot there, while Mar,tin Parker .was patchy. The Greytown backs put, m > some good worlc at times. The butstandlng man was; -Stringfellow. .This player has. developed a lot, arid m • the -All Black trial, vat Wellington -he j?ia#ed well enough"- to excite the opinion m some quarterathat he should vhave been accorded a place. ■ j - ;>/ _ ; A PROLIFIC ONE He contributed two Itriea on Saturday. Atpne-^jtage he had. -a -sure third,; but failed to jpunt over . Cormack^s -.headand follow up, and m consequence, was grounded by the full-back a few yards from the line. , ; Fuller showed *up at times to advantage. His. boot 'was m, and he converted on the two occasions on which he was given . the ball, besides kicking a; penalty goal. When" Old- Boys were leading by one point, however, lie fumbled badly :U kick by Faulknor, with the result that an opening was made for Cooke to score. ■• • ••■■ ' It can be said that combination and a well-balanced team won Old Boys their match. Their next meeting will be with Carterton, the other unbeaten team, whom they will play at Carterton. , United, who are at the ' foot . of the championship ladder, were not taken seriously by. Carterton- qn Saturday, the latter not placing their best team m the field by any means. \ln _ consequence, Carterton won by only i points to nil. . •. ■ '.- ' ■: The match was, of little interest to the spectators. ; C. Irvine potted a goal m the first spell, and F. Fitzgerald secured a try m the second half, but opportunities to score were wasted by both sides. ■..-,-. • Carterton secured the possible on Saturday by winning their matches m all six grades. In four , weeks the club has so far lost only four points for the Dewar Shield.. United may yet pull up. This newclub has not yet -shown the best of combination, although when its players are drawn from over a wide area, this is only to be expected. : With such players as Quentin and Jim Donald m the forwards and R. Cundy m the back line— although the last-named is not yet working at his best — they, should do better when they get into form. Gladstone registered their first win this season by defeating Red Star by 6 points to 3. , Gladstone have cause for much appointment at the latest report that George Nepia, of Hawkes Bay, owing to illness, will not .be corning down-. to play : for them until • late m the season, if then. With his assistance Gladstone's fortunes might have changed. " \ • '■•". While the report that Nepia was to play for Gladstone is discounted by northern papers, "Truth" knows positively that Nepia 1 accepted a position m Gladstone, and m the ordinary course of events, would have been m the Wairarapa ih\s week.