RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22964, 20 August 1936, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

By Full-back VISIT OF AUSTRALIAN TEAM The Australian team will leave Sydney on August 15, and the first match —against Auckland—will be played on August 22. Matches will be played in Otago and Southland as follows: Against North Otago, at Oamaru— Wednesday, September 9. Against New Zealand, at Carisbrook —Saturday, September 12. Against Southland—Wednesday, September 16. There will be no match against Otago. MATCHES AT CARISBROOK The following are the interprovincial matches to be played by Otago at Carisbrook this season:— v. Southland—August 1; won 16 points to 3 points. v. Auckland —August 5; won 14 points to 5 points. v. Manawatu. —August 12.—Won 11 points to 5 points. v. South Canterbury—Augusi: 26. v. Canterbury—August 29. v. North Auckland—September 5. V. Wellington, September 19. v. Hawke's Bay—September 23. v. West Coast, September 26. The return match with Southland will be played at Invercargill on August 22. NORTH v. SOUTH ISLAND August 15—At Christchurch. North won by 17 points to 6 points. The return match with Southland will be played on Saturday at Invercargill. The Australian team will commence its tour of New Zealand with a match against Auckland at Auckland on Saturday. It is understood that Mr L. E. Macassey reported a prominent member of the Auckland team which played against Otago to the Otago Rugby Union for using insulting language to him during the course of the: game, and that the incident, with others, has not ended so far as the Otago Referees' Association is concerned. It appears to me that in fairness to Gillies he should have been given the opportunity in the second half of the match between the South Island and the North Island of playing in the first five-eighths position. Gillies is just as much a first five-eighths as Gaffaney, and probably a better one. After seeing the Auckland and Manawatu forwards in action one cannot refrain from asking, what is wrong with Otago forward play? In the brave days of old. a dark blue forward dribbling rush was something to be remembered by northern visiting packs. The art seems to have been grezitly lost in Otago, but is still in evidence in the North Island, and judging by the two games I have mentioned above very much so. Here we had fast forwards coming away with short passing or dribbling with the. greatest life and dash, and maintaining that life and dash right to the last whistle. Another feature of northern forward play which is not risked in Dunedin was the short ground kick in dribbling by Auckland with fast following through to carry on before an opponent could field the ball. In smart heeling from scrums I would say that there are few sides in the Dominion that could beat an Otago side, but there is something more in forward play than merely hooking the ball from scrums to a half-back. And if we get too much of that style of play our forwards will become stodgy and slow up. Some of them have* already slowed up, judging by the manner in which they jog away from a scrum after they have hooked the ball, or else stand looking on for a moment or two to see how their backs are getting on. I know that Mr V. G. Cavanagh, the coach of the Otago team, lays great stress—and rightly so —on the fact that wing three-quarters are there to score tries, and that if they cannot get the ball sent out quickly to them they cannot score them. The point I am raising, however, opens up quite a different but none the less effective method of attack. At Christchurch on Saturday the bustling rushing tactics of the North Island forwards had the South Island forwards in trouble practically right from the start of the game, and there is no reason to my mind why they.should have their undoubted advantage in this particular style of play. Surely there are plenty of forwards in the) South Island the equal in playing ability to those in the north. It seems to me that the South Island selectors have always been rather unfortunate when they have come to pick West Coast backs for important matches. Mahony, the youthful Pirates back, made a promising debut for Otago in the match against Manawatu. He made two or three fine penetrating runs, showing good judgment when doing so. Mahony will, no doubt, with experience, learn that'when an opposing rearguard is moving through on attack -he should come forward to meet it, not back away on defence. If Mahony had moved through smartly on to the Manawatu backs he would have had many golden opportunities of snapping up the ball when the visitors' passing broke down —as it usually did—and racing clear to the full-back. Smith would have revelled in the weaknesses of the Manawatu backs when they tried to come away in passing. It is to be hoped that the Otago forwards show some improvement in their tackling, otherwise the Shield will not stay long in Dunedin. Presumably some of the Dark Blue forwards support the theory and practice of All Black Porter that you should tackle a man and still keep on your feet. This style of tackling necessitates a certain amount'of "neckclutching" by a would-be tackier, and it is not always successful. I prefer All Black Hore's method. MANAWATU UNLUCKY At Rugby Park on Saturday afternoon, the Southland Rugby representative team scored its first win. of the season by defeating Manawattu in a closely contested game by 13 points to 12 (says the Southland Times). The game was ragged, but fast and open, and there was plenty of incident, much of it crude, to keep a fair crowd of spectators interested. The weather and playing conditions were good. A draw would have been a fair indication of the merits of the sides. Neither played up to representative standard, although there were times when the Manawatu backs raced into action in movements worthy of the game. The visitors appeared to be unlucky to lose. They scored three tries to Southland's two, and right at the close of the game, after the bell for time had sounded, they literally paralysed the Southland side with a dazzling passing rush between backs and forwards which ended.in Dermer (wing three-quarter) being'collared at the corner flag. The ability of the Southland forwards to get the ball from scrums and racks saved Southland from defeat. In all departments of forward play, line-outs excepted, they were superior to Manawatu. The only fault that could be found with the Maroon pack was its failure to back up the backs in a breakaway. OVER FIFTY MARK With his game for Canterbury against Auckland last Saturday, J. E. .Manchester topped the half-century mark (says Christchurch Star-Sun). He has now worn the representative jersey for his province on 51 occasions, extending from 1928 to date. The record in this respect is held by the

famous Albion player, G. D. Gray, with 58 appearances, from 1900 to 1911. Other achievements worthy of note are:—

B. Fanning—s 6 appearances, 1895 to 1904. P. J. Burns—so appearances, 1904 to 1913. C. J. Oliver—47 appearances, 1924 to 1935. Steve Casey, the All-Black Otago and Southern forward, it may be added, played in 57 representative matches over a period from 1903 to 1913. C. Sonntag, however, holds the record for Otago with 58 appearances for the province. He played his first game in 1915, then went to the war, and played on from 1921 to 1930. All. Eckhold played for Otago on 54 occasions. SOUTH v. NORTH ISLAND SUPERIORITY OF THE WINNERS The following comment on the South v. North Island match is taken from the Christchurch Press:— The northern team was superior in nearly all departments of the game, but it was the fast and brilliant running of the backs, given a regular supply of the ball from scrums and line outs that led to most of the North Island scores. The South Island team's showing was disappointing. The southern forwards were not far behind their opponents in the close rucking play, but' Hadley's presence in the North Island side meant few opportunities for the South Island from set scrums. The loss of N. A. Mitchell, the Southland All-Black, who was chosen as centre, made it necessary for Mann (West Coast) to come from the wing position to fill his place. Mann frequently plays at centre for the West Coast, but those who know his play have no illusions about his abilities in the respective positions. He was far from being a success on Saturday, and his failure meant that many of the southern attacks broke down before they were fairly launched. Black, the young Otago winger, who took the place of Morrison (South Canterbury), snowed his lack of experience on occasions, and while some of his work stamped him as a player of great promise, he was one of the points on which a shrewd North Island attack concentrated with some success.'

Gaffaney, at first five-eighths, was again disappointing. He felt it his duty to make the play and he tried to do too much on his own and was invariably well held by that solid defender Griffiths. Gaffaney, too, failed to make things easier for Gillies, his second five-eighths, many of his passes being poorly timed and directed. Gillies's ability on attack, therefore, could not be demonstrated, but it should be said that he was one of the few South Island backs who did not fail on defence at some time or other. „., Even the All Black full-back, Gilbert, failed to live up to his reputation, and Simon did nothing to distinguish himself. Altogether it must be admitted that every South Island back, with the possible exception of Hart and Gillies, was shaded by his vis-a-vis. Hart was the best of the four wingers on attack and made some sterling runs, but his defence was not always such as to inspire confidence. In the North Island team one man stood out above the others as a potential All Black star—J. Sullivan, the young centre from Taranaki. He showed that the glowing accounts of •him from the North Island were justified. Tall and. well-built, he is exceptionally fast and quick off the mark —a chanvoion sprinter in his province —and he "left the opposition standing with a long, raking stride that reminded spectators of T. H. C. Caughey at his best. Sullivan appears to have a great eye for an opening and a keen appreciation of the value of concentrating on the weak links of an opposing team. Twice he ran round Mann and then sold a dummy to Black to give his wing a clear field to the fullback. Another North Island back'who excelled himself was Pollock, the Wellington full-back. He is fairly light, but remarkably- quick on his feet. Pollock scored a sensational solo try from almost his own twenty-five. He cut between Hart and Simon close to the scrum and shot off down the line at great speed. Gilbert was waiting, but failed to put a hand on the flying northerner. Gilbert's play was slow and uninspiring by comparison. The West Coast man handled and kicked efficiently, but he did not tackle well. Gilbert let Sullivan through at the corner for North's last try through failure to tackle. Pollock, in identically the same position, bundled Hart into touch magnificently when the Canterbury winger had beaten several men and was in full cry for the line. Russell might have been a little more enterprising considering the feast of the ball he was given, but he sent his backs away with swift and accurate passes from the base of the scrum. Griffiths did not try too much on his own, but always linked well with Killeen, whose running was fast and straight. Griffiths's defence, too, was outstanding. Edwards had far more opportunities than Dick, but both played well.

The southerners were a conscientious, hard-working pack, but they lacked the polish of their opponents. In the rucks they held some advantage, and most of the southern back movements were launched from these tussles in the tight.

North had a considerable weight advantage, and secured possession in three-quarters of the scrums. Unfortunately scrum infringements were frequent, and the rulings of the referee (Mr L. E. Macassey, of Otago) were often hard to follow. Russell persistently bounced the ball on the foot of his outside front-row man, and the southerners incurred penalties for " feet up " in their endeavours to bring the ball into the scrum. Mr Macassey did not always station himself on the side of the scrum on which the ball was being put in, ~and so could not see what was going on.