RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23201, 27 May 1937, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

By Full-back MATCHES FOR THE SEASON The following is the list of Otago matches for the season;— July 31—v. Southland, at Dunedin . (Ranfurly Shield). August 7—v. Southland, at Invercargill- *■ . August 14.—v. Canterbury, at Chnst--1 ■ church. • * ’ ' Atigust 18.—v." Wairarapa. at wairarapa. A.Ugust 21. —v. Hawke’s Bay, at ft Hawke’s Bay. _ , August 25.—v. Manawalu, at PalmerV- ston North. r August 28—v. Wellington, at Welhngv ton. _ .i September 4 (tentative). —v. Buller, : .at Dunedin (Shield match). September 11. —v. South Africa, at Dunedin. September 18.—v. Marlborough, at , Dunedin (Ranfurly Shield). September 25.—v. Hawke’s Bay, at • Dunedin (Ranfurly Shield). SOUTHERN V. UNIVERSITY A Southern were a real team when they met University • A at Carisbrdok on Saturday and won by 19 Vto nil. .The manner in which the. l£t pdints ,wdre. scored .is worthy of mention. Bolton, whose anticipation and play at full-back were generally very sound,' potted a goal and scored a try after dribbling along the sideline for 30 yards (D. Trevathan converting). D. Trevathan also potted a goal and scored a try, and Black scored a try in a passing movement. ; The Southern players, backs and forwards, had an excellent understanding, and their covering up of any mistakes made did not give the Blues many chances to go through. Simon exploited the quick pass from a heel back by his forwards after a man had been tackled, and, Southern pan work this move belter than any team in Dunedin. It is one'.of,(the most dan-

gerous attacking.,'mo.V&ments on the field. Churchill,- on the wing, took ,his passes well when'at full speed and' ,was caught just near,the line by Mas-' kell on more than- one:.occasion..Black.: on the other I ' wing,. did.not.appear to •be able.'to'act as -.usual,V.no; doubt on account of, fheneavygrpuhd,, though'he made soihe\g6o.d:runs. along hjs wing. '"Simon"and D. Trevathan were really the mainstay of the Southern backs. They were always close to the ball, both on attack and defence. 5 The Southern forwards kept well •together, and Quaid and M'Donald took some stopping when they headed the loose rushes. Tyrie, Lawson, and •Hill were noticeable for solid work in .the tight play. ■ The Blue backs time and again camp 'away with promising passing rushes, 'but they were simply taken man for man as they received their passes. Howden. at half-back, was inclined to move from the scrums before passing, and thus lost' valuable time, and the other Blue backs, as stated, could seldom get far. Steele, however, who is now playing with plenty of determination, made some gpod runs along the wing, but he ;could not get clear. Maskell also made : a dash or two along his wing, but, as •in the case of Steele, he' seldom had 'much room to work on,' as the Blue ;backs' passing was generally straight racross the ground. Jolly (full-back) had a busy afternoon, and he acquitted (himself very creditably, though he ifound Black a bit of a handful. Berghan (first five-eighth) found the defence »jnuch more impenetrable than that of the North Island team on Wednesday last. Townsend and Park were safe .;bn defence. : r /' V The Blue forwards are to be con-' : gratulated on the manner in' which. ,they stuck to the opposing pack; Aer cording to figures in the official guide the Southern pack weighed 106st 71b and the Blue pack 99st 21b. Manning, Laney and Burns were the front row in the scrums and they had a hard task set them. Mack and Vosailagi were also noticeable for solid forward play. '■£:•, The Pirates' backs ;had a better idaa of positional play than the Union rearguard, thouglFvthe work of the backs on both sidWwas nothing very brilliant. was played at halfback for.'Pitatesiiand did very well in the position, •;,.and,' his outside backs had moreHorust-'than the Union backs. Mahohyrscored a. well-deserved try in the following through smartly\wh.ieh ; « the - Maroon backs were out v .ofNpos'itibfr .'' Taylor, full-back, played;anpther-finEVgame for his side. The^Vex-Caritetbui'.y' forward, Mahoney, i makmg/'a''flrst appearance for Piratfe and well, and Graham, Grant arid'Clode',also; kept hard into the play.. u ~!';,.' .:•'; •]': MfKerrow'was not: Over-safe at full- , Union,\-arid neither Werner \ nor Saul, the .wirig-threequarters, had many chances toshow what they could do. Werner,: however, made a fine run past several' opponents in the second spell aijd-, passed to Stephens, who ran strongly for the' line and scored Union's, only try. . -.. • The Union.':Rack; was sound enough in the tight.play, but one or two of the forwards,couldishow greater keenness in following up. G. Simon, J. Walker and Paris were a trio of solid working forwards.-ZINGARI-EICHMOND v. TAIERI The game between Zingari and Taieri was marked by the fine placekicking of Zingari's centre threequarter, Lumsden, who was successmul with four penalty kicks, two of them being very fine efforts. Zingari won by 15 points to 6. The hill team, scored one try, and Taieri two. ' Some good forward play was witnessed, with the backs on both sides trying to open up the game, but the slippery state of the ground prevented the--passing from going far. Honours on the actual play were about equal. Zingari held the advantage in the first spell, and the .country team in the second. Both Johnstone (second five-eighth) and Murray (centre) were responsible for good solo work for Taieri. They, however, usually nullified their efforts by trying to go too far and paying the penalty. As a consequence, the wings were starved for the ball. Findlay. at half-back, played a useful game, and M'L.eod' was outstanding in the forwards for downright solid work. Broadley and Giles were' about the best of the other forwards. Idour, on the. wing, continues'to improve,'and he'scored Zingari's try'with a fine dash and a nice swerve, Lurnsr den, at centre, was safe, and, as'stated; was in great form with his place-kick-,-ing.- Rapson, five.-eighth, was smart off the mark when he received the ball, but there was at times, a lack of finish in his play. Murdoch, Short and Douglas were always in the van of the Zingari forward play. ALHAMBRA v. UNIVERSITY B The University Oval was saturated when Alhambra and University B took the field, and good football was quite out of the question. The game, indeed, resolved itself into a scrambling contest between, the forwards, and there was not much finish in the play. University were beaten by 15 points to nil, and have so far not won a game, while Alhambra secured their first victory on Saturday. The University team is subjected to many changes, and one cannot but admire the undaunted spirit in which the players take-the field Saturday after Saturday. Garner, potted a goal for Alhambra, and • Lament, afterward, scored two tries, and Orange (five eighth) one. Lamont converted one of the tries. ' * KAIKORAI v, DUNEDIN Despite the heavy state of the Caledonian Ground, the game between Kaikorai and Dunedin was played at a great pace, with plenty of incidents. Kaikorai won by 8 points to nil, and owed their victory, to some extent, to using the better tactics. The Dunedin team tried to use their backs too much, and the Kaikorai forwards swept

through and played off the mistakes ot their opponents. Kaikorai, on the day. were the better side. Murray, at five-eighths, was the mainstay of the Kaikorai backs, ana Manning, at centre, and Scott, at halfback, also played serviceable games, the latter doing excellent work in stopping rushes. Barnes was the outstanding forward for Kaikorai, and his tireless work could be well emulated by some of his fellow-forwards. Egan was responsible for another excellent game at full-back for. Dunedin. and T. .Treacy, on the wing, took full advantage of the few chances which came' his way. C. Toomey was played at centre, but lie appeared to have a difficulty in fielding the greasy ball. P. Treacy was the best of the Dunedin forwards, and the loose forward, Brosnan. shaped well until he was hurt just before half time. Carter, the solid Dunedin pack man, was unable to play through an injury. The Dunedin vanguard would do better if it played with greater sustained effort. CHRISTCHURCH COMPETITION The positions in the Senior Championship are as follows: W.L. D. F. A. Pis.

RANFURLY SHIELD j AN AUCKLAND CHALLENGE? Provided the representative team shows sufficiently promising form, there has been talk of a special Auckr land challenge for the Ranfurly Shield this season, but it looks as though nothing can come of it, as apparently it would be impossible to fit in a suitable date (states the Auckland Rugby News). Otago has shield matches already booked against Southland (July 31), against Marlborough (September 18), and against Hawke's Bay (September 25). Also, Otago has a northern, tour extending from August 14. to-28,'both, dates inclusive, and em;b'rdcing.\ matches against Canterbury, Wairarapa, -Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and;"Wellington. - A,special challenge Imatch- would have to be played on a Saturday, and,Auckland has, no free Saturday, except too early in- the season, on which Otago is not already committed to a fixture. It looks as if the shield challenge will have to wait until next year, by which time the shield may or may not still be in Otago. HOW NOT TO BEAT THE SPRING T BOKS Dear " Full-back,"—We are told that I in a multitude of counsel there is wisdom, but in view of the manner in which the people of the Dominion are being inundated with contradictory opinions of players and ex-players as to the means and methods to adopt to defeat the Springboks, I am afraid that I cannot accept the saying as a general truth. Some of the writers, indeed, who are presuming to give us helpful points as to what to do in what is apparently being accepted as a crisis in the football life of the Dominion cannot, to me, at least, be accepted as authorities. We fortunately have been enabled to see for ourselves. Thus we read the comment by J. Sadler* All Black half-back, on the probable full-back to play against the Springboks. Mr Sadler says that it seems likely "that M. (? 'G') Gilbert will be a strong candidate for the fullback position, though, of course, he .will have a powerful rival in B. Pollock. ... I should say that we will :have little trouble in filling the centre three-quarter position, as Mitchell with us for a long time yet." All I can say is that if the New Zealand selectors know their job neither Gilbert (if Mr Sadler is referring to the All Black full-back) nor the nine.stone Pollock will secure the position. Judging for ourselves, could any fairminded person sav that either of these two players compared with Taylor.? We have seen the three of them. Moreover,-'' !•; am ; ••further-'surprised at Mr Sadler saying, that Mitchell is a centre three-quarter. We have seen him, too. If there is a centre of fair ability available when the Otago team is picked I venture to say that Mitchell will be playing on the wing—and that is his position. Mr Sadler has also something to say in praise of J. L. Griffiths, of Wellington. We have seen him also, and if, as Mr Sadler suggests, some of the All Black players who toured in England were not at their best when playing in New Zealand for their third season in 18 months, then they had no right to be selected or to accept selection. —I am, etc., The Truth. THE QUICK THROW-IN There appears to be some misconception among many Rugby players and followers regarding the quick throw-in from touch.-. On some occasions the referee allows the game to continue when a player smartly recovers the ball. after it has gone into touch and throws it to a team mate who is quickly on the spot. On others he halts play, to many people for no ap-. parent reason, and allows the stragglers time to get into position. The explanation is this. Provided the player throwing in the ball uses the one which went into touch, recovers it himself, and thrcyws it five yards at right angles from the correct place, then everything is in order. But if he is assisted to recover the ball, say by a ball boy, a spectator, or even another player, the referee must stop play until the players have had reasonable time to regain theif positions, •; ~ A PERFECT RECORD The rough play which was rife in international Rugby matches at Home this season and the Dersistent failure of referees to take any action has drawn forth very pointed comment from at least one critic. Had some of the incidents which" marred the international:; occurred, he sE.ys, in a club match someone would have received marching orders, but apparently offenders are immune in big football. The first referee who puts the full penalty into force in an international will deserve the Order of Merit. There was a case some years ago in which a Dominion player was concerned, but never, in a match between the Home '.union's has a player been sent off the ; field. ...,;..• NOTES "■ Albion, last year's runners-up for the Christchurch Rugby championship, are at the bottom of the list this season, but that is far from being a fair indication of their play. For some reason or other, Albion have not found form when opposed to the less formidable sides, but have produced excellent football against such teams as Sunnyside and University. For a Canterbury Rugby learn to boat Wellington on Wellington soil is a rare achievement (says the Christchurch Star-Sun). The recent, win I]Q—il) was the'third of that nature in a period 0f.20 years.. The last occasion was in 1931. when Canterbury, captained by C. J. Oliver finished ahead B—6- and brought home the bacon in the shape of the Ranfurly i Shield. ••'•'.' , , Southern, with six games played, have scored 139 points, and no points have so far been registered against them. . , . . It was interesting to note in last week's capping ceremony that footballers appear also to be playing their part off the field. Among the graduates who received their B.A. degree were Laney, the University captain, and Mack, of the University A team. Kelly, the Pirates wing, received his B.Com. Hoyle. the ex-Union player, his B.Sc, while Murray, the Kaikorai captain, may now add M.A.. Dip.Ld.. to his name.

University . 5 — 2 108 49 6 Old Boys . 5 2 — 74 33 5 Sunnyside. . 5 2 — 95 64 5 Sydenham . 4 2 1 106 63 4'. Athletic. .. . . 3 3 1 55 66 u Christchurch . . 3 3 1 78 73 3i Merivale .. . . 2 3 .2 71 89 3 Linwood : .*■ . ;. i5 — 72 1.17 ; 2 Technical .. . . i 5 1 68 125 n Albion . i 6 — 64 112 i