RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23865, 20 July 1939, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

By. Fall-back OTAGO'S FIXTURES July 29.—v. Southland, at Invercargill (Ranfurly Shield challenge). August s.—v. Southland, at Dunedin. August 12.—v. Bush Union, at Dunedin. August 16.—v Manawatu, at Dunedin August 19—v Wellington, at Wellington. August 23.—v. North- Auckland at Whangareiv - 'r ' . 1 August 26.—v. Auckland at Auckland August 30—v. Wanganui, at Wanganui, September 2.—v Taranaki at Taranaki. September' 6.—v, ■ Canterbury. at Christchurch. September 9.-~-v .South Canterbury, at. Thnaru. , , ; -\.v ’■ OTHER FIXTURES . August 2d and Shield Comtodtnamehitl. atDunetiln. ' September .16 (?),.—Payne Trophy matoK at Dunedin. v ' September island 1 , ■at Wellington/ - ‘' July : '22.—Otagr Country. - Team y. ‘Southland- Com,iry Team INTERSCHOOL;KiATCHES v'; '7 August 2.-John- McGlashan College v. St. Kevin’s. College, at Oamaru. r, August 8: (approximate),—Otago Boys , High School Timarii Boys’, High Scnodl.,at Dunedin.,/ August' 19.—Otago Boys’ High School V, Christchurch BOys High' School, at ■ y-}_ D. Trevathari, ahit« : Apart from the > two Dotted goals which Re registered for Southern ffgamst Kaikoraimn Saturi-. day. was the outstanding;- back the ground. Finding that-t-Js outside men. were not making much, of: a,'success?,in ; their passing movements,- he changed his tactics and played to hls'for.wards with fine line kicking. He, wai’.ateor quickly back to cover up mistakes 1 by s his side. It is doubtful if there is a better all-round first five-eight playing in New Zealand to-day. Though given plenty ball the Southern outside backs could not score from passing movements. One try only was scored by passing, and that was on the short side just before half time,when a pass was sent out by Robert to Black, who had a clear run of a few yards to score., The value of following up was demonstrated when : Cox, the Kaikorai full back, followed uo a high cross kick from one of his side. ~McLeod, Southern’s full-back, fumbled the ball on his line and Cox got his hand on it who was played at centre' for Southern on Saturday, did not Imr press. He does far better on the wing. The Southern pack were too good for the hill vanguard, and their smart hooking back to Robert from halfformed, scrums . gave the Southern backs plenty-Of chances,, none of which?, however,-'could' be 1 driven home.. Niven, is a pasifinaster in the art of letting , the bailout' to his half-back or holding it, .when, 1 a iscrum is only partly formed, -v.’v }.yv - • , V:. Thirty-five minutes of the first spell had passed before Kaikorai managed to take,-'play to . their opponents, twenty-five. ?' ■■■ ■ D. Murray was the best of the Kaikorai backs, and his .line, kicking in' the second half helped his side materially.. Murray should'‘have tried these,. tactics earlier, when he found that the hand-to-hand passing of his three-quarters was> failing to gam ground. . Although the Union side has given sounder displays this season than that against University A on Saturday, the evenness of the- side, solid tackling and a moulding of its play to suit the conditions in each half gave it a comfort-

able win; It was apparent soon after the interval, at which stage there was still ho score, that University would have to make fewer mistakes than it had made in the first half if it were to have a winning chance. The Light Blues missed two tries by last-minute fumbling early in the game, and lost their chance when they could make no impression with the wind in their favour, At the same time, their forwards played determined Rugby and gave the backs plenty of ball. If the three-quarters had been faced by less reliable tackling, the result might easily have been well the other way. In the person of Vorrath, the Union forwards have perhaps the best leader in the competition. He is a clever tactician, and he keeps his pack playing as a pack. Slyfield surprised the University players with one or two very strong dashes, and he does not, make the mistake that so many loose forwards make—that of trying to go the Whole way oh his oWn. But it is difficult to apportion particular merit to individual members of this side. Its strength this season is due to, its evenness, which on Saturday was topped off by very fine goal-kicking by , Silver.

The University A inside back formation—Simpson, Skelly, Berghan—gave a yefy sound exhibition against Union. Each of the three did a great deal of .work, and the try which resulted from a break by Simpson in the second half was a splendid one. Irwin and Wall finished St off. the latter taking a second pass, and .galloping clear; but it was Simpson who wriggled round a scrum near, halfway and made a glorious opening. Berghan played another excellent, game, but the value of much of his work was lost through the inability of the outside men. to make progress .against Union’s defence,. the All Black five-eighth has played much closer to his top form in the last game or two. University Ais far from strong in the three-quarter line this season, and Steele, always dangerous if he gets room in' which to run, is-.getting few chances. Alhambra and Pirates- staged a highscoring game: at Tahuna Park, and consequent on Pirates being only able to draw. (16 points each), the team drops back to fourth place in the competition.’ Alhambra did all their scoring in the first spell; when they had the wind behind them, and led by 16 points to 5. It was very pleasing to see Mitchell playing in something like his best form, and he made some brilliant rttns., Perriam, Pirates' centre three-quarter, also shaped well. Pirates gained their .five, points in the .first' spell -&s the result of a fine effort by Campbell, who took a difficult pass from Bathgate and went through to score at the goal posts. Two' of Alhambra’s tries wer scored by their youthful-,,half-back,, Casey-. ■ ‘.,

RANFURLT SHIELD V ■ CHALLENGES ; - v -This season’s fixture lists provide fori Otago and Southland making northern ■ tours, so that opportunities. for meet’- ■ ing, challenges will be limited to' art, extent • (says the Wellington Post)/ Then, too. the stronger unions of the North Island aire not touring in the South this season, and few, if any, special challenges by them are contemplated. Wellington, for one, is apparently a non-starter. The Bush Districts will be sending, a tegm on tour in-the. South Island, add they will have a match for the. shield, as also will Manawatu. who' when last in the South- Island' went close to success against ’Otago, then holding the shield. Beyond that, comnelgtion for the trophy appears likely to be confined to South Island unions, and some of these including Canterbury,, will have to make a special trip if a shield match is wanted. It would seem. then, that • the Ranfurly Shield will not have any-: thing-’’like the importance this ear, that should .be the case With . a trophy entitling the holders to Claim ;,ln|er-. provincial supremacy. It .will, .of course, .serve a -very good purpose in 'the south! ’h? generously concludes the Post writer.- i;-;' , PUSHING FROM BEHIND ■ - 'tOv. be a amongst playets to,? disregard the rtile which shys that a player, an opponent also runningylor ;the'ball must hot push him',from . Ah incident in Cphnectipn wtth this rule happened {rt a recent senior matchin Wellington .vand- pneySide 'Was; de-j prived of a- < got had the.-.playei;, who- had.-the ojfe: porturiityjpf ■ kept his hands off an '. opponent WHO did j .n6t have the halt A'h ;B]ttackirig forward had out- ; stripped his team mates, and the de-

fending side, except the full-back, who was standing, about , frpjm. his goal line. The kicked ■■ the ball ■ over ~the' line, pushed the full-back over with’ his hands, and fell T dh ‘ the' ball, expecting to* be awarded a.' try. The referee penalised him for obstruction arid awarded the defending a penalty kick about two yards “from ,the goal line, on the place where the full-back was pushed over,' It is becoming; quite, common, to see - backs, when running the ball, push an opponent,: especially near the touch or. goal lines,.--'’Players' should note that this practice will get their sides into trouble and remember a penalty kick may win or. lose a match. -.---v '■ ':THE ORRN ' There are really two types of Rugby —the sporting skilful i game, and the drab, slogging game in • -which both sides appear afraid to show any initiative whatever,; ■ ■-•

M. van den Berg, the . big South African forward, who was here in 1937, puts his views in the course of a recent letter to a New Zealand friend; '* I was so impressed with, the possir bilities of this new open game of .the Springboks that I decided on my return that my own club would play it at. all costs.- The beauty of this open game is that every player in the side gets an opportunity to shine out; also, of course, to make.mistakes—but do not forget this, it takes, two sides to play the open game. If one side,plays the open game and the other side plays for safety-first and is bent on destroying the tactics Of the opposition, the pleasure and the joy of the game very quickly depart, and the win-at-all-costs spirit rules the roost." •

Of course, as van den . Berg points out, it takes two'sides,to play the.open game. Theoretically the argument, is all right, but it mav be, asked why a side With a solid pack of forwards which may consider they can win by playing the close game, not trusting to a-weak set of backs, should open the play against a strong rearguard and lose the match. LOCHNER AN EMERGENCY Western Province (South Africa) are singularly strong this season in threequarters. In one of 1 the early Currie Cup matches the three-quarter line consisted of de Wet and Turner (centres)' and Williams and BCster on the wings with Lochner, who played in. the third and last Test in New Zealand, an emergency. Williams, Turner and Bester all toured with the 1937 Springboks, and de Wet played for South Africa against. the British team last season. This surplus talent recalls the great years in New Zealand Rugby after the victorious tour of Great Britain by the 1924 All Blacks, when Hawke’s Bay, then the undisputed champion side of the Dominion, frequently had All Blacks as emergencies, NOTES The Ashburton team is making its first bid for representative honours in the North Island. To finance the project, the Management Committee organised a queen carnival between town and country clubs immediately the offer was accepted, and in less than six weeks more than £420 was raised The team will play Wanganui, Wellington and Wairarapa. The president and sole selector of the union (Mr Noel Robilliard) will accompany the team as manager. G. Bellaney. ex-Lawrence and-Tua-peka Mouth forward, has been selected in the New Zealand League team to tour England this .season. Bellaney learnt his football, in the Lawrence Club, and later,transferred to Tuapeka Mouth. He represented the South Tuapeka Sub-union in the 1935 and 1936 seasons. On-.leaving the south Bellaney joined the Rakaia. League team, and for the last two seasons has represented Canterbury and the South Island in the 13-a-side code. Bellaney is well known throughout the country districts of . Otago, where 'he , was a regular competitor at athletic meetings and had many successes in the 100 yards and 220 yards events.- .

. The play of R. L. Roberts, former West Coast and South Island fiveeighth, was closely watched by keen judges of Rugby , In . the .UniversitySouthern match at Lancaster Park. Better cover-defenc^.-has-not been seen ■for a long time (says the Christchurch Sun-Star).., When University, were shooting the ball about, Roberts simply flew across towards touch to help to pull down the opposing wingers, Smith and Fountain. Frequently, too,,he gave valuable aid to the Southern full-back. Harrington, a promoted junior, who was having an arduous day with scarcely a let-up On attack, Roberts was given the scantiest opportunity, as Syme, his first five-eighth, was slow in sending on the ball. Yet he scored the last try of the match in dashing style—under the University posts from a set scrum before the defenders Could lay a hand on him