PROMISING COMPETITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24613, 22 May 1941, Page 4

PROMISING COMPETITION

Although most of the teams engaged in the Association football Fletcher Cup competition have a large sprinkling of younger nlayers, some interesting and weil-contested matches have been played this season. On results to date, while Mosgicl appears to have the strongest side, Northern, Old Boys, Maori Hill, and Seacliff are making a good showing, and, provided these teams can be kept intact, there is every reason lo expect the contest for the premiership to be a keen one. As a result of the four rounds played. Northern, Old Boys, and Maori Hill have five cup points to their credit, with Old Boys one game behind. Mqsgie] (two games behind) and Seacliff follow with four points each. RoslynWakari, which finished well up in last year’s competition, has been disappointing, and out of four games played has secured only two points, being equal with Caversham and Mornington. The latter club made a start in the competition only last ween. Keen Scrummaging There were a lot of young players in the Dunedin-Southern match at Carisbrook on Saturday. Some of them shaped better than others, of course, and it was particularly please ing to see the forwards packing and scrummaging so earnestly. The line out play generally is not good this season, but R. Neiper and T. Wallace, two experienced campaigners, kept them going and were prominent in a strong finish. The Dunedin forwards applied themselves to scrummaging with a lot of determination, and they played with commendable cohesion. Neither scrum was sending the ball back very cleanly, and L. Woodhouse (Southern) and D. Rodden did not have the easiest of games. Both did well to get the ball away as smartly as they did, and it was not their fault that so few passing rushes travelled far. Death of Old Otago Forward Mr J. B. Graham, who died at Auckland last week, was well known in Otago football circles. “Jim ” Graham was a strongly-built forward who invested his game with plenty of dash. He played first with the ZingariRichmond Club, and subsequently joined the Southern Club. He represented Otago no fewer than 23 times from 1908 to 1915, and he was a member of the New Zealand team which went to California in 1913 and of the New Zealand team which played in Australia in 1914. Mr Graham commenced work at the Hillside railway workshops, and he was also employed at the workshops at Petone and Greymouth before he returned to Dunedin. About two and a-half years ago he was appointed manager at the workshops at Otahuhu, and he would have retired on superannuation toward the end of the year. Good Goal-kicking Mention was made in these columns last week of the shortage of reliable goal-kicks in Dunedin First Grade Rugby this season. As a generalisation, that comment stands, but, particularly niter last Saturdays cames, an exception must be made for the Taieri Club. In K. Giles it has a goal-kicker of more than aver-

age merit. His three penalty goals and a conversion—ll of his side’s 17 points —revealed a match-winning performance against University A last Saturday. The accuracy of his kicking was impressive and indicated some diligent practice. The last, from the touchline was as beautiful a goal as one could wish to see, and the others were all very good ones. Giles kicked fairly well last season, and if he maintains this accuracy, Taieri will be the bestequipped team in this respect m the competition.

An Even Side Leaving the University A team at full strength on one side for the moment, the team that has shown itself to this stage as the most even in the Otago Rugby Union’s championship is Dunedin, which beat Southern on Saturday, and so went out in front by two points. Its main strength is m its keen, sound pack of forwards, but there is reliability near the scrum, pace in the three-quarter line, and soundness at full-back. Again, on Saturday slowness inside prevented the three-quarter line from showing its attacking possibilities, and this is a weakness that will have to be rectified if the side is to stand up successfully to University. There is ample evidence that the team is being well coached, though, and no doubt this fact has been observed. Dunedin’s progress into the limelight is popular, and is giving a welcome interest to the competition.

A Useful Pair A big factor in Zingari-Richmond'b success in holding Kaikorai to a 12-all draw on Saturday were the displays of A, Mason, at full-back, and W. Mason at centre-three-quarter. Except for his failure to tackle K. Calder when he scored his brilliant try, the Colours full-back gave a fine display and kicked two penalty goals early in the game His handling, kicking and positional play were excellent, and he got his side out of many difficulties. W. Mason was the most dangerous member of the side’s back line, and he frequently straightened up an attacking movement which was making no headway. His trv was a feature of the match. He cut in smartly and. with a man outside him fooled the defenders as he dummied and swerved his way to the line. The other try for Zingari-Richmond was scored by R. Laing. a hard-work-ing forward. An Energetic Forward ft is much easier to play a dashing forward game with a winning pack than as a member of a team of forwards which is being outplayed in all departments. One or two of the University B pack, however, stuck gamely to their unenviable task against Pirates on Saturday, and were always on the ball and ready to seize the few opportunities that came their way. The outstanding member of the Light Blues pack was R. Herron, who. m spite of a painful injury to his thumb which caused him to leave the field for some time, led the students in fine style. Herron is a hard scrummager and the type of forward who deserves a trial in the A pack. Others who gave Herron good support were O. Marshall and F. Rennie.