RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26228, 12 August 1946, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL

NORTH OTAGO DEFEATED HANAN SHIELD GAME The North Otago representative team travelled to Timaru on Saturday, where it was narrowly defeated by ,9 points to 6, South Canterbury retaining the Hanan Shield. The game was played on a good, dry ground,'and ideal weather conditions prevailed. . A South Canterbury's nine points came from two penalty kicks and an unconverted try, and North Otago's points from a penalty kick and a try. T he changes made by the selectors in the North Otago backs were fully justified, and the team played with more confidence than it possessed in its former fixtures this season. In the set scrums South Canterbury gained most of the ball, but in the line outs North Otago was the more successfUM. Goddard, the South Canterbury centre three-quarter, who was responsible for most of the South Canterbury points in the game-in Oamaru some weeks ago, was given very few opportunities on Saturday. He was well marked by KUgour, but would have proved more dangerous if Meynell, the second five-eighths, had sent out more accurate passes. J. Goddard, South Canterbury s full-back, was a constant source of trouble to the local team with his long kicks to touch. Playing his first game this season as fullback fer North Otago, Parker, although lacking confidence, played very soundly. Finnegan justified his inclusion .in the team and was perhaps the best of the North Otago backs, while Hopley, on the other wing, played his usual sound game. Little fault could be found with the remainder of the backs, and Arscott in. particular was responsible for several openings. In the local forwards Mclntosh and Muldrew kept well up with the play, and Twaddle, who replaced Strachan in the first spell, was a hard-working forward. The South Canterbury half-back. Parsons, maintained a good service to hi bacte but on several occasions was caught m possession, due to his inability to ge the ball out quickly. Mulcahy, the South Canterbury hooker, kept the backs well suDDlied but ,the home team s scrum was not very well balanced and the front row men were pushed off the ball several ti: North Otago opened the scoring with a penalty kick by Wright a«erTirnrds Prattlev equalised with a penalty. The score 3-all remained unchanged at half time. South Canterbury took the lead with a further penalty B° 3l following a scrummage on the North Otago line Parsons went round the side ofj- tne scram and scored Hopley §■»«« »£*£ «;core with a fine 50-yara aa&ii after a chain-passing movement, to score in the corner. The game ended with the South Canterbury ~ 9 Points. North Otago , 6 P° ints - Mr D. Wood (Ashburton) was the referee. R.S.A. Match The local R.S.A. team defeated the Timaru R.S.A. team by eight points to six. Scorers for North Otago were Mosley and Hunt with a conversion by Laney, and the Timaru points came from a Penalty kick and a try by T. Green. Mr J. L. Bush was the referee. Referees’ Match In the return North Otago-South Canterbury Referees’ match, the local team won by six points to three. Mr W. L. Richards was the referee. Country Game

Kurow beat Otekaike by 14 points to 9 in a hard, even game. A feature of the play was the good tackling of the Kurow side which dominated the play in the early stages of the game, the score at half-time being 11—3. For Otekaike, K. Gard was the pick of the backs, and Harris and Wright were two hard-work-ing forwards. R. Robertson, G. Robinson, and L. Worthington were the mainstay of the Kurow side. Scorers for Kurow were Brockie and J. Robinson, K. Robinson converting a try and kicking two penalties. For Otekaike. unconverted tries were secured by R. Gard. L. Wright, and G. Russell. Mr D. Cameron was the referee.