CLOSE CALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27383, 8 May 1950, Page 6

CLOSE CALL

Varsity A Beats Southern After trailing Southern by three points for the greater part of the game, University A rallied strongly in the last 20 minutes to win the early match at Carisbrook by 5 points to 3. Although the game was not lacking In incident, and, by contrast with the one that followed, provided some bright Rugby, the standard of play was not particularly high, the winners giving by far their most unimpressive display of the, season. Southern's points came from a goal from a penalty kick by the full-back. J. Peck, in the first four minutes. Stand-, lng close up on the opposition, Southern forced University into frequent mistakes in handling while the University forwards lacked cohesion. The Southern forwards often came through from the lineouts, and their bustling tactics had the University backs at sixes and sevens, the only ones to play with any degree of confidence being B. Valentine (first fiveeighth) and C. Moore (centre threequarter). Valentine was hampered by the slow service of J. Jardine from the scrum, but he made several strong bursts in the second spell, one of which led to H. Burry pouncing on the ball in a loose scramble to score. ' Valentine converted, ahd University held its lead to the end, being definitely on top in the last 20 minutes in which the forwards showed better form. C. Moore gave edge to the attack and was looking for work throughout, his only fault being a tendency to go too far before handing the ball on, excusable perhaps as he has played on the wing in most of the games Neither T. Watson and Gardiner on the wings handled with any degree of certainty, however, though the latter displayed sound defence. At full-back G. J. Moore did ' the tackling one expects of him, ' but his taking and kicking fell well below . thetr usual standard, and he misfielded on one or two occasions when he was caught out of position through his efforts to join up with his backs in passing movements. B. Doherty, H. Burry, D. Ludbrook and H. Morgan were the best of the University forwards, but the pack as a whole played spasmodically, in contrast to the Southern forwards, whose team work was a feature. T. Wallace, D. Smith, T. Cranshaw and L. Dyke were the best of a well-balanced Southern pack, which slogged hard throughout. The Southern backs were well directed by J. Graham, at first five-eighth, and he was the spearhead of the attack. The others played solidly but with the exception of J. Dow, who made several dashing runs on the wing, did not have the pace to capitalise on the good work of their forwards. A feature of the game was the firstclass display given by Peck, the Southern full-back. H:s long and accurate line kicking gained much ground for his side and he brought off several fine tackles The referee was Mr A. Fleury.