RUGGED FORWARD PLAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19338, 31 May 1937, Page 7

RUGGED FORWARD PLAY

OLD BOYS ROUT H. 5.0.8. EX-STUDENTS' BACKS HELD A. READ'S FINE TRY Old Boys .... 10 H. 5.0.8 nil Placing their main reliance on their forwards, and using their backs chiefly to keep their opponents' concerted movements in cheek, Old Boys scored a l"0-nil win over the fast and" enterprising H.S.OJS. team in the senior game played on the grandstand ground. The points represented two goals from tries, and both tries were secured by backdivision players, exploiting openings engineered by their forwards. The ex-students put on a fine game, but they could not quite match the ruggedncss of the Old Roys' forwards, and their back division had few chances to get going, so close was Ibe attention paid to them. Right from the start, the Old Roys' forwards were troublesome to their opponents, for though H. 5.0.8. had a certain amount of success in the set serums, the loose scrums and most of the line-outs went, to tho eventual winners, and the game developed into a hard forward struggle with occasional flashes of back play, quickly stilled except on the two occasions when. Old Boys' backs went, over the goal-line.

it would have taken a really powerful and skilful scrum to hold Old Boys in the forwards, and H. 5.0.8. did'their level best, even threatening at times to take the game tint of the hands of their opponents. Spectators saw two good scrums working bard from start to finish, and a dangerous set of backs in the H. 5.0.8. team rendered ineffective by unremitting attention and re lent less tackling. Value of Early Tackling

Supporters of H. 5.0.8, wailed in vain for anything in the line of spectacular running attacks, such as have characterised the earlier appearances of this team. Tho only man in the back division who appeared able to make ground consistently was Morrison, the scrum-half and captain, who earned victory for his side if any one man could have earned if. The rest were stopped almost in their tracks, whenever the ball came out on their side of the scrum or line-out. It' was not for want of trying on their pari ; they simply could not break through the*diving tackles with which Old Boys' backs laid them low.

The game as a whole was a real lesson in the value, of early tackling, directed at the legs of the man in possession and'launched before the ballcarrier got into .his stride. Early in the game C. Flavell scored the first try for Old Boys, taking full advantage of an opportunity presented to him by the H. 5.0.8. .fullback. [The latter, receiving a long kick from his opposite number in the Old Boys' team, elected to run Ids' backs into position for a passing bout, and made across the field diagonally to connect with Harris, to whom he threw a slow pass. Flavell knocked the pass down, then gathered the ball and, twisting out. of a wellmeant tackle by Reed, galloped 40yds to the goal-line, giving Campbell the easiest possible kick for a conversion. At half-time there was no change in the score. Old Boys leading 5-nil. Good Dribbling Rushes

Not long after the start of the second half, Jlecd came close to goaling a penalty kick, the ball glancing off one of the* uprights. This occurred during one of the H. 5.0.8. forwards' dribbling rushes into Old Boys' territory, which, despite Old Boys'' superiority in the forward work, provided an attractive feature of the game. The leaders came back strongly, bowever, and hammered away on tho H. 5.0.8. left wing for a time. drawing .the defence across thai side of the field, and leaving Die other wing fairly °P f,n - A loose sci em topic place, and after some scrambling play, Campbell snapped ,the ball to Montgomery, from whose hands it travelled through Littler to Flavell and A. Read, the latter getting a good run with plenty of room to work up speed. Two or three H. 5.0.8. back's charged across to reinforce their right wing, but Read made a good swerving turn infield and broke through the defence, to register a fine try.. Once again the kick presented no difficulties to Campbell, and that'ended the scoring, Old Boys 'maintaining their lead for the rest of the game. Interest Maintained to the End

Two or three times, each side had ,the other's goal-line under pressure, and the gome retained the interest of the spectators to the finish, W. Reed, for H. 5.0.8., narrowly missing with a drop kick well on towards the finish, and W. Morrison being a shade unlucky with one of his characteristic penetrating runs from the scrum.

Luok was with Old Boys most of Ihe time, especially when Syme, their fullhack, persisted in speculating wlion the H. 5.0.8. forwards came down on him repeatedly with dribbling rushes, lie brought off his speculators, but his play must have caused supporters of his team some uneasiness at times. Pine Rush-Stopping One feature in which the match readied a high standard was the rushstopping of both back divisions. Forwards breaking away with the ball at toe almost invariably found themselves held up when an opposing back went down on (be ball, and the inside backs of both learns deserved full credit for their work in this respect. For the winners, it may bo said that there was not a man in the pack who did not do his best right through the game; Campbell, Twigg, Dods and Phillips were as usual most useful in the line-outs, but the shorter member of the scrum ran them close in the tight work, and all the Old Boys' forwards packed down quickly in the loose scrummaging. Montgomery, Littler, Flavell and Read were the most useful of the backs, the tackling oF the last-mentioned pair being devastating. H. 5.0.8. had good serum leaders in Leach. Wade, Bradford, and Thompson, though the lntter showed a tendency to shine a bit when tight scrummaging was called for. Morrison at halfback was outstanding throughout, and Sharp ami •Harrison put. up good performances. emulating their .skipper in rush-stopping, and handling well when the. hall came tltcir way. "Grant whs well bottled up all through the game, and did not get a chance to Use his speed, and Bccd. the fullback, got out of some difficult situations with credit.

The referee was Mi'. X. Tnsker,