SLOW CONDITIONS AT RUGBY PARK

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 14

SLOW CONDITIONS AT RUGBY PARK

Standard Below Opening Day

(By

"Onlooker”)

The exceptional warmth of the sun must have had something to do with the play and players in Saturday’s Rugby games for the Galbraith shield. There was a listlessness about most of the play, and the standard of Rugby could not be compared with that on the opening day.

In addition to the warm weather the. playing areas at Rugby Park were anything but fast. The policy of allowing the sole of long grass to lie on the turf is a wise one from the point of view of preserving the ground for the big programme ahead, but if Southland is to get its players to match their speed with northern players then the grass will have to be shortened.

For years now there have been complaints about the slowness of Southland players, and Rugby Park has been blamed more than once for this state of affairs. On Saturday there was proof; the play and the players were slowed up because of the deadness of the grounds. It is for tne Rugby Union to remedy the cause without delay.

Old Boys v. Pirates

Old Boys scored a good win over Pirates. Both teams played the open game, but neither impressed the crowd with its general handling. The Old Boys backs made fewer mistakes than Pirates and the difference gave them victory. There was too much slant running in the game. As soon as the half backs got the ball out, the fiveeighths made off diagonals to one wing or the other. The movements were thus given a bad send-off, and when the ball got as far as the centres or the wings, little headway had been made or any ground gained. There is a first class vacancy, a permanent One, for a five-eighth who will run straight and give the outside backs a chance to move. G. Ford (Marist) is the only five-eighth who has the idea of going straight when in possession, at least he is the only one to have shown it in his play. Most of the fiveeighths stand too shallow, and are not moving fast enough when they take their passes. A bit of pace is handy when it comes to swerving past or side-stepping an opponent. The result of the shallow position is a slow getaway, and more or less forces the five-eighth into starting across field in order to beat his marker. There is plenty of work for the club coaches in this department of play. Southland will make no real progress until the fiveeighths are taught to play the game properly.

Pickering’s Performance

R. Pickering’s handling of N. A. Mitchell was commendable. The Pirates centre has a good turn of speed, and Mitchell could neither run away from him nor fend him off. Three times in as many back movements by Old Boys the rush was stopped at Mitchell through Pickering’s ability to tackle his man. There are few backs who can hold Mitchell, and it was a tribute to Pickering’s tenacity to note that Mitchell dropped his ideas of going through the centre. Another Pirates back who put up a good showing in adverse circumstances was H. Fraser, half-back. He was well served with ball from scrums and rucks, and in the first spell did not hesitate to get his backs moving with a minimum of delay. In the second spell he excelled .himself by going alone when the backs had failed so often, and made inroads into Old Boys’ territory practically every time he ran. Fraser is a nuggety type and is a strong runner. One of his runs took him from the 25 line to the posts, and a try shortly after was the reward. The forward play was dull. There were few loose rushes to gain any stretches of ground, and the scrum

work and lineout play was not of a high standard. Pirates held the advantage in the forwards and had the backs taken their opportunities, Old Boys might not have had such a comfortable win. Two prominent line-out forwards were R. Ward (Pirates) and P Lynch (Old Boys). Lynch took the ball cleanly and got a pass away to Mackie on several occasions. Star and Bluff

Star and Bluff were fairly well matched, and a try each just about summed up the merits of the sl “ e£ - Bluff was given plenty of chances, but there was an absence of finish about its work, and Star was let off lightly. Star, on the other hand, showed improvement on its first game and took the field with a bit of confidence. 11. Frampton’s inclusion in the five-eighths line made a big difference. He linked up well with R. Couling, and apart from overdoing the short punt played a serviceable game. The Bluff five-eighth line was not a happy one. The first five-eighth was too slow at getting his passes away and the spoiling tactics of the Star breakaway gave D. Hamilton (second) no chance to get moving. More often than not the Bluff backs lost ground with their passing. The forwards did well against a better working pack.

Invercargill and Marist

The Blues were not troubled to win against Marist. Yet it could not be said that some of their play was up to championship standard. W. L. Kurt played a fine game and shaped as though he will be inspected by the selectors of the Southland team. He was one back who knew the value el good line kicking. Some of his punts were prodigious; his strong running was another feature. As in other teams, the five-eighth line of the Blues is not going too well. C. Calder stands too shallow, and makes too many movements in his passing. His defensive play is up to standard. , R. Henderson scored four tries for Blues and scored them well. His determined running gave the opposition little chance. . . The re-introduction of the old kick-into-touch rule on Saturday found out how few players there were fully equipped in the art of touch-finding. It is a good thing the old rule has been brought in again. It should help to improve the standard of kicking. In Saturday’s games many kicks intended for touch were well astray of the mark. This phase of play must not be neglected. Big gains can be won and hard-working forwards “nursed” if the backs, all of them, can punt a bad accurately. It is hoped that coaches will see that kicking practice takes its part in the nightly training. The player should welcome the chance to get practice; it is pleasurable as well as profitable.

Goals Missed

Goal kickers had a day off on Saturday. In the Pirates-Old Boys game about 12 chances to goal from conversions of tries or penalties were missed. If Pirates could have put over only half of the chances offering the Blacks would not have required to worry about the scoring of tries. Perhaps the depth of grass on the turf had something to do with the poor kicking. J. Mattingly, the Star forward, was the most successful kicker of the day, and to show the value of accurate goaling, it must be pointed out that Star was able to defeat Bluff in this way. R. Tinnock’s loss of the attempt to goal a try following a “no-charge” ruling should be a lesson to many who apparently do not study the rules of the game. This sort of thing should not happen in senior Rugby. Tinnock should have known better than to have handled the ball after he was awarded a "no-charge” kick. The law is clear: “The ball must not be handled by the kicker after it has been placed on the ground.”