TARANAKI ON TOUR

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 354, 11 September 1933, Page 2

TARANAKI ON TOUR

Siturday-s Match

beaten by southland Press Association. —Copyright. Invercargill, Sept. 9. thousand people saw Taranaki Bleated today by Southland for the iiß com: time ‘ in 34 years, the score ||Blng 23 to f 11., Conditions were all to a fast, spectacular game, Bnt "pi; .y - rarely reached a liigh stand* an J, inwl it not been for die fair■B rap; cl scoring ami fincUuiling for■Bunes the spectators would have been |Hadly disappointed with the’ last rematch of the season. |Bouthland was cleat ly superior ana for repeated faulty handling Bkculd have run up a much larger Talrauaki’s meteoric beginning, Bwhen the backs scored a pretty try Bn the first two' minutes, made it seem Southland was set a formidable Htask. The play of the next 15 minButes did .not remove that conviction, Bfoi the tourists maintained a distinct Bp&ritorial advantage. Then the comB pkxipa of the game totally changed. B Southland, always a slow beginner, B threw. off its lethargy and dominated B play foir the remainder ,of the match, Bthough! at no time did Taranaki sufBlfer an ■ . The visitihg forwards played well B. throughout and gave the backs a fair ■- amount of the ball,The defeat cer- ■ tainly cannot be laid at the door of ■y thd vanguard. . The inside backs ■ proved the weak link in the chain, p? Their handling was accurate enough, P but they sadly lacked .’penetration and If gave .the speedy threequarters line little opportunity to show their worth. K thdy were'not particularly well servi «d 'by Dyinond, whose passing was If erratic. In the second spell Edwards P wag [moved in from the wing to the f second £ve-eighths, Crawford going | out. *An improvement was wrought, Edwards being easily the most dangerous man on attack, if’‘ Collins’ excellent game £ at fullback, .his lipe kicking being ac- | i curate, his rush 'stopping clean and his tackling-^iidly. Rutherford did much good work at** centre, his posi- | tional play bss|£ isound, ■He was up f aghifist, a strong, opponent in Mitr chell, ..but tnarjked him closely and often Taranaki often exploited longifttvoured !! ’by J ‘,the team - , but the bo.utplgnd, defeujbfi 'was very sound in scrummaging. - ,, -u;,;./ / :Southi>and fWlns Line-outs Tim touring forwards had the advantage, , bd't ) -Were overshadowed in njairy promising 86^mlaM f !mp^em‘enU'began. Wetere WhaTalwaya' fo open ' play for hlg. M iMI passing by the otherside. A skilful opportunist he was loafing, but would wwlth good dispatch from , the. ruck to his backs. . Fookes dflothd k . lot of .pace for ' the forward? and was given a roving commlssipn * in the latter.' phKt of tire game. The" remainder of the forward? worked vigorously, though OlavKp displayed no fox’m worthy of inclusion in an All Black side, several'of, his team- mates shadowing him. vPractically no dribbling .was indulged: In by; the Taranaki (vanguard** .kicks being protcrrecfi? 1 nor did the forwards try short I passing. The Southland forwards/on the other hand were seen in‘many* bouts gf passing and were prepared to. carry" on with their feet .f breakdowns occurred. This often gained a big stretch of territory and have earned more points had not something gone wrong at critical moments. In fact this is characteristic of Southland play; generally the players look as if they could be made Into a- great side, but they have a lot still to learn rv The .bucks .were nippier than TOe'-visitors in initiating attacking movements, but the handling thereafter left n.neli to bo deside-*.

Southland's points were made up o£ five tries- tone converted), a goal from a mark and a ..goal from a penalty. Taranaki scored three tries, one being converted. The teams were: — . Taranaki Fullback: Collins. Threequarters: Edwards, Rutherford, Ross. Five-eighths: Crawford (2nd), Mace (Ist). Halt: Dymond, ' r Back of scrum: Fookes. Middle row; Young,;.. Clarke, Wetere, Wills. Front row: McLeod, Fowler, Gargan. 4: ■ 1 ■' ’*•- ■' '• : ; Southland Fullback: ’ Threequarters: Grant, Mitchell, McKay. Fivfe-eighths: Smith (Ist), Sharp (2nd), Half: Thomas, Back of scrum: Berry. Middle r,ow:- Pawson, Galt, C. Purdue, Mst|ajtd. £ ;V Front nelly.'.;' • v; Pressing*|fkick oft the Taranaki bhcKS ffidulged in passing. Crawford failed to take Mace’s transfer, but RutMrford picked up smartly and sped away, the Southland backs being’ caught napping. The centre ran to'dhe fullback and sent the speedy .Edwards away for a sensational try With only two minutes of the spell gone; Ross failed to goal. Good work by the Taranaki forwards kept Southland defending for the next fpjartdk bf an hour, Then Southland asserted' itself and forwards and backs combined in effective passing, which brought a try, Berry, Smith,' GA'nt; Berry, Metcalfe and Donnelly handling for the last-named to cross. The try was not improved and fdr ten minutes the score remained level. Southland’s ixext try came from a line-out, ' the 1 lialf sending a pretty reverse pass to Smith, first fiveeighths, who cut in and enabled the centre Mitchell, to cross unopposed. Sharp goaled. Before the interval the Southland bucks ~ were seen in another bright passing rush which culminated in McKay’s scoring behind the posts. The try was. not converted. Southland • • 11 .Taranaki,..’ 2 The ’ Hocdlid spell, like the first, opened sensationally, only on this occasion it was Southland which scored. the big All Black forward Purever from a line-out '-at the

By no means discouraged, Taranaki penned Southland in its 25, Edwards nearly crossing at the corner. Crawford was injured, Hill coming on in his place. Persistent efforts by the tourists were rewarded when, after an unsuccessful pot by Mace, the backs regained possession and Rutherford flashed over. Ross failed with the kick. Wetere opened play on several occasions, and Taranaki also was securing freely from scrums, but the backs wore not dangerous. After much hard but ragged play Foofios got well offside in a scrum and Sharp goaled. Time and again short passing by Southland forwards threatened the Taranaki line, but they could not finish the movements. Mitchell took a mark in front of the posts and put his side three more points ahead. Then came a spectacular try for Taranaki, which was warmly ap ; plauded by the spectators. Fookes, Edwards, Rutherford and Hill handled, the centre making the opening for Hill to run behind the posts. Ross goaled. Further hot attacks by Southland forwards and backs combined in short passing brought a try, Berry, Mitchell, Sharp, Metcale, Pawson, Purdue and George handling for the last named to score. There was no goal. The game had an exciting ending with Taranaki narrowly missing a try.