COUNTRY WIN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 161, 19 June 1936, Page 3

COUNTRY WIN.

EMPIRE CUP GAME. Jown Dominated By j Ufcl % Aggressive Forwards. H S?IRST SPELL EVEN. t Country team defeated in the annual match for the Emph'*! Challenge Shield at VictorijrPark yesterday <• Th% heavy ground, and favoured tiie forward play, and in thia the Country team proved definitely superior. Play was even ,up to.palf time, Town then holding a territcr&il advantage. Town bucks tnrew/the ball about to good effect first ten minutes .but as it becamei greasy the handling degenerated aiKti the Country pack were able to break through in loose rushes, ■which .'contributed laigely to tneir piling up a nine-point read. These movements, however, were exceptions to the general run of play, "which.'/was mostly at the Country end of the jfeld. After,: an initial spell of willing. play the • 'g<;me ■ w as*'• cc%£i'd'erably" tighter "in the second half and Town ■were kept on defence most of the time. ~•■". ;& \ : ;*■ ■ ■' ■ -Jpl

Cuff Prominent. Cuff, playing on the wing for Town, jas the prominent back up to. Palfjtilne. He had the unusual distinction, m<i,tt only of scoring all of his teams jpointE', a try, a free kick and a field goal, hut also of scoring the points necessary to overtake and pass Country's lead of nine points. He waa* the most dashing of the three-quarters, Sand his field goal was a very' neat effort but his play generally suffered from an inclination to take things' too easily when on defence. Particularly he failed to go down on the. bail and tackle. Trigger, on the other wing, saw little of the. ball, up to half time but from .then on had more to do than Cuff, and though he had no opportunity to reach a'scoring position, showed a considerable proclivity for penetration. * Davis, half back, and"'Foley ' and 'O'Keefe, five eighths, Town side,, made an effective combination and had play been open they would probably have provided spectacular football %,*> The town pack was less effective than the if oppotfeifuffelo'ose rushes, but compared v>eli..^ 0 other departments of play. Eagar was particularly" noticeable at' a forward. He was always'up with the play and' in the Ihick of everything. There was little jto choose, between the rest of the [pack, most of whom were well up {Srith Eagar throughout. Thompson fejL<| Murphy.stood up to tlie gruelling

strain of the second half slightly bitI tc-r than the others. ]:.;. Country Forwards Fast. J Country pack were to a man fast and aggressive, but the two middlevow men, Herdmau and Alexander, were pick of the bunch. The Country bucks were not called on to do much combined work after the. fir£t quarter of the game but the half back, Ladbrook, and the first five eighths, Cookson, impressed as capj able men. Harris, on the wing, displayed unusual ability at scooping up J the ball when a high kick fell at his feet. Wilmshurst, on the other wing, showed, as a player .with a safe pair of hands and with plenty of i intuitive en attack. Pollard, Town full-back, was called on to do a lot of work, especially in the second half, and made few mistakes. Jones, the Country guardian, was also a capable buffer and some of his line kicks were remarkably good. The teams' were:— '".V Country:?E. Jones' (Toko)j> Harris (Toko), Cruickshank (Toko), Witmshurst (Toko); Jakes. "(M!dhirst), Cookson (Midhirst); Ladbrook (Cardiff); Latham (Toko), Redshaw (Car- f diff), Brown (Toko), Herdman (Cardiff), Alexander (Midhirst), Kemsley .(Cardiff), P. Jones (Toko), Wellington (Midhirst). Town: Pollard (Stratford); Trigger (Inglewood), Prestige (Eltham), ! '&ik' (Stratford); Foley "(StratfordK> O'Keei'e (Inglewood); Davis (Old Boys); Bonner (Stratford), Biilmer (Old Boys), Taylor (Inglewood), Murphy (Inglewood), Johnson (Eltham), Eagar (Stratford), Thompson (Stratford), Cannon (Old Boys).

Country Start Early. Country were the first to open their j account. Alexander led a dribbling rush upileld, and from the resultant: scrum the ball went to the country I backs, and Cookson, five-eighth, forced his way over to score near the posts. P. Jones, after a few minutes of midfield play, picked up near the sideline and broke away to go over well , out. The kick again failed. Country 6 ! Town 0 Town took a turn at attack after "that and cuff was nearly over in the corner. Cuff missed goaling a freekick from well out by a hair's-breadth shortly afterwards. Country continued on defence for a spell, but a forward rally from midfield finally cul- < urinated in Brown going over for another unconverted try. Town were straight back on attack, however, and Cuff had no difficulty in goaling''"' a free-kick awarded finder the posts. gaj Country .. .. .'. .»,,.'.'. '.'• 9 ~'. Town ~..,. . .'. .'.' .. ,3 ■ Town backs came into, action after that and play was' pressed to the Country line. >• >"■'■'■ ■ Getting the ball froift'" scrums in that quarter, Davis, mo, ,'jjalf-back, twice tried to force his way over on the second occasion, managing to

pass out to Cuff as he was collared, thus enabling the Town winger to score his team's first try. Country ".. 9 Town 6 Cuff, taking the ball from a freekick awarded to Country under their own posts, ran infield and potted a neat field-goal. Town .. 10 Country .. .. 9 Town's one-point lead was held for a very short period, for a Country forward rush which swept play half •the length of the field saw Brown go over for Cookson to convert. Halftime was called shortly afterwards with the score: Country 14 Town 10 i Cracking Pace. >■ .;■ With four points to make up, Town set a cracking pace on resumption, and fo|* a time held the advantage in a willing forward struggle punctuated by occasional flashes of spasmodic back play. A breakaway eventually put Country in the Town paddock and the attack was kept up practically continuously until final time. Town defence was solid and the only score registered came from a backline attack from close range. Country heeled the ball from a scrum near the Town posts, and a quick exchange saw tho wing-threequarter, Wilmshurst, go over well out. Final time was called with the score: Country 17 Town 10 Mr. J. J. Sheppard was referee.