Junior Rugby Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 671, 24 May 1929, Page 14

Junior Rugby Notes

University’s will and determination to win was the deciding factor of an extremely keen and willing contest with Marathon on Grey Lynn Park on Saturday. The match was marked throughout by hard, clean, open, and at times spectacular, play, with little between the two teams. Varsity’s hack division, failed to attain combination against the solid and smart tackling of the Marathon rearguard, which seldom allowed the leather to reach the three quarter men. The Royal Blues have a real asset in Husking, wing-threequarter, who in addition to being a hard straight runnel* with a nice swerve, uses his judgment in using the reverse pass. His two tries on Saturday were bright efforts. He would improve his capabilities by developing a fond. Lamb is the bright spot of the in>.de backs both on attack and defence. He has a nice sense of anticipation for fielding the leather and backs up his threequarters well in pass.ng bouts, but unfortunately he doesn’t show the thrusting ability to creaie scoring openings. Opposed to a heavier all-round pack. Varsity vanguard did exceptionally well in the set scrums and outshone the opposition in the loose. In the first term their packing was

lagged, bu; improved substantially in the second term with better results. Their consistent following-up was. a good feature of their play. but in dribbling rushes the Blue forwards were inclined to over-run the ball. O'ii .lloran, Boswell and Hudson were

prominent throughout for tlicir work in the tight scrumming and the loose..

An intensive course of training has improved the Marathon team to a gratifying degree, and with more coaching the team should develop good combination. The forwards as a whole are an honest pack of grafters in the scrum and the loose, but there is a lack of understanding between the back and forward divisions that can be eliminated by coaching. Slyfield was consistently on the ball throughout the day, and he was well supported by Aldiss and W'lbb, who showed to marked advantage in the loose work. The backs were patchy, the inside men in particular being inclined to pass erratically.

Ponsonby had no difficulty in retaining its undefeated record by putting Grammar B under to the tune of 13 points to 3. Credit for Ponies’ victory must be awarded to the forwards, who showed splendid form in the opening spell but loafed in the second term to such an extent that Grammar’s pack was in the ascendant. The Ponsonby vanguard is both fast and weighty, and are a dangerous lot in loose rushes, and they gave of their best early in the game. There was really only one man who toiled incessantly from start to finish—Bishop. The persistency of his breaking away from the line-outs and harrying tackling made him a sore thorn in Grammar’s side.

Conley and Pope were outstanding in the back division. The latter showed keen appreciation of the weaknesses of the opposing rearguard and varied his work accordingly with nice judgment.