A COLOURLESS GAME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 673, 27 May 1929, Page 6

A COLOURLESS GAME

CITY AND RIFLES’ SLOGGING The City-College Rifles clash at Eden Park was a clour forward struggle practically over the whole distance, relieved only by occasional flashes of back play, which retrieved the game from mediocrity. t Both teams shared ill-luck, and, on the day, a draw was the fairest division of the honours. Colourness of the game was principally due to the apparent determination to keep play tight, too much reliance being placed in the ability of the forwards of both sides, and the failure of both packs to feed the ball to their rearguard from the set scrums. The City men. for instance, showed no semblance of combination in the. first 20 minutes, during which th«?y were all at sixes and sevens. The forwards improved later, showing to some advantage in loose rushes, but throughout too much effort was wasted in attempting to smash through the ruck by sheer weight. True, City forwards packed well, but they did not take the ball with them. Clarkin was easily the best of the pack, generally leading the vanguard in the loose work, ably supported by Sorrenson and Fletcher. City’s back division was weak until the last 20 minutes, when better combination produced some bright passing movements, the winger, Ferguson, being thrown out at the corner three times in quick succession. Berridge, at first five-eighth, showed a f*w glimpses of his erstwhile form, but he was very weak on defence, particularly in rush-stopping. Two or three times he showed nice judgment, trickily threading his way through the opposing forwards, linking up with his backs after creating good openings. But he did not receive the necessarv support. His colleague, Allen. displayed plenty of straight running dash, flashing through once to score a spectacular try with a beautifully-timed cut-in. However, he was over-disposed to attempt to beat too many men on his own. Many movements collapsed on this account. The threequarter line, with the exception of Ferguson, was weak. The new winger has plenty of spirit, and infuses dash into his work. The fullback, Herewini, certainly possesses a hefty boot, but his line-kicking is not well directed. College Rifles were equally ragged in the opening spell, during which individualism held sway. The team took a fresh lease of life in the second term.how ever, and put in such a shattering last-minute run that City was hard pressed. Loose rushes of a very determined type were smashed in against an equally stubborn resistance on City’s line just before the end of the first half, and during the third quarter, in which Noakes and Stewart were prominent leaders, Soutar was outstanding in the heavy scrumming. Time and again Rifles essayed back movements, but each rush collapsed. Wilson showed commendable dash on occasions in endeavouring to penetrate the opposing backs, but, like his vis-a-vis. Allen, he lost touch with his teammates. Consequently the leather seldom reached the threequarters, where Webber could have been profitably em-

ployed. At the base of the scrum, Kirk was a nippy defensive man, but on attack he was too keen to race away from the scrums himself, instead of delivering the ball smartly from the ground to his backs. Larsen performed fairly well at fullback, both his fielding and line-kicking being good. v Mr. Kronfeld was referee.