OMISSION OF DALLEY SURPRISED CANTERBURY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 983, 28 May 1930, Page 15

OMISSION OF DALLEY SURPRISED CANTERBURY

POSSIBLES-PROBABLES TRIAL Special to THE SUN CHRISTCHURCH, Monday. The sensation of the past week in Canterbury Rugby has been the omission of W. C. Dailey from the New Zealand trial match, which is to be played in Wellington on June 11. As Dailey is in his 29th year, and is likely to retire from the game or, at any rate, from “big” football—at the end of the present season, Canterbury people would not have been shocked so greatly if young M. Corner, of Auckland, had been preferred to him after the New Zealand trial. What is objected to is the preference of A. W. Holden, of Southland, to Dailey, and the circumstances in which that preference was made. Dailey has been showing very good form in club matches, but he laboured under a heavy handicap in the South Island trial last week. He was behind the Probables forwards, who were well beaten by the taller, heavier and livelier Possibles pack. The Possibles pack got the ball twice to the Probables’ once, in the set scrums, and it was better in the line-outs. As a pack, the Probables’ forward line played a dull-witted game, and it would not obey Dailey’s requests. When Dailey wanted the ball retained in the scrum it was heeled to him. though W. Hazlett, E. Collett and R. T. Stewart were giving him a bad time. Moreover, the Probables’ forwards were not marking R. T. Stewart properly in the lineouts, and Dailey’s requests that they should watch that big fellow closely went unheeded. Well on in the second half of the game Dailey became disgusted with his for-

wards’ lack of responsiveness, and he did not try very hard then. If he had gone down to all that his forwards had been letting him in for, then he would have been half-killed. NO CHANGE ROUND It was expected that the New Zealand selectors would make some changes in positions in the second half of the trial game, and that, at the least, th© hookers, the half-backs and one or two of the other side backs would b© changed over. But the onl3 r alterations were those required to give th© emergencies a game. So Holden continued behind the winning pack. Th© fact that, with all the ball they got, the Possibles had to rely on their forwards for all but one of the tries they got, shows that the play of the winning side’s backs was below New Zealand standard. H. Lilburne. first five-eighth, was a useful connecting link for the Possibles. He handled well, although quit© a number of Holden’s passes came to him head-high. Still. Lilburne is not quite up to the penetrative form of his Australian tour last year. His play in the trial rather lacked variety. Of course, he might have had some lack of confidence in the ability of the men just outside him to follow him in sharper thrusts. The play between first five-eighth and wings was too disconnected. G. P. Hart, fast and nippy young wing-threequarter, was marked —well marked, too—by young D. Olliver. Otago winger now gained by Wellington. Olliver has pace, and played well on to Hart all the time, but at the end the Canterbury men beat him •to score a good try. Both Hart and Olliver played under the disadvantage of lack of assistance from well-com-bined, quick play in the centre. G. D. Innes, another young back, was the most thrustful five-eighth in the trial. He played at second for the Probables, but it seems to the writer that he would do even better as a first five-eighth. Innes does try to beat hi© man and make central thrusts. Whil© N. P. McGregor continues to play neat football as a first fiveeighth, h© is rather inclined to go round his man, instead of trying to make an opening nearer the centre. He does not cut out his man as he used to do, and in the trial match he was too prone to try to take Dailey’s passes flat-footed —a tendency which further handicapped the halfback. Dailey is used to playing with a first five-eighth who is moving when the ball leaves the halfback’s hands. McGregor’s defence is still very sound, but the waning of his versatility in attack goes against him. Wingforwatd G. Scrimshaw is regaining his old form. He has the knack of getting quickly to where the ball is going, and he scored three tries for the Possibles. « GREAT FORWARDS Big Ron Stewart has greatly improved his physical condition. Hazlett, Collett and Stewart, all big, fit, fast men who put all their weight into the tight work, and were lively in the open, were a great trio for the Possibles. A very promising forward is J. E. Manchester, who has been in the Canterbury pack since 1928, but who is only 21 years of age. With good height and 14st of weight, he is a genuine worker in the tight, and is a good lineout forward and dribbler. He had the advantage, in the trial, of being on the same side as Hazlett, Stewart and Collett, but his work showed that, with experience of “big” football, he is quite likely to wear an All Black jersey before he retires.

The Australian tour last year greatly improved A. I. Cottrell, who is now a first-class hooker, and also a very good forward in the open. Cottrell dribbles well, hunts well, tackles solidly and is a scoring forward.

Geoff Alley, who had to bear most of the burden of locking the New Zealand scrum in South . Africa in 1928, is now available for the Canterbury team to play the British side. His occupation still keeps him in the country from Monday morning to Saturday morning, but Canterbury’s inability to find another satisfactory lock has induced him to make himself available for this match, and he will come into the city a few times to train with the pack he -is to hold together.