HECTIC RUGBY AT TIMARU

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1011, 30 June 1930, Page 7

HECTIC RUGBY AT TIMARU

BRITAIN LUCKY TO WIN

Strang’s I ine Halfback Play 7.EFEREE WARNS VISITING FORWARDS Sl/ecial to THE SL’.V miAllU Saturday. Till-- tirii bdi Hugby team liad one of its most hectic matches * 1,1 ’ i: ' 1 1 aledoman ground, Timaru, when the combined interburj -Ashburton-North Otago team played ‘ 1 " 1 ’’ '"Y wl,lln S. Rugby, to extend the tourists at evcr,\ stage ot the game. The '/""■‘■'ts won by lb points two converted tries and tun penalty goals) to U points (a try, a penalty goal, and a goal tl-oiu a mark).

Not till the match \v;ts nearly twothirds gone did Britain, by virtue of two successive free-kicks by Black, gain tfca lead liven then, the visitors were for a considerable period hard put to it to gain their perilously narrow lead. Toward the finish they gained a definite ascendancy, but had a terribly narrow escape when a spasmodic Southern rush sent the rolling ball right to the line, where Bassett was given the benefit of the duubt in a merry tussle for a force down. Apart from frequent unpleasantness between the opposing forwards, the game was highly interesting and exci'ing, with frequent flashes of open play in which the locals more than held their own. Had the referee, Mr. A. 11. Budd, or Invercargill, exercised stricter control in the early stages, all subsequent unpleasantness might have been eliminated: but from the very start lie allowed the local forwards great liberty in line-out plav, wherein they were guilty of a great deal of unnecessary pushing and shoving in their efforts to subdue the taller British forwards. As the game wore on, the British adopted similarly vigorous tactics with the result that. Rew, Prentice and’ Martindale were all singled out by the referee for belated admonitions Reiv actually being ordered off, though Strang, the local captain, sportingly intervened and succeeded in persuadin'the referee to allow the visitor to stay on. The tough incident in which this occurred happened right opposite the Press ■ tan(l, Ntothing- could be seeu that warranted such a drastic step. Kew was apparently gathered without the bail by two opponents, and hit out backwards with the fat of his hands There were several iorse episodes in which both sides participated, but Mr Budd, who by a rather amusing misprint was set down ir the official programme as Budd, overlooked these largely because he was not often in a position to see them.

Bassett’s capacity .for taking medicine and administering it in return was shown when he continued to play gallantly an irreproachable game, after suffering a bad renewal of his old ankle trouble. In the face of the fastfollowing Southern forwards, he was having a diffi -uit time, but more than held his own, and there was one remarkable incident when two opponents caught him in possession and he ruse with a serene, angelic smile, Raving 1 both of them outstretched on the ground. STRANG MAGNIFICENT Apart from the roughness of the game, the outstanding feature was Strang's magnificent display behind the Southern scrum, where he played versatile, clever and eminently sporting ltugby of the type that depends on great halfback mastery, and makes one wonder why the New Zealand selectors have overlooked such an outstanding candidate for the tests against the British team. After the match, several ot' the British players expressed the view that Strang was easily the best half they bad played against, and wondered why he had been overlooked. Bay, at first five-eighths, was another player who won distinction, his gathering and kicking in the face of fierce forward rushes being superb. On attack. Bay was very elusive; but at times lie was rather too prone to go solo. Right out to the wings the Southern backs were sound. They ran straight and hard, tackled well, and in Trotter and Sumpter had two fast threequarters who repeatedly were

or '.v kept out by determined tackling. With the British back dicision not Playing its accustomed Rugby until the final stages, the Combined team stood out as the only side except Canterbury which has met tlio British back attacks witli equally attractive plat-. l-’or a time in the second spell, "lien attacking on the British lino, they were swinging the ball about " *th spectacular freedom, but were Jhat failing t<> penetrate, largely through the soundness of Bassett and Jonex-Davies. The latter was unhappy on attack, but in defence he did tine work. Aided by a glaring sun, trie local fiion started off with great vim. soon fretting: to the British quarter, where % referee, following - the old instead jg . new ruling, penalised Britain offside from a forward pass, fcStrang ***Uting a nice coal. **hind the British serum, Poole, rn ° from the outset, had .an unenviable time, was totally unable to get S ime of his passes simply rolled along the ground, and ns the game wore on, Ivor Jones rather than Poole was feeding the backs. Apparently Poole was sufferln*T from a recurrence of the injury be suffered at - Greymouth. as not until the last 15 minutes did he show any trace of the form he displayed in the earlier matches. With the forwards matched by the vigorous local pack, who wore breaktost very fast and getting among the British backs with paralysing swift»ess\ Britain was unable to penetrate *r beyond half-way. The Combined "*uni cam* 1 back with a devastating in which backsand forwards swung • day fi rs t one way and then another, -trang going over in the corner after J>«»y had made an attractive opening. Black, making a great effort to save the try. dived clean across Strang on t" a concrete cycle-track, which was dangerously near to the playing area: but, though the people thought lie ii'ost have been half-killed, he rose with nothing worse than abrasions. Kowcott and H. Jones had an important part in opening Britain’s score from halfway. Bowcott nimbly extricated himself from a mass of British forwards, passing in to Jones, who

nude considerable ground before passing to Prentice, for a try under the posts. Half-time was drawing near, but before it came the southerners were to add to their score with a goal for a mark bv Hollow, who snapped the ball from the very toes of the British forwards as they attempted to .clear their black s two goals In the second spell, Britain sprang at once to the attack, holding the locals down for 15 minutes, in which period Black put on two nice penalty goals, apparently awarded for obstruction bv the locals in British passing movements. After this the southerners had another soell on the attack, and Britain was seriously under the weather \\ ith many purple patches occurring, there was a massed forward battle near the British line. Jennings, who twice sent the attackers back to haltway with beautiful kicks from penalties. was largely instrumental in lifting the pressure. After this. Britain began to play much better football, Morley showing up in two nice runs, in one of which a certain try was lost when he attempted to beat the fullback instead of passing inside him to Ivor Jones. Bassett, though groggy, was still safe, but he had a narrow escape when a rolling ball passed him arid Sumpter, following fast, just missed

touching down. The referee, who was well back, whistled, and the crowd thinking a try had been awarded went almost mad. A scrum five yards out was ordered, however, Britain getting clear to make the play with further back movements, which showed great improvement, Jones-Davies having come into the centre. Things were now going much more sweetly. Successive movements troubled the combined team’s defence. Novis finally centred for Jennings to come across' hard from the left wing, burst through two tackles, and go over beside the posts, Blacky converting, AN INTERESTING GAME Thus by seven points Britain won a game from which she was lucky to escape unbeaten. In many respects it was a most interesting and attractive game, while in others it was an unsavoury exhibition of obstruction and other Illegal tactics Britain’s experimental threequarter line went extremely badly. this, coupled with Poole’s failure, largelv accounting for the backs’ mediocre display. Among the forwards some of the non-test men were the best performers, H. Jones playing well throughout, while Martindale, particularly in the early stages, was frequently in the limelight. Prentice was often prominent, but in the line-outs lie was rendered helpless by the local {nen’s hustling tactics. In the circumstances, it is surprising that not before the last 10 minutes did he start to take scrums instead of lineouts. Of the backs who appeared today, only Bowcott can have any chance of appearing in the second test. JonesDavies demonstrated conclusively, however, that he is a better centre than a wing. Bassett’s ankle injury may be very serious to the British team, in view of the imminence of the second test.

WIN FOR TARANAKI

MATCH WITH WANGANUI Press Association WANGANUI. Saturday. j The weather was ideal for the representative matc h between Taranaki and Wanganui. Play had been in progress only five minutes when a mull by Thompson, the local fullback, near the Wanganui line, let the visiting forwards over, Robinson scoring. Guy failed with the kick from near the touch-line. A good kick by Delves from a penalty equalised the score after 15 minutes’ play. The visiting backs started a splendid passing rush, a wonderful diving tackle by Thompson saving what looked a certain try. Taranaki secured from a serum near the line, and Gudgeon dived through a gap to score. The kick failed. Taranaki was frequently penalised for j scrum infringements. Lowe made i several splendid openings, and Wanganui beat the visitors back to within their own twenty-five, where Duntan secured and the rush was carried on to the visiting fullback, whose kick was weak. Heise secured and dived over to score. The kick failed, and half-time sounded with the scores six all. On changing ends there was a period of even play. Then Taranaki was awarded a free kick for offside play by Lowe, and H. Brown goaled. A pretty piece of passing by the Taranaki backs ended in Footes scoring a good try. Brown converted, making the score 14—6 in favour of the visitors. Wanganui indulged in some good passing, the ball going through a chain 1 of backs from the serum to Vangioni, i who raced over. The kick from wide ’ out missed, and the game ended: Taranaki. 14: Wanganui. 9. B TEAM ALSO WINS Press Association HA W ERA. Saturday. The Taranaki B representatives beat Wanganui B by a one-point margin, the score being 6—5. For a represen-

tative game play was indifferent, and P , he . S of bri S lu ness were few and far between. It was mostly a forward UY . N In th ? Hrst Sbels Taranaki bad a three-points lead, but in the seemed as though Wa'nganui would gain the ascendency. After oyer-running the Taranaki forwards t ~° i ul . nutes . however, they faded out, and in the final stages had to maintain a solid defence. In the last 10 minutes Taranaki al! but scored savin- 6 occaslons ' only solid tackling HAWKE’S BAY BEATEN WAIRARAPA EIGHT POINTS UP Press Association CARTERTON, Saturday. \\ airarapa defeated the Hawke’s Bay Rugby representatives bv 30 points to 22 at Carterton today. The weather of at 4 o. ne aRd there was an attendance After live minutes’ play in front of the \V airarapa goal, Wairarapa set up <•• passing rush, but Setford intercepted and passed to Mills, who scored at tlvj corner. Evans failed to goal. From a throw-in Mill passed to Cork ill. who cut in and scored under the bar. h idler converted. \\ airarapa o Hawke's Bay 3. A strong attack by Heffernan, Roach and Grenside saw the winger tackled 5. n corner as he scored. Evans failed to convert. A scramble near the Wairarapa line found Mills at the bottom of the pack and he was awarded a try. Evans converted. From a Wairarapa. attack Fuller kicked a fine goal from a penalty, making Wairarapa 3. Hawke's Bay at once retaliated and Corkill getting off-side in front of the goal, Evans kicked a goal. Hawke’s Bay 14, Wairarapa S. Wairarapa opened the second spell with a strong attack, but ragged play allowed Evans to kick through. Mills carried on and the forwards took a hand, Wanoa receiving and running m to score. Evans converted with a beautiful kick. Wairarapa returned to the attack and a free kick from the sideline gave Fuller a eharice. Hawke's Bay 19, Wairarapa 11. The home team again attacked, all the backs handling to send Fuller in unopposed to score under the bar. Fal l er converted. McKay was caught offside in a scrum outside the twentyfive and Fuller had a successful shot, making the score 19 all. A Hawke’s Bay forward was penalised for tripping Mill and Fuller goaled. Wairarapa still attacked and from a scrum I\ Jury scored near the posts. Fuller converted. Wairarapa 27, Hawke’s Gay 39. A minute later Hawke’s Bay infringed and from near the sideline Fuller goaled. Wairarapa 30, Hawke’s Bay 19. A wonderful attack by Wairarapa saw the ball go right through the line of backs and then all through the forwards, until Jury again received and knocked on, to lose a certain score. A ragged attack by Hawke’s Bay saw Setford pick up and dive over the line. Evans missed an easy kick and time sounded with the scores, Wairarapa 30, l-lawke's Bay 22. NELSON IN GOOD FORM GOLDEN BAY-MOTUEKA BEaTEN

Press Association NELSON, Saturday. The Nelson representatives defeated Golden Buv-Motueka in a home match today by 3 4 to 3. The forward divisions were even in the loose, but Nelson gained the ball from the majority of the scrums. The Nelson backs were much superior and were unlucky not to cross on numerous occasions. Snodgrass scored three trios at the end of passing movements. Bird scored tlio other try, Reid conver tin g. Fo r Golden Bay-Motueka Henderson scored a try after a good run by Holmwood. The Seddon Shield was not at stake The losing team is the present holder