RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 146, 27 July 1914, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

MERIVALE'S GOOD WIN

Although it was not as spectacular Sus the game between Old Boys and Christehureh on the previous Saturday, the Merivale-Old Boys match was strenuous enough to satisfy even the jxiost blase pf Rugby followers. From >ell to bell every inch of ground was disputed stubbornly, and the teams ,• "were very tired when they left the <eld. Particularly hard fought was the ■first quarter. Old Boys seemed to feel "the tension of the occasion rather more keenly than Merivale felt it and they were slow in getting into their stride. "With the Merivale men it was dif. ferent. They were a point behind ■Old Boys in the championship table, and with them it was a case of "do or die." So, winning the toss.and taking advantage of the strong wind, they swept on to the charge immediately.. JJJmost before they had fully realised that the game ~ had opened Old Boys "were hurled back on to their goalJine, with > Merivale's heavy and light brigades charging and charging again. ATI Merivale's forces were used in the - attack, the forwards battering away at the defence, and the backs seeking opportunities to dash through breaches »ade by the forwards. But the whites met the attacks with grim determination, and, though 'they were swept right back over their goal-line time and again, their desperate rallies &ept Merivale from scoring.' The shock •f battle was so heavy, and the so keen, that Merivale's attack simply iad to ease up before .the quarter ended. As it eased, Old Boys, with! a splendid rally, swept up . the field and ncored, just bfore the first quarter, SO minutes' play, ended. EFFECTS OF THE ORDEAL. That score heartened "the Old Boys' supporters as the teams changed ends, and the whites took the, advantage Ifiven by the wind. Old Boys' prompt attack gave further joy to their followers. But the stern ordeal through which they had passed in the first quarter had told its tale. Their scoring machine, the back division, had been put out of gear by the battering it had - yeeeived. ' The backs had lost their sting, as a unit, and when they did try passing rushes they made very little progress, partly because their passing ; was poor, and partly because the Merii backs were alert and were playing ; soundly. The Old Boys' forwards bat'r i tied bravely,-bat throughout the season ! they have been trained to leave the scoring to their backs, and so, with the "backs out of action as a scoring divi? sion, Old Boys' chances of victory dwindled. They attacked fairly often, "but the Merivale men were able to hold -then* back from the goal line, except •on one occasion] '[ ?;

Even when the first spell ended wifli ; 4)ld Boys the only scorers, it was a|>i ' parent that only a remarkable recovery could save the whites from defeat. ' Hasell's penalty goal, which made the t : scores level, still further reduced) the possibility of last year's champions -winning the match. And, even Boag's • second try for . Old -Boys-—scored, the first, when' the whites were jjlayt Sag against the wind—could not have infused very much hope into ■ th<j breasts of those who wanted Old Boys 'to win, for it was the result of' dividual effort, R. G.'Hic-kmott making the opportunity which Boag turned to -account. The white backs could ; not .snake any concerted movements that were effective,"and when Atkinson ueored for Merivale and made ■ the , eeores level again it became almost sure that Merivale would win. A LUCKY TRY. Yet that score of Atkinson's was a laeky one indeed, and would not have obtained if the referee had been a little more alert. Bain marked the l>all fairly, in front of a Merivale rush, with the foremost attackers several yards from him. The mark was claimed, and Bain stood for a moment,: expecting the whistle to sound. But the whistle did not sound, and as the attaekers, realising that the referee •was not awarding a mark, rushed on to lim Bain tried to kick into touch. But he was just too late, and as he was grabbed he miskicked, the ball going l>ac.k over Old Boys' goal liue, foiAtkinson, unmarked on the left wing ®f the Merivale three-quarter line, to aeore unopposed. It was bad luck lor Old Boys. MERIVALE THE BETTER TEAM.,; i However, the Merivale team -would! lave been very unlucky if it had not* -won. It was the better team, on the; day's play, both forward and back..! The forwards, excellently led by the; elever, resourceful, and dashing Max-i -well, played very well. They packed! solidly, worked hard, and put plenty o!f; "dash" into their efforts. Next toj Maxwell, Hasell was the best, but ©very man did his share of the work,; and did it well. Hitherto the. Old; Boys' forwards have been at their best, in the scrums, but this time they met a ~ solid pack that had two good "hookers" in its front row. Consequently Old Boys did not get the ball from the scrums nearly as ofteu as usual. However, the Merivale heeling was the cleaner. But the blue-and-whites did mot try to heel the ball out each time they got it. Sometimes they held it in the"pack, screwed the scrum, and dashed, away, taking with them more trouble; for the white backs. i ; < The Merivale backs suppprted their; forwards well, but their passing was not as good as it should have been, although it was a little better than the Old Boys' backs showed. Their average of ability was rather higher than their opponents, and their spoiling work ■was good. Also, Merivale was better served immediately behind the scrum than the other side was. Sandman played a really good game at half; his work all round was soundly carried out. And behind him was a good pair of five-eighths, Cleary and Puller, both of whom played well up to form. The three-quarters—Atkinson, Cade, and J. Head —were, if anything, sounder than tie opposing three-quarters. At fulL back, R. Evans was reliable. WHITE FORWARDS BATTLE HARD. The Old Boys' forwards have had to "play second fiddle" to their backs so often that it is a pleasure to be able te eommeiid their efforts this time.

They all played well, very well, and put every ounce into the fray. But ; the Merivale vanguard was just too good for them. And, of course, the blue-and-white forwards had the advantage of being trained in scoring tactics, whereas the Old Boys' scruminagcrs are not. As regards the Old ' Boys?' backs, little need be added to what has been written already. Not one of them played right up to his best form. Extra allowance can be made for full-back Bain, as he had a ' lote of work thrust on to his shoulders, (and, on the whole, he emerged from [the trouble with credit. But all the others were patchy. Crawshaw did a I lot of good work in defence, but in attack his passing was not as good as i usual, and sometimes he passed too soon when he hiad a chance of beating an opponent. E. C. Taylor, at half, was outclassed by Sandman. Old Boys sadly missed H. M. Taylor. It has been pointed out that Merivale deserved its victory. But the win would have been more satisfactory if the refereeing had been a little more efficient. Mr G. Mathews, who controlled the game, was not quite as alert as he could reasonably have been. Too often he failed to detect breaches of the offside rule, especially by Merivale players. He was not keen enough in detecting instances of obstruction and other"unfair play. And he should remember that "no charge" should not be awarded in a kick at goal if the 'kicker has misled the opposing side into believing that he is about to kick the ball. The opposing side is, entitled to charge"as soon as the kicker oners to kick the ball, even if he draws back again immediately. ■ •CIJ RIST CHURCH S POOR SHpWJNG. Supporters of the Christehureh. Club, rwho were of opinion that the senior teen was breaking away fronv.tradition, by recently playing , two: successive games of splendid football, can take consolation from, the fact .that the team has justified its reputation as, an "in-ah-out'' performer by its display on Saturday against Albion —and a very scratch Albion team at that. Indeed, the Christehureh men can consider themselves extremely fortunate that the result was a draw, and can ascribe the fact to the luck of which they certainly have had a fair share this season. It cannot be said in extenuation that Albion was playing above form—the writer has seen far better displays lately from the backs —but the red forwards seemed to have lost all that dash and ability to seize an opportunity that; have contributed so largely to this team's success. • If-the display of. the . Christehureh vanguard can be described as disappointing, ' that of the backs was even wOrsie. It must be - however, that the failure - in attack of the red rearguard was to a great extent due to the poor showing of TTpton, at second five-eighths, who either missed his pass or, in an endeavour to get rid of the ball, generally threw it anywhere but in the right, direction. With the backs and forwards so much below form, the opposition should' have- piled up the points. That they did not do so ean be ascribed partly to their own mediocre showing, and partly to the defensive work of B. Murray, the CVristeimrdh full-back. The latter is probably t further exemplification of the previously-referred-to characteristic of the Christchurch fifteen, of giving in-and-out displays, for, whereas Murray was probably one of the only members of the team who did not show to advantage on the previous Saturday, his game against Albion was distinctly good. The Albion vanguard, although not impressive—it was playing several juniors—at times put plenty of vim into its rushes* and bore the brunt of the attacking work. Luke, Ward, and Jordan stood out in this respect from their confreres, the first-named especially being at times conspicuous for an occasional " solo " effort. The only back worthy of mention' was- A. Henry, at full, who, although never brilliant, materially assisted his forwards by long, well-directed line-kicking.

THIRTY INDIVIDUALS. : "It is never too late to mend." 'Varsity taught Marists this lesson last Saturday week, and apparently the Marists did not forget it, for they pulled their game, against Linwood, on Saturday, "out of the fire" just in the nick of" time. A team that will not admit defeat until the whistle sounds "time," deserve to win if it possibly can. If all our Rugby teams would realise the truth of this old maxim, and play right up to the whistle, spectators would not leave the stand five minutes before the conclusion of the game, aa they very frequently do. In a few words, the Marist-Linwood contest could be described as a medley of thirty players, each of whom used his best, and very often his worst, endeavours to secure possession of the ball. Combination! There was none — in neither the. back nor the forward divisions. One expected the Linwood packmen to work in harmony, but on the day's play Marists were quite their equal.' They secured the ball from the scrum more often than their opponents, but to say what they did next with it would be to reveal a sad state of affairs. The passing and tackling of the backs was decidedly weak, and in this department of the game, it was easily seen that Marists carry more than one ''passenger'' in their team. These latter remarks can, with correctness, be applied to Linwood also. Linwood's backs, with one or two ex ceptions, are merely "figure-heads,'' which serve to fill up gaps in the team. Some of them have no idea of what a back in the senior grade is expected to do. In fact, for the welfare of their club, and in the- interests of true Rugby, they would be better forfeiting their places to some of the more promising juniors. One very discouraging feature of this match was the amount of talk indulged in by both sides. A few weeks ago there appeared in these columns some comment on this deplorable habit, but apparantly the seed fell on stony ground. The referee is to blame to a large extent, for he holds the remedy in his own hands, and unless he takes preventive measures from the start, the habit is freely indulged in. A TACTICAL BLUNDER. Sydenham gained a tactical victory over the 'Varsity men, and beat them by nine points to three. As a matter of fact the match should never have gone to the blues at all had tho 'Varsity team played beadily in the first spell. There was a strong wind blowing in 'Varsity's favour all through the first half, but the maroons failed to

use it to advantage. They kept the game much too close, and when they had an opportunity of wearing down their opponent's somewhat feeble opposition they were satisfied with tight forward rushes.

In the second spell, when Sydenham got the wind, the latter very soon made it a valuable ally. With long kicks and strong they charged down field, keeping their opponents' backs and forwards continually on the run. This game worked well, and they gained a lead by dint of good fast play and open.

Several of the Sydenham men, for reasons best known to themselves, insisted on playing the man. More than once the referee, Mr Weston, issued a warning, but as a matter of fact he was not half strict enough, and several flagrant acts of rough play went unnoticed, or at any rate uupenalised. . On a dry ground the 'Varsity men would have been more at home, for tlieir fast men had openings that would inevitably have meant scores. The game, as if, was, was not uninteresting, but it. was at times rather unedifying. The Sydenham men know why.