WAIKATO BEAT WANGANUI

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1931, Page 3

WAIKATO BEAT WANGANUI

COMBINATION AND FITNESS WIN. FAST RUGBY ON SOFT GROUND. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Taihape, Last ight. The Waikato touring Rugby team today beat the Wanganui representatives by 14 points (four tries, one converted) to 8 points (two tries, one converted). On a soft ground and with a treacherous wind blowing, Waikato prevailed owing to their superior combination and fitness, the score being- a fair indication of the merits of the teams. Wanganui secured from most of the scrums, thanks to superb hooking by Charles and Tasker, but Waikato played close up, and sound tackling frustrated many promising movements.. Derry, the Waikato half, played a sterling game, and was well supported by Carlson, Fitzgerald and Faucett. In a balanced pack Enson, Cameron and Storey were prominent.

"Wanganui were ably captained by “Moke” Bellis, who proved that he is still to be reckoned with. Narbey at full-back was almost faultless, and Downs, Hall and Collier were also’ outstanding. Wanganui opened up at a fast clip, Blyth, Morgan and Downs handling, and the lastnamed raced over with Blyth in support. Gibbons converted. Wilkes passed to Fitzgerald, who evaded Bellis and Narbey and whipped the ball to Faucett, who dived over. Carlson, converted. Quinn made a great run and passed to Carlson, who rolled over the line when tackled. His kick failed. The ball flashed from Fitzgerald to Quinn to Carlson, who was downed by Narbey. Quinn snapped up and passed to Wilkes, to Fitzgerald, who dived over, and Waikato led 11—5 at half-time.

From a scrum the ball went to Blyth, Morgan, Gibbons and Hall, who made a great run, and then to Davies, who scored. Collier’s kick failed. The Wanganui backs got going, but Carlson snatched the ball from Collier and dashed down the line. He passed to Fitzgerald, who sent a long pass to Storey, who foullocked over. Carlson failed with the kick.