RUGBY COMPETITIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1932, Page 11

RUGBY COMPETITIONS

SATURDAY’S PLAY REVIEWED END OF SEASON CONTESTS. OLD BOYS AT THE CROSS-ROADS. It must be cold comfort to Old Boys to stand at the conclusion of the season’s competitions and look back over the club’s performances. Indeed, it would not be going too far to say that the club appears to be on the brink of a crisis. The senior grade team, after winning the championship two years ago and defeating both Inglewood and Stratford once this season, has had the ignominy of being twice beaten by the wooden spooners and finishing up with the travesty in Pukekura Park on Saturday. The first juniors stand bottom of the ladder with no wins, 25 points for, 231 points against, and a number of defaults. The third grade team is second to bottom, and the fourth and . fifth grades have no Old Boys’ teams in at all- . , These matters are mentioned, not to hold the club up to derision but in the hope that the suggestion of an onlooker may be helpful. It is true that injuries have seriously affected the senior team, but the root of the trouble is failure to build up properly from the bottom. This is primarily due to lack of strong and efficient managers of the lower grade teams. A secondary consideration in the higher grades seems to have been either lack of sufficiently strong leadership or lack of sufficient loyalty and faith in the existing leadership—a fault not confined to Old Boys football teams. One of the results has been the failure to practice in the latter stages of the season, with disastrous effect. .No one with the interests of Taranaki Rugby at heart would like to see the Old Boys Club go under, for New Plymouth can and should support three senior teams. Nor is there any reason why . the club should not turn the corner next season if definite steps are taken to place the management in enterprising and efficient hands. It is to be hoped that this will be achieved, for even then the goal will not be reached in a day. Of the actual game on Saturday the less said the better. Inglewood was as much, superior to Old Boys as the difference in the scores indicates, thanks very largely to Hunt. Quite apart from the general play, however, spectators left the field with one particular factor disturbing them.. It was the question of the pass to which football has been brought by the recent changes in rules and rulings, with particular application to the wing-forward. That is a matter which is discussed in another column. PATCHY GAME AT MANAIA.

The game between Waimate and Kaponga was a patchy bne. Some very bright runs were seen in the later stages but these all lacked that inspired finish so necessary to good football. In the first stages the play was dull and uninteresting and it was only after halftime that the teams warmed up and let themselves go. The teams did not comprise the best selection and juniors had to be called in to make up the fifteens. West and Eynon were requisitioned for Kaponga, and both gave a. good •account of themselves, West scoring, a try and converting. C. Paterson, Orini.ston and L. Whalen did good work in the back division, while in the forwards H. Gardner, P. Gargan and P. Murphy took a leading part in the rushes. Although Waimate forwards were not a strong combination they succeeded in hooking a fair share of the ball. J. Paterson played one *of his best games of the season at half and sent the ball away well. Whalen, Hill and Mercer were prominent in the back division, but their work was not as sure as on former occasions. Rei played full-back but he would have figured better as a wing three-quarter. The Waimate forwards were not sufficiently aggressive in the loose but M. Burke, Murfitt, Payne and Bourke were constant workers, though the combination was not as good as it should have been. On the day’s play there was not a great deal of superiority in the Kaponga fifteen, but they certainly had the better of the game. Several of the back passing runs in the second half were exciting. Lack of spirit and inability to complete movements characterised the game, which was between teams definitely out of the running for the championship.