TREND OF RUGBY UNION

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1933, Page 9

TREND OF RUGBY UNION

IS BACK PLAY COMING BACK? INSIDE BACKS’ RESPONSIBILITY. NEW PLYMOUTH OLD BOYS’ WIN. INSPIRED GAME WITH STRATFORD. . Old Boys proved that bright football pleasing to the crowd is also match football when Stratford, competition leader, was downed at New Plymouth. Stratford did not play badly and it was just a case of one type of football being better than another. For the first time for years the Stratford pack was held and then beaten by a set of younger and keener forwards, and a set of racy backs swung away as soon as the ball came out. The Stratford men tackled solidly but the cleverness of .the Old Boys inside backs gavd the wings the chances, to score. The match proved that Taranaki has •ome first-class footballers waiting a chance in the representative team and it is safe to predict that the next side chosen to represent the province will contain B. Mace, K. Fookes and W. Rutherford as the inside back combination, and S. Fookes as break-away. S. Fookes played a relentless game and was full of vigour from beginning to end. His magnificent example was not lost on the younger members of the pack and Alhusen, J. Mace and Evans provided their best exhibitions of enterprising forward play this season. J. Insull played a great game and shared the honours with S. Fookes while Blakeney, Luxton and McLean lent the solidity to the pack that Stratford found so perturbing. Olson was all to be desired behind the pack and, although it seemed he was a little slow on occasions, it. was * remarkable feat to get the slippery ball away cleanly at all. He was a stumbling block, to the. Stratford forwards when they ■ would break away with the ball at their feet, while Blakeney gave valuable assistance in checking such rushes. B. Mace was playing opposite G. Sangster, the Taranaki representative first five-eighths, and the day’s play left no doubt as to who is the better man. Mace was cleaner, faster and cleverer and his defence never wavered. K. Fookes, always solid, was content to shoot the ball out and the consistent Rutherford run the wings into position. Medley’s speed was a factor fn Old Boy’s win and he went for the corner like a flash every time Rutherford sent him off. Ford on the other wing is improving every game and his bacx-ing-up averted trouble on one occasion when Stratford was almost through. Cliffnrd—Tones was a reliable full-back and his line kicks sent the Stratford forwards back time after time. Had Old Boys displayed the same determination and finish in first round games the competition ladder would probably be somewhat • different to-day. Credit must be given the Stratford forwards for the dogged resistance and raking attack that they showed when it became apparent that the fire of the Old Boy pack and the sting of the backs would make the game a tough one. From whistle ,to whistle the., Stratford pack fought as one man, J. Young, Hinton, and Fastier leading it in. fine style. I They tackled hard and bustled play from end to end while early in the ! game they held a decided advantage iin territory.. On the day the pack lacked (the inspiration of Old Boys but, had ;the home forwards let up for a minute, Jthe Stratford forwards would have pressed home the advantage and pulled the match out of the fire.

C. Sangster and G. Sangster had to contend with a watchful S. Fookes, whose flying tackles nipped attempts at back play in the bud. The whole Stratford back line was slower than Old Boys and relied almost entirely on the forwards. Consequently, the touch-line was worked to excess which was a pity as Taylor on one wing showed distinct promise. . Stratford this year has lost a number of players through injuries. Haughton and Grace were badly hurt in the first game of the Season against Old Boys. Haughton will not be able to play again this season and while Grace played three weeks ago for the second time this season he had obviously not completely recovered and has not played since. The match against Inglewood on Saturday week took toll of R. Young and R. Butcher, who could not play last Saturday and who will be out for a few weeks. The battle with Old Boys therefore found the team weakened appreciably and injuries to Robson and Chap-. man have depleted the pack by another two men. Chapman is a junior but all the others are senior players. TUKAPA WIN AGAIN. Tukapa beat Clifton at New Plymouth, and the exhibition was solid but dull when compared with the game that followed. Steady rain had soaked the grass and the ball was very hard to handle, the result being that play was largely, confined to the forwards. Wonderful rushes by both packs of forwards aroused interest while the closeness of the scores maintained it until the-end. Once again O’Dowda was in the van of every Tukapa forward movement and McNeill and T. Sullivan showed plenty of dash and worked hard in the tight. Davison, Knott and Ruakere were other prominent forwards. For Clifton, Ohlsson, Fowler and Broughton were, the mainstays of a good, hard-working lot pf forwards. Papps and T. Wallace, the two full-backs, played great games and it was largely due to their efforts that the scores were so small. I. Wallace (Tukapa) was' playing first five-eighths and his performance was tire best to date.

STAR—INGLEWOOD MATCH.

In the match played between Star and

■lnglewood the points 30-14 in favour of • Star gave little indication of the ability of the teams. The way in which the Inglewood forwards shone, completely overwhelming Star in their rushes, showed that Inglewood really can give better displays of Rugby than it has been giving of late. The Star backs, however, won the day, mainly through the efforts of Ross, Harvey and Kinsella.' , They played good football and combined well; bad tackling by Inglewood gave them at least four tries. Within 10 minutes of the kick-off the points were 6 all, Ross having scored and kicked a penalty for Star, while Corney and Joblin scored for Inglewood. Although the first spell ended 22-6 in Star’s favour Inglewood was attackng for the major part, Star’s tries being scored mainly through brilliant break-aways by the backs. Probably the best try of the day was the one in which Harvey intercepted and ran half the length of the field to

let Frethey score. Saturday's match was very fast but all the players lasted well. In the scrums Inglewood hooked on most occasions but the backs were weak, their ■passing being very poor. On two occasions, with no one to pass Inglewood lost tries through.dropped passes. Clark and McLeod played great individual games in the Star forwards but were never supported. A feature of the game was the combined dribbling rushes of the Inglewood forwards, which often gained the whole length of the field.

SOUTH LEADERSHIP AT STAKE. Saturday’s matches in the south did not produce any surprises of major importance, though Eltham’s defeat of Old Boys was rather unexpected, and chief interest now centres on the meeting of Patea and Waimate at Patea bn Saturday. Though anything may happen, the winner of this game should win the division. The teams should be evenly matched. Patea will have tire advantage of playing at home but injuries have weakened the team, which was not impressive against Okaiawa. Waimate, on the other hand, gave a good display against Opunake and will be nearly at full strength, Surgenor being a probable absentee. The result will probably depend on the form shown by Waimate’s half (probably J. Paterson) and Potaka.. If these two can get really going the forwards with Gargan to rake the ball back should be able to give them enough to play with. If they are not on their game the solider Patea backs may be able to overcome any disadvantage of playing behind the apparently weaker pack. FORTUNE FAVOURS WAIMATE. Fortune smiled on Waimate in its game against Opunake at Manaia on Satur-day-three penalty goals won the day. In actual play, Waimate had a slight advantage, but Opunake played bright and clever Rugby and, had it had more luck in the positions of its own numerous penalty kicks, might have been near to victory. Waimate’s advantage lay in its back combination and in the aggression of its forwards, Opunake having an equally strong pack but failing to a slight degree in the other essential. Both sides gave fine exhibitions of tackling and line-kicking.

Waimate’s try was a piece of perfect Rugby, the ball going from half-back to both five-eighths, to the centre and on for the wing to score. Short passes, and faultless handling and considerable pace made the work look easy, but it was obvious that patient practice had been responsible for the sureness of the attack. Paterson, Waimate’s half-back, made good use of the ball once it was heeled from the scrum and the accuracy of his passes was a feature of the game. Hill played a bright and enterprising game and Potaka and K. MacDonald shone both in attack and defence. Hohaia, Opunake’s centre three-quar-ters, was prominent in attack and was responsible for the team’s seven points. His try was an exceptionally heady effort. In defence, too, Hohaia gave a solid exhibition, his tackling being sure and his kicks safe. Both packs of forwards, with Harrison and Hikaka outstanding, battled solidly* EMPIRE OLD BOYS OFF’ FORM. The team that had beaten Kaponga 17 to 6 the previous week was looked upon as a certainty against Eltham —but the unexpected . happened. Eltham proved definitely superior to Empire Old Boys and played a good hard forward game that made it impossible for the Old Boys backs to get away. Dowdle was absent, his place being taken by Herbert and the back division was l far from perfect. Even Dymond was not in bright form and was well covered by the opposing pack. Nolan replaced McCalman in the forwards but the Old Boys forwards were hardly equal to tlie Eltham pack and lacked the aggression of their opponents. Morrissey did not perform as well as usual and very seldom was he able to get the ball away before being „tackled. Old Boys certainly had a day off. The Eltham team was one that played against Patea so challengingly the previous week. The pack played ■ a vigorous attacking game and this gave an advantage by keeping Old Boys from getting away in the usual bright back runs of Dymond, Dowdle and Morrissey. The Eltham backs played in a few bright flashes, but their work lacked the necessary science. L. White played a strong game as five-eighths and Hughes, Barker, Whiting and Worthington were bright in spasms. When Trass received an injury to his eye he went full-back and Paterson came up to centre, in which position he shaped well.. The pack shared honours in the hard work, but one out-standing-was R. Burke, -whose activity certainly won the game for Eltham. He was In every break away and frequently initiated good movements. His kicking was not up to . standard and he missed a couple of easy shots. OKAIAWA’S IMPROVED PLAY. If Patea is to retain its position at the top of the South Taranaki ladder and defeat Waimate on Saturday the team will have to play better football than it did against Okaiawa on Saturday; Anxiety and excitement were the emotions that predominated , among Patea’s ,supporters until the final whistle proclaimed the side the winner' by almost the narrowest possible margin. And there was no excuse for the display Patea gave. Okaiawa has not consistently produced its best form this year, but the team showed on Saturday that it can still give a good account of itself. Tire vigour the forwards infused into their play at times completely baffled the Patea pack, and the surer handling among the backs gave Patea’s defence a real test. It is to the credit of the Patea men that they escaped as lightly as they did. Okaiawa several times found touch in handy positions, but found Patea’s defence so solid that penetration was impossible, and the invaders were time and again repelled. Laurie Edwards’ try was a good heady effort, and was typical of the manner in which he kept up with everything throughout the game. Paterson’s kick was a beauty, the ball sailing low over the bar at a difficult angle from well out Edwards' two attempts at. goal from penalties were excellent, and it was only the wind that sent the first one just outside the post. • There were. no palpable weaknesses in either back line, except that Okaiawa seemed to have more resource than the usually resourceful Patea rearguard. To win against Waimate’s' backs Patea will have to watch every opportunity and improve on Saturday’s display. The packs on Saturday were fairly evenly matched and treated the spectators to some typical Taranaki forward work. Okaiawa’s forwards were in the ascendancy more in the second session, ■ beating Patea time and again in the scrums and line-outs. They gave Edwards plenty of chances which he used to advantage, playing one of his best games this season. Waimate has a good solid pack* and should keep Patea hard at it on Saturday. WHAT OF KAPONGA’S BACKS? Perhaps the unlucky team in the south this year will be Kaponga, but yet it has not been so much luck as failure to realise the potentialities of back play. The tries the backs scored against the weak Hawera opposition on Saturday gave fleeting glimpses of what might have been, this being the only bright feature of an otherwise dull game. The trouble has been that Kaponga has had a forward complex. While a fine pack has been built up the. backs have been aubardinated to it and have developed with a kick and reach and touch consciousness. C. Paterson has all the attributes of a good back, R> Cuff can play a solid five-eighths game and Walker does some good things at half-back while others occasionally give the appearance of being quite fair club backs; yet the Kaponga backs seldom give a good display. Perhaps encouraged by the tries they scored against; Hawera on Saturday they may develop the

attacking powers of which they should be capable. The Kaponga forwards did not play as well as usual. This however, did not indicate anything but an off-day. The Hawera pack held its opponents pretty well Butchart played a rattling good game, but all went fairly brightly. The Hawera backs were not good though of course the absence of some of the best must have had an adverse effect. Bishop was the backbone of this part of the team.