TARANAKI COLTS WIN

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1934, Page 10

TARANAKI COLTS WIN

DEFEAT OF KING COUNTRY BATTLE BETWEEN FORWARDS. COLLAPSE OF LOSING TEAM. (Special to News.) • The Rugby match between the Tara-, naki colts, ahd the King Country representatives at Te Kuiti on Saturday was won by Taranaki by 14 to 3. It was a disappointing match, King Country, after giving a fair display in the first half, holding by a slight margin the honours of the spell, completely collapsed aftex- the interval. The Taranaki forwards, with the enterprising Taranaki capta,n, Burke, at the head of them, took charge and King Country put up a half-hearted defence while the Taranaki vanguard ran the score to 14 points to 3. The King Country backs Were badly bottled up by the fast breaking of. the Taranaki forwards and the defence of the inside backs. Conway, the half, played a sourid game in the first half, but his first fiveeighths, Crossman, did not give his outside Sacks a chance. His play was impressive, but he did the wrong things all the time—held on, swerved back into the pack and sent out poor passes. That Evans was so completely hemmed in was due to this fact, and the ball hardly passed the second five-eighths. McLeod, the King Country full-back, had to be put in at centre, where he was obviously out bf place, though Simpson, who took the place of full-back, was a ’ better man than Papps. In the first half the King Country forwards did good work, especially Margan and Williams, but they had to contend with strong opposition. They had nothing to touch the Taranaki player Burke, who was ably supported by Baldwin and O’Byrne. The Taranaki rearguard scarcely had a run the whole day, though Malcolm went away on an enterprising solo dash from one twenty-five to the other. It was purely a forward game all through, ahd when the King Country forwards collapsed Taranaki held the whip hand. In the centre of the island club games are irregular towards the end of the season, and lack of training must largely account for .King Cotintry’s downfall, combined with the stifling of the : backs. Nor should it be overlooked that the Taranaki- colts’ forwards are by no means opponents to be treated lightly. The teams were:—

Taranaki Colts: Papps; Hunt, Collins, Malcolm; Sangster, Cuff; Arnold; Young, Heath, Baldwin, Burke, Garvey, Upson, O’Byrne, Gardner. King Country; Simpson; Jordan, McLeod, Bathgate; Evans, Crossman; Conway; Watson, Kemp, Margan, Trust, Fletcher, Hartwell, Schwartzfeger, Williams.

In the midst of an intensive attack Jordan opened King Country’s account with a penalty, kick about a third of the way through the half. Just before half-time, after Burke had led his forwards to' the line, Sangster sent the ball back for Arnold to cut in. A sacks on the mill resulted from which O’Byrne arose a scorer. Burke made no mistake about the easy kick. Just after the interval Baldwin took advantage of the territory gained by Malcolm’s dribbling rush to burst through the remaining distance. Burke failed to convert with a shot that was not difficult. Taranaki added six more points and could have added 12 had it been keen enough. Conway, failed to get Baldwin’s speculator away and when he came following through he collected the ball again from the on-lOoking King Country men and went over in the corner to score. Young failed to convert. The total of 14 was attained with a fine penalty shot by Burke. Taranaki Colts v............ 14 King Country 3 MANAGER OF ALL BLACKS MR. V. R. MEREDITH NOMINATED. AUCKLAND SELECTOR’S CAREER. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Mr. V. R. Meredith, Auckland, has consented to.nomination as manager of the 1935 All Black team for England. During the past 11 years Mr. V. R.' Meredith has been selector for the Auckland Rugby Union, with, speils between 1924 and 1927 and 1929 and 1934. His long experience' qualifies him Well for the position of manager of the All Black team to England next year, for he is regarded as one of the finest judges of a footballer and soundest coaches in the country. . Away back in 1910 Mr. Meredith managed an All Black team to Australia. In his day he was a highly competent half-back behind the Wellington pack. Not long after his arrival at Auckland Mr. Meredith was appointed Crown Solicitor. It was in 1923 that Mr. Meredith was first appointee selector foi the Auckland Union, and it was in that year that he startled the Auckland critics by bringing up T. R. Sheen, a brilliant junior in those days, to the five-eighths line. Sheen won All Black honours in 1926 and 1928. Mt. Meredith was selector for Auckland' in the years 1923-24-27-28-29-34. In his day he was a splendid all-round athlete, specialising in hurdle events. His play behind a Rugby pack on a wet day was. renowned. He seldom dropped, a ball.