RUGBY COMPETITIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 10 May 1935, Page 10

RUGBY COMPETITIONS

SATURDAY’S CONTESTS REVIEW OF FORM DISPLAYED. BRIGHTER FOOTBALL PLAYED. Tfip cry from the man on the terrace for bright open football has been long and insistent. Tight forward skirmishes and continual line kicking have far too often marred the prospects of a bright match- Tukapa and Hawera “delivered the goods” on Monday, and that the game was appreciated by the spectators there can be ho denying. Forwards an<j backs combined in snappy passing bouts that were reminiscent of inter-college games at their best. Tukapa' until near the end saw far too little of'the ball to indicate the trqe calibre of its backs as an attacking side. On the other hand Hawera failed to make the best of its advantage, the back.line for th® mos t Jacking.penetration. N. Jlpnter was undoubtedly the live wire of the team. At times he was inclined to cut-in too often, dropping the ball as he did so. While Dymond managed to cut through he often foiled to maintain the continuity of the movements. Hunter,, qn the other hand, manoeuvred his outside men into a scoring position. That he was not more successful was due to the sound defence of the Tukapa back line. Given the ball the Tukapa backs lost no time in getting intp action, although wild passing marred several likely chances. Both sets of forwards played a type of game all too foreign to Pukekura Park. They played the of °Ps n foot l??ll in which physical fitness must inevitably win the day. ■ * •'# * *

■pie necessity.for speed in passing and in'going to toe attack was well demonstrated in the Eltham-Inglewood game. It Was demonstrated efiieny by Eltham, which lacked inspiration in hack attacks. At no time in the game did the backs appear tp be travelling ail 9 u t while the ball was .passing along the chain. Consequently, much. of the advantage of haying the ball was lost. A few practice runs should do.the team a world of good, particularly when. Townsend settles down. It appealed possible that Young and Whiting would have been better had they been transferred ip B°sitipns. Young has any amount of dash, ? nd he has. the makings of a fine centre threequarter. Whiting, on toe other hand, was just' a little inclined to go top far and to l° se touch with his wings, a fault that he should eradicate. -He certainly has the dash necessary to finish a swift passing bout with a try. Possibly Worthington was a little to blpme in his passing, for though a tiger on defence he now and again threw ejctrpmeiy poor passes. _ Inglewood, as usual, is a tough side and before the season is half over wiU probably cause seyeral teams trouble. Tactics are conspicuously lacking in the pack, though it is a solid and well trained side. Tfie backs have potentialities and Niwa shaped particularly wejl. More cohesion i? necessary, however, particularly. in the threequarter?. The wings rarely received passes and had few opportunities to,show their paces. •«• « # *

Just how io stifle the New Plymouth Old Boys’ back-line was the problem faced by Kaponga on Monday, and it Was faced very well. The match was a continual conflict of styles in which the Kaponga forwards triumphed, retaining their grip bn the game throughout. They lapsed only three or four times, and the majority of lapses were fatal. ’ With both teams playing to definite tactics the play was extremely interesting ' and illustrated once again that a team mu?t have an advantage in forward play if jt is to succeed. The Old Boys forwards were beaten on the day but they were not disgraced in their meeting with the'kind of play best calculated to nullify their open type of game. Gargan, Gardiner and. the rest of the rugged pack broke through in close formation constantly in the first half, finding the weak spot. ’ Old Boys locked the pack better in the second spell but the Kaponga pack still came through in a manner that has come to be characteristic. Gargan earlier last year was playing splendid football and his play on Monday bore the stamp of a great forward. Gardiner caught the eye last year and is a toiler of the first degree. Old Boys’ habit of setting up a chain passing attack from a defensive position, once the Kaponga forwards cpuld be eluded, nearly always meant trouble for Kaponga, whose inside backs, were not their equal. Meredith showed excellent judgment in rufining from the scrum and Mace’s cut-ins were too successful at times, cutting him off from both backs and forwards still battling against a solid pack. While one expected the cutin it was not an obvious one, but even with the perfection of its execution one felt that Mace was inclined to overdo it. The .whole back-line was resourceful, manoeuvring for reverse passes and scissors movements in fine style. Cliff-ord-Jones was sure but did not link up with his waiting backs as would have been policy sometimes. I## K # • Stratford’s mammoth score against Athletic, showed the team in favourable light and it is evident ithat it is again going to be as hard as any team in the competition to defeat. Nevertheless Athletic, comparatively speaking, was so weak that a proper criterion of the merits of the winning side is difficult to gauge.. As usual the pack is excellent, being heavy, well trained and with two or three fast and clever players to give good service in the open. In fact, Ray Clarke is going to find a difficult job to be consistently outstanding in so even an eight. One thing did • stand out, though. That was that a more concerted push is necessary, for Athletic in the first spell, though several of tlie forwards lacked cleverness, held its own in the tight and for quite a long time had the upper hand. As it is usual to say that Stratford’s backs for years have been overshadowed by some of the club’s mighty packs, one may add that this year there is a Very distinct contrast with former times. The back line has only one weakness, and that is in a key position. Judged on Monday’s showing C. Sangster at half, though clever and nippy in the loose, was. much too slow in his passing from the base to give the fleet-footed outsides the necessary margin to allow a complete swinging into action. He made a conscious move and often turned his back on the scrum, an ineffective method at the best of times. Against fast winging forwards he might be muzzled and a good line starve for opportunities.

Lack of fitness was most evident in the Athletic side. The forwards tired badly and the backs lacked combination. For a time the forwards played really well, though there were a couple of passengers throughout. Then the men faded, and one or' two only kept going to the end. The tackling by the backs was extremely poor and it is evident that the defence will have to be considerably sharpened. Smith, the hero of the day, and Lee are reliable, but the others need plenty of coaching.

Bad handling among the backs spoiled the United Old Boys-Okaiawa match at Stratford. The Old Boys backs have proved already that they are a useful lot. and taken individually they seem really good men. On Saturday, how-

ever, the ball did not travel cleanly along the back-line;' the passes were lobbed too much instead of flying crisply, and the proportion of fumbled ana dropped passes rose accordingly. McKenzie was off his, game badly, and did not connect well with McCready ana Cochrane. McCready was the best of the backs, though he was run very close by F. Adlam, who as full-back, did not make a single mistake during *the game, The backs had scarcely one good ixin throughout the match. For’ this the forwards were largely responsible, as they were beaten nine time out of 10 in hooking from the set scrums. Kofoed’s reach was useful in the line-outs, from which he secured nearly every time. With Bonner, Kofoed was the outstanding forward of the game, and seemed tireless. The Okaiawa forwards, as a pack, were superior, during.the second half at any rate. Preston raked from the scrums in great style, and in the loose the forwards were on the ball the whole time. The backs were unfortunately not steady enough to use the ball to advantage -when they got it. Robinson played a dashing game, but could not get support. Ngaia was a tower of strength, but was isolated at centre, though, later he shifted in to second fivereighth. Ngaia's speed and fitness saved Okaiawa from many a nasty corner and he seemed to be everywhere he was needed. Last year’s junior, Toro, played a fine game at. full-back, practically his only slip- being when he let Cochrane take the ball out of his hands for Old Boys’ only try. His-line kicking was often a treat to watch.

Clifton and Waimate forwards, as expected, mostly dominated play at Waitara on Monday but did not keep the scoring down. It was Clifton’s fast breaking ■from the scrums and spoiling' of the Waimate backs that won the match combined with Waimate's inability, to -take advantage of the free kicks conceded by the opposing forwards in their eagerness. Clifton eased off towards the end of the second spell. ' ' < ’ Waimate’s backs gave glimpses of ■promise but the ball did not come cleanly enough from the scrum to give them a chance to operate before Clifton forwards were amongst them.

In striking contrast with the . game played at Pukekura Park two days later was the Star-Opunake game. Star failed to produce the penetration in the backs to turn its advantage in the scrums to account. Both sets of 'forwards lacked crisp action.

Waverley has a very promising inside combination in Thomas and Petersen. Last year’s experience should stand them in good stead. Campbell, the North Auckland three-quarter, will occasion a lot of interest, and it is to be hoped that he is fed sufficiently to demonstrate the ability which won him recognition in the north. In the forwards Waverley will field several young players, many of whom should be profiting from what they assimilated last year. Lloyd Stewart, the coach, is an old campaigner. Perhaps he can teach the Waverley team a wrinkle or two whiefi will be turned to good effect against the Wanganui city clubs.

The most notable acquisition to Auckland football is B. Killeen, who will play for Grafton. Killeen will be remembered for his fine games for Wellington two seasons ago. He suffered a loss of form last year, but has only to regain it to be assured of a place in the touring All Blacks.