RUGBY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16739, 22 May 1922, Page 2

RUGBY.

MARISTS DEFEATED AT LAST.,

The substantial defeat of lfarists by hlnrivnle on Saturday broke the re~ markable series of “ the Greens’ " successes since the opening of the 1920 season. It was the more surprising- in view of )lorivale.— narrow and lucky Win against Sydenham-Lyttc-lton a. week prm'iously. but- it was fitting that Merivale should pull off such a big coup. as the-3' had been the closest chal~ longer: of the Green combination for the last three seasons. ’l'lm win could not have come at a hotter time in tho inter-(fits of Rugby. as the senior vompetition will now have a. much greater attraction for follownrs of tho game generally. Linwood art; now leading: in the Com” petition. half a homo ahead of )lerivale. with Marists half a. point away third. Linwood. with their two hard—mt matchns yet to play. will have their load chnllengod next Saturday by Blar—ists. and on the following Saturday tth will have to meet Merivale. This will romplete tho first round of the senior competition. and it looks: a: if mm of the very claw old—time finishe: might- lm expected later in the season. MERIVALE (713) v. BIARISTS (3). Failure to hook the hall with a throe-two—three scrum formation apQoarerl to be at the root of Klarists’ defeat. The tn'o—tliree-~two 3lerirale pack drove a wedge into tho opposition. and hooked the ball about four times to )larists’ once. \Vhen flicsnrums were inconclusive Blarists did not seem to have the advantage in “eight; that the eighth man ought to have given them. Deprived of the initiative in attack. )larists were not equal or accustomed to a defensive role. lndiriduals fell down badly on defence. and a.‘ a whole the team \ra‘ weak in this department. \Vhere one had prrvionslg' >een the ball coming out to the llarists‘ backs. to be thrown about fronly' for the other side to worry about. the position on Saturday was entirely reversed. Most, of the passing was done bv Blerivale. and it we: rather pathetic to see. the dummy pass come off three or four times. It was a, pas<ing game: that Merivnle went for. and the handling of all the backs “'3: extraordinarily good. although the nassem as such. were a bit. slow to have succeeded in really good Com—pany. This, however. did not. apply to the passes from which Ford scored two of his tries. __ .

Merivale must hare been on theattack for three-fourths of the time. and any anxiety that their supporters might have had was quite ungrounded. Bach and forward they held the upper hand. )(any a. time they were penned on their line. but the). defended very (loggodly. The only conclusion to be drawn from the match was that- )larisrts were outplayed, back and forward. “'hether they had an off day is smother question. Cvrtainh‘ the )lullins brothers were 03 colour. and J. )I'C'ormack was patchy. but this had not-hing to do with the failure of the forwards. Alterations in ihe )larists team (lid not conduce to smooth working in the hacks. althnugh the primary difficulty lay with the forwards. Kirwnn “xi; half. M Donald first and D. D‘l‘Cormnck second five—eighths (in place of Fitzgerald) and James M’Cormnck centre. with the Mullins brothers on either hand. This combination was weak defensively us far as the inside backs were concerned, and in addition J. Bl‘Cormick proved to be very weak in attack, in—asmuch us he hung on persistently and was half a dozen times brought down with the ball or bustlcd into making :1 wild pass when a good attacking, move--mom; was at the critical stage.

~[iii-wan “‘as as good as any of the llarist- backs. He passed nut as nsuaL and it was not his fault if results did not come. M’Donald. when cloae '0 the line. made hex-culvert efforts in score. and his try was the result of half a dozen (lashes almost at the same spot. He was slow on the tackle. however, and let one or two men slip by. I), .‘l'Cormack's value is very hard "n npnruiho. Ho was not keyed up to the defensive game, although lively in an tat-k. J. )["(,‘urmack was not Worth his place on the day. J. and H. Mullins both had to retire before the day was out. and they must have been feeling below form from the word go. I“. Smybh is not to be beaten as .1 grufter. He was over once, but just missed the try by an inch. Another time he was pushed out a yard short. Petersen was offside too much.

Brosnahan was safe in taking the ball and fast. in picking up ground‘ but he was not equal to roughing it with the opposition and did not emerge too well as regards tarkling. However, 1115 line kicking was, as usual. very fine.

M. Brosuzm. the Merivnle half. never sent the ball out better, and went down in a lot of rush stopping. Certainly by; was pretty well defended by Carnegio‘ and was minus the attentions of An opposing wing forward.

Evans did the tricky work that made the opposition look easy. At cutting in and working: the dummy he was most exhilarating. Hardie was safe enough except for an occasional miss. Blaze? was the least pleasing of the backs. b“rauhe he was always inclined‘to take the unorfhndox move at a stage when there was no need for it.

R, H. Ford's three triea “‘PI‘P splendid efforts. He did not make a mi:— takn of any kind throughout ths‘ dav. His flaming was hriHinnt. and 110 ran strongly and was; hnl'd to stop. Ono rarely sees :1 player get through Huh :1 (Ivan dav’s work. capped with three spvr‘tar-ular triesV nll s(oer just at the ('nrner The grandstand crowds stood tn :1 man whpn 119 simply bounced through the )Inrists dofeut'o once with the hall lwnntifnlly gathered in Iqu Fll'idO. It was .1 great rum and .T MrC'urmnck “’llth not have guthPrerY him if he hnd not been able to (-1050 on him at an angle. Ford‘s play “‘3: much above the standard shown against ('hristrhnrrh n fortnight previoush' \'\'. Ford, for u great part of the march had the spectators on the, tiptoe of ev'itement with trickv litt‘m,

stops and starts that haxl the opposition baffled. Hn had the. harder side to get through, and he was not quite so aggressive in attack as his brother, but he. gave :1 finn display and was ..1ways thrusting at the defence in a dangerous manner. B - lnnding two goals out of three from the. side line, Peuberthy restored confidence In his ability with the booz. He Was well on his game in kicking well and followmg up fast. In tackling he “'3; (le’r‘idedlir the sounder of the. full backs.

N. Carnegie not only led in the loose, but whipped out the hall for a pa<sing mow-mnnt “hon possible hut. :11] of the forwards: “‘r'nf WP“, and “mi!" display xhnuM thspnkf‘ of ;m\' itlml of rhnnginq l‘m‘m Mm”! Hm hnnkovzx plnx'r'd “.4! wp In .‘Jm‘lt'fln I‘Pyun‘nliwn, l'nt va

must have had the weight behind them to do it. Mr J. F. "Leake turned out for his first game this season. He got a tight hold of the game with a free us«s of the whistle early in the play, and after that controlled it very well. If he did not see everything, at least the rim of luck was not against the loser®. CHRISTCHURCH (27), OLD BOYS (ID Old Boys made another poor showing on Saturday, when they were matched against Christchurch. Christchurch owe their victory to the fact that their hacks were much better than the Old / Boys’ rearguard. Tn the forward.? the teams were fairly evenly matched though, if anything. Christchurch had the advantage. The Old Boys backs had been rearranged and changed but not to much advantage. F. J. Jacobs played full back in place of Boag, but his display was not impressive and he struck one ns being too slow. However. Jacobs is young yet and with practice he may develop into a verv fair full hack. Zimmerman, who is in Christchurch on holiday, played centre three quarters for Old Boys. Zimmerman has a verv fair turn of speed and it proved useful on Saturday when he followed a kick up fast and scored. However, his handling cf the ball was not too sure, and on several occasions he bungled passes. One of the best tries for Old Boys was scored by Werren, who was playing wing three quarter. He got the ba’l in a passing rush and pntitng on a great burst of speed raced for the lin< Ho scored right on the corner and was rather lucky in not being pushed out. However, it was quite a spectacular try. Old Boys were again without the services of Guiney. and Harris was given a try at half back. He shaped weU and with practice should develop into a good half. Guiney hopes to be able to turn out for Old Boy® next Saturday. His knowledge of the game and head work are worth a good deal to Old Boys. Carleton. who played five-eighths for Old Boys was sound on defence, and he showed plenty of dash on the feuoccasions when the Old Boys’ backs attacked. One thing wrong with the Old Roys’ backs is the fact that nearly all of them have had little experience in senior football. Some of them played for High School only last season and whilst they shone in schoolboy ranks, it is too much to expect them to do the same in their first year in senior football. Tn fact a season of two in junior football is the best training for the senior grade. Gray was again the best of the Old Books’ forwards, though he did not show as much dash as against Mnrists the previous . Saturday. Donnellv, Otley and Baird were also prominent. Christchurch were again without th» services of their full-back. Orchard, ani his place was taken by Robinson, who was safe but not as brilliant as Orchard. Christchurch tried the experiment on Saturday of playing an extra man in the backs. They took McDonald out of the pack and put him half back. Batley and Fyfe were five-eighths, ana Boon. Melvin, Brown pud Cowlishnw. occupied the throe quarter line. An extra man in the hacks is very useful, because in a passing rush the man on th v wing is often left unmarked unless of course the other side is also playing an extra man. However, unless the backs run straight there is always the danger of crowding with an extri man in the three-quarter line. On the whole the experiment worked ven v eil with the Christchurch backs.

All things considered. Bit-Donald pl3“ed \réll at half-back and he generallv got the ball away from the serum quickly; Fyfe at fire-eighths was rather war-l: and more than once hex 900 i": Passing rushes by faultv handling Batlex‘ showed a lot of clash at five—(iixzhthS. He is a, vary useful man to (‘hristrhurvlL Bran who was in th‘ thrr‘e-quarter lint‘ proved a prolific SFOIOF. ln all he scored eighteen noints out of a total of twenty—seven. Brown rogistprml thron tries. converte‘l three and lzivked a penalty goal. He, “'3: probably the host hack on the ground. though once or twin" he spoilt passing rushes by missh]: his pass. The Christ-church forfltards worked Kolirlly' and got their fair share of the hall from the serum. Gibson. Gernl-l. Knight and Robinson were perhaps th: hest

SYDENHAM-LY'I’TELTON (23) v‘ ALBION (6).

Still unable to muster a. regular, well-trained fifteen. Albion were easily beaten by the combined team. Syden-.ham-Lyttelton are improving all the time. They put plent}r of dash into their work on Saturday. and the win ~should do fl. lot for the new club. The improvement will become more noticeable when some of the players give up the talk habit, when all the backs go for the ball on the full. and when proper combination is given a trial.

W. Smythe was absent, so Geaiey left the three-quarter line and played full-back. He was one of the men who preferred, early in the game, to see the ball bounce. It cost him heaps of trouble. At other times he punted out when away from his own twentyfive, evidently forgetting all about the changed rule. R. Collins, right wing, requires more determination. Then lie will give himself and his side a fair chance. Dunlop scored a good try in the first half and he kicked well, though often too far. A. J. Skelton, second five-eighth, shows promise, but he will have to in lietter with his supports. Solo play doesn't cut much ice. The combined team's real backs were G. Cain (half), H. Watson (first five-eighth), and J. Sargentina (centre three-quarter), and the headiest of the trio was Watson. A man who fails to get rattled is a big asset. Sargentina has a vigorous style and a sure pair of hand*. Of the Sydenham-Lyt telton forwards C. Toy, winger, was out in the lead all day. spoiling effectively and helping his backs. The rep. selectors ought to take a “lighter” in his direction. Other good, hefty, grafting forwards were GMlmour, Watkins and Greatbach. Jefferies was spelling. Albion were at sixes and sevens and their form often seemed below par. They have one of the best packs ill the competition, always battling hard. It is a pity decent backs cannot be found to fill the spare places behind the scrum M’Lean displayed average fullback ability, generally performing well but lacking the solid tackle so necessary on defence. Xillibum has only to shoot the ball out faster to be a thoroughly useful half-back. He went down to rushes in tip-top style nnd kept- up with the The two fit e-eighths, ,l Daddy ,y

Gray and W. L. Henry, started score* of bright movements, but they were without adequate support. Gray was trying to do too wiucl\ heavy 6tuff for a man of his years. By rights, he should stick to the bank. Henry was a past master at finding the gap with beautifully-judged punts, but a bad knee tended to keep him quiet. A. Henry, keen but portly, took everything that was coming on the right of the th re e-quarter line and asked for more. Take Gray, he’s dons his whack, and ought to be allowed to take things easy along with the barr ackers. Best Albion forwards:—Gallarin. Masters, Hogg and Gibson. If th© others keep going, they will turn out all right. It’s up to club officials to give them ev*»_y chance. NOTES. A chart purporting to illustrate th© kick-into-touch penalty has come to hand from the Rugby Union. It is a painstaking effort to illustrate the working of the new rules, but it fails to clarify tile situation. The rule is simplicity itself, and could be stated in twenty simple words.