RUGBY UNION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17017, 16 April 1923, Page 2

RUGBY UNION.

THE OPENING GAMES. NOTES AND COMMENTS. jTI ie first Rugby matches of tho .season were Fast and interesting. It looks as if Canterbury going to have one of the best footb.au years on record and the content for championship honours is certain to be keen right through. All that is needed now is steady training. MARKETS (9} v. OLD BOYS (b). Marists weie lucky to win their 'natch against Old Boys in the Oval. It was a ding-dong struggle from whistle to whi.-tle, with both sideg .‘ ‘.raining every muscle to bring off a Old Boys did most of the attacking. Their following-up w r as splendid and they anticipate l the trend of play wonderfully. Cast-iron defence saved Marists from defeat. The more they were hemmed in. the more dogged became their resistance. Marists’ wing forward was M. Sulj iiva-n, from Dur-edin. He put up a j great performance iit the loose and hi* j (jotted goal was a beauty. ! Petersen, of course, was everywhere, ! a tiger for work and able to cope | with any emergency. In the line-out | he was seldom overshadowed, though j well and consistently marked. ! AUCleary never let up. Marists will ! fir lucky if he is available throughout ■ lie season. His knowledge of the finer points of ti e game lias improved and lie can dribble with the best of t-J em. Frame and PJazey were two other good forwards. Frame, in particular. Kept on the leather a«d raided thj Old Boys’ hacks. Alarists had three new backs out—Batchelor, at half, and Gilroy and

O’Loughlin on the w ings. Batchelor 1 was getting the ball away quicker in ! the second half. The best feature of the play of the wing-three-quarters was their low tackling. As the .season gets on. they will probably become faster off the mark when in posaessoin. | D. A I’Cormiers had a busy day at first five-eighth and he handled everything that came his way with ability and despatch. His cutting-in was the work of an expert and he fooled the other side repeatedly. Fitzgerald, though out of position, occasionally on defence, was a big asset :m* Marists. He was always ready for nn opening and his passing on tho whole was better than it was last season. The outstanding back for Old Boys was D. Hay. first five-eighth. More weight would fie an advantage, but he made up for that by celerity and resourcefulness. He set his backs in motion time and again with shrewdly planned movements. S. R. Carletow, the other five-eighth,

u a.s also in tip-top lorm. His ’.ng held a promise of what he tan do from odd angles of the field, but when passing lie was apt to crowd his supports. His brother. R. J. Garleton, proved a plucky half-back. He is rather young for senior play. Thompson, centre three-quarter, appeared to bo on the verge of doing something big all day. but There appeared to be some delay in getting the hall out. The oilier side were often on to him a second eariv. Bowes scored a fine try. making up with something to spare for one he lost through a lcx>ck-on. Werren wait not exactly keyed-up. Both evidently require harder training. The full-backs Harris and Bro*. nahnn, did all that was necessarv. Neither let their side down. The pick of tho Old Bovs’ forwards were IVf.il!iken. Maxwell and Gray, but fhe whole eight were an even lot. excelling in short passing bouts and in follcwing-up. They wasted no time about getting down aftei the high kicks and they outmanoeuvred Afarista occasionally in the line-out. CH RISTCH I r Rf H (18) ’YARsHT (17). The game between Christchurch and I arsitv did not provide a verv highclass exhibition of football, hut srill it did not lack interest and exciting incidents. Christchurch won by the nariow margin of a |X)int. but the came might quite easily have gone the other way. In fact, on the day s play. Varsity was probable the better C**iu. Neither set of backs showed much combination, but the Varsity backa were the Hotter set. and the Varsity forwards were, on the whole, superior to the Christchurch forwards. One of the wing three-quarters year for ’Varsity is C. F Low. who. as a schoolboy, made a name for himself in several branches of srx>»*t. V~ith his speed and weight Low should, prove a useful scoring man for lus team. Christchurch also had the services cf ?- well-known runner on the wing,

A. Lewis. Lewis was originally pick* ed as emergency for the team an-ri only got a game through the unavoidable absence of Y. H. Robinson. However, after his display on Saturday, it is difficult to see liow Lewis can be kept out of the team. He earned his place. TV. Af.elvin. who played half-back for Christchurch last season, was the other winger on Saturday. He seems better suited to this position than that of half and on Saturday he showed quite a fair amount of Hash and speed. The half-back for Christchurch this year is a promoted third-grade player, C. Cocks, who. while possessing a certain amount of v-! eve nips*. rather light and slight for a senior player. He looks the sort of half that needs to l>e well protected by forwards. ’Varsity have a tricky half in J. Brodio and he should prove very useful once the other hacks settle down to a- better combination. Orchard is again full-back for ChristehUroh. His display on Saturday was rather disappointing and was not equal to what he is capable of. However, allowances must be made in a first-of-the-sea-son game. Tho ’Varsity forwards brought off .some good rushes which swept all over the opposition- With W. T. bien, F. S. Ora veil and T. B. Jackson ’Varsity have the nucleus of a good

SVIXEN HAM-LYTTELTON (8) vALB lON (8). The Sydenham-Lvttelton v. Albion match ended ii a draw, but this was hardly the result that the pla;> merited. Albion were certainly good at times, but the * persistently aggressive play cajne from their opponents, who were on the attack during most of the first, wpell. and a suoriantial portion of the second. Their team work was also considerably better than Albion’s. The backs played good football at times, and occasionally their passing rushes went splendidly lor a distance, to break down at the critical moment through wine faulty movement. This occurred more frequently than was necessary. Album's form seemed to indicate that after a few games together they should develop : nt© a pretty solid team. There are some good players in it, particularly J. Foster, the young half. The play, oil the whole, was rather patchy, but this was only to he expected under the conditions attached to ait opening game. Both teams contain excellent material wl-icli can easily be moulded into a formidable combinahon. Whether this will be done depend.* upon the energy and enthusiasm • lisp.laxr i by both the manage n lent i.ml placing ends of the two clubs.

J. Foster, the Albion half-back, a promoted junii . player. is young, and ahoulci be a prominent figure as ite gains experience. On Saturday he wa* the backbone oi his ride's defence. He i* very quick, a good kick, and tackier, well. S. Pitt is the placekickev of the te-un, but he was not in iiis be*t form on Saturday, evidently being short of practice. G. Rutheriord is a fine following-up forward, and fco his persistency in this direction was 4u* a try when a score was needed. H« i* also good in the heavy work and is a decidedly useful player. Other fprvrards that did well were K. Montraery. R. R. Masters. P. Worrin and R. Trimble. O. T. Great batch, of she Sydenhamteam, is a dashing forward, •£d •vidently is m good condition. He waa prominent, for a lot of work, ami did it well. P. Giles is another forward wiio plays a hard gwno. He is Mg and seems to take a delight in tfc* heavy work. G. Toy, the wing, has a good turn of speed. He got away two or three time* and was only overtaken on the line Other forwards prominent were T. Irawn, P. Miller, H. Bathurst a. d L. Gilmonr. W. Bmythe was not at his beet as fullback. A change of position might bo beneficial- The best of the backs were A. J. Skelton, J R. I>unlop, R. Colbu and R. Maldin. MERIVALE v. NORTH CANTERBURY. Lack ol confidence and lack of proper training on the. part of tire North Canterbury team enabled Men vale. t>o get an easy wm at Rangioru. Tlie match was cbieuy of interest because it was tlie first time for maay years that a North Canterbury fifteen was taking part in the senior oompetition. ’1 he duo had been subjected to a certain amouiu of cntioiam for its action in entering a senior team, especially as it had not. done particularly well iu tide juniors* last reason, but even if the team ha*, more reverses than successes ihis year, it i»> not likely that its participation in the competition can have anything but a good result for Rugby in the district.

On .Saturday's showing North Canterbury are entering the competition with a weak, untrained team,* but it is quite to be expected that after they have had a few good encounters with city teams they will brighten up considerablv. Their chief fault, collectively- seems to be lack of confidence when ha lulling tlie ball or tackling their opponent*. Together with their lack of confidence they have practically no idea. combination as it is understood, and nhenever they strike brilliant patches the support that is so essential to succcaa is lacking. On several occasions on Saturday. North Canterbury seemed to be within an ace of scoring. yet they went through, the match without getting a single point. Before the match started. Merivale’e win was » foregone conclusion but the spectators did not expect to see. such a one-sided game.

Merirale appear to be a good team, snd should occupy a satisfactory position at tlie end of the competition. They are strong in the backs and have a good pack of forwards who will implore as the season advances. On Saturday four of their six tries were scored by backs, and their defence was sure nil the time Penberthy being a good full-back. Menvah have yet to find their goal kicker. Penberthy, Evans and Lodge did the kicking off Saturday. and out of six tries, one scored behind the posts, only one was converted.

North Canterbury have a few good players who will attract attention this t-eason. One of tho.se is G. Scrimshaw, of Gust, who played very well on Sat urday. flu the other hand there are several players who are not up to senior form, although they may improve a good deal during the season. There w»* practically no really brillinut play in the match, this probably ‘ being accounted for by the fact that was the beginning of a new season end the teams were not in the best of condition. There was also a larger number of casualties than the generally seen in a match, but none of them were •< rious, and only one player had to retire. Altogether there must have been about a dozen stoppages on account of accidents, mostly of a minor nature. Breaches of rules were not particular ly frequent, and most of what did occur were noticed by the referee, Dr M. Ramsay, of Kaiapoi. who gave general satisfaction to both sides. A very glaring case oi tripping on the part, of .1 North Canterbury player occurred, butijifortunately the referee, who was at the other end of the field at the time, «ud not notice it. In collaring, the North Canterbury men showed a certain nervousness, and this got- them into difficulties at times. At passing Merivale were far and away superior to their opponents, but the game was conspicuous by the absence of really good passing rushes It. was more like a practice game than a competition match, which perhaps, was what could be exVerted on the opening day. The ground w a*, level but very hard, as many of the players found out during the game. None of the North Canterbury men Mir only » few of tlie Merivale men Vad numbers on their hacks and it is to be hoped that this omission will be rectified ir future. | t would also be n good thing if the Rugby Union could * r*-ange for the sale of official programme* at future matches played at Bangioi a.