TO-DAY’S GAMES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17039, 12 May 1923, Page 9

TO-DAY’S GAMES.

UNION RUGBY,

SENIOR COMPETITION. The fifth round of matches in th*> Canterbury Rugby Union's competitions was played to-ilay in good weather. The grounds at Lancaster Park were in fair order. Keen interest was shown in the match. Marists v. Merivale, on the Oval, and the stands were full of spectators. Last season Merivale were the only tenrn to beat Marists. but this year they have been weakened Hy the absence of the For?! brothers. 11. F.Vanf, their captain, is on the injured li 3 t. Marists were up to full •trength.

POSITION OF TEAMS.

The following table shows the position

MARISTS V. MERIVALE.

Merivale kicked off and their forwards went after the ball, getting into Marists' twenty-five. After a scramble. Petersen kioked out. Marists won the line-out and next minute they were awarded a free kick. McCarthy tried a shot at goal but. missed. The next line-out saw Merivale going hard. They battled through to halfway, keeping on the ball in great style. M'Caoe flashed out, and he was dangerous when a knock-on held him up. Merivale loet the scrum, but they centred and made for the line. Brosnahan took a high kick beautifully. He dodged Masson and passed out. M’Carthy was in front. Another •crum and then a line-out, both in Marists' twenty-five. Play was exoiting. Marists had to defend sternly, but Merivale's backs did not have the combination. Their forwards were their strength. Cheers were given for a wonderful line-kick by Penerthy, and they were repeated when he marked at a critical moment. Now Mar- ♦! te uifi tack fn d ,_' only to meet with deadly tackling. Th© game swung rou-nd half®v.ery inch of ground being hotly contested. hirwan, M'CornMck, M’Carthy and Fitzgerald went <-ff in a concerted rusn, witli short passes iale'Vo'r o*'' 0 *'' £ a “ and all - AEain th ® Meri. ° a at “■ I * d Sergison Lodge Broenaha,, was forced to specuout of arti«„ kl « the , head put M’Cabe oxit of action and Merivale had to search the “call wen, te V Th ." r 6 T as -hen i. ” 11 * ent . tor . Jocky " Ford. While rush. FitzgeraUD a‘^en^d 01 '^’’* eh S e'er.? d at Gi t^ y et'nt" «*“ ™« Merivale Tmo top bearina T down l^.n de T! a ,le ? rouB onulaiight. the hT.ll at *u • ® lo *nahan and keeping a arei „va«on 6 wn fePt Ford Riven M’Cabe’s ~lr, * hen * ® a Pf eared, taking game w- sec ° nd five-eighths. The game w.,, more hotly contested than ever. ( up *° half-time the cheering and Doreen eer S n £ was deafening. Once c ° ' " 'f'!- nnsuarded. but the paa, came a second late. A dodgy run by Fit? izn halt , “.<■ Merivale "cam out r , nI L "" straight for the goal. For. . P uppos r °hl" ah f “ d For P d ttr " ,de . e %*£ moment. Wt««eraldf e iall!» aC a At the Bame got in front galloped across field. ball into * tIL Maß , Bon - and booted the oau into the dead-ball area Tt After t a° Ue mele IUCk , for Merivall. for I melee ’ play stopped gerafrl He t 0 an - in:iur y to Fitzattackin- ‘J° ?.° off - Merivale kept He ?n«t Hardie almost got over, rush with Forrt ead ? f pacing. A passing ro-Pa„in e roueed *hi c'S ToT verted. The score at half-time wag - . . Merivale 5. Marists 3. alm*rt V a S 0 K) o V „ U a?th„ ar '” t " a" \ heir te^ SfuT-an^^ra^’lr-i-^^t SS. *T tTSuTS’ or ra-^on“n^ e ? % ~ & were over-anxious. A high kick to Rmf nah an gave Merivale ihS “■ ?oWuuced - d up a defcr^ k e,roSiv m e! a uuiil Luo y ckon» t k‘ C ,°?H D ~»l>* d Passef and &££ F d " line was in grave danger. ° hance of up. dead-ball Hnt d w 8 Bpecu late over the •»“ tSffr Wk. ’SSZIZSZjV&TSi U, O e PPe ?a d k n iiuf r T. S 8 Wi “„ e - k At sides aud r twards ‘had ““to “.5 round continually *, 811 the gaps ?. he '*“*** killing. From a half-way l.ne-out Merivale were awarded a fre<£ kK-k for obstruction. This gave them , good position, and they dashed off. Ford round'fo Vi,® ba , n 1? Doree “ and raced round to support. He took the next pass at top. Blezey ended the movement by going■■ vver at the corner. Few exne<*t« i viol „berthy would land his fourth goal. It was a difficult angle, but the hall sailed straight and low over the crossbar a beauty. Still Merivale attacked. It Mas their day. When the ball-came out from a melee Hardie tried a " pot." That '\ a ’\f l not,ler J^ our P°* ntß - Marists revived slightly and after a desperate effort O Loughlin took a pass from M/Cormick •nd scored. Sullivan missed the goal The game ended:— MERIVALE . . TWENTY-FOUR MARISTS . SIX

’VARSITY V. NORTH CANTERBURY.

Varsity—S. A. Bennett, C. E. Low W. L. Bell. W. M. Te Awarua, B. Cooper A •T• IMckson, L. S. Dewar. R, J. Comrie’ w' Dryden, F. W. Petre. E. S. Craven. J. o! Riddle, P. S. Seyb, W. Manson, R. Withell. North Canterbury—J. Scott, E. Buckley, Scrimshaw. S. Graham. E. Smith, R. Sinclair, J. M'Kenzie, J. Hughey. R. Hewitt. G. Young. J. Harding. G. Langl Referee: Mr E. G. Keats. 'Varsity were without nine of their usual players, six being away with the N.Z. 'Varsity team to Australia and three others being unavoidably absent. However, when North Canterbury kicked off they were three men short. Soon alter the kick-off North Canterbury attacked and 'Varsity were compelled to force. The 'Varsity forwards then took a hand and from a dribbling rush Withell scored. The 'Varsity forwards returned to the attack and presently Craven scored from a rush. Neither of these tries were converted. Dewar, the 'Varsity half-back, set his hack« going from a scrum. The ball travelled out to Tc Awarua. who dashed over for a good try. Craven failed with the kick. 'Varsity kept up the attack, and another trv was registered for them by Withell. The half-time score was: 'Var'ity 12, North Cnnterburv 0. Pont after the kick-off Dewar (’Varsity) set his hacks going from a scrum five yards out. and Low dashed over unopposed. Cooner failed to convert. A minute or so later Manson scored for ’Varsity after a good niece of dribbling. Petre • major points. North Canterbury’ attacked. Thev were awarded a freekick at the t_wentv-five, and Scrimshaw r *,<-; s tered a good goal. 'Varsity returned to the attack and from a passing rush scored. Petre’s shot at goal missed. ■Vqraitv continued to press. Dewar ser"-'! and nnsaprt to T^> w . who scored, but f >«l<*d to convert. Time was called soon after with the scores:— •VARSTTY . TWENTY-SIX NORTH CANTERBURY . THREE

CHRISTCHURCH V. LINWOOD.

Advantage was taken by Crown of a Linwood passing rush breaking up. tie gathered in the bail and galloped into Linwood s twenty-five. When cuailenged he pasted to Robilliard who was lollowii g closely, but the latter was %>ell taken by Gregory, and Linwood got out ; 1 a dangerous corner. They retaliated with a dribbling rush whicn Orchard checked with a good kick. 1. H. Brown snatched the ball from the Linwood forwards and was joined by Melvin. Vi ith passing and in-passiiig the two made a good bid for a. try, but v> right up-ended Melvin. i passing, rush among the forwards was initiated by Wright, and carried on by Gibson and M’Donald. the latter crossing the line, but a five varus scrum was oroe. <m for an iniringeme..-. .hut afier this Orchard had a pot at goal from outside the twenty-five and the ball was just a little too low. The first score went up when Leahy (Christchurch) crossed the line after a forward rush. Brown did not convert. Young broke up a Christchurch attack hy charging the ball and he dribbled the leather over the line compelling Orchard to force. Gregory camo away from behind a scrummage, but solid tackling checked attempts niude at passing. Morrow got, away on a aolo effort. He kicked the ball hard and vr as just beaten in a race with two of the Christchurch backs, the hail being kicked into touuh. A u piece of passing between three Linwood backs ended in M’Gill scoring near the corner after a short run down the line. TJie half-time score war Christchurch 3. Linwood 3. Christchurch attacked and Gregory relieved. A penalty in a handy position g.ivo Anderson a shot at goal, the hall going wide. O. Turpin, captain of Liuwood team, received an injury to the right ankle in a scriiramage and had to retire. A nice passing rush among the Christchurch Lacks gained a lot of ground, hut Brown slipped when Robinson was ready to receive the ball. From subseuuont play in front, of the goal, however, M’Donald scored. Anderson’s kick Borne brisk work and good following up b. Linwood forwards saw them get down on to the Christchurch line and M’Gill dived across. Wright converted. Just on the <-al] of time Robertson dashed across with a Linwood man hanging to his jersey. Brown was unsuccessful with the kick and the game ended:— CHIUSTCIIUROH NINE LINWOOD EIGHT

OLD BOYS V. SYDENHAM-

From the kick-off Old Boyß made the pace and soon had their opponents defending hard in their own twenty-five. A good kick relieved, but the respite was temporary, and the Whites were soon baca again, and on the twenty-five R. J. Carleton took a clever from which he kicked a goal. Play for some time afterwards was in midfield, loose and rather scrambling attacks by both sides ending indecisively. A mark by Playley gave a shot at goal in an easy position, but tiie ball was charged down. A mark by Skelton a little later saw the ensuing shot at goal go wide. Play changed swiftly to the SydenhaniLyttelton twenty-five, where Bowes, getting the ball from a passing rush, scored. The kick failed. A splendid dodging run by Werren, in the course of which he fooled several opponents, culminated in a score b-v Bowes, who received the ball from Werren near the line and ran over without opposition. The kick failed. SydenhamLyttelton had bad luck in missing a score a little later, a man getting over, but being brought back through a forward pass. At half-time the scores were:— Old Boys 9, Sydenham-Lyttelton 0. From a pretty attack in which the whole line participated Bowes got across fairly early in the second spell. The kick failed again. Then Dunlop crossed near the posts. The kick failed. From the restart Old Boys attacked for some time, their backs showing some pretty play, and going close to scoring on several occasions. Thompson getting the ball at midfield, got away alone, and, outpacing his opponents, scored under the posts. Bpwes converted and the final scores were:— OLD BOYS . SEVENTEEN SYDENHAM-LYTTELTON EIGHT’

NEXT SATURDAY'S GAMES.

OI,I> BOYS V. MERIVALE MARIST v. ALBION. CHRISTCHURCH t. NORTH CANTERBURY. LINWOOD v. SVDBNHAM-LYI. TEUTON. 'VARSITY A BYE. SECOND GRADE. ' Sydenham-Lyttelton (16) beat ’Varsity A. (U). The Linwood-Old Boys match was not played at Linwood Pafk owing to the state of the ground. Marists defeated Albion by 21 points to nil. M’Corinack (3), Batchelor, and Millar scored tries, three of which were converted by Batchelor. Referee, Mr A H Guiney. At Belfast, Christchurch defeated Belfast by 6 points to nil. G. E. Talbot and A. K Johnston scored tries. Mr K. Perrin was referee. Riccarton 13 defeated Kaiapoi o Referee Rev W. B. Scott. AN EMPIRE CONFERENCE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Aasoeiuiio,* (Received May 12, 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 11. -Mr Wray considers that the New Zealand proposal to hold an Empire Hugby Conference in South Africa to deal with the rules for the conduct of the game is impossible, as it would be unlikely that the four British unions would be able to send their best representation. The conference ] would be likely tc be ineffective. The English Union would probably insist that the conference should be held in London.

of the at the end of to-day's play:— Pts. Pts. W. L. D. for. aget. Tl. Merivale .3 1 0 67 42 3 'Varsity . 3 1 0 60 39 3 Marist6 .2 1 0 24 33 2 Old Boys .2 2 0 40 28 Christchurch . 2 2 0 30 44 2 8yd.-Lyttelton 1 1 1 45 25 5 Albion . .1 1 1 25 19 li Linwood .. 1 2 0 24 23 1 N. Canterbury 0 4 0 6 97 0