SATURDAY’S RUGBY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17528, 4 May 1925, Page 4

SATURDAY’S RUGBY.

EXCITING GAME ON THE OVAL. LINWOOD TOO GOOD FOR CHRISTCHURCH. The second round of the Canterbury Rugby Union’s senior competition was continued on Saturday. After the rain in the morning, the afternoon was line, and as there was practically no wind, the weather was ideal for football. There was a large attendance at Lancaster Park, where the principal game was that between Christchurch and Linwood, on the oval. The match resulted in a well-deserved win for Linwood by fifteen points to ten. The result came as a surprise to many followers of the game, as Christchurch are credited with being a strong side this season. The other two senior games were also played at Lancaster Park. There was an exciting contest between Merivale and ’Varsity. The game resulted in a win for Merivale by twentyone points to fourteen. Old Boys beat Albion by sixteen points to nine.

POSITION OF TEAMS. The following table shows the position of the teams at the end of the second round:—

LIN NVOOJ> (15), CHIiISTCHU UGH (10). The game between Linwood and Christchurch, played on the oval at Lancaster TarK on Saturday, resulted in a well deserved win for Linwood by 15 points to 10. Tlie result came as a surprise to many followers of the game. Before the match - Christcnurcli were the favourites, though not by much on account of the fact that Linwood had beaten M'erivaJ© (last year’s runners-up) in the first round by 10 points to 5. O'n Saturday Linwood played a great game and preyed beyond doubt that they are a much better team than they were last season. Generally speaking, the Linwood team is a young one and several of the players show great promise. If the club retains these players they should prove very valuable in future The game was exciting from start ’ to finish and the result was in doubt until the lina.l whistle went. Ifiarly in the game it was very apparent that Linwood were going to prove a tough proposition. A few minutes after the start they were attacking solidly and had their opponents hard pressed. Linwood drew first blood, O. Hearn, a new forward for Linwood, scoring a try. At half-time Christchurch were leading by o points to 3. though up to this the advantage of the game had, if anything, been in favour of Linln the early stages of the second spell Linwood were attacking for most of the time and Klvey crossed the line for two line tries, one of which was converted. This made the score Linwood 11, Christchurch o. Then a try scored by Melvin and converted.

by Brown brought Christchurch within one point of Bin wood. At this stage the excitement of the spectators was intense and there was a great roar >. of barracking. Once again Linwood attacked and from about the twentyfive Edmonds, the Linwood full-back, potted a fine goal. Just before the call of time Christchurch set up a strong attack. Linwood were xienalised in front of their goal line. There was probably less than a minute to go. Brown placed the ball for a shot at goal, but instead of trying to send the hall over the cross-bar he kicked it along the ground. A penalty goal was, of course, no good to Christchurch, as they were five points behind. Obviously. Brown did not attempt the goal in the hopes that a try would be scored before the whistle went, but this hope was not realised. Under the circumstances it would have been better if the ball had been punted. Time was lost in placing the ball, whereas, if it had been punted straight away. Linwood may have been taken unawares and a try may have resulted. Jt looked as if the .decision not to attempt the goal was an afterthought. A fieatutfe of the game was the solid defence of the Linwood team, both backs and forwards Luring the course ot the game Christchurch set up several strong attacks, but it was seldom that Linwood was found wanting. In Edmonds Linwood have a very promising young full-back. Ed-

monds. who is not twenty-one yet, is well built and looks every inch :i footballer. He defended solidly throughout and kicked well. He also showed initiative when the backs were attacking and the goal he potted, which was of great value to his side, was a fine one. Lin wood .ire lucky in finding such a good fullback to replace A. Brown, who is unable to play this season. Klvey played wing three-quarter for Linwood on Saturday and he was in line form. He scored a couple of great tries. Klvey impressed one as being as “ fit as a fiddle,” and a lot more should be heard of him this season. He seems one of the certainties for the All Black team which is to visit Sydney this year. A new player for 1. in wood this season is J. Davies, who was centre threequarter on Saturday. At one time Davies played League football in Australia, but he evidently prefers the Rugby code. He showed a lot of dash on Suturday, and, although he dropped one or two passes, lie impressed on© as being a good footballer. W. Brittenden, wing three-quarter, played a very fair game and once or twice showed headwork in clever crosskicking. In H. Boulton and J. Payne Linwood have a couple of promising liveeighths. and thev also have a good half in A. Millar. Payne is a son of .Mr CL P. Payne, and whilst at St J>ede’s College he showed a lot of promise as a footballer. The Linwood forwards worked hard on Saturday and they were always on the ball. J. Turpin was especially prominent and he followed up particularly well. It is pleasing to see that S. Hooper is able to turn out again lor Linwood this season. Hooper sustained a severe injury to his knee at the beginning of last season with the result that he was prevented from playing right throughout the season. However, he is now fit and well again, and in as good form as ever. For his size Hooper is a fine forward. P. Ward, W. Fraser and C. Hearn were prominent amongst the Linwood forwards on Saturday, but the whole pack went well. On attack the Christchurch backs seemed to lack somewhat and their defence was not so sound as that of their opponents. For a start F. Cowlishaw was marking Klvey and A. C. Rofcilliard was marking Brittenden. However, after Linwood had scored their first try Cow lid) aw and Rob if

liard changed wings. This was probably a wise move, as Klvey would, no doubt, have proved too hard a proposition for Cowlishaw. As it was he beat Robilliard twice Generally, however, Itobilliard defended well and he was also good on attack. C'owlishaw scored one of the tries for Christchurch. He showed great dash in racing for the lin,e. The two five-eighths for Christchurch were D. A. Young and N. P. M'Gregor. Young is a new player for Christchurch who shows a 10-t of promise. On Saturday both lie and the All Black, M*Gregor, were hampered by the fact that the half, L. S. Dewar, often

J | failed to gj?t the ball out to them. 1 ; Dewar was just a trifle slow. Christchurch possess a good set of 3 forwards and on occasions on Satur- - day they showed a. lot of dash. W. Melvin, U. Is. Godfrey, K. Foster and J G. Eeahy especially were prominent. 1 Foster, who is a new player for Christ-

; church, comes from Waiau. Last ' year he. played a good game for the i Country a.gainst the Town and gained j a place in the Canterbuyr team as a hooker. The game was fast and hard, but it was played in the best possible spirit. This lightened the task of the referee, Mr L. W. Guiney, who controlled the game admirably. MERIVALE (21) v. VARSITY (14).

Though Merivale attacked deter- | minedly in the latter stages of the first j spell, it was not until the game was well advanced that superior weight told. They did not, however, seem to have the dash of the Merivale of old. Y'arsity kept the game pretty open, and good play by forwards in the , loose occupied the opposition and enabled the backs to get going, j A re-shuffling of the Merivale team appeared to produce good results. R. ! Evans went into the three-quarter line, , and M’Cabe was transferred to fullback. The wing three-quarters were Hart and Doreen. i In the five-eighths line C. Oliver out- | shone the rest. He was particularly smart at seizing an opening. At times he came near causing a belief that he was trying to do too much on his own. Hooper, the half-back, did great work. Of course, Merivale had the advantage in the scrum, but the half was not content merely to hand the ball

on. He made the most of opportunities and was good in defence. N. Doreen showed he has plenty of dash for the position of wing threequarter. Hart appears to be built on similar lines. Ford’s best effort of the day was to drop-kick a goal. It was one of those opportunities for which he is ever looking. Evans strengthened the backs, and M’Cabe did well as full-back. The forwards finished on well. The wing-forward, Blazey, did good work on the wing. Jeffries and Thomson were the best of the others. There are several changes in the Varsity team this year, but judging by Saturday’s match the Varsity players are just the sort of combination that may upset calculations later in the season. They have good, fast forwards, though somewhat light, a pair of clever five-eighths and a three-quarter line of young players who show a good deal of ability. The centre. Dickson, has made his appearance before. He is a strong runner and good at making an opening. Simmers, winger, looked light, but he stood up to a lot of work, and took a prominent part in the scoring. Mahan proved to be the goods when he got the chance. His try was secured cleverly. A. L. James and W. Alexander, the five-eighths, are well suited for open play. Alexander showed more finish in fielding and defensive work. Mills, the halt-back, had a difficult job, but stood up well. The hooking was not clean enough to give him a chance on many occasions. The full-back, G. Green, one of the newcomers to senior play, handles well, is a good kick and shows a fair turn of speed. in the forwards it would be hard to single out an individual except perhaps* Dracier, who played, a great roving game as wing-iorwara. The others were always on the ball, too. OLD BOYS (16) v. ALBION (9). Playing on the west ground at Lancaster I'arK. Albion had their first try out against Old Boys. Taking tins mto consideration their performance was a creditable one. Old Boys had a decided advantage in the first half, in getting the bail from the scrums, and thereby giving tiie backs plenty of work to do. Their passing rushes, 1 despite the fact that only one try was scored, were quite a treat to watch. In the second half Old Boys were fully extended for most of the time, Albion showing much better combination than in the first spell, and the tackling improved greatly. Albion have the makings of a good side, the team being ’ largely composed of young junior playera, who when they become seasoned 1 to senior fotoball, and have had plenty ; of sound coaching, will he a “ prickly thorn ” in many of their opponents’ side. Old Boys’ success was due to the 5 splendid goal-kicking by Nixon, whose efforts added ten points. His work at lull-back was sound in every way. ! Hobday was the best of the three- ' quarters, and the try he registered was a good one. He runs well and races ior the line with a great dash. 1 Carleton, on the other wing, is a 1 much improved player, his work on Saturday being really good. Harris, at five-eighths, scored a fine tiy, taking a hard pass in fine style and beating the defence with a spleiu : did run. Some of his passes were faulty. Hay was sound in his tackling and did some solid work in the loose. Dailey, the skipper, and half-back, is a tower of strength to his side. Hs initiated some fine passing rushes from what appeared to be almost impossible situations. His work behind the scrum was a treat to watch, especially in the first spell. The forward division showed up well

at the start, and had things their own way, but towards the end of the game they tired completely. Prominent for consistent plav were Gray, Baird and Dew. M. Eaglesome, full-back for Albion, was quite up to the mark for his first game. Sometimes his line-kicking was not as good as it might have been, as it gave a lot of extra running about to his side. His handling of the ball wants to be improved. Biddle was going well when lie had to retire, Spence taking his place. Thompson, on the wing, did a large amount of useful work and well. Tlie try he scored was the best of the game, being gained after a great run. Beaumont played carefully, and Lilburne did a great amount of work with fair success. He kicked two splendid penalty goals. Cox* had his work cut out at halfback, and never let his side down. In the last spell the Black forwards frequently got the ball from the scrum, and Cox sent it out in a clean and crisp style. Of course Masters is a tower of strength to the forwards and he did good work throughout. 'A 'th him he had Bayliss, Smith and Newman as hard workers. SYDNEY SEASON OPENED. By Telegraph—Pre s Association —Copyright Australian and N.Z. (Table Association. SYDNEY. May 2. The football season opened with a large attendance at the matches of all codes. THE LEAGUE GAME. NEXT SATURDAY’S GAMES. The following- are the fixtures, grounds and referees for Saturday Senior Championship—Addington v. Hornby Monica Park, No. 1 ground (Mr IT. W. Lawrence): Linwood v. Marists A, Monica Park, No. 2 ground (Mr A. Davis); Woolston v. l Waimairi ground, Papanui (Mr P. Kirton) ). Junior Premiership—Federal v. Waimairi. St Albans Park (Mr W. Griffiths); Addington v. Linv.-ood. Ihnwood Park (Mr T. King) ; Marists v. Hornby, Beckenham Park (Mr A. B. Shadbolt) ; Syd.-nharn a bye. Third Grade Championship—Hornby v. Linwood, Hornby (Mr A. Cox); Addington v. Marists, at Addington ground (Mr H. Reed); Sydenham v. Woolston, Sydenham Park (Mr D. M’Rae) ; ’Federal Fourth Grade Premiership—Addington v. Sydenham, Sydenham Park, at 1.30 p.m. (Mr C. Allen); Woolston v. Marists B, at Woolston Park, at 1.30 p.m. (Mr G. L. Young); Marists A v. Hornby, at Monica Park, No. 1 ground, at 1.30 p.m. (Mr T. Kirton); Linwood Filth Grade Championship—Marists V. Linwood. at Linwood Park, at 1.30 hai i. at Hornby (Mr E." Black) ; "Woolstoi v. Waimairi, at Waimairi ground, at 130 p.m. (Mr A. Grafton)); Addington i bye. The Sixth Grade fixtures will be commenced next Saturday, and the order of matches will be decided at the meeting of the executive on Wednesday evening. All competitors for this grade must be weighed and the certificates signed by a membtr of the sub-committee in attendance

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