LUCKY WIN FOR CANTERBURY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17864, 4 June 1926, Page 13

LUCKY WIN FOR CANTERBURY

MARK NICHOLLS’ BOOT NEARLY TURNED SCALE. RED-AND-BLACK FORWARDS WENT VERY BADLY. The Canterbury Rugby fifteen played their first representative match of the season yesterday when they niot Wellington at Lancaster Park and scored a lucky win by 13 points to 12. To say that it was a very lucky win is not exaggerating in the least. On the day’s play Wellington should really have won.

Canterbury began with great dash, and within three minutes of the start, they had scored their first try. '_ an ‘ ter bur v kept attacking and in the first half of the first spell they put on their thirteen points. In the second half of this spell Wellington showed up better and it was then evident that Canterbury were not going to have such an easy win as the opening play might have led one to suppose. In the second spell, however, W ellington got all over Canterbury. The visitors were attacking practically the whole of the time and at last their persistent efforts were rewarded when Mark Nicholls potted a goal. This was Wellington’s first score. They added a couple of tries, one of which Mark Nicholls converted. He had a great attempt to convert the second, which was scored near the corner flag, but just failed. This made the total 13 to 12 in favour of Canterbury, and the crowd became wildly excited when Wellington continued to attack. Twice Mark Nicholls had pots at goal, but each time he missed, though once by onlv a narrow margin. As it was he nearly won the game for the visitors.

It was the Canterbury forwards that let the home side down. They held their own in the first spell but in the second spell the Wellington forwards beat them badly. The result was that the Canterbury backs hardly saw the ball at all in the second half, whilst the Wellington backs, playing behind a winning pack, showed up much better than they did in the first half. It seems as though the Canterbury -selectors will have to look round for some new forwards, forwards able to keep going solidly from start to finish.^ Looking at the two teams as they lined out on the field before the start of the game Canterbury seemed the heavier side, but in the set scrums Wellington more than held their own against the Red and Clacks. It is doubtful whether there was much difference in weight between the two packs. The Canterbury forwards were certainly a hefty lot, but the visitors pack also included some big men. In any case, Wellington generally managed to beat Canterbury in the scrums, especially in the second spell. J. Manihera is a solid forward, but he looks a bit on the small side to lock a scrum of the size of the Canterbury one. The Canterbury backs looked bigger and heavier than the Wellington backs.

T, Harris was unable to play for Canterbury. His injured shoulder is still giving him trouble. The selectors decided to put W. Ford in as full-back, though, before the game, the opinion was freely expressed that this was a mistake, and that D. Nixon should have been put in Harris’s place. Ford, howe'er* played quite a good game, though his tackling was not too sound. His line kicking was clever and well judged, and he fielded and handled the ball well. Everything considered Ford filled the position quite satisfactorily. He was inclined at times to forget that he was playing full-back, and to get too far forward in the attack.

One of the most brilliant of the Canterbury backs on attack was C. Oliver. When Canterbury were attacking in the early part of the first spell he was in the picture the whole time. The first try was scored by Elvy, but it was Oliver who did the work for it. Oliver made some good openings by cutting cleverly through the centre, but, to a certain extent, he nullified his efforts by throwing out bad passes to S. Carleton. On defence Oliver was not so good as he was on attack and several times he failed to get his man. Oliver played second five-eighths with N. P. M'Gregor first. M’Gregor did not show up so much as Oliver, but he put in a lot of valuable defensive work, and showed good judgment in kicking for the line.

W. Dailey, who incidentally skippered the Canterbury team, played a good game, though some of his passes from the scrum were a bit erratic. The result was that M’Gregor did not always manage to hold on to the ball, but he ran hardly be blamed for this. On defence Dailey was a tower of strength to his side, and some of the other backs could profitably follow his examplel in going down on the ball to stop rushes. Dailey’s anticipation of the play was again marvellous and frequently he was on the spot to collar a Wellington man who looked like making a dangerous break away.

The two Canterbury wing three-quar-ters, A. C. Robilliard and W. Elvy, did not see a great deal of the ball. This was especially so in the case of Elvy. In the first spell, wheh Canterbury did practically all their attacking, the ball hardly went out to Elyy’s wing at all. In nearly every case it swung out to Robilliard, who scored one good try Once or twice Elvy tried to bring off those “jinky” runs, with which he has often delighted crowds at Lancaster Park, but he was too well marked and in no case did he get very far. On defence Robilliard was good, tackling well throughout. Carle ton, the Canterbury centre three-quarter, played a good game, though he was not so prominent as some of the other backs. lie suffered to a certain extent by the fact that some of the passes he got from Oliver were wild and consequently difficult to take.

Some of the Canterbury forwards played up well in the first spell, but practically all of them faded out badly in the second.

A. M’Cormack seemed to keep going •bout the best of the lot, though Jeffries and Dickson also played good games throughout. O. Walker was prominent for good work in the first spell, but in the second he faded out of the picture somewhat. P. Ward was prominent enough in the loose, but in the tight work he did not give his side the full benefit of his weight. The “star" of the Wellington backs was Mark Nicholls, who shone out both on attack and defence. His clever •'dummying" was quite a feature of his play and-- he delighted the crowd immensely with it. The only trouble was that the other backs were, not rlwavs able to play up to him. If they Lad been able to, Wellington would have probably scored more points Nicholls played second five-eighths and M. Comer was first five-eighths. Corner played a good game, both when attacking and when his side was on the defensive. IT. E. Nicholls behind

the scrum also went well and he got the ball away to his backs in good style. One of the weak links in the Wellington back division was R. IT. M’Kay, the centre three-quarter. His handling of the ball was not at all sure, and several passing rushes broke down through his inability to hold on to it. Of the two wing three-quarters, R- G. Sutton, who was marking Elvy, gave one the impression of being a better player than H. Hawkins, who played on the' other wing. Sutton had Elvy well marked, with the result that the Canterbury man did not get far on any occasion. Sutton also showed a lot of dash on attack and he did hot appear to be a very easy man to stop. H. Henwood, the Wellington full back, is a bit on the small side for a representative footballer, but he filled the position of custodian very creditably. He fielded the ball well and dis played good judgment in his line kick ing. He was also very plucky in going down to rushes. Towards the end of the game Henwood was injured and had to leave the field. The crowd gave him a round of applause for the fine and plucky manner in which he had played. The Wellington forwards played with great dash in the second spell, and were more than a match for their opponents. They made the pace a “cracker” and they lasted it remarkably well. J. Moffitt, their burly lock, was always in the thick of it. For a man of his age Moffitt is a wonderfully good forward and he has shown remarkable “come back" to the old form which won him a place in the New Zealand team some years ago. A. Thomas, who played a good game in the first spell, had to retire at half time. His place was taken by M’Naught. A. Pringle, who is credited with being the tallest forward playing in big football in the Dominion to-day, was prominent on several occasions for good work, showing up especially in the line-outs. H. Sly also played a very fair game. Although Canterbury won the match, the result cannot be viewed with any great amount of satisfaction by followers of the Canterbury team. Thev will have to show better form than they did yesterday if they are to do any good against Hawke’s Bay or against Wellington, when the second match with that province is played here later in the season. Wellington will naturally be keen to avenge yesterday’s defeat and they will probabl> send down a better team than they were able to do on this occasion. If yesterday's match makes Canterbury "buck up" and reveals to the selectors where the weaknesses of the team lie then it will certainly have served a very useful purpose.