TEAMS WILL PLAY BIG LEAGUE GAME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17882, 25 June 1926, Page 12

TEAMS WILL PLAY BIG LEAGUE GAME.

HORNBY AND MARIST ARE LISTED FOR STRUGGLE. There is excitement in the Rugby League camp about the meeting of the Hornby and Marist A teams at Monica Park to-morrow. Hornby have an undefeated record, and in their first encounter with Marist accounted for them by the small margin of only 15 to 13. The game was exciting throughout, and provided much fast and open play. Now the teams will meet again on what will be the last occasion for some time on which the pick of the Canterbury men will be present. The players picked for the South Island team against the North at Auckland on July 3 will leave Christchurch next Tuesday, so that to-morrow will be the last appearance of some of them for a time. From the spectator’s point of view, therefore, the matches to-morrow should be of the greatest interest. Such men as Wilson-Hall, the übiquitous Hornby half-back; F. Henry and L. Mason, fast Hornby forwards; and L. Petersen, the Marist forward, who showed such good-form in the Canterbury-Otago match at Dunedin, are practically certainties for the English tour; and to-morrow will be the spectators’ last chance of seeing them in action this season.. There nre also others who may be asked to pack their trunks for England. G. Brittenden (Marist) and A. Mundv (Hornby) may cease to delight Monica Park crowds, for these two players stand chances of final selection for the New Zealand representatives. Also, in the match between Sydenham and Waimairi, to be decided on the X’o. 2 ground, there may be one or two absentees later on. Pat O’Connor, who played a dashing game on the wing in the Canterbury v. Otago-West Coast match last. Saturday, has been selected to take the field in the North v. South trial game, and if he performs well there he may be asked to make the eventful trip to England. Another likely tourist is J. Sanders, of the Addington, who will take the field against Woolston at Woolston Park. HORNBY v. MARIST A. The Hornby team has 16 points in the competition, and Marist has 12, being equal with Addington. If the Greens (Marist) win, the competition will be invested with even greater interest. Hornby will field their strongest team, and should provide much of the sparkle of the play. That there will be sparkle is assured by Wilson-Hall, Warr, A. Mundv and A. Mackie being in the backs. As far as Wilson-Hall is concerned, it is a certainty that this will be his last, appearance in Christchurch this season, for it is well known that even now he can safely label his trunks “ England.” The Hornby forwards play a hard and open game, with Henry, another certain tourist, continually breaking through to make the play more open and to feed the backs. Mason is another who is smart on the break-away, and his weight will be a force to be reckoned with by the lighter Marist pack. L. Vivian, Le Warne, Woodgate and Dawkins can always be depended upon to keep the game lively. With Brittenden. Robins, C. Fitzgerald. Sheahan, and Crocker in the backs, Marist should field a rearguard that will put over some nippy play. Peter r sen, Hanrahan, Bateman, and Ellis will be the pick of the forwards. The Greens will have a new man in the backs in 0. Batchelor, who has returned from Wellington. Batchelor will play probably at wing three-quarter. On the teams as they will line out, it is probable that the Hornby men, who play with an amount of combination second to none, will ultimately prove to be the victors. It will be a very close game, in any case, and it may be that the Marist team will spring a surprise. There are many that believe they will defeat *the unconquered Hornby men. Sydenham v. Waimairi. There should be a close go between Sydenham and Waimairi, though after the latter team’s splendid rally in the first spell against Addington the week before last supporters are sanguine that the “Magpies” will come out on top. The last game getween these teams, played on April 24, gave Waimairi the victory by 19 points to 18—a very nar row margin, and one that could easily have been turned the other way. The Waimairi men have improved in their combination, though this is lamentably lacking among the backs, who are a set of good individualists. F. Lynskey has improved after playing in good company down south, and he, Pearce, and P. Smith may rise to the occasion. Collie, always a useful forward, will be on the field again. >: It is unlikely-that Clegg will be able to turn out for Sydenham, in which case Pat O'Connor will be the shining light in the backs. The forwards are a fairly heavy lot, and will put through some useful scrum work. The pack will be heavier than Waimairi. k si Waimairi have a sound defence, included in which is always some good luck as well as good play. Lack of cohesion takes the sting out of their attacks. but it is likely that they will be more aggressive than Sydenham, whose forwards may compensate for this to some extent. Addington v. Woolston. That the Woolston team is still in the senior competition is a testimony to the pluck and determination of the players. Its ranks depleted by men suffering from injuries, the team has carried on by promoting the best of its juniors. This has made it difficult to muster a junior team, but there is a possibility that several men who have more or less retired from the game will enlist in the second grade. Addington will face the senior team at Woolston Park.

NEWS AND NOTES. The New Zealand selectors drew much on the Hornby Club when picking the South Island team to play the North on July 3. Four players were selected, namely, F. Henry, L. Mason. Wilson-Hall, and A. Mundy. Should all these players be chosen to go to England it will cause the Hornby senior selectors (Messrs R. M'Gregor and W. I Freeman) some serious thinking to fill | the gaps. One feature of the junior trial game on Saturday should not go unrecognised. At least three of the Canterbury A team. D. Galvin, J. Morrissey and W. Williamson —who play for the Marist Club, were in the third grade representative team in 1925. This shows the resulj of the League’s policy of encouraging the younger players, for soon these performers will be in senior I ranks. It is not often that a club supplies I both half-backs in a South Island trial game, but such was the case last Saturday when A. Mackie took up the position behind the Canterbury pack and Wilson-Hall behind the OtagoWest Coast vanguard. Both players are members of the Hornby Club. I On Sunday last M. Mouat and J. Wright (C#-eymouth Marists), who were in the Coast and Otago team on Saturday, paid a visit together with others of the team and also some of the Canterbury men, to the Marist clubrooms, and the morning passed pleasantly in renewing old friendships and making new. -*• a a Allan Mackie, of the Hornby Club, who played half-back for Canterbury in the trial game on Saturday, was unfortunate in being up against such a great player as Wilson-Hall, the opposing half. Had Hall not come south this season Mackie would have been a certainty in representing the South Island as half-back. Hooker for the South Island. The South Island team has found a

hooker in Jim Tallentire, who has been hooking for the Runanga Club ever since Parsonage shifted to Blackball. As a rake he is in the first class, and has always been deemed one of the most useful members of the sterling Runanga pack. Tallentire played well last Saturday, and

;the selectors have chosen him to represent the South in preference to C. Bateman, who hooked for Canterbury. W. Stewart, the ex-New Zealand League three-quarter, will be turning out again for his club, Hornby} in the near future. Stewart was unlucky enough to injure his arm just after the first match of the season and he has been on the bank ever since. Gordon Blazey, the seventeen-vear-old full-back of the Marist senior B team, who plays some brilliant games in that position, a noteworthy record in football. He learned his football at the East Christchurch School. After leaving school in 1921, he played for two years in the sixth grade ranks in the Union code. In 1924 he was playing fifth grade League; in 1925 third grade, and 1926 found him placed on sheer merit, in the ranks of the senior grade with the Marist B team. With youth and brains on his side he should develop into a line full-back. E. Consedine, who at the start of the season played for the . Marist Senior A team and then went to the West Coast, will be seen out for the Greymouth Marist team soon. The list of players who have this season applied for reinstatement in Auckland is easily a record, fifty-three players being on the list to date. M’Gregor, the coach for Otago, has made a wonderful improvement in the players, and his services are keenly sought after. Harry Caples, Queensland Rugby League star five-eighth, has created a record in representative football on the other side. He has played for the three big League States, namely, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and is good for many more games vet. Si x X Promising Boys Coming On. A. O'Connor, one of the best of the Marist fifth grade players, is a young brother of the Sydenham senior player, Pat O’Connor, ‘who played a great game on the wing on Saturday. Young O’Connor shows great promise of emulating his big brother on the field of League. A few years ago four Lennox boys were playing with the Hornby Club. These brothers —Stan, Colin, Douglas, and Gordon—materially helped the club to gain its present standard. They have all retired from the game, but a younger brother, Ken, has thrown in his lot with the club. lie is playing as half-back in one of the lower grade teams. Should he prove the equal of his brother, Gordon, in this position, he will go far in the game of League. M. Rich. M. Noonan and 11. Pearce have this year reached the third grade ranks in the Marist Club, after having played together throughout every year since they took the field in the union code for the Marist school team in 1918. This must be something of a record. Again. E. Stratford. R. Gallivan, N. Gillespie and W. Williamson, of the Marist Club's junior League team, have played together since 1923, when they were in the club’s fourth grade Rugby Union team. In 1925 they were in the club’s third grade team in the League code, and this year they* are playing for the juniors. Following are the competition points gained by teams in grades other than Junior: Addington 16. Sydenham 14, Hornby 10, Marist 8, Linwood 6, Woolston 4, Waimairi 2. Third: Marist 10, Hornby S, Linwood 4, Templeton 3, Woolston 3, Addington Fourth: Hornby 12. Marist 6, Addington- 4. Sydenham 4. Fifth: Waimairi. 14, Addington 7, Woolston 7. Sixth A: Woolston 11, Addington 8. Sydenham 7, Marist 6, Hornby 4, Linwood 2. Sixth B: Linwood 9, Addington 6, Marist 5, Woolston 5. -Sixth O.: Linwood 12, Marist A 6, Marist B 3. Marist C 3.