MERIVALE AND ALBION IN LEAD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20340, 25 June 1934, Page 11

MERIVALE AND ALBION IN LEAD.

Christchurch Go Down in Dour Struggle at Lancaster Park.

LINWOOD FORWARDS BEAT SYDENHAM.

WITH TWO DEFEATS EACH, Merivale and Albion are leading in the first-grade Rugby competition, one and a half points ahead of Varsity and Old Boys. The latter teams fought an exciting draw, eight points all, at Rugby Park on Saturday, but Varsity have had one competition game fewer than the others, and may make up the point with a bye later in the season, s Albion beat Christchurch on the Oval in a game which was forceful rather than brilliant, even though both sides did their hest to open up play. Albion combined just a little better both forward and back, and deserved their win. I.inwood beat Sydenham in a poor game, and Merivale had the expected decisive win over Athletic.

A HARD WORKING SIDE. There was nothing brilliant about the Christchurch-Albion display on the j Oval on Saturday afternoon. Both* 1 sides, though they did best to open up play, lacked penetration and variety of attack in the five-eighths and centre, and the result was that four capable wing three-quarters were starved all afternoon. Then, again, the grounci was heavy and churned up after the country game in the rain on Wednesday, which would have been better played at the Showgrounds. Albion, however, deserved their win for slightly better combination, especially in the forwards, and some accurate kicking and individual play by the backs. Both sides had a penalty goal to their credit, and in the second half Albion took up the offensive. It seemed that the forwards’ good work, backed up by the excellent line-finding of Roberts, was to go begging for the want of back penetration, good though the chances were. Then Oakley staged the individual effort which resulted in the winning try. It was a most determined twenty-yard dash, through a bunch of Christchurch men, and brought deserved applause from the spectators. Without it, the game would probably have been a draw. Howell, Dasler, Sweeney, Hooker and Lake all played fine games in the Albion forwards, though there was not ! a passenger in the pack. For Christ- j church, Manchester stood out in some j splendid rushes, as well as working re- ! solutely in the tight, and Anderson, i Wade, Adorian and Frengley all did j good work. But the Christchurch pack | was not such a solid unit as in romi ; previous matches, and could not wear J down the tight-packing Albion men. : Clark, the Albion half, did some good i work, especially on defence, but he > was not quick enough to get hold of I the ball in the second half. The other-- j of the Albion line passed and handled j well, but lacked other than stereotyped j methods, which crumbled against solid tackling. Roberts failed in his goalkicking, but the rest of his play was of a very high standard, his line-kick-ing compelling admiration. The Christchurch backs lacked precision. Ollivier came up from fullback to centre when Pawson was injured, but was not at the top of his form, and made several mistakes on attack. Black, coming on as emergency, plaved a creditable game at full-back. On Saturday’s showing, it is hard to see Albion beating Merivale, unless they establish a complete superiority forward, which is unlikely. OLD BOYS AND VARSITY DRAW. Eathorne, full-back for Old Boys, played his best game to date against Varsity on Saturday. With Varsity superior in the forwards Eathorne was called on for a great deal of work, and it says much for a young player that he fulfilled his job and a bit more. His picking-up was as sprightly as that of a slip field, and this saved Old Boys time and again. Eathorne's line-kick-ing was always safe, and in that he. showed an improvement. Mortlock played another fine game, lie was once more the mainstay' of the Old Boys’ attack and defence. Ilis try' scored early in the game was a finished piece of work, and in the getting of it he outshone all other backs on the field. D. Cobden, who played next to Mortlock, also gave a good showing, with a tendency' to hang on too long as his only serious fault. Fooks, who was injured in the first spell, had bad luck. lie had played a fine game at full-back up till the time of his being hurt. A fine solo effort preceded his injury', and he w'as looking for someone to support him when he was brought down heavily'. Had there lieen a man there. Fooks would most likely' have seen the game out. M’Auliffe, usually the soundest ol place-kicks, had an off day. He did not seem to mind very' much when, in the first spell, he missed a penalty goal from a handy position—one has to allow for a percentage of error—but when, in fhe second half, an attempt to convert a try from dead in front went badly astrdy M’Auliffe scratched his head in l>ewilderment. He made amends later by scoring a try' and converting it. It was a good game, with both sides plaving in the open at every opportunity'. and the draw wa«= a fair indication of the strength of the teams. DULL AND DISAPPOINTING. Sydenham and Linwood played 'lull and disappointing: football when they met on the south ground at Lancaster Park. Lin wood won by five points to nil, but could have inflicted a heavier defeat if their baek.s had risen to the occasion. They were givten several opportunities to score in the second spell, when the forwards had gained the better of the Sydenham pack. but lacked the ability to press home their advantage. ... Most of the Llnwood backs handled fairly well, and were sound on defence, but they were inclined to kick into touch too much, instead of opening up the game. These tactic.s were successful in driving back Sydenham, but they robbed the ganiv of any attraction. D. Qua id went well behind the scrum, although his task was a fairly easy one. O. Stevens, who was moved out to lit si Five-eighth, played a fair game. but was inclined to overdo stab kicks. I. Mason, the other five-eighth, performed solidly, but did not «how much enterprise. The I.inwood backs were unenterpris- , lng, but their play was much better 1 than that of the Sydenham rearguard, which seemed definitely off colour. The handling of the Sydenham backs was

inconsistent, and they were slow in getting the ball away. L. Brown’s work behind the scrum was all that could be desired, but the faults lay further out. Both R. H-azelhurst and A. Hill seemed unabl’e to penetrate the defence, and several times were caught before they could get the ball away. F. T. J. French had to withstand a series of attacks by the Linwood pack, but came out of the ordeal very well. The only redeeming feature of the game was the performance of the Linwood forwards. They played stodgily in the first spell, but livened up to- , wards the finish, G. Matterson and G. W. Thompson being prominent in loose j rushes. They battled hard to get across, and kept Sydenham penned in their own twenty-five. Lack of leadership seemed to be the troubl-e with the Sydenham pack, which put up a poor showing. W. Fright and K. Brown did their best, but individual efforts were noUnuch use against com-j MERIVALE’S LATE SPURT. The bright ,«pots in the MerivaleAtliletic encounter were provided in the second spell, towards the end of which the MerivalSi hacks, with assistance from their forwards, took charge, leaving Athletic well behind on points. The game was remarkable for fine play by Newburgh at second fiveeighth. He has turned out for his team for mo.st of this season, but never bvfore has he been so clever and varied his play to such an extent. The fact that the direct opposition was about the weakest in the competition helped his display, but even allowing for that, he played first-class football. Hooper was another good five-eighth. He passed with precision. Bouterey, nt the base of the Merivale scrum, played soundly. Once warm'cd up to it, Oliver was the genius of his side, and frequently placed Bullivant in good scoring posiNeither of the f ull-bficks- Arps (Merivale) and Laffey (Athletic)—impressed as being very sound. Arps was the better of the two. The Merivale forwards worked Jik’e Trojans in the second spell and de- . finitely had the ujjper hand. They ' won most of the scrums, Deavoll, * Redder and Francis led the rushes, with ; Rich showing out as a winging forward. | Simpson and Solomon w ei\t two of ! the best of the Athletic pack, all of whom were triers against a more experienced eight. ! L. Moran was Athletic’s best back in I all departments. The wingers, Giljlespie and Hennessy. did well all the i way, but saw comparatively little of i the ball. Gillespie is a solid and imi proving player.

TRIAL RUGBY.

North Island Teams are Selected. POSSIBLES v. PROBABLES. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, .Tune 2i. The following teams have been selected by Mr E. M'Kenzie (Wnirarapa) and Mr Meredith (Auckland) to take part in the North Island All Black trial match at Wanganui on July 4*— Possibles—Full-back: A. Collins (Taranaki). Three-quarters: C. Smith (Hawke’s Bay), T. H. C. Caughey (Auckland), A. Bullock-Doiigla s (Wanganui). Five-eighths: H. T. l.ilbuire (WellingI ton), J. L. Griffiths (Wellington). Halfback: M. Corner (Auck ar.d). Front row: H. J. Kirkpatrick (Poverty Bay), A. Lam bourne (Wellington). F. C. < ooper ( North Auckland). Second row: C. 11. Rolls (Hawke’s Bay). A. Knight (Auckland). R. M. M'Kenzie (Mann- ! watu). E. F. Bm-ry (WeHli.eu.n). Back | row: A. Mahoney (Bush), j Probables (Woikatoy .Three-quarters: F. S. Fuller (Wellington), B- Killeen 'Wellington), iE- G- Aspey (Hawke’s Bay ). Five(ighths: .1. R. Page (Wellington). K. ! Cookes (Taranaki). Half-back: F. D. Kilby (Wellington). F-ciu row: R. ‘ M’Leod (Taranaki), W. Hadley (Auckland), .f. Leeson (Waikato). Second tow: A. R. Cullimore (Bay of Plenty). 1 M'lntyre (Wanganui), Ji. Clarke (Taranaki), IT. Mataira (Hawke’s Bay). Back row: J. G. Dellabarca (Wellington). I Reserves fop both tearmi—Backs: L. I Edward's (Taranaki), W. R. Allen •Waikato). Forwards: F. Smith (Wairarapa), T Thompson (Waikato), J. ff. Fletcher (King Country). The team to represent the North Ts-1-vnd in the inter-island trial at Aijek- I land on .July 7 will not necessarily be j chosen from the above players. Ashburton Games. (Special to the “ Star,”) ASHBURTON. June 24, | The Ashburton Rugby Union’s comI petitions were continued on Saturday in j origin sunshine, but the playing arena j were heavy after the rain. Senior Grade. Methven held the upper hand early in the game and W. Dolan missed with a free kick from a good position near the twenty-five-yarcl mark. Old Boys took a momentary turn at attack and W. Fagan made an attempt to opeif their score from a penalty kick, but the ball dropped just short of the bar. Methven converted the defence into attack and G. Stephen made a good run, but was tackied two yards from Old Boys’ line. A scrum infringement in Old Boys’ which \V\ Viola n coll verteef 3, Ol ! Boys 0. Methven opened the second spell brightly, T. Lilley gaining fifty yards with a strong line kick. J. Lilley intercepted a pass from Frew and sidestepped to score under the posts. W. Dolan converted. The best movement of the day came from a scrum in Old Boys’ twenty-five, M’Alister, Stephen, R. Lilley and J. Lilley handling for the latter to score a well merited try alongside the posts. W- Dolan converted. Methven 13. Old Boys n. Methven press* e . until W. Fagan relieved with a kick vvbich T. Lilley look smartly and potted an excellent field goal from a position just outside the twenty-five-yard mark and close to the sideline. Methven 17, Old Boys 0. Allenton v. Bakaia. Allenton secured a vietory over Rnkaia at Ashburton by 11 points to 3. Kakaia’s only success copiing from a penalty kick by I. Behrns. For (he winners tries were scored by Lysnght, Burnett and Vegsey the latter being converted by J. Hardy. Mr C. IF Day was referee. Junior Grade. Old Boys 3. Mvthvcn 3. i Mayfield 3. Lowcliffe 0. , Uukaiu 13. Technical Old Roys 3. I The match played at Mount Somers j was one-sided and resulted in a win for M. unt Somers by 35 points to nil. : (.wing to the non-arrival of Hprmg- , burn, the match arranged between Tinwald and Springburn was not played.

Positions of Teams. Points. Ch. W. D. T>. F. A. Pts. Albion 7 0 2 93 64 7 Merivale 7 0 2 135 84 7 Varsity 5 1 2 87 55 5£ Old Boys 5 1 3 85 53 54 Sydenham .... 4 0 5 78 76 4 Christchurch .. 4 0 5 52 75 4 JJnwood 3 0 6 61 99 3 Athletic 0 0 9 62 144 0