WANGANUI RUGBY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 225, 23 September 1936, Page 4

WANGANUI RUGBY

REP, TEAM AT WELLINGTON

CITY PAPER’S COMMENT A GOOD THREE-QUARTER LINE Says the Evening Post:— With its forwards superior in the loose and its backs successful in lucrative thrusts, the Wanganui representative team defeated Wellington by 29 points to 21 at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon. A crowd of almost 3000 watched what amounted to a Wellington Colts' team give a good performance against men of greater Rugby experience. The first ten to fifteen minutes of the game were frankly dull, and it appeared that the game would be scrappy throughout, but from then on, both teams warmed up to their work in fine style and there were plenty of thoroughly exciting incidents until the end of the game. Two dis-tinctly-marked periods of attack by Wanganui in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of each spell gave the side victory. Where Wellington failed was in the inability of its forwards to hunt compactly in the loose and in the occasional failure of the backs to combine. The Wellington back line, on the day, possessed fine strength in the fiveeighths, but the three-quarters were not so consistent and were overshadowed by the Wanganui threequarter division. The tall rangy forwards of the Wanganui team, each man in appearance at least more solid than any of the Wellington team, did well in the loose, though they were frequently beaten in the scrums. Jones and Barton were the two stars of the Wanganui back line, both making lucrative breaks through the Wellington line. Burgess belied his somewhat awkward appearance by pace and determination and Thompson did his work soundly. Brogden, though inclined to running with the ball, was nevertheless good on defence and stopped many dangerous rushes with a fine disregard for his own safety. Welsh was sound and kicked with length and judgment at times, but it was difficult to recognise the former All Black form in Bul-lock-Douglas, whose defensive omissions were too frequent. Nevertheless, he was useful, if only because of his fine kicking. The star of the Wanganui forwards was McClenaghan, a thoroughly line type, who played on outstanding loose game in the second spell. He followed hard in every movement and on form would be worth persevering with in any team. Lockett, one of a family famous in Wanganui, Hutchinson anti McGregor were three other good forwards in an honest and toiling pack. Stars of the Wellington back line were Sargisson and Edwards, fiveeighths, who showed out in some splendid rushes. Sargisson was tricky, and he is undoubtedly promising. A slight sharpening in his dodginess would make him a candidate for senior representative honours. Edwards was straight and determined in his running. Trapp was uncertain in handling, but his kicking was glorious. Forbes was a better winger than Wareham, though he made several errors of judgment by kicking when passing would have been of greater use. Mclntyre was not quite certain, enough at full, though some of his kicking was huge. At half, Brown had a good day. Pringle was the best of the forwards and his experience was a useful factor in his fine showing. Me- 1 Nichol—full of promise—Todd, and Kirschberg were three other toilers, and Mollier’s hooking was clean and fast enough to prompt inquiries for his omission from stronger representative sides. - -