WANGANUI’S PACK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 173, 25 July 1939, Page 4

WANGANUI’S PACK

f NEED FOR WEIGH! cl j, n LINE-OUT WORK WAS NOT il SO GOOD ii s ” BACKS RAN ACROSS FIELD £ s \ The lessons the Rugby match with Ashburton taught Wanganui were that better ; scrummaging and more devil ; will be needed in the forp wards, and the inside backs >’ will have to straighten up the attack to give the wing threeu quarters a chance. $ It. can be emphasised at the star that is often pays to keep a tean together, but when obvious remedie: suggest themselves because players ir club matches are proving that thej are in better form than the player; in the team, then the selectors should not hesitate. Three Good Lorwards. There are three forwards in the Wanganui Union all up to representative standard, who are worthy o. s serious consideration for the position; L in the pack not strongly held at th( . moment—B. Pedley, V. Kench and K ? Parnell (Pirates). M. F. Henry (Halr combe) must also be considered. Ont would like to add E. Barry (Marist to that list, but is he fit? If tha question could be answered in the j affirmative, then he should be the > first man picked for the side row. a And Barry’s presence would b( j valuable in the line-outs. It was the : first time for a long period that Wanganui was beaten in that departmen i of play, and the strange thing abou i it was that Ashburton did not hav< .1 any outstanding forwards. The pad u was fast, light and fit and it used tha - fitness to good advantage. And i - went down on the ball more readilj 1 than Wanganui did. Callaghan wa; £ the only true rush stopper the home l pack had. Hunter 'was the best rust ' stopper in the backs. ’ Henry has played good forward f games for King Country anel fot L Manawatu. He captained Manawatu ’ in 1935 and played in the All Blad v trial match at Wanganui that, year 1 He is a front, row forward. How he is playing this season has not beer 1 proved to the writer’s personal know- ’ ledge, but he is reported to be showing all the attributes of an experienced player. Who Should Be Dropped? If the Wanganui pack is to be amended, who should be dropped? V 7 Glonn and T. Collins. They must give way to players who are playing better football. Who should go in? Now tho difficult problem arises. Those players who are offering for the pack are two locks and one side-row man. The difficulty might be met if A. G. Daxidson, who plays side row in his I club football, was placed in that posi- . lion permanently. If he goes out from lock position it must be either t Kench or Pedley, and probably matters little which of them. On recent form, Pedley, though one would like to see Kench get a run in the representative team, seeing that he has been reserve forward this season. How would B. Pedley plaj' on the i side of the scrum? His weight and fitness should be available to the pack il at all possible, thouih it must, be remembered that it takesan cxperiencec player to do well in a side-row position. If E. Barry is lit he should bt picked, out there is just a doubt whether he is fit. and on that beliel , the choice of Pedley for the side-row i with the right to change Beiliss and Pedley round, should be sound. The Suggested Paek. 1 The suggested pack for the next match, and it, will be a stiff one against Hawke’s Bay, is: Back Row : E. V. Beiliss. Sides: A. G. Davidson and B. .PcdIxjcks: • and W. Firmin. Front. Row: L. Northover, I. Callaghan. M. Sutton. ’ Reserve: M. F. Henry. The Backs. 1 The backs can well be left alone, i though a definite tendency to run out instead of straight must be curbed. There was no penetration from the - line against Ashburton, and that wa> done, in the main, to the inside backs I running across the field and thus ■ cramping their three-quarters. Barton, the centre, has been looked to tc do a lot of straightening up of late and that he has been able to do it has improved his own game considerably 1 but with Barton off the field, the 1 other backs, left to their own reL sources, must try and find a means i themselves to straighten up, and if it 1 cane be done in the five-eighth line, 1 so much the belter. Ashburton’s deadlier, and sometimes illegal tackling had a good deal to do with the ’ outfield running and that kicking of the Wanganui fivc-eigths on Satur- ’ days. ) Ashburton and Wellington. It is a pity that, the Ashburton team u has lost, its hooker. It would have . been able to count on a fair share of the ball in to-morrow’s match, but A, Lambourn is almost sure to dominate possession now that. McKenzie is on the injured list, and that may mean a big loss to Ashburton because of the Wellington backs. Deadly tacklings, however, may prove just as irksome to the Wellington five-eighths as it did to Wanganui. In the second spell against Wanganui the Ashburton team realised that the danger lay with the Wanganui inside backs, and there was much more spoiling done than in the first spell. The way Ashburton packed in with the scrum, getting down and charging, as it were, has been foreign to Wanganui Rugby for some time, simply because that type of game has been closely watched by the referees and penalised.-