THREE-TO-ONE HOOKING BY E. J. CALLAGHAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 187, 10 August 1939, Page 5

THREE-TO-ONE HOOKING BY E. J. CALLAGHAN

GREAT KICKING BY HOOK

RUGBY MATCH WON BY THE ’BAY

WANGANUI BEATEN BY ONE POINT IN AN EXCITING GAME

Given the ball from 45 set scrums out of a total of 60, the Wanganui backs, without I). G. Barton at centre, were unable to make any thrust against a resolute Hawke’s Bay defence in the annual Rugby match between the two unions, played at Wanganui yesterday. Hawke’s Bay won an exciting game by 18 points to 17, scoring four tries to Wanganui’s one. Had Hawke’s Bay secured the. ball, as much as Wanganui did the score against the home team would have been of cricket dimensions, because there was a life and thrust about the second fiveeighth in the ’Bay team, P. Reid, good 1o see in a five-eighth. E. J. Callaghan, the Wanganui hooker, got the ball against. D. Dalton, the New Zealand and Hawke's Bay front-ranker, and against H. Fraser and A. Lincoln, who were tried in the hookingposition when Dalton injured a cartilage in a leg and had to leave the field. It was one of the best exhibitions of hookingseen on a Wanganui ground for many years. Mr. N. A. McKenzie, one of the North Island selectors, who saw the game, paid a tribute afterwards to Callaghan, using the words: He is one of the best hookers I have seen." Similar comment came from the captain of the Hawke's Bay team, D. Dalton. Glen Hook was the scoring medium for Wanganui, kicking lour penalty goals and converting the one try the home team scored, thus being responsible for 14 of the points Wanganui scored. The other three (Time from a try scored by the back rank forward. T. Collins. Fraser. Reid, Jackson and Butler each scored tries for Hawke s Bay. Bradley converting three.

WANGANUI. K WELSH ■I POLSOX M DICKIE. M SHEWAX G. HOOK. E. NICHOLLS. 11. BROGDEN T. < A (LI,INS. W.GLENN W. FIRMIN'. A. G. DAVIDSON. E. V REL LISS I. XORTHOVER. E. .1. CA I.LAG II A X M. SUTTON

.1. ..OI'KWOOD. D. DALTON. A. LINCOLN. <' WILSON. M. MACDONALD. 11. ERASER. S JACKSON S MCKENZIE. E. T. MOSS. 11. HOLT. I’. REID. 1 TAITE R. DEVINE H I. IJKADLJ-D M DYER. | HAWKE S BAY.

The Wanganui forwards played a remarkably fine game, packing well and held their own in line-outs and scrummages. What they lacked in comparison with the opposing team was sting in dribbling rushes. Hawkes Bay dribbled splendidly, and a rush stopper like R. Hunter was sadly missed by Wanganui. Scrums Instead of Line-outs Rarely, if ever, in the Rugby history of New Zealand, has Wanganui been seen taking scrums against a representative team instead of lineouts, and that ®s the order of the day when it was proved how able Callaghan was at raking the ball. Once the ball came to the home backs, however, the deadly tackling of the 'Bay players, and the quick fanning of its forwards, headed by that fast player. McKenzie, allowed the attack no room in which to move. E. Nicholls, outside H. Brogden, halfback, played reliably and handled well. That was all that could be said. There was no fire there and Hook never looked like an attacking player. He got the ball when his opponent was going under him for a tackle, and the 'Bay was penalised several times for late and illegal tackling. P. Reid, the Hawke’s Bay second five-eighth, was alive to the slightest opening, scored one try himself and made the openings for two more. Ten points came to Hawke’s Bay in he first five minutes of the second spell. Reid leaving his opponents standing twice, the ball coming infield again for forwards to score. Barton’s Thrust Missed Without Barton at centre to take advantage of the possession the backs had, the whole of the Wanganui line looked mediocre. M. Dickie, playing at centre, lacked Barton’s fiery anticipation, swift and resolute running. Even if the five-eighths could have made the necessary ground, it is doubtful whether Dickie would have done better. Wanganui’s reliance on Barton has been so great that when he is missing from the team reliability in the inside players, particularly at first five-eighth, has not been of much use. It has left the team lacking a great deal. And it says a lot for Barton that he has been able to perform so well with the slow, crossfield service from inside. One is approaching the conviction, too, that the Hook-Barton combination makes the two players who form it. One without the other lacks something. Brogden Ran as Required H. Brogden, half-back, played a game which was nicely varied. He ran when he saw the opportunity, was not supported properly and most of the moves failed. It can be said in criticism of Brogden, however, that his passes could have been quicker. A fraction of a second more sting in

inem mignt nave made up for the slowness in the first five-eighth position. The play of Wanganui's forwards spoke for itself. The team held a fairly solid opposition well. L. Northover, A. G. Davidson, W. Firmin, T. Collins all played as they were expected to and Callaghan, apart from

his hooking, was sound in the rucking play so frequent in such a match. E. V. Beiliss and W. Glenn played the loose game, and Beiliss made the better job of It, notwithstanding that he had to get out of bed to play. He is a top-notch forward. Reid’s Good Form Hawke’s Bay had a great player in P. Reid. There was no doubting his class. C. Taite, the Maori wing threequarter. looked to be “the goods,” but John Polson never let him away once, and there were times when Taite's latent speed looked like materialising dangerously. H. Fraser, M. Macdonald, A. Lincoln and S. Jackson were always in the thick of the 'Bay’s fighting play in the van and the fast McKenzie undoubtedly had a great deal to do with Wanganui lamenting its lack of sting ik the backs. A Match of Thrills It was a match of thrills, one ot the most impressive seen for years in that respect, two good packs battling hard, one set of backs, with nearly all the ball, unable to do anything against traditional low tackling and good rush stopping. That same set of backs lacked solidity on defence in a hard five minutes just after the first spell, and paid dearly for it. Never once did the Hawke’s Bay line falter in its tackling, and while the criticism that the Wanganui fiveeighth line lacked initiative was justified, that should be watered down with the knowledge that the 'Bay backs knew how to defend. The Scores Hawke’s Bay scored first, Moss, the half-back, launching a nice blind-side move to send Bradley on. Bradley centred and the ball bounced into the goal. Nobody was there to force it for Wanganui and McKenzie dived at it, missed, but Frazer was close be-. hind him and he did the job. Bradley goaled.—Hawke’s Bay 5; Wanganui 0. Moss, Holt and Reid handled nicely from a line-out and Reid scored near the posts with a brilliant cut in. Bradley converted. Hawke’s Bay 10: Wanganui 0. After a run by Brogden, and a kick over Dyer’s head, the ’Bay was penalised and Hook goaled.—Wanganui 3; Hawke’s Bay 10. An infringement in the line-outs cost the ’Bay another penalty and Hook goaled again.—Wanganui 6, Hawke’s Bay 10. Dalton was injured and replaced by J. Butler, who played a fast game. Just before half-time, Wanganui

scored. A scrum got down on the Hawke’s Bay line and when the ball came out Io the defending side, Beiliss and Glenn smothered Moss. Collins dived through to a try which Hook converted. Wanganui 11. Hawke's Bay 10, An easy try was scored by the ’Bay immediately after half-time. Tait? came in from ‘he wing to provide an overlap, but it. was not necessary. Raid cutting the horns back line in two. Welsh held him. but. he got the ball away, a ruck forming quickly, from which Jackson scored. Bradley converted. Hawke’s Bay 15. Wanganui 11. Going into action again, the 'Bay again got Reid on the move. Again he beat, the opposition and Butler scored. Jackson failed to goal.— Hawke's Bay 18. Wanganui 11. There came a long period of attacking play by Wanganui and Hook rewarded the forwards with another goal from a penalty awarded for playing the ball on the ground.—Wanganui 14. Hawke’s Bay 18. Twelve minutes before the end. Hook goaled again and made the scores, Hawke's Bay 18, Wanganui 17. The closing stages of the game were tremendously exciting and Wanganui tried hard to pull the game out of the fire. The ’Bay, apparently keen to stop the attacks at any cost, did a lot of late tackling. Quite justifiably, the referee, Mr. G. Thrush, penalised it. There was no further score. THIRD GRADE COMPETITION PIRATES UNBEATEN The Pirates third grade team has won the Wanganui third grade competition with an unbeaten record. To maintain play for third grade teams it has been decided to hold a third grade seven-a-side competition on August 19 and on the two following Saturdays play a knock-out competition.