FREYBERG CUP RUGBY HOLDS MUCH INTEREST

Wanganui Chronicle, 28 January 1948, Page 5

FREYBERG CUP RUGBY HOLDS MUCH INTEREST

(N.Z. Public Relations Service) Chdfu, Jan. 22. With only one match to go in the first round of this season’s Second N.Z.E.F. Freyberg Cup Rugby competition, the fight for the lead is still on. The Third Battalion’s A team ousted the previously unbeaten Engineers’ fifteen at New Zealand Park in Yamaguchi last week in the best all-round games of the season to take the lead by one point. They now have 11 points to the Engineers’ 10. Things will move fast when the Second Battalion returns from guard duty in Tokio at the beginning of next month. With’two strong teams which had each scored eight points by the time they left this area’ they will prove no small element in harassing the present leaders. The Second Battalion’s B team is still unbeaten, although they had one drawn game. Medics (Sixth N..Z General Hospital, A.E.S. and attached personnel) are well up on the ladder with six points. S.E.P. (Signals, E.M.E. and Provost) is next with five, and Ascords, a combination of A.S.G. and O.F.P., # who have been unlucky in several games, follow with four points. Both with two points are Headquarters and the Third Battalion B team. Back play has been a feature among the leading teams. Among the outstanding players who have taken part in the competition are J. Martin and W. Lannigan, of the Second Battalion A team, E. Ashton and R. Heatherwick, of the Third Battalion A, P. Davenport, of S.E.P., and A. Robinson, of the Second Battalion B. Of the forwards, L. Powrie, of Headquarters, is the most outstanding.