RUGBY FORM

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20495, 11 May 1938, Page 12

RUGBY FORM

FLAY FURTHER IMPROVES •TAO TROPHY COMPETITION ULD BOVS TWO POINTS AHEAD The promising form displayed on Ihn opening day of th*» Rugby football season in the Waikato was surpassed »>n Saturday when the game at Hamilton and also Hie one at Te Awamutu reached brilliant standards and elearly indicated that there is no doubt, that the quality of play this >e.ison will far surpass the exhibitions seen la*f week, \gain the form displayed indicated tl if the Stag series will he strenuously contested and although the trains are already beginning to string out a little the prosperts are that the first round will be \ery keenly contested. • ►ld Boy» have leapt to the top of the ladder after two well-deserved wins and it appears that the champion tearn of 1936 will be hard to overhaul before Hie first round is completed. The fight for second place will be a koen one indeed and Technical Old Ho.*s and Te Awamutu will probably fight, for the honour, although several of the other teams, which have not yet settled down, may upset calculations. Position of the Teams As a result of a second victory on Saturday Old Boys have taken a command of two points In Hie Stag Trophy competition at the end of the second games, when the table reads:— p. w. i.. d. r. a. Pts. Old Boys .... 22 - 4 5 12 4 Tento. OP. ... 2 I I - 21 17 2 Frankton 2- -2 25 25 2 T*» Awsmutu 1 1 - 9 5 2 floverc 2 t 1 ?0 4* I Tatjptrl I - - 1 9 9 1 •.ambridfe .... 22- 14 31 0 Outstanding Five-eighth One of the most promising flveeishths In the Waikato this season is J WlkefoM, of Technical Old Boy a* who, on Saturday, fully justified his claims to recognition which he established at Te Awamutu the weofc before. He plays outside Bythell. another good inside back, and he has speed, handling ability, uncanny control and excellent tactics to help him on his way. His runaway try on Saturday against Cambridge when he intercepted on his own line and dashed the entire length of the field was a masterpiece. Altkan’a Qualities J. Aitken. who has been a Waikato representative back for the past six reasons, is playing belter football than ever- Although always well marked he has managed to make a few strong runs in every match. In the Mid Boys club team he has good support from two fast and heavy wings, M. Fahey, who is much the same build as Aitken, and F. Saxon, a former Matarnata representative. Falicy, from the South, is a newcomer to Morrinsvillc football, and is a hard man to stop when he gains possession of the ball. In Rovars Fifteen As usual, the Rovers forwards played a very sound game, their weight giving them an advantage over the Old Boys’ pack, but the backs could not turn it to account. The whole forward line played a great game but being let down by their backs, the vanguard could not hope to accomplish a great deal. A. Thomson, C. Meredith, 11. Grant and C. were always in the picture and W. Nicoll and T. Mackv (playing his first game for five years) worked hard in the scrum and tight play. Being completely overshadowed in every department of the game, the backs were unable to do anything when they received the ball, and the only man to he very effective was Olsen, wfeo frequently cut through the Old Roy*’ defence, only to have no support from the other players. Mcr.ruther played quite a sound game at fullback and had a tremendous amount of work to accomplish. .lovvsey played a good game as breakaway for hovers. L. Russell In Form Again The Waikato selector. Mr R. J. McKenzie. saw the two senior games at Morrinsville on Saturday, and he must have noticed that F,en Russell, Waikato's halfback for the past four seasons. is richt at th*» top of his form. Flaying for Kereone against Terriers in a game that ended in a draw 6 points all . Russell *aved Kereone from defeat. He engineered his team s only try with a run of 30 yards from ♦he scrum that left the opposing backs standing and enabled T*»d I.epson to accept a pass near the line to score. With Kereone three points down with only two minutes to play. Russell made a great effort, to dive over from the scrum near the Terriers' line, and actually broke over with the ball, but was penalised under the new rules which forbid a tackled player reaching nut with the ball for a try. \ minute later a Terriers pla>er. when defending near his own was penalised for a 1 hi. ~ regarding playing the ball with the foot after a goal 11, even the scores.

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Lesson to tbs Fore Leesnn. who has played 40 sanies for Waikato. Is not keen on pepkins further Waikato honours now that lie is married, it ts understood, but he lias two younger brothers, i’.eorge and Ted, '•••ckinz places in the Waikato pack. • icf.rge plajed for Waikato in 1935 and 1936, and i« the tallest and heaviest forward now- playing in the Morrinsvllle competition. He did not play last season. Ted. the youngest of the beesons, Is much the same build as George, and after two seasons as i Morrinsville representative, should bo well in the running for a place in the Waikalo forwards. Old Boys* Fine Backs The Old Boys’ bark® are reminiscent ’ of the team’s backs of two years asm in styjp. One feature of their play is : that when the ball comes from the scrum to the opposing side they close right up on their opponents, and Ipave them no ground in which to work, thus turning dpfenre into attack. Among the outstanding playprs in Hip hack 1 line were .1. Carroll. In the five-eighth line, who frequently made openings for his outside men. A. .1. Sayers on the wing indfrafprl that he knew what to do when he received the hall, and his pace resulted in him scoring four good tries. Another good player was B. Paterson, the centre thr«equarfpr. who served Payprs w II with the hall and I was always in support of him. Gilling 1 sent the ball out cleanly from the scrum and his backs made good use of the openings. It was only after half- ‘ time and towards the end of the game , that Old Hoys had their own way. and they scored three practically gift-tries i which added 15 points to their total. Among the forwards. Gray and Smith were always to bo sepn working hard : and always on Hie hail. The were : ably supported by Turner and Barber, i while D. Paterson was a tower of j strength in the open play. Cameron Footballers ; The only member of the Cameron j family still playing in Morrinsville is j V. Cameron, the youngest of four who have worn the Morrinsville jersey over a period of a dozen years. He did not t play last season but lias turned out ! again this ypar in his old position as j fullback for Kereone. R. Cameron, former Waikato five-eighth, is now in- j terested in golf, and C. Camero.l coaches the Kereone juniors, while A. Cameron, who was married early in the year, is not playing football this season. Tireless Worker. For sheer hard grafting among the forwards in the Taupiri-Frankton j game at Ngaruawahia there was none more willing than Ferguson, of Frankton. No doubt as a result of his athletic work during the summer. Fer- j guson. Who is a pole-vault champion, was one of the fittest players on the field and he followed-up tirelessly j throughout the match. Given a few j opportunities lie is likely to prove a real opportunist and tries are sure to conic his way. College Athlete In Pack In G. Jones. c\- Auckland Grammar School atlilele. Taupiri appears to | have a very u-seful type of pack man. While at the northern secondary school Jones was a very promising all-round , performer on the track and in field j events, having won titles over the hurdles and in shd-putting. Standing well over six feet and turning the scales at about 14 stone he will be yet another of fine physique to take his place in the country team’s scrum. On j Saturday lie was in the thick of everything and showed a good turn of speed when the vanguard fanned out on attack. Two Qood Fullbacks. Although not of first-class standard, the two fullbacks seen in action in the big game at Rugby park on Saturday were of a good class and both should improve as the season goes on. They were W. Dalbeth (Technical Old Boys) and 1.. Haworth (Cambridge). Dalbeth did not impress as Hie aide fullback lie was reported !o have been at Te Awaniulu the previous week, hut he is certainly improved on last season. especially in his line-kicking, which lm has developed to a greater lonelh- In Ih * early part of the game on Saturday he was kicking a particularly long punt, hnl later there was little between his efforts and those of Haworth’s. Dalbeth was very patchy with his place-kicking. The ones ihat went over the bar were all excellent, but some very easy kicks were missed. Haworth did not always get his man in tackling, but his positional play was sound and if was not often that he missed the ball. Backs Disorganised. hacking the thrust which R Everest imparted last week, the Frankton hacks were at sixes and seven* against Taupiri. and. though their forwards cave them title of the ball, the inside men could not seem to get undar way a» all. In the first spell Heeps was useful in defensive work but In the second half he was too often out of position. Jones was the only player who at times looked dangerou*. but all too often he was caught in possession. The fullback. Thompson, made Hie fatal mistake of wafting for the ball to bounce and had the Taupiri backs bepn a little fitter he would certainly have found himself in trouble more often. His vis-a-vis. Robertson, was the most consistent back on the field and he was always equal to the occasion when Frankton pressed. Cambridge Team’s Form. The form of the Gambridge team revealed a great improvement on the di«plav given by the fifteen against Old ; Roys Hie previous week althouch the srore would would not indicate that | it did. Tlip fact that Cambridge lost , the game against Technical Old Boys I by fep points was hardly a fair indication ° f ,he ability of. the team, how- \ Jever. If the present fifteen is main- j

tained in the field the team should complete the round without further defeat, except perhaps f r, r a doubtful decision when the clash with To Awaniutu copies nn May 28 at Cambridge The team is particularly strong on attack but there are weaknesses in the defence. which will have to be overcome before strong opposition is met again. Many of the backs do not tackle in the right manner and repeatedly the Technical attack gained greater momentum than it should. With a pack that can hook the ball so often, the Cambridge backs will always be dangerous on attack, for the material [is there and it is bound to improve, but the defence must be strengthened. Successful Experiment. , At Xgaruawahia on Suatrday Taupiri experimented with three big men in the front row of the scrum, and, while if was difficult to Judge the merits of this formation when their opponents were giving away so much .weight, it appeared to give the hooker. Galley. a better opportunity to make use of his supports- As this was Taupiri's first run of the season the pack was hardly settled and on few occasions did the hall come out cleanly, hut the second row men rer- ; tninly appeared lo be able to make more use of their weight when balanced by mpn in the front row who ‘ could hold them. If, In subsequent matches, the Taupfri scrum formation proves itself beyond doubt the Waikato selector can hardly fail to over- ■ look adopting ibis type of pack for representative games. Splendid Hooking. One of the finest exhibitions of hooking for some time was given at Rugby I Park, when E. Beer raked the hall ; from about eight out of every ten ; scrums for Cambridge in the game ; against Technical Old Boys. The I Cambridge backs were given the ball j whenever they required it and the rp- ; gularitv of Beer's hooking became al- ! most monotonous. He had a great pack to support him and all the forwards .worked well, especially in Ihe fighl, 1 where they were far superior to the j Technical pack. In the loose the honours among the forwards were | about even. A feature of the game on Saturday was the manner in which the forwards handled the ball as well as the backs on many occasions. Sev- . p ral of the best passing rushes of both teams were the result of co-operation between the rearguard and the men jin the van. E. Beer's brother. P. j Beer, a former Waikato representative, ’gave a good display on Saturday, while among the most prominent of the Cam- ' bridge forwards were Harbutt and E. . Hall, both of whom were with the play | from start to finish and worked'stren- • uously, in the etaoi - uously, especially in the tight. Flan- | nagan was playing well in the Tech- ! nieal pack, while Shannon was responsible for a great deal of hard work in the tight. Barber and U'Meara were solid -supporters throughout Ihe game, the former being particularly nippy for a forward. In the loose, lone of the most, prominent Technical forwards was Howling, a fall man, who ' did sonic good work in the line-out also. ' Kelly Well Marked. 1.. Kelly, the Cambridge five-eighth. ; who played a prominent, game al Cam- , bridge the previous Saturday, and who, it is understood has already caught the eye of the Waikato selector, was well j marked on Saturday by the Technical Old Boys inside backs, and he had litj tie opportunity to get away. A plcasI ing feature of his game, however, is ■ the manner in which be feeds tlie other i backs with clean passes at the right {moment, although a few on Saturday ! were inclined to be too high for Peake jto field easily. Too often I>. Kelly J was let down because .1. Kelly, the first five-eighth, tripd too much* solo i work. Occasionally.it brought rei suits, but nearly always lie ran into trouble and left bis other backs waiting when they were well lined-up for 'a movement. .1. Kelly played a good game otherwise 'and he is certainly a promising man. H appears, on the : form displayed last Saturday, that 1.. Kelly would be heller played as first five-eighth and -I. Kelly next in order before Peake. With K. Kelly having 1 the ability lo send passes out more 1 rapidly and gel ihe. movements under . way quicker such a change might be 1 ’beneficial lo the side, i HAMILTON SUB-UNION MEETING OF MANAGEMENT i Mr A. E. Gibbons presided at the weekly meeting of the management i committee of the Hamilton Rugby . Union last evening. | Reports were read from the Senior R competition committee and from the | Junior Advisory Board particularly in j connection with representation of the i Senior B teams on the management committee, and on the matter of the status of the teams. After considerable diseussion Mr J. D. Hislop gave notice of motion that the matter of taking steps to alter the constitution to allow of one representative on the | management committee from the | Senior R clubs and the control of the , Senior R competition be vested in the 1 management committee, be a matter j for discussion at the next meeting of the committee. j Tt was decided to invite a represen- • tative of the senior clubs to attend the next meeting of the management committee to discuss t.he matter. Senior registration was granted to the following players: Frankton. L. Turnbull, R. G. Kidd; Old Boys, E. , Slow. A clearance was tabled for R. Wilkins from the Dunedin Club and was ( approved, while F. Edwards and S. Tonora were regraded from senior to • Junior with the approval of the Junior ! Board. I A request from the Junior Board • to allow the Hamilton Junior repre- > sentatives to challenge for the Boyce j Cup was approved. ; It was decided to request the Waikato Rugby Union’s approval of the proposed inclusion in the Hamilton Senior B competition of a Raglan team. The union decided to forward a letter of congratulation to Mr B. S. Marshall on hts election as president of the New Zealand Rugby Referees’ Association. | CAMBRIDGE SUB-UNION (.-pedal to Times) j CAMBRIDGE. Tuesday. ! The weekly meeting or the management committee or the Cambridge Rugby ?üb-union was held last evening, when Mr B. Brewer presided over a good attendance. The Tc Aroha fnion wrote advising that they were unable to arrange a game against Cambridge on May 21: also that a cup had been presented by Mr R. Coulter. M.P.. and it was decided to otter it Tor annnual competition between Cambridge and Te Aroha. It was hoped that Cambridge would be able to send a team to Te Aroha to play lor the cup on June i 6, but this date wa~ unsatisfactory ami

it was hoped to send a team latpr. The following tnrpp rpioreos wptp recommendPd to thp \\’a kato Rugby i nion and Rpreree?' Association: .MPssrs C. Wallace, 11. Ktvkman and c. Hadley. Saturday’s Fixtures The following are the fixtures lor next Saturday:— Seniors.—Gambridge v. Frankton at Victoria Square at 2.30 Mr H. Kirkman . Juniors.— .Northern v. i nned at victoria square at 1.15 (Mr G. Hadley-: Hnutapu v. Leamington at Leamington No. 2 ground at 1.15 iMr Wallace . Third Grade.—Northern v. United at I eam-ngton. No. t ground, at 1.15; Hautapu v. Leamington at Leamington. No. l ground, at 2.30 .Mr A. Moore for both Fourth - a H*. —Leamington v llauiapu at High school, at 1.15 (Mr N. tlley).