RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 255, 9 August 1937, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

SENIOR REPRESENTATIVES. ASHBURTON LACKED COHESION. At Timaru on Saturday, South Canterbury soundly defeated Ashburton by 31 points to 12. The home side’s three-quarter line was too speedy and, versatile, and when Morrison gained possession he carved holes in the defence. Winning the majority of set scrums, the Green and Black forwards enabled their backs to stage some bright passing movements. The Ashburton team lacked cohesion, and reiled more on individual efforts than concerted play to achieve their ends. The visitors’ full-back, L. Behrne9, gave a grand display of rushstopping, and was mainly responsible for keeping the score within reasonable bounds. The home side was clearly superior in every department of the game, but, despite this, the encounter* was brimful of interest until the final whistle. The teams lined out as follows: — Ashburton. (Black and White.) Full-back: I. Behrnes. Three-quarters: S, Duncan, R. Lilley, J. Lilley. Five-eighths: D. Watson, W. Burgess. Half-back: H. McNeill. Forwards: P. Doig, E. McKenzie (captain), D. Wilson, J. Cretney, N. Hawke, B. Newton, G, Kelly, D. Brooker. South Canterbury. (Green and Black.) Full-back: C. Rollinson. Three-quarters: T. C. Morrison, C. Cartwright. Half-back: C. Saxton (captain). Front row: M. Cameron, T. Gunn, P. Hansen. Middle row: J. Strang, W. Denison, F. S. R. Thomson, G. Vucetich. Back row: G. Adkins. Ashburton were early penalised for a scrum infringement, and Morrison failed to gain three points from a rather easy position. Returning to the attack, the ball travelled through the South Canterbury hacks to Cartwright, who in-passed to his forwards, and Strang opened the Green and Blacks’ account. Morrison failed ±o convert. South Canterbury 3 Ashburton 0 Fielding in the visitors’ twenty-five, Rollinson punted high for Behrnes to misfield the ball when across his line Rollinson pounced on the ball to score. The same player failed to find the uprights. South Canterbury 6 Ashburton 0 A spell on attack by Ashburton was well stemmed by Morrison, who found the line with a judicious kick. A scrum infringement by South Canterbury saw the resultant kick by Behrnes just fall short. A similar penalty allowed Behrnes to exercise his kicking ability, but the ball sailed wide of the northern upright. Rollinson was inclined to wait for the bounce, and on one occasion the ball evaded him twice, and a visiting forward, travelling at top speed, kicked too hard to score, the ball going across the dead ball line. South Canterbury were hooking from the set scrums, and the home backs were making moderately good use of their opportunities. From one of these movements an orthodox passing rush placed Morrison in possession, and his shattering run, in which ho weaved his way by several opponents, ended when Adkins knocked on from Morrison’s pass. Returning vigorously to the attack, the Green and Blacks swept into their opponents’ territory, and in an in-and-out passing movement in which Morrison and Cartwright were conspicuous a score was narrowly averted when Cartwright was pushed out of touch. An illegality in the resultant line-ont saw Morrison convert the penalty from a difficult position. South Canterbury 9 Ashburton 0 A loose forward rush by the visitors ■enabled the backs to swing into action, and Behrnes (the visitors’ full-back)

gained possession to drop-kick a neat goal from thirty-five yards out. South Canterbury 9 Ashburton 4 From a ruck Saxton sent his backs away, the ball coming to Morrison, who danced his way in and through the defence to hand on to J. Strang, who doubled hack on his tracks and scored under the posts. Cartwright converted. Half-time score:— South Canterbury 14 Ashburton 4 On the resumption of the second half, it was found that T. Morrison had been replaced by Jamieson. Ashburton were not functioning efficiently as a team. They seemed to be bereft- of sound tactics. Behrnes was playing a sound game, as the last line of defence for the visitors, and he extricated his side from many difficult positions with timely marks and judicione line kicks. A bright passing rush by the home side, in which Gaffaney and Jamieson indulged in a bout of inpassing took play to the visitors’ line, where Strang gained possession to hand on to Thomson, who scored in a handy position. Strang found the posts with an accurate kick. South Canterbury 19 Ashburton 4 Adkins bullocked his way out of a scrum and transferred to Cartwright, who potted, a neat goal close in. South Canterbury 23 Ashburton 4 A visitors’ forward attack hemmed South Canterbury in their own twentyfive, and from a scrum McNeil nearly scored, but he touched the corner flag on his way across. The Green and Blacks were throwing the ball about in fine style, and they very often disconcerted the defence with pretty movements. Gaffaney initiated a back rush, the ball eventually coming to Ryan, who scored with a tackier hanging on. Strang converted -from a difficult angle. South Canterbury 28 Ashburton 4 At this stage Saxton retired with' an injury to his knee. A solo effort by Duncan, in which he cleverly dribbled the ball over the line to score, despite the attention of two opposing players. Behrnes failed to convert from an awkward angle. South Canterbury 28 Ashburton 7 A clearing kick by Vucetich struck an opposing player, and from the rebound Watson flashed across. Behrnes converted. South Canterbury 28 Ashburton ... % 12 Receiving the ball from a scrum, Adkins passed to Ryan, who brought the spectators to their toes with an electrifying dash down the touch-line. When effectively held, he passed out to IStrang, who grounded near the posts. He failed to convert. Full-time score:— South Canterbury 31 Ashburton ... 12 Mr A. G. Simmers was referee. JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVES. v SOUTH CANTERBURY y. ASHBURTON. Despite the fact that South Canterbury were showing better combination than their opponents, Ashburton assumed an early lead of eight points. A spell on attack by the Green and Black’s culminated in a bright bout of lin and out passing and ended when the winger was robbed of possession when over the scoring line. However, a similar movement brought the desired result when D. Parsons grounded. The try was not converted. The visitors were definitely superior in loose forward work, and their inside backs penetrated well when in possession. Ashburton opened their account when M. Wilson from a line out forced lxis way over. The major points were not added. In a slashing dribbling rush, Ashburton swarmed over their opponents and Mclntosh picked up and battled his way across. The same player converted. A brilliant touch-line run by Thomson (South Canterbury) in which he dummied two opponents, resulted in his going over wide out. The angle was too difficult for conversion. Immediately following South Canterbury attacked with renewed vigour and Shore picked up from the loose and out-stripped the opposition. The score was now South Canterbury nine points, Ashburton eight. A brilliant cut in by Moore in which he tore the defence to ribbons, allowed Riley a clear passage to add three more points to South Canterbury’s total. A Green and’ Black attack saw Campbell neatly drop kick a goal when travelling at top speed. A mis-judged kick by Sansotn, the visitor’s full-back, was fielded by Lienert, who jinked his way over. On the call of time Shore raised the home team’s tally to 22. Final score:— South Canterbury 22 Ashburton 8 Mr C. F. de Joux was referee. THIRD GRADE MATCH. _ ASHBURTON TEAM’S! VICTORY An excellent game of football was given in the third grado match between Ashburton and South Canterbury, which was played on the Domain Oval before a fair attendance. Considering the state of the ground, which was extremely muddy, the game was remarkably open, and repeated hack

movements kept the spectators interested. After a bright exhibition Ashburton won by 12 points to six. A. Kelly, at halfrbaek, played an outstanding game. Muir saved early and relieved pressure again after a dangerous South Canterbury passing rush. All the Timaru backs handled again, but a forward pass spoilt the movement. Kelly got his backs going and Walls dummied through. South Canterbury saved but after midfield play Kelly sent Kenny away in a brilliant run for a score in the corner. The kick -failed. From a scrum in the twenty-five Dwa-n dribbled over for an unconverted try for Timaru. After half-time the Ashburton forwards dribbled through and Kelly, working the blind side, passed to Kenny, who went over again in the corner. The next score came for Ashburton when Kelly set his backs in motion. After every hack handled Kelly came a*ound outside the wing to take the final pass. The kick again failed. Walls scored in the corner for Ashburton when Kenny, failing to pick the ball up, dribbled it on. From a loose scrum the Timaru backs handled well, the movement ending in McMahon going over for an unconverted try. The score was then 12-6 in Ashburton’s favour. Ashburton pressed hard, hut a brilliant run down the line by the winger put Timaru on attack. Jordan reversed this by a good run, and Ashburton were attacking hard when the final whistle went with the score 12-6 in their favour. SOUTHLAND BEAT OTAGO. INVERCARGILL, August 7. A desperate defence by Southland enabled it to defeat Otago by 14 points , to 11 on a rain-sodden ground at Rugby Park to-day. The weather was cold and stormy, hut the rain held off during the game, which was watched by more than 6000 spectators. Otago gave a briliant display in adverse conditions, the backs throwing the ball about in grand style, but stubborn tackling by the Southlanders kept Otago’s score down. CANTERBURY BEATS TARANAKI. STRATFORD, August 7. Playing a more open and better class of football, the Ganterbury touring Rugby team heat Taranaki at Stratford to-day by 16 points to 9. Canterbury scored four tries to Taranaki’s one. The game was not a brilliant one, and the absence of any obstructive work among the Taranaki backs made more apparent Canterbury’s superiority in this department. IN OTHER CENTRES. Christchurch—University 21, Sydenham 7; Old Boys 8, Linwood 0; Sunnyside 20, Technical 9; Christchurch 35. Albion 9; Athletic 9, Merivale 3. Auckland—Ponsonby- 14, Grafton 6; North Shore 15, Training College. 6; Marist 16, Grammar 3; College Rifles 5, Manukau 5; Otahuhu 43, Technical 6. Taumarunui—Taxanaki B 6, King Country 6.