BETTER COMBINATION GIVES RANGITAIKI WIN OVER GALATEA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 58, 21 June 1948, Page 5

BETTER COMBINATION GIVES RANGITAIKI WIN OVER GALATEA

Cleaner handling, more accurate passing and altogether better combination gave Rangitaiki victory by 15 points to 3 in the_ representative Rugby match with Galatea at Te Teko on Saturday. Perhaps a smaller points lead to the winners would have been a better indication of the relative merits of the teams, which were:—

Rangitaiki Newdick Burt, Frank, Mexted Anderson, Sullivan • Raureti Black L. Hall, P.- Falwasser, Waldegrave, T. Smith N. Beasley, R. Falwasser, Mulligan. Galatea Lamb Ruri, Higgins, Hata Shepherd, Wharepapa Carlson York Rangi, Smythe, Howden, Maxwell Christie,. Wilson,. Honatana. Major factor in Rangitaiki’s victory was the fact that Raureti struck form and, though not up to the best of his performances last year, played his best game so far this season. But "for occasional fumbling in the five-eighths, the back line worked fairly smoothly, with Frank, at centre competing with the half for the honours, on the day. Newdick, full back, handled well and kicked accurately, generally

playing a better hand than his opposite number. The forwards lacked fire in the first half, and R. Falwasser’s hooking from the set scrums could not match that of his opponent, Wilson* But he made up for it in the rucks, and generally did fair work. Consistent leader in the loose and hard worker in the rucks was Waldegrave, who improved considerably on his showing against Whakatane. Later in the game, when T. Smith retired with a slight injury, the replacement, Dodunski, showed up as one- of the best loose forwards in the side. Galatea played with dash throughout ,and the' team gave an impression of being in good condition but lacking training together. Though Carlson served well from the base of the scrum and got the side out of some awkward spots with a handy boot, his defensive play was not always good enough. Early in the match a lot of his good work was spoiled by Wharepapa’s careless handling and tendency to let himself get - caught in possession. This starved Shepherd, who later showed himself to be probably) Galatea’s headiest back. A re-shuffle after half time, when Wharepapa went out to the wing, Hata came in to “second” and Shepherd to “first,” strengthened the line considerably. Ruri impressed as a dashing threequarters who spoiled himself a little by trying to be a bit too unorthodox. Higgins played 'fairly reliably at centre, and Lamb, full back, hand-% led well and found the line accurately, but failed to produce the really hard, sure tackling the position calls for. •' Rangi led the forwards, closely supported by York and Christie. Honatana took a knock fairly early and was replaced by Rutene. In general, Galatea’s forwards stuck together better than Rangitaiki’s, and were a bit unlucky not to be able to finish off some really good attacks. Scorers: — Rangitaiki (15 points): Mexted, Burt, Dodunski, a try each; Newdick, three conversions. Galatea (3 points): Lamb, a penalty goal. Mr B. McGee was the referee.