FAR TOO MUCH ROUGH PLAY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31096, 27 June 1966, Page 16

FAR TOO MUCH ROUGH PLAY

SUBURBS 8: L. Cottrell a try; K. Nicholas a conversion and a penalty goal. SHIRLEY 3: J. Tokl a try. Suburbs were a little fortunate to win a hard, bruising, match with Shirley. There was far too much rough play and punching, and too few efforts to score tries. From the opening minutes of the match the players began to scrap, with M. O’ Malley (Suburbs) and J. Tokl (Shirley) particularly prominent in this respect. The referee frequently spoke to players and awarded penalty kicks, but this seemed to make little difference. Suburbs’ victory could be attributed to sounder defence. The Suburbs backs performed wonders in preventing the Shirley line from taking advantage of the feast of ball that R.

Simpson won for them in the scrums. R. Nunan played a fiery game and hammered the Suburbs inside backs. Generally the forward play was scrappy and too often the ball was disregarded in going for the man. The Shirley pack did better than Suburbs in giving possession to its backs and R. Gearry got the ball away often. Had he been quicker in passing, Shirley’s chances would have been enhanced. L. Davis was in splendid form for Suburbs and got his backs away cleanly and with room to move. Outside him, W. Cottrell marshalled his forces well and made some good breaks. D. Reeves and L. Cottrell covered miles in cover defence and were mainly responsible for keeping Shirley in check. K. Nicholas was very sound at full-back; but B. Richards made many errors at full-back for Shirley although he also made some fine saves.

Toki was the most impressive Shirley back but spoiled this good impression by a tendency to punch anyone who tackled him. Referee: Mr G. A. Albertson.