EXCITED CROWD BROUGHT TO ITS FEET

Chronicle (Levin), 29 July 1946, Page 7

EXCITED CROWD BROUGHT TO ITS FEET

-Press Association .

Bv Telearavh—

" CHRISTCHURCH, July. 2SV> Spectacular xnoves in ; tlxe best traditioxx of fast open Rugby, gave the Kiwis a deeisive and tlirilling victory over . Canterbury at Lancaster .Parlc by 315 points to Jl. Conditions were perfecl and a crowd of over 13,000 cheered ex- j citedly from start to finish. Canterbury I certaiuly put up a stout light at mauy I; stages but they could not cope with the . speed and .qui'ck diversions of the Kiwis. Thev had polish and linesse where Can-.!; terbury iuerely had vrim. 1 A tvpical Kiwi move followed a-j breakaway by Argus in'thc tirst spell.;: He fended his opposite, McHugh, on.t the flat of his back with a splid fend i and raced on down the middle of ihe;. lxeld to pass in to his supporting for- . wards although he could have scored, _ hinxself. ■ • , The teams were: — Kiwis: Full-back, R-. H. W. fecott; three-quarters,. J. R. Slxerrat.t, ,R. L. Dobson, W. Argus; fxve-eighths, I. Proctor, P. R. Allen; half-back, C, K. Saxton; forwards, N.- J. MePlxail, P. NHaigh, J. G. J3ond, K. Arnold, A. W. Blake, L. A. Grant, J. Piqlay, N. H. Thornton. Canterbury: Full-back, P. Callanan; three-quarters, R. S; Thomson, P. Kearney, W. HcHugh; iive-eighths, J. L. Roach, J. Morton; half-back, 11. Monigaitti; forwards, S. O 'Neill, A. Lee, B. G. Mites, D. Hernian, P. Oarroll, K. I Bain, P. Hobbs, Henderson. I A f ea ture of the game was the way ' the giant striding winger, Sherratt, was bottled up by Thomson. Thonxson's tackling was oue of the best things seen on Lancaster Park this season and . at no stage did Sherratt succeed in get- , ting anything like a break on him. • Argus on the other wing, was probably the principal scoring machine in the i Kiwi back line. 8i.-o.tt,' the Kiwi fullback. was right at ihe top of his fofnv. | His trieky footwork, speed and feinting : tactics, frequenl lv bafTled the onrush- ■ ing Canterbury forwards more than i once. He feiiited cleverly even when I his back was towards Canterbury. He I polished off a bnlliant display with a j try that brought the, crowd to its feet j right on the strpke.' of time. He at- ! tjempted a field gqal-fbut tlie ball was (jfe'a'r-ged; JdO\v-mi.c-At?: full ..'speed he raced through, gathered in ihe . rolling ball j and scored practically und.ee the posts. : The Kiwis 'scored exght tries of which I Scott converted six. . The ground was ' in fair order, perhaps a trifle lieavy, but ! at 110 slage did it appreciably slow . down play or interfere with the handling. The first back movement of the J • Kiwis, -machine-likc '. up its precision, i | gave the speetators a glimpso of things | ! to come. Field ing the Canterbury kick- 1 I off, Allen kieked o'ut. From the line- j ; out the ball shot out to Saxton and the | Kiwi backs wero away like the wind. I From the first three .or four scrums it was the same story. Tlien Canterbury forwards settled down. to work in earnest. Oue thing, however, stood out. From the scrums, linc-outs,. tight scrummages and loose rucks, the ball would rocket out to Proctor or Allen. and af ways they would be ready. Time and again Saxton \s job was done for liim in this fasliion. Canterbury were first to score in each half. On each occasion their tries acted like a spur to the Kiwis who retaliated swiftly. ' So far as thc two hard-working packs were co'ncerned, it would have been diflieult to select indivi'dual players for j special mention. There was no doubt, however, about the solid type of foot ball played by Thornton for thc Kiwis and Bain for Canterbufy. - The Kiwis' eight tries were scored by Argus, Thornton, Grant, Finlny (2), • Allen, Arnold and Scott. Scott converted six of them. Hiles and Henderson scored for CantcTbury. Morton con-. verted oue and kicked a penalty.