Although It Beat Manawatu Local Team Was Not Up To Wanganui Form

Chronicle (Levin), 19 August 1948, Page 7

Although It Beat Manawatu Local Team Was Not Up To Wanganui Form

HOROWHENUA has now won two of its three first senior representative matches, beating Bush and Manawatu and puttmg up a very creditable performance against Wanganui. ^ .Had our first fifteen -shown the form it did at Wanganui j in the gariie on Saturday, the win over Manawatu would have; been more deeisive. Saturday's game. showed definitely thatj the Horowhenua first fifteen likes a hard game, especially in the forwards. 1 , | On Saturday it seemed that the delivery from the forwards i to the hali back was slow and Tritt did not appear to be pass- j ing it out as quickly as he did in his last game. This enabled ; the opposing backs to get on top of the local backs giving them j very little room in which to work. No doubt it spoke volumes for the Horowhenua forwards that they managed to piay in the | opposition territory while not getting the ball out of the setj scrums. !

The best forward on the ground : was Woods from Shannon. His hard rucking and general ability as a| tight piayer should take him^ into ; bigger rugby. R. Robinson of Hui Mai is improving with every game. He enjoys the hard work and plays' the correct game for the last down position. It is pieasing to see G. Bryant, Hui Mai, selected for the? Aii Black trials. A very young ; piayer, this is his first year in! senior football. R. Selby. of Wan-J derers, although playing a better game on Saturday, leaves room for ■ improvement. R. Denton or J.| Granger must be considered for; thi position in the next rep. game. ; At halfback it would be well to try i G. Sciascia; he would probably he ; more versatile than Tritt. j W. Galloway was more than a; match for I. A. Colquhoun. The; latter piayer has represented major; unions, which speaks well for ,the local man who no doubt will give a; good account of himself in the; trials. • Wallace and Smith piayed j as'well as opportunities permitted. , N either were given enough room in • which to work which was no doubt ; attributable to the slow delivery j from the base of the scrum. On, the wing, Mortimer was as good as t the versatile Webb. H. Heremai was better than his opposition, McNae. I Pedersen at full back piayed welli and did everything that was asked of him. I Long Journey Took Its Toll j in B Mafch | While the Horowhenua thirds were compieting the defeat of Manawatu at Foxton on Saturday, beating it 6 — 3, over in Masterton, the Horowhenua senior B team was engaged in an exciting see-saw game with Wairarapa, which re- j

sulted in a wm for the latter teanu 19—16. 1 The Horowhenua team on the whole piayed reasonably good football, but two things must be born in rnind. In the first place the team lacked practice as such, and secondly the game was preceded by a four hour bus jouney, an undertaking which must have had a detrimental effect on the players' performances. The full back, Page, piayed well but unfortunately had to leave the field in tne second half due to an injury He put in. some very hefty punts for the line his kicks being remarkable for a man of his size. The- three quarters did not receive very many opportunities. The centre, Chester, showed most initiative but was unfortunately caught in possession through the ball coming out too slowly. He had to leave the field in the second half owing to an injury. Hudson was the soundest of the backs and was equally at home on attack and defence. Moynihan started off a little uncertain'of himself but improved as the game progressed. Roainson at half back piayed sound football, his passes from the base of the scrum being very accurate. The forwards piayed as a pack and never let up throughout the game. The cover defence ,of the side and back row forwards was good, . the oniy improvement which could possibly be made in this good scrum would be the inclusion of one or two heavier men. The feature of the game was the excellent goal kicklng of Callesen of Shannon who kicked four goals from five attempts. Foster who came on a reserve showed great promise. It is a pity that the selectors have not seen more of this man.