FROM THE SIDELINE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 118, 22 May 1939, Page 13

FROM THE SIDELINE

NOTES AND COMMENT^

It was no fault of their forwards that Petone were unable to succeed against Marist Brothers' Old Boys at Athletic Park. No better display has been given by any pack at the park this season. Petone's scrum was compact; the weight was there and the Xew Zealand representative hooker, A. Lambourn, in the centre of the front row, did his part very ably. This-gave Petone a big advantage against a side with a potentially dangerous back combination ; but apart from the hooking and their scrum work generally the Petone forwards were a solid force in the open, not. that they endeavoured to make play too open. Their policy was to keep play fairly tight and in this they succeeded very well, revealing experience and cleverness that, until well on in the second spell, had every indication of proving too great an obstacle for Marist. With Lambourn giving good service in the .scrums, the Petone half-back and captain, O'Halloran,. had plenty to do and made some ■good dashes. There was no great attempt, however, to open up play among the Petone backs, and in consequence not a great deal was seen, of them as an attacking combination. The two wings, Knowles and Wepa, a Maori who formerly played for Otahuhu, scarcely had a run. On defence the Petone backs had much more to do at different periods, and they proved to be difficult to get past, tackling strongly. . Although not so much at home in the set scrums, the Marist forwards did soinq fine i work in the line outs. McKenzio, tall and strong, was one who gave Marist good service in this department, with the result that.from line-outs, particularly in the first spell, Marist were able to develop a good deal of play. Gillespie. formerly a wing three-quarter, used his speed well at times in his capacity as a rover. But there were occasions when it appeared that he was roving too much and would have been more service to his side in the tighter stuff. He went very close with a penalty kick at goal in the closing stages of the game. There is no doubt that the Marist. threequarter line —McGreevy, Vile, and Wareham — require watching, but against Petone their opportunities were greatly restricted. There was «!,,„#. th^, font *Jiof t>atn.rta ttninari o croatgr

share of the ball in- the scrums, and in the second place, when the ball did come Marist's way, the Petone back division, playing well up, saw to It that the Marist backs were not given much space in which to move. With Petone just as much on their toes as were Marist there was difficulty in achieving the best results, but there was one very spectacular, fastmoving run. by the Marist backs in the first spell which almost ended in a try by McGreevy. One very noticeable feature of the Marist back play was the endeavour that was made to get the ball out to the wings with speed, after the manner of the South African backs in 1937. Apart from his effectiveness as a link in the chain Vile the centre three-quarter, kicks a very long; ball. He sot in some splendid touch-finders which found the crowd most responsive tp the merit of his kicking, but with quite a number of other kicks, though lie had length, he was unable to find the line. The members of the Pel one team wore white bands on their left arms in memory of the late Mr. Thomas Price, an old Petone resident and father of .Mr. K. Price, president of the Wellington Rughy t'nlon. whose death occurred last week. When the teams took the field they cheered one another, an old custom not always carried out- these days. There was much, too, in the style of the play that was reminiscent of bygone years. ******* "We've got it in the bag. boys," was the remark made in the Athletic dressing-room during the interval in their match with Wellington. And it looked rather like it, too. There was a scoreless first spell, and Athletic had battled against the wind. But the side did not. have the capacity (or was it the condition »') to press home the occasional chance that offered to clinch the match. Wellington could not do much against Athletic when facing the wind, but made a better fist of it, from the points aspect, anyway, when playing into the breeze. One or two of the forwards shaped well in spasms. But spasmodic work usually does not hear much fruit. * * * * * * * R. Pelham, who was playing first-grade Rugby about fifteen years ago. produced all Athletics points, and for a man who has been in the game so long, he can still step lively. Wilson, at half, made one or two encouraging breaks from the scrum, but he was painfully slow in getting the ball away to his five-eighths. In fact, half the time he did not get it away. Outstanding among the Wellington forwards against University were Cooper. Climo, ami | Coupland, nil of whom kept well up with the play and never let up until tin final whistle. I Kirschberg was a useful performer in the loose and Morrissey made his presence felt in the scrummages. One bright feature of 'Varsity's performance against Wellington was the fine work of their forwards who provided stern opposition to Wellington and engaged in many hot footrushes that were deserving of more success. Burke was as good as ever, and, apart from being an able leader, his service in the hooking department was of a high order. Hansen was conspicuous on many occasions, and McVeagh, the ex-Auckland University College representative, scored University's only try by fast following tip. * * * * o * • Hutt had bad luck for the Poneke match through the absence of Sargisson (suffering with a carbuncle on the shoulder) and Phillips and Williams (who line nifhienza). The absence of such a valuable trio w-as a great handicap. For Poneke Ongley kept his forwards at it against Hutt, and played a fine game himself. Pringle showed plenty of pace in the loose, and was ably seconded by O'Brien and Hegglun. Cassidy was suffering from a cold, but played his best game of the season for Hutt. Foloy and Griffon did good work in the tight, and Flanagan and Kemp wore good in the open. Still, the Hutt forwards can do with more "devil" with the ball on the ground. Crisp gave great service to Poneke with his place-kicking and acurate touch-finding. He had plenty to do in tho first spell and did it very well indeed. v ******* Against Eastbourne the .Tohnsonville captain. A. Kenny, played his best game to date this season, working hard in the tight, and also showing' great dash in the loose. He hurled himself across the line for one try, and narrowly lost another. ' Eastbourne's, last line of defence against Johnsonville, R. Sanson, acquitted himself very well indeed. Cool and sure in his fielding and kicking, he came through a trying time with credit. *****♦;* G. Burns was in splendid form as Johnsonville's first five-eighth against Eastbourne: His play attracted special notice, as did the dash shown by X. Dellabarca in scoring a try for Eastbourne. * * * * * * * Auld (Athletic) is 'rapidly settling down to first division football, and against Oriental he proved a safe last line of defence. His line kicking was lengthy and accurate. His goalkicking boot contributed all but three of Athletics points and he is rivalling Taylor in the accuracy of his goal-kicking. * * * * * * * Tindill, given fine service by the Athletic forwards, seldom failed to set his backs going, and often varied his play with neat solo efforts that gained ground. Oriental, however, realising his skill with the drap-kick, quickly smothered an attempt tp give Athletic winning points. On defence, too, the Athletic half did his share and was often called upon to stop some lively dribbling rushes. Wales is a tower of strength in the Athletic] team. Fit and fast he is nexci far from the j ball, sometimes breaking away in good styleHowever, a feature of his play is backing up on defence, and against Oriental he often saved when danger threatened. Rowlands was easilyy the best of the Oriental backs, apart from the fact that he scored all his team's points against Athletic. Four penalies and a fine try were valuable efforts in his creditable work.