LATE IN DELIVERY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19985, 10 July 1939, Page 11

LATE IN DELIVERY

OLD BOYS' BEST GOODS CELTIC ALMOST HO.MII BRISK LAST QUARTER

Old Boys ... 14pts. Celtic 0 Old Boys left it late .before they started to deliver the goods in their match with Celtic in Gisborne on Saturday, and just managed to scrape home against a patchwork opposition. Celtic had all the best of tilings for three-quarters of the game, and their forwards in particular pul. up a sterling display, while their backs, wiio possessed little in the way of combination, had little trouble in holding the opposing attacks.

There were many bright patches in the game, but it was below the average of senior fixtures of this season, and the Poverty Bay selector, Mr. T. French, must have had some qualms about the choice of players from Old Boys’ team for the representative touring side. That club team had the services of several men bidding for district honours, but they all seemed, for the greater part of the time, to suffer a severe inferiority complex.

The best forward work for Old Boys was done by Aitken, Twigg, Phillips and Shanks, with Smellie using his speed well and Livingstone working hard to the tight stuff. Littler was in fair form, but his passes were erratic at times. Haisman received dose attention from the spoilers of ‘he Celtic pack, and did not get away with much as first five-eighths until late in the game. Burch was the only other back to play up to his normal form. Brilliant Forward For the Celtic team, R. Rogers played a brilliant forward game, and was veil backed by K. Pere, Baker, & O’Connor, and McKinley, a newcomer to the senior ranks and a brother to several players who have attained representative honours in nnst seniors. R. McKinley, another of the family, was invaluable at first five-eighths, and it was not until Ire went off injured that the game swung aitahist his team. L. McKinley and Whaitiri were good in the three-quar-ters line, and B. Malone played good foot!all at full-back.

Old Boys were put at a disadvantage before they had even warmed up, by a solid forward Celtic rush that carried play across their 25-yd. fir.-. From a line-out there the ball ball went out to W. McKinley, who hied a drop-kick for the goal but missed. R. McKinley and L. McKinley follow the kick across the goal-

v.-je, however, ’and when the former! ’Mic'Mf'd the Old Bovs’ full-back, Burch,] off the ball, L. McKinley beat Hale in a scramble and scored a try. It. McKinley took the kick at goal, but missed. —Celtic 3, Old Boys nil. Livening up a good deal, Old Boys began to take the ball in the scrums fairly regularly, and their backs got plenty of scope, but they were not able to break through the Celtic defence, which was strongly reinforced by the forwards at times. Surprose for Spectators Ii seemed to be only a matter <ff lime, however, before Old Boys would score, and it came as a real surprise to see the Celtic forwards suddenly take charge again and in one conIheir own goal-area. The defending backs received no assistance from their forwards, in contrast to what happened when the Celtic line was in dancer, and the Celts deserved 100 try with which R. McKinley finished off their attack. The scorer took the k ; ck and failed again—Celtic 0, Old Boys nil.

There was nothing spectacular about the Celtic play, except perhaps the regularity and polish with which n Rogers kept nicking Ihe ball out of 4 be air in the line-outs, but they had fhe 5 r 'Opponents badlv bustled, and in another forward rush th<?y added urn this one by Pere.

With the score 9—o against them. Old Boys looked a bad bet for this time, at least; but they raised the hopes of their supporters substantially when their forwards caught Glassford in possession close to the Celtic goal, and from the resulting scrum Littlcr dodged through for a try, which he converted himself. This reduced Old Boys’ deficit to four points, at 9—5. There was no change at half-time. Fatal Hesitancy With the wind against them in the second half, Old Boys did not improve their display much, and spent the greater part of the time on the defensive. They got a fair share of the ball in the set scrums, but the leather seldom went past Sharp, who showed fatal hesitancy in passing, and was brought down with the ball on a number of occasions. The Celts.were pressing heavily, and their spoiling work among the Old Boys’ backs was very effective.

R. McKinley suffered a facial injury in a collision, and had to be replaced, his loss being much felt by his side, as ! hc had been one of the successes of the Celtic back division.

It was Haisman who opened up the way for the first try of the second half credited to Old Boys. Fie saw his pass dropped by Read, and retrieved it to run 25yds. and cross the midfield line before sending the ball in-field to Hale. The latter went down at wice under Rogers’ tackle, tout Read took up the attack with a dribble, and carried it right up to the Celtic goailinc-, where Hayes secured the ball and dived over for a try. Littlcr failed to convert, but his side began to play a much more solid game, and presently the backs went away again from a ruck near midfield. Haisman was prominent once more, and Swann got a pass with plenty of room Ui move. He was well inside the 25-yd. line in the Celtic end when W. McKinley charged him out of bounds. From the following line-out Littlcr again secured possession and scrambled over with a dodging run, to put Old Boys in the lead for the first time with the score 11—9.

The try was not converted, but it marked definitely the turn ol the tide, for though Celtic strove hard to meet the challenge, and R. Rogers nearlyscored in a solo dribbling run from midfield, Old Boys took charge again and *he forwards added another try. an affair of short passes between Littler, Shanks and Livingstone, the last-mentioned finally getting over. The kick at goal fell short. Old Boys emerged the victors by 14 points to 0. Mr. L. R. Stiehbury was the referee.