SEDDON SHIELD

Grey River Argus, 13 September 1937, Page 3

SEDDON SHIELD

RETAINED BY BULLER Atrocious Weather (From Our Own Correspondent). The curtain was rung down on the 1937 Seddon Shield on Saturday at Westport under the worst possible weather conditions, when Buller retained the trophy by scoring three of the four tries registered in the game. After anything but favourable overnight indications, the morning broke fine and hopes were entertained that these conditions would prevail for the match. However, as kick-off time approached, a wind of high velocity developed and, accompanied by a heavy driving rainfall,' Nelson for the second time this season experienced a taste of what the clerk of the weather is capable of turning on in Buller. The stand, which provides the only covered in area, was soon fully occupied, but as the wind and rain came with, hurricane force across the pitch, the occupants of the lower tiers of seats were afforded little protection from the elements. With the exception of the wind the weather was not so bad prior to the start of the game, but just before the players took the field rain began to fall and then all the deities, seemed to join in getting a little fun out of spectators who got under anything that would give protection, but the vast majority failing to discover anything that was waterproof, suffered a thorough wetting. There was absolutely no accommodation for the press but under the circumstances the Rugby Union could not be expected to make provision for deadheads. Football of a high standard was completely out of the question, but with the ground fairly dry at the start of the contest. Nelson showed form which suggested that had the weather been fine, a bright game would have been witnessed. When the game was only about five minutes old, the visitors' backs moved off in positional order and with short snappy passing the whole backline handled for Watson to round off a movement with a try that would have done credit to the Springboks. The kick at goal failed. The challengers seemed to content themselves with this early reward and with the elements all in their favour, showed a complete disregard for opportunism. The wind and rain increased in intensity and instead of high kicking and following up as a means of increasing their lead, they clung to the hope that points would come from the more polished method revealed in the opening stages. Buller played courageously against the many disadvantages ana on more than one occasion went within an ace of securing the equalising points. The forwards, with Orman, Mason and Wilson always in the van, gave a good account of themselves and the backs gave a fine defensive display. At the interval the holders were three points down, but as was generally anticipated Buller made better use of the conditions and producing a great second half rally, scored three tries, none of which were converted. Buller held the whip hand right through the session and with a little luck might, have won by a bigger margin. The first points of the period came from a great forward movement by Buller, which carried play to Nelson territory, where Phipps secured the ball and dived over for a good try. Alan Strachan was lhe pivot for the next try. He showed his opportunism by taking advantage of a gap in the visitors’ defence and made up ground berore sending a careful pass to Caldwell, who. on being challenged by Scoltock, sent out to Orman for the Buller skipper to score a well worked try. Buller side were now playing with their old time confidence and it took all the honours. Butterfield, with a well deserved try, got Buller’s final points. The visitors failed to add to their half time register. Buller. on the play, deserved to win, but it was not until the second half was entered upon that they definitely showed their superiority and their right to hang on to the Seddon Shield. Nelson supporters, of whom there were quite a few present, were disappointed and expected their team to make a better bid, especially after their early advantage. For Buller, Orman, Mason, Wilson and J. Brown were a great quartette of forwards, but Lake, Pratt, Phipps and Caldwell were not far behind them as scrummagers. Hill, Dunn and Butterfield played a fine defensive game and Strachan and Stewart, in the fiveeighth positions, were sound. Finlayson played well at half back, but was not quite so good as his opponent, Costello. Boyce, Bush and Watson, supported well by Cooke and Brinsden, combined well, and under more favourable conditions would undoubtedly have been seen to better advantage. Of the forwards, Drummond, McLean, Craig and Lovell were always prominent. Both full backs, after a trying time, done fairly well. The teams were:—

BULLER. (Cardinal and Blue). Full-back: F. Neighbours. Three-quarters: J. Hill, A. Dunn, R. Butterfield. Five-eighths: A. Strachan, S._ Stewart. Half: H. Finlayson. Forwards: J. Lake, G. Orman, R. Pratt, G. Mason, A. Caldwell, G. Wilson, J. Brown, T. Phipps. NELSON. (Navy and Blue). Full-back: Scoltock. Three-quarters: Boyce, Busch, Watson. Five-eighths: Cooke, Brinsden. Half: Costello. Forwards: Andrews, Fleet, Lusty, Craig, McKay, Drummond, McLean (Capt.), Lovell. Mr. R. W. Blazey, of the Canterbury Rugby Union, proved an efficient referee. CANTERBURY CHAMPIONSHIP. CHRISTCHURCH, September 11. The Canterbury Senior Rugby Championship remains undecided. Varsity and Old Boys, who were equal in the lead two points ahead of any other side when the competition closed, played at Lancaster Park this afternoon to decide the championship, and the game ended in a 3 all draw. Varsity did most of the attacking, but Old Boys played the more compact and effective game. Old Boys crossed Varsity’s line once, while Varsity secured their points when Ellis kicked a penalty goal. The Management Committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union will decide at a meeting on Tuesday evening whether to play off Varsity and Old

Boys again for the championship or to bracket them as winners for the season. If the first course is decided on, the match will have to be arranged as a curtain-raiser either to the representative fixture against West Coast on September 18 or to the representative fixture against South Canterbury on September 25. CANTERBURY BEAT NORTH OTAGO. CHRISTCHURCH, September 11. Canterbury beat the touring North Otago team by 34 points to 13 in a representative Rugby match at Lancaster Park this afternoon. Erratic end of the season football marked the first spell in which the only point scored came from a penalty goal to Canterbury. Too often in this half both sets of backs fumbled or overran the ball. In the second spell, Canterbury’s combination improved and their backs swung into action in many sparkling movements. The defence wilted badly at times or the score would not have mounted as it did. In this half Canterbury backs scored seven tries, mainly by means of snappy reverse passing between Pawson and Hooper. Five of these tries were converted by Herman, the young Technical forward who was in splendid kicknig form. North Otago though outmatched in speed, kept fighting to the last and their forwards put up a good showing. Their points came from two converted tries and a penalty goal. The ground was hard and in excellent condition for bright football, and a crowd of about three to four thousand watched the match.

TARANAKI 24 MANAWATU 7. NEW PLYMOUTH, September 12. The Taranaki Rugby representatives defeated Manawatu by 24 to 7, in a match in which the winners were not seriously challenged. Taranaki opened in spectacular fashion by scoring three tries in the first ten minutes as the result of the ball being sent out to the fast three-quarter line. Then, strangely, when Taranaki won the ball from the scrums, which was not often, it was sent mostly to the forwards and the rate of scoring became slower. Gillespie scored a try for Manawatu, and Finlay, who played a fine game, kicked a field goal, while Taranaki added three more tries. The first three Taranaki tries were scored by backs, Sullivan and Wetton (2), and the last three by forwards, Murphy, Fastier, and Evans. Collins converted three. McKenzie, the Manawatu All Black forward, showed ability, but apparently was not taking undue risks. J. L. Sullivan, Taranaki All Black, whenever the ball came his way showed brilliance, but had not a great deal to do.

English Games SATURDAY’S RESULTS. (Received September 12, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. Rugby results: — Bath 19 Llanelly 17. Bedford 5 Headingly 10. Birkenhead Park 6 Waterloo 21. Cardiff 4 Bridgend 3, Coventry 25 Rugby 25. Gloucester 30 Lydney 3. Halifax 3 Otley 13. Leicester 11 Sale 8. Manchester 13 Bradford 9. Newport 41 Penarth 3. Neath 16 Cumaven 3. Northampton 6 Metropolitan Police 0. Plymouth Albion 14 Barnstable 0. Redruth 34 Exeter 8. Swansea 14 Bristol 9.