RUGBY FOOTBALL CANTERBURY PREPARES FOR COAST REP. MATCHES

Grey River Argus, 31 May 1948, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL CANTERBURY PREPARES FOR COAST REP. MATCHES

Keen interest in Canterbury has been aroused by the announcement of the players selected for the provincial team which is to meet Bullei next Saturday and the West Coast on the King’s Birthday, June 7. Several new players have been included in the Canterbury team, which is ex- i pected to prove strong. I W. Argus is about the most notable . player in the team, and his form this; season has done nothing to impair; his reputation as a winger. He will : probably be marked during the Coast; match by E. Walker. An encounter ; between these two players will be; looked forward to by West Coast enthusiasts. Canterbury will be fielding a pack whose average weight is in the vicinity of 13 stone 101 b, whereas the West Coast average would be only about 13 stone. This will give the visitors an advantage in the scrums, but it depends a lot on how the lighter Coast forwards use their weight at the crucial moment to enable Mettrick to secure the ball; and enable the West Coast backs to hold their own. An indication of Canteroury’s ability will be available in the Buller v Canterbury game at Buller. Buller have been renowned for their light, hard-working forwards, whom West Coast have good reason to' remember, and a very interesting display of football can be looked for at Westport. . , , . L A report from Christchurch stated that Canterbury will start a big representative Rugby season week-end with matches against Buller and West Coast. As usual, both fixtures can be relied on to test the visiting players to the utmost, especially those wearing a provincial cap for the first time. THE CANTERBURY TEAM The Canterbury selectors (Messrs L K. Heazlewood, J. G. Rankin, and G. Suckling have announced their choice for the Coast tour: L. Edgington (Albion); W. Argus, (Linwood), G. Bolton (Technical), J. Kelly (Varsity); J. Roach (Technical), D. Jones (Christchurch); P. Vincent (Old Boys); A. Couhng (Technical), M. D. Hodgins (Marist), A Hoskins (Merivale), D. Herman (Technical), D. Stewart (Linwood). B. Chandler (Sunnyside), L. Sinclair (Old Boys), C. Purdon (Varsity). Emergencies: Backs, W. Drake (Merivale), W. Dorreen (Varsity), forwards, R. Woodham (Technical), W. Brady (Linwood). • CANTERBURY GAMES CHRISTCHURCH, May 29. Forward play predominated in most of to-day’s senior rugby games, and ragged passing was too often seen when backs handled. In the main game at Lancaster Park Oval, Linwood beat Varsity, 18-15. Infringements were frequent, and no fewer than nineteen penalties were given during the game. Blank ignorance of the rules seemed apparent. Apart from this, the Linwood forwards put up a particularly fine showing in the loose. . Sydenham had the better of a fast open game at Rugby Park to beat ' Marist, 6-0. Training College were unlucky to be beaten right on time by Albion, 13-11. The young Training College olayers turned on more enterprising ind brighter football than their opponents. . Other games resulted: Christchurch 32 New Brighton 9; Technical Old Boys 23, Merivale 12; High School Bld Boys 9,- Sunnyside 6.