RUGBY FOOTBALL WEST COAST TO PLAY CANTERBURY AT RUGBY PARK

Grey River Argus, 7 June 1948, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL WEST COAST TO PLAY CANTERBURY AT RUGBY PARK

To-day at Rugby Park, the West Coast representative team will meet Canterbury, and judging by the excellent record of achievement by players on either side, keen -and interesting football can be expected.

Canterbury, though they suffered defeat at the hands of the versatile Bullex’ team (the holders of the Seddon Shield) on Saturday, at Westport,. are known to be fielding players like W. Argus and P. Vincent, who have proved themselves very capable footballers, with a keen sense of tactical ability. They will be marked by E. G. Walker and W. Hamilton respectively, who are also players with a good reputation, and some interesting movements may be seen as these key backs whip into action. s In the forwards, names like Chandler and Sinclair* are well known, and they will be opposed by G. Nelson and R. Birchfield, who are classed equally as good. Last year Canterbury were defeated by the West Coast by 16 points to 3, but it must be remembered that the Coast only crossed Canterbury’s gcal line once, the rest of. the points coming from some excellent kicking by Lindbom. In 1946 West Coast defeated Canterbury by 11 points to' 9. In 1945. Coast won by 17 points to 8. The last time Canterbury defeated West Coast was in 1944, when the Coast went down with colours flying after a hard game by 11 noints to 5. - WEST COAST’S GREAT RECORD In 1932 a strong challenge by the West Coast nearly wrenched the Ranfurly Shield from the holders, Canterbury, and though the Coast loosed attack after attack in a desperate attempt towards the end of the second soell to bridge the narrow 7 gao, the Canterbury defence held, and the final score of 5 points to 3 testified to the ruggedness of the game. Since that date Coast and Canterbury teams have met on 31 occasions, for 18 wins to Canterbury (five at Greymouth), nine to West Coast (seven at Grevmouth), and four drawn (three at Greymouth). Since the Canterbury team have been playing Buller before coming on to Grevmouth (and Buller have always been a hard team to beat) the visitors have not always been seen at their best in Grevmouth. The question most people are asking today is: will the Coast defeated Canterbury for the fourth successive time at Greymouth?