OPENING GAMES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 76, 16 April 1937, Page 15

OPENING GAMES

"Omni,-")

Large Attendances Well Entertained CLUBS START WELL

(By

If last Saturday 's opening games in Hastings and Napier can he taken as a reliable criterion, then the club season least is going to provlde entertaining Eughy, Eaxely indeed has such attendances, of thepublic greeted opehing day as wasthe case last Saturday. Without exception the yarious matches wers well worth while watching,. and it wonld be a hold person- indeed who would attempt to pick the ultimate cEampionship winners. The most entertaining match in Napier was the No. 1 grotmd attraction hetween Napier Old Boys and Celtic. First impressions are- apt to- prove false, but I Ieft. the gronnd impressed ffith an improved standard in tlie • Celtio rearguard, and a reverse opinion of the pack. Time may prove this to be wrong; I remeinber that last season Celtio Iost their first gjame and then went on to much better things. A clirb side is sure of a fair ainount of snccess if they build a rearguard on a good half-back, centre three-quar-ter and full-back, and the Celts are fortunate in having Tomoana, Pullen and Simon in these respective positions. The five-eighths on Saturday were the weak link. Tomoana has speeded up his passes and ke is at all times alert. It was his alertness that made Maaka's try. He had a hand in Pullen's, too, but the centre in this instance supplied the brilliant unorthodoxy necessary for ; success. i _The Celtic forwarda- did not combine as they usually do} and against a pack that was not strong, did no more than ahare the honours. Hannigan with lesa preparatory work than some of the : others, was prominent all day, and it is early evident that he . is in for another good season. Maaka. was another to catch the eye, but Harrey, previ- , ouely a bapk, was strabge to his new surroundings. Appreclated the Room. Old Boys' backa were at times allowed plenty of reom, and they appreciated it, as three tries to ihe wing threequarters will testify. Marr, at second five-eig/hth, infused plenty of dash into his play, and, on two occasions cut out his opposite, tries heing the outcome in each instance. G- Cox was another to impress, and it was his pace that landed him two tries. At full-back Hutchinson was more pacy thaa last year, and showed anticipation in greatcr degree than, previously. Cox, Old Boys' heaviest foryard, was their best, with ■Orawford-Smith alid Bishop next. Marlst v, Plrates. Marist supporter# had yisions of their champions registering a cricket score against Piratesi, but in actua] fact they wero fortupate in some respects to win. Certainly they made more use of fewer opportunities thau did their opponents, who for more than half the game were busy throwing them away, Last winter Marist relied 011 their forwards mostly, but on Saturday the forwards epdeavoured to play to their fast backs and the result was disastrous. A beaten pack cannot do much for the backs, and the Green forwards were beaten in acruips and lineouts regularly. All eyes were on A, Hansqn, the Wellington rep. three-quarter, and ou the. few occasions he got the ball he showed amazing pace. Had lie been iu a similar position for Pirates he would have scored half a dozen tries. Davis, the Maori wingjsr, did not impress, nor did Sorensen, the Tukapa forward, but Griffiin, of Whangarei, wprked h^r'd all day. Marists' best back wat Penson, with Robins next, In the forwards, Hardgraves, M. O'Brien .and Griffin were the most prominent- Bob. Kepble gave Pirates a feast of the ball from ecrunis, hut Lister found it difficult to adapt himself to the requirements of a Rugby half, and in consequence much of the early good work was Ubdone. Dowrick was enterprising, but VVt.its alongside him was cut of his depth," and Lopdell failed altpgether to apprec .atfc the fact that he had two fsst .... **

winger& to feed. He never thought of pasting until he was collared. Pirates have the makings of a ftool pack and all were in turn prominent, with McKenzie, Keeble and Fraser the most consistent. A pleasing feature of opening day was the spick and span appearanco of Marist, Celtic and H.S.O.B. when they took the field. By comparison the sombre black of the Pirates looked very drab. Consistency v. speotacular. Contrasting types of play were exploitcd in the main attraction at Hastings, between Hastings and M.A C., and the more consistent and better all round performance ot Hastings gav« them a very nariew win of 13- -12 over tbe Maoris. Tbe latter were nothing if not speotacular, and provided tbe big thrills of the afternoon, but the dash of the forwards did not receive. the support expected from the backs. Much of tbe fine work of Jackson, Reidj Crawford and Oo. was just so much wasted effoi*t when they released the ball to their backs, wbo were not in tbe least impressive as a combination. Hastings, on tlie other bandj worked with a surprising smoothness at times, which, thougih not brilliant, was at least effective. 1 The two full-backs, Dyer and S. Jackson, curiously collected the jndividual 'honours. Both had plenty to do and did it well. The remainder of the Hastings backs were quietly efficient and rarely conspicuous, but Newton and Kurupo were at times brilliant, if inclined to be flashy in tbe M.A.O. rearguard, The forwards of both sides toiled strenuously and consistently. In the tight Hastings held thoir own against 'the heavier pack but in the open the dashing, determined, and almost ruthless hunting of the M.A.C. forwar.ds was very spectacular. MeDonald, a re~ cruit from the bush country at Puketitiri, Muir and Aldridge, were perhaps a littl© more prominent than their team-mates in the Hastings pack. As far as the M.A.C. forwarda are concerned, nearly all figured prominently on occasions; Everard Jackson, Tori Reid and Sid Crawford were the best and foremost forwards on the ground. A Good Open Game. On the outer area at Hastings there was also a gpod interesting. game, Hastings H.S.O.B. defeating Havelock North in th6 most prolific scoring game of tbe series. Though actsual victory rested on two penalty goals kicked by Skipper Lea. McCartby in the late stages of the game, Old Boys impressed as the better all-round equipped side. Dashing forwards andi epeedy backs are obviously to be their weapons this season again and on Saturday's play the indications point to their having ra^hec a befter spin than last year. The same also applied to Havelock North, who5 too, showed a big improvement on last year. Tbe two Jolls — Rangi and Cargill — collected the honours in the Village back play. On defence as well as attack tbey did more than the average, but both showed a tendency to take on a little too much work. This probably accounted for the fact that there was little in the way of combination revealed by the Village rearguard. In the opposiug division there were definite signs of combination and with more accurate handling the indications point to the division moulding into a good one. Garnett went well bebind the pack for Ma first outing in senior grade. Palmer, another promoted junior, was the surprise packet and be looks to be one of tbe "finds" of tbe • season. Holt and Jonson, with Avery in tbe late stages, were also responsible for some gpod play. The forward play lacked something spectacular, the objective of both seta being to keep, the ball in the open. In this phase of the play both were successful, there being many sweeping forward rushes, but they were more or lesB epoilt by players over-running tbe ball. Practice will overcom© this weakness.