Canterbury Beaten

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 185, 23 August 1937, Page 7

Canterbury Beaten

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SPRINGBOKS' BIG WIN \ * Brilliant Attacking Game by Tourists FINAL SCORE: 23 — 8

'(By Tolfigr&plv—

CHEISTCHUECH, Last Night 1 f Ihe Springboks outelassed Canter-i Jtiurjj Tfinmng by 23 points to eiglxt.f W visiWs played & brilliant attack-! jing game, wMe& timo and again over** Jwhelmed the home. sidc's defenee, backsj t*nd forwaxda combiniag in oue of the: | jfinesj eshibiitions of f ootball . seen iu! jCauterbuiy for inany yearg. ; ; Canterbury; looked lijio the losiogj i®ida yirtually frpm the kick-off, neverj kettUag dftwa properly after a uervousj jetari usd plajiag well below the formj jshowa in. im reeent provlnpial matches.j pBie Seuth. Africaas had a hard, fasti 'ground greatly £a their liking andj kandlqd tha ball in daz^ling loose! gushes trhdch confounded the .defenee' jaad drew the applause of a crowd ofl oiore than 30,000. Critics who havej followed the tearn'a tour say this is the) jAfrieaa'a best display 'yct, The Springbok victory juade Eugby history, tn that ife was, the first time in 50 years, that a Canterbury te&m had been de-l feated on their; kamo ground. Canterbury 's forwaras wero unable. to ghow anything but gpasmodie propaise and, although in the- first bait the Canterbury pack had a fairly good thare of the ball frpm the serum's and line-outs, the Springbok inside backs Brere up so fast on the home side"'s Attacking men that. Canterbury 's scorjag machine was m proper motion .very paxely, In faet the Canterbury men ueemed to be ov-er-awed by both the occasion and the gtrength' of their opponents and gave a really disappointing display, Even Hooper, whose fi.veJeighth play in the first, Test led to great .^expectations from him to-fey, Jwas below form, and in the loose only j#ne forward (Whillans) distingulshed Udmself at alh ?Ehere was a weakness in the Canter-; jbu^ back-liae |hrough lack of comjbxnation -between Erooks and' Hooper jand Pawson, This- \?ks accentuated by, |the . gpoiling itaetics pf the South] ULfricaa backs, whose^ positiohbl play acakes for greater mobility, The result jof this weakness was that the. Canterjbury three-qnarters, Chinnery and Eathorne, had yery f ew runs at all and. Jwere niaihly; enga^d ia stout d.efeasivjr jwork. Brilliant Backs. , { Harxis, South African fiy-halfj jJTuxner, full-back, and Hofmeyer, eentres jthree-quarter, were outstanding in brii-. uiant attaeMng play, while Harris waa jeasily the genius .of the defenee. The) jbest. pf the forwards, who so over-: jahadowed Canterbury, were Nel, Mar-j tin, Strachan and yan den Berg.j ptrachan played an outstanding ganxej jixL the first haif and easily out-shonej Janything in the Canterbury pack. j . Thera were " two, changes in the j'Africau team, Bester replaced Wiljliams on the wing ond Bastard replaced jdn Toit in the pack, .Williams. sufferingi ifrom influenza, Canterbury wp.a ihe toss, but the sun was obscured by light clouds toi; a timo *nd, as there was no wind to speak of, this proved pf no great advantage. Bight from the first scrums the Springboks gave a glimpse of first-class Eugby .When all .ihe backs handled out to itawton .on the wing and he ranj strongly t.o. Canterbury Js twenty-five.| There was excitement as Turner took aj long shot from'a penalty, but .the ball' .was short and wide and Miiliken foundj jtouch at the same spot where the kicki jras taken. Hooper, Pawson and Chinnery got. ,«ome thrust into a movement which put Canterbury on the attack, but the i'orWards were unable to imparl any drive in their work and Africa sent play back when the visitors' backs started away in "a fine, fast rush. Splendid Canterbury tackling stopped them, but 'the movement was continued by the African forwaTds, whose work paved ,fhe way for ' the first try. From a serum all the inside Springbok backs handled. Babrow swerved through the •defenee and passed on to Hofmeyer, Who handed to Lawton. The Springbok winger pnt on all speed to race jround Nolan and score a fine try. 'Turner; converted easily. The First Try. That' first" try came after five minutes' play and it was not long before there was another addition to the score. Hooper was badly beaten for the ball in a Canterbury attack and the South Africans broke through in an overwhelming rush with Bastard leaciing the pack down to within ten yards of the Canterbury line. From a scrurn .Hel, Harris, klartin and Strachan all IhftRdled yx brilliant combined work and1

Iwere stopped only by most resolute! tackling, but "Whilians was penalised' jfor obstruction in that movement andITurner kicked a penalty from insido( «the twenty-five line, 4 Canterbury 's play improved. Therei ,was a fair spell of even xueking with, jthe home backs tackling splendidly but ialways getting well-blocked themselves whenever an attack was attempted, Canterbury took three scrums in succession, but that was the most notable ScrummSging success for Canterbury, ;during the whole game. One Canterbury attack saw .Turner force and for a whila Canterbury really threatened * the Africaa line. Whillans charged down a clearing kick near the side-line and raeed almost ,to scoring distance. Awarded a penalty for a scrum inxringement, McAalifie tried a dilficult shot, bu^ the ball fell short. There was a terrifie tussle in the tight when the Canterbury forwards charged down after ,the kick, but with lightning swiftness the South Africans swarmed downfield and Holan forced with Hofmeyer hanging on ,to him. McAuliffie missed a better chance at scoring from a penalty* shortly after, but Lawton, Bastard and Martin led ,the Springboks clearly out of troublc. Solid, but unesciting, rucking kopt tlie crowd quiet for nearly a-quarter of an hour uniii abnost .qn haif- time the ^Springboks again caught the Canterbury defenee napping and the backs •Bcored with a dashing bit of handling Which led them through easily. Hofmeyer finisifed jthe movement when he passed smartly to Lawton after a clever run himself and watched the winger more or less amble across. Turner 's kick from far out missed. The ihaif-time score was: South Africa 11, Canterbury 0. Frpm the first attack in the second spell the Canterbury men lost their dash a.nd -played sluggishly. Bastard, whose play was worth watching throughout the game, assisted by ,van den Berg, started fhe next South African scoring movement from downfield and, baeked by the rest of the ,pack, crashed ihrough the Canterbury ! defpnce, Martin and Strachan endlng .the movement. easily when Strachan rau right rpund the defenee for a fine try. Turner convertecl. Sooa after South Africa bustled the Canterbury defenee. Pawson kicked instead of forcing and Harris, fielding the ball, steadied himself in the open equntry and potted a fine goal. Canterbury's first try was the reward oi ,the home ^ide 's best attack. From a scrum almost on the line South Africa hooked cleanly, but Whillans mado a heroic dive through the ruck , and on to the ball as it fell over the line near the posts. Holan missed. In a few minutes South Africa were hammering at the home line again. The ball came out from .the rucA to Lawton, who dived past, Eathorne and over McAulilTe 's tackle to score a nice try far out, Turner missed. Canterbury increased their points by five when Chinnery, following ud good work by the - Canterbury forwards, scored after a short run in the corner and MeAuliffe converted with a great cfi'ort, When the whistle blew, Africa were defending without being much troubled. The final score was: South Africa 23, Canterbury 8, Comment on the Game. J. J. MeAuliffe, the Canterbury" oaptain, said: "It was a great game, but they were much too good for us. They are a team of thorough sportsmen." P. J. Nel, eaptain of the Springboks, said: "It was a very fine game played at terrifie speed. I think we deserved to win on'the^run of play. Canterbnry 'a unbeaten record has been broken, but to my mind Eugby is not a game for setting Up records." Mr P. W. Day, the Springbok managcr, said: "I am more than pleased with the play of my boys. They played * much more compaetly and baeked up well. This is the game they are accustomed to play. Canterbpry played very well indeed, but they were beaten for the ball from the word go.". I • ' I