BAY'S PERFORMANCE UNIMPRESSIVE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 201, 10 September 1937, Page 14

BAY'S PERFORMANCE UNIMPRESSIVE

Poor Combination Among the Backs UNINTERESTING CfAME To the vast majority of tbe 2C03- or so spectators at yesterday-'s matcb between Hawke's Bay and Soutli Canterbury tbe real issue was to aseertain what showing the 'Bay was likely to make against the Springiboks next Wednesday. As such it was a great disappointment, for the Bay gave quite their worst exliibition of the season and- enthusiasts if a similar exhibition is given on Saturday against Wellington will be dottin'g " their estimates oi the Spring-boks score down somewhere near the half-century mark. Several factors made the game an uninteresting one from the viewpoint of the spectators. One was the unusual number of stoppa-ges. Altogether there must have been delays of varying lengtb totalling close on double figures. Three were for tom tronsers, as many for the replacement of injured South Canterburians, and there were many minor stops for players only sliglitly injured. Yesterday's game was the eleventli outing of the season for the Bay representatives, and their poor showing gave rise to assumptions that they wero going "stale." They have to face three more matches within the next eigiht days( two being at home and the third and final at Wanganui. Though the South Canterbury forwards appeared to be ligkter than the Bay they more than' held their own in the set scrums. They were definitely superior in the line-outs and their spoiling work was most effective. The Bay forwards showed that they were capable of dominating the play if they wished, but it was only for a brief period in the second spell that they' did exert themselves. The departure of C. Saxton, the South Canterbury half-baek, was a big loss to the southern rearguard. In the early part of the gtame he engineered some really bright movements and while lie was on the field it' is significant that the visiting backs were virtually in control of the play. After his departure they were not as impressive, -though as a combination they were greatly superior to the Bay rearguard but lacked someone with enterprise and initiative to pierce the home line. Contrast in Rearguards. What the southern reargiuard lacked in individuality the home rearguard possessed in abundance more than abundance in fact, it was all individualism and practically no combination or understanding. Added to this v/as the equally important fact that seveiul of the Bay backs were off-col-our. The result was a complete breakdown in the Bay combination. Bradley, Apsey, Herbert aud Dyer were the oniy four Bay players who revealed anything like representative staudard in the Bay rearguard. Bradley gave a splendid showing, considerably improving on recent exhibitions, but there was 110 connectingj link between him and the outsido men in the line. The two wingers did everything they coidd to provide work for themselves, Apsey being particularly enterprising in this respect. Dyer was again all that could be desired as last line of defence. He is quite the Bay's most consistent performer this season. Of the opposition backs Saxton was indeed the most promising halfback seen in this district this season. Hc was most impressive during the period that he was on the field and South Canterbury's loss was indeed the Bay's gain. Cartwright, at second five-eighth, was patchy being very good on occasions, but rather spoilfc his play by hanging-on too long. Oue rather wonders why he did not test out Phil lteid, his vis-a-vis, more than he did. The othcr back t-o impress was llyan. He was in good forin both on attack and defence. In his latter capacity he brougjht off some remarkably fine saves and frequently he turned defence into attack by reason of some enterprising movement. A feature of the South Canterbury backs' play was tlieir smartness oif the mark, especially when there was a chance of taking advantage of mistakes by tbe home reargaard. Their handling wras infinitely better than that of the Bay backs and their pick-ing-up of tbe ball was almost uncanny at times, more than one scooping the ball up while travelling at fair paee. Among tlie Forwards. Of the forwards, tfie southern pack was the more evenly balanced and certainly the more consistent. In Adkins, the former All Black they had a good leader in the open. but like the remainder of bis comrades, the essentials of a tight pack were not overlooked. Adkins and Graham were quite the best of the visitors in the open, though Gilmore and Strang were also prominent on occasions. The soutlierners' ascendancy in the line-outs was due to the efficiency of Stewart and Thomson, with the former giving a wonderful exhibition. \ In contrast to tbe visitors, the Bay forwards were definitely mdividualist on tbe day's -play, They can do a lot better than they did and be considerably more impressive, botb collectively and individually. Tori lleid was the leader and tbe besb forward on tlie ground. In the second spoll Jackson came to Jight with a delightful exhibition rivalled onJy by that of lleid. Also in this spell Peter Smith. the sole Wairoa iepresentative in tbe team was very prominent ut times. Doug, Dalton did not shiue out as is usual, but worked hardi in tbe tight, Bowman was more prominent in the first half than in the second but througliout did some good spoiling work. Stewart McKenzie nade a quite satisfactory debut as a provincial representative but lacked tbe finish tliat his comrades possessed.