FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1931, Page 2

FOOTBALL

SEDDONSHIELD COAST EXTEND BULLER. HOLDERS WIN IJY 11 TO 6. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association > WESTPORT, September 13. Although the continual success of the Buller team was generally expected the game here on Saturday against the West Coast side for the Seddon Shield was full of possibilities riglit up to the final bell. It was a rugged game, punctuated by scintillating th'suds of brilliant Rugby. The West Coast fifteen proved to be the strongest challenge this year lor the coveted Shield, and the holders were severely tested at periods, but they emerged victors by the the margin of 11 points

to SIX. The weather was bright and dry, and the ground was in splendid condition-. There was a good attendance, but it was i not up to the proportions of the crowd present at previous games, which could, to a degree, be attributed to the rather high prices charged for admission. The Buller forwards were tested far more thoroughly than the scores would indicate, . and that “devil” which earned for the home pack the designation, “The Buller Lions,” was conspicuous by its absence, In the-first half, West Coast had territorially a, decided advantage, but the home forwards jnade good use of their visits to Coast territory, these on the first turn oeoa. sions resulting in tries being registered. The visiting pack gave their backs a lot more of the ball, but were not as good as Buller in the loose. J. Bell and Wilson hooked well, and the best of the other Coast forwards were Freitas, Neale and Deere. Frank Bell, the Coast wing iorward, was equal to the best loose -forward on the ground. Davidson has been seen to better advantage. He got the ball away smartly, though not always very accurately. Hughes did everything well, and was the inspiration of-the Coast attack. Jamieson was the- best wing. On the other side Graham at fullback was safe. Holder, Connolly and Lainont pfayed good football, but, on the play, the backs as a whole only gave -a moderate showing. Scandrett at half , gave a good service and played a splendid defensive game. McNeight, 'Stewart, Goodall and Grogan were a great quartette of forwards. ' Taking- the Coast ' team generally, they were worth more scores; in the first half than were actually recorded, but they did not show the coliesion which marked their play in the second period. The display given by both sides was to their, credit. The merit of play : veered in the direction of the Buller side, who thoroughly deserved During the early stages the Coast team kept in Buller > territory, and had the best of the exchanges. Graham pulled up a determined attack and found the line at midfield. From a line-out the Coast backs handled well, but effective tackling by Griffiths and

Connolly stqpped the movement, and ft-few minutes later Davidson was held u> by Caldwell. The Coast forwards, ‘headed by Freitas, Deere and Jones, took play to Buller 25, but the defence fT vVas sound. Graham was tackled in ' possession by F. Bell, bnt Holder cleared. to midfield, Buller were penalised for an infringement in the scrum and Martyn’s attempt to open the scoring with a, penalty goal was forced by Holder. Play had been confined to Buller territory for same time when the home forwards raillied, and in a characteristic rush, took play the full, length! of the ground and celebrated the first visit to Coast territory by registering a try. From a maul, Scandrett got possession and passed to Goodall, who raced over in a good position, but Graham failed to add the major points.-—Buller 3, Eoast nil. iCoast again attacked, and Jamieson , was • well tackled by. Connolly. Coast were awarded a free kick, and J. Bell equalised the score with a. beautiful effort. McNeight, Grogan and Dalzell were prominent in a loose rush to the Coast line, where Martyn picked up to clear, but Goodall smothered his kick and the Buller captain then scored his second try. Graham missed the goal.— Buller 6, Coast 3. The Const backs continued to he aggressive and were the more pentrative, but faulty passing and a stubi born defence defeated, their efforts to

score. ' The Buller forwards played considerably better in the second half, and indulged in dangerous loose rushes. From a scrum, Hughes kicked to Graham, who wns applauded for a beautiful line kick. From a line-out Seandrett sent a. snappy pass to Griffiths, who gave to Holder, and the latter, outpacing the opposition, scored a good try. Caldwell converted, making the score: Buller 11, Coast 3. Connolly retired hurt and was replaced by E. Jones. Buller continued to be the more thrustful in the forwards, and, although the Coast backs were the most dangerous, they could not avoid the accurate tackling of the defence. Hughes was replaced by W. Rathbun. F. Bell intercepted a Buller pass and speeded up the touch line, accompanied by Martyn, and their bright passing provided the best play of the game. The movement ended when Graham was reached, Bell then passing to Martvn, who sconced. J. Bell failed with the kick.—Buller 11, Coast 6. S The closing stages of the game were exciting, arul Fong made a solo effort. but was not fast enough to shake Holder off. The final score was: Buller 11, Coast 6.

ALL BLACKS’ LUCKY WIN.

WALLABY BACKS BEST.

BUSH KICKS FIVE GOALS.

AUCKLAND, Sept, 13

The only Rugby test between tile All Blacks and the Wallabies was played at Eden Park to-day, and resulted in a win for the All Blacks by 20 points to 13.

The All Blacks score was made up of two' tries, one of which was converted by Bush, who also kicked four penalty goals. Bush kicked magnificently, and as a Result no fewer than 14 points out of the All Blacks’ total of 20 were registered bv him. The Wallabies scored three tries, two of which were converted by Ross.

In the first spell, the Wallabies had all the better of the play, and they scored three, really brilliant tries. The All Blacks settled down, better in the second half, during which the visitors* failed to score. The match was really a duel between the All Black forwards and the Wallabies’ backs. The visiting rearguard gave a fine exhibition of polished .passing which was in strong contrast to that of the All Blacks. The Australian backs’ speed and accurate handling with their penetrating work by the inside men always made them a dangerous attacking force. * The All Black inside hacks were extremely disappointing. Page, who. re- ' placed Oliver, was also very disap- ; pointing, tb was ft. great pity to see HaH and Ball., having to make their * own opportunity. Hart, especially, I played a very good all round game. | The credit, for the All Blacks’ rather lucky win must, therefore, to a great extent, he handed to the fine goal kicking, of Bush, and the work of the pack, especially in the second spell. The match was played in fine weather on a fast ground. The attendance was 15,000. The teams were a s previously published, Page replacing Oliver in the New Zealand-backs.

THE PLAY

The All Blacks won the toss and they played with the sun and a slight wind in their favour. Strang early made a fine cross kick, which had Ross in trouble. Hart dashed up while the full back was waiting for the bounce and kicking on, Hart gathered possession well, to score a try wide out unopposed. Bush landed a fine goal. All Blacks 5; Wallabies 0. | The All Black forwards were being penalised for offside play, and the play was being confined to the home team’s quarter. The visiting backs | were throwing the ball about from all positions, and Malcolm shone out with clever play behind the scrum. Twice ’Lilburne was conspicuous for heady play, and twice all the advantage was lost through Page failing to gather ? his ■ •’Tfirffi'srtimf mw the whole of the All Black back line handled the hall correctly, Hart heat Tolhurst, who, however, chased and lowered the All Black three-quarter. Malcolm started a movement cleverly, j Steggall made a splendid opening. Before drawing Bush, Steggall transferred to Cowper, who outpaced the opposition and scored behind the posts. Ross easily added the goal points. All Blacks 5, Wallabies 5. A few minutes later, Bush landed a magnificent goal from a penalty about five yards inside halfway. All Blacks 8, Wallabies 5. Better passing by the Wallabies and superior speed then gave the visitors the advantage, the All Blacks being kept on the defence. Towers then made a lovely opening, but with no support. When reaching Bush, however he oro«s kicked, and Judd gathered possession. Towers then came up fast to accept a pass and score near .the posts. Ross converted the try. Wal. Lahies 10; All Blacks 8. i Steggall made a splendid opening by heating the All Black five eighths, and, in a flash, Towers w T as up alongside him to accept a pass and score a fine try near the posts... From a free charge, Ross missed the kick at goal. Wallabies 13; Blacks 8. | A few minutes later, Bush was successful with another magnificent kick (making the scores at half time: Wallabies 13, All Blacks 11. The All Black forwards commenced the second spell with more dash, but the passing of the N.Z. backs was too ] slow i and deliberate. Bush, however, j landed Ids third penalty goal with I another great kick from welt out. All i Blacks 14, Wallabies 13.

The All Blacks were now continually on the attack. A bad bit of offside work by a visiting forward outside his 25 gave Bush another oppori tunity, and the full back again raised i the flags.—All Blacks 17; Wallabies 113. [ The Wallabies now took a brief turn ion the attack, during which Ross was | unlucky when a penalty, kick of his i bit the upright. The All Blacks bad the better of the remaining exchanges, and just pn time Corner made a clever cv-ving on the blind side. Solomon | further improved the position and ! dr n w Ross, before sending on to Ball, the All Black wing, who took advantage of hi.s only real opportunity during the match by scoring wide Put. Bush failed to convert, and the game 1 ended with the score: ! ALL BLACKS 20 WALLABIES) 13 Mr S. Hollander, of Canterbury, gave a splendid exhibition! as referee.

CANTERBURY RETAIN SHIELD

OTAGO DEFEATED BY 17 POINTS TO 6. CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 12. By seventeen points (five tries, one converted) to six (a try and a penaty goal) Canterbury beat Oiago this afternoon in a challenge match for the Ranfurly Shield. The weather was fine and the ground in perfect orckr. The game had many fast movements, hut the chief feature of it was the speed and thrust, with which Canterbury broke away in scoring their tries. Splendid hacking up gave the Canterbury .team an attacking finish which Otago lacked. Otago had most weight in the forwards and had the lion’s share of the ball from the scrums hut they were not so successfull in the line outs.

In tlie first spell the Otaco forwards appeared to play sluggishly,’ but they speeded up in the second half. They had not, however, enough scoring powers themselves against Canterbury’s good defence, and their hacks had not sufficient sharp penetration in the centre. Many of the Otago passing movements went almost across the field. If the side was oefieient in attacking tactics, their spoiling'work was admirable, and for a great deal oi the game they had the territorial advantage, but Canterbury’s superiority in scoring ability made them definitely tlie better side.

Canterbury won the toss and played with the wind in the first hn!L which advantage enabled them to run up tv score of 14 points to fill nt hM f time, Tries were scored by Day, II azelhurst, and Sweeney (goals kicked b.v Roberts and Lines.)

In the second half Otago scored six points fairly early. Mullan was penalised for lying on the ball and Souter kicked a good goal. R obi Ilia id scored a try at the corner and the last score of the match was a try by Dtirsba wide out after a fine passing bout, which took the ball from Canterbury’s side of half wry.

Immediately after the referee’s whistle ended tlie game, the Canterbury players rushed their, half back and captain, T. F. Mullan, and chaired him off the field. Mullan has now retired from football, and lie played an excellent game in his last match.

WELLINGTON BEAT TARANAKI. •WELLINGTON, Sept. 12. Atfer a Hose and interesting game Wellington defeated Taranaki by 15 points to 14. 'l’be score at half time was fifteen to six in favour of Wellington. In the second spell Taranaki played better Rugby, and came within a point of Wellington's score. Both sides went .close to scoring again, and until time was called, it wits anybody’s For Wellington, tries were scorec. by MacDonald, Huxtnble, and Shearer. Pollock converted all three. Guy and Watson scored ‘tries for Taranaki. Co'lins converted one, and also kicked two penalties, N. OTAGO 19, OTAGO B S. DUNEDIN, Sept. 12. The North Otago representatives defeated the Otago B, team on Carisbrook Park this afternoon by 19 points to 5. The weather was fine, but the attendance small,

CANTERBURY B V OTAGO B. Canterbury second grade representatives to-day defeated Otago by 22 points to 5. WANGANUI BEAT WAIRjARAPA. WANGANUI, September 12. After a one-sided game, Wanganui defeated Wairarapa Rugby reps, here to-day by twenty-four points to six. The better team won and they played good football against a mediocre side. MARLBOROUGH’S NARROW WIN. BLENHEIM, September 12. Marlborough to-day scored a narrow victory over the Wellington Colts by 14 points (four tries, one converted), to 13 (three tries, two converted) in brilliant weather.