RUGBY FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1932, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL

WfetLAND DEFEATS MEUIVALE. f : -\ . . ■ * VISITORS GIVE POOR DISPLAY. ! . The d'spilay given by Merivale, run-!ners-up in the Christchurch .senior competition, in its match with the Westland representative team on Cass Square on .Saturday, despite the fact that it was not at full strength, was not in the least inspiring, and the visitors {were outclassing! the local men. Much was expected* of the Merivale backs but this was seldom realised, while the Bio me forwards gave a great account of themselves. In the first few minutes of the game, land at times during the ' second spell, ■Merivale- jjjapks gave glimpses of spectacular play, but on other occasions their hanging, and decidedly poor. Individually, however, they were responsible for some, yery good movements and threw the ball about with a will. The home"'backs -gave quite a fair account of themselves all through. Davidson, at half, got through a lot of work well, giving a heady exhibition. Diedrichs was sound and provided a good link to W. Hughes, who was one of the two outstanding backs on the field. Th e latter was marking G. Day, l who was in the South Island team this season, but Hughes suffered little in Accurate ill bundling and -'kicking, and sound in defence, he was f a tower of strength to the side. Staines fitted In to Jiis place and showed a good turn of speed to advantage, The Wingers, Schroder and Pfahlert did not , see very much of the ball, but both, gave things a go, the latter’s try being a gr'eat effort. Mason, at. full back was j inclined to stand back too but nevertheless got through the ganib safety. , . -: 1 \ u •

x Ui/-he Merivale rearguard, Steele, jf t half/although receiving a lot of attention from the opposing forwards fed his men ’well, opening up the play. Day and Hendry, the five-eighths, were responsible for much work in the first spell but fell away after the interval. Day drew his man well, and made several nice openings, and the pair took some watching although they more than met their match in thdfr vis-a-vis. Howatsop on the wing was a great asset with his powerful kicking, and showed fair pace. One of the best displays of the, day was that of Parsons, th e full back.. Almost perfect in his handling he was always reliable, whipping the ball off the toe.s of his opponents, and joining with the backs at times. The Merivale forwards opened well, but the home pack wore them down and held the advantage until the end. Seldom was the ball heeled cleanly from the scrums, but it was in the loose" that they were seen to advantage, and the Westland men wer e prominent in ijne manner? "in which they followed .'ap r . Merivale packmen were responsible for several spoiling efforts early in the game,-i)iit ykjojal ran aJI over. th.dr opponents, and comP 11 » ly - d oiii iit aFV el V tl»e 'flherp were c ,'e ,«r two untoward incidp~G in FyvV.ard (Merivale} 1 was ordered, off for' rough play, while Martin was cautioned, the same player having bjen carried off the field earlier-with in ; uries to his fa^e. In the second spell the visitors ap-peared-to lose their dash, but this may

have been due, in some degree, to the effects of their long journey. One feature of the match was the comparatively few free kicks awarded. Merivale early caught the eye with a series of spectacular rushes by the backs which took them into Westland's territory, the latter forcing. Hendry cut in beautifully and looked like scoring but Mason was safe. King, Prahlert and Jones headed a return visit. Hughes kicked upheld, and Parsons was caught. Staines carried on to Merivaie (blue, and white) territory where the latter were penalised, but Hughes’ attempt was poor. An exchange of kicks between M. Hughes and Hovvatson gave the Reds advantage, but they could not press this home, the defence being very solid. From a line-out R. King sent the ball out to W. Hughes who dummied Day beautifully, and tossed a high pass out oyer .Staines’ head to Pfahlert. The latter was running at top speed when he received it and raced for the corner to score. Hughes’ kick failed. Westland 3, Merivale 0.

Shortly, after Staines raced away between two Merivail e forwards with the ball at his toes and play went to the Blues’ line. Day, Hendry and Steel led the visitors to the Red line in a great rush, but a knock on spoilt a probable try. A few minutes later, Hendry marked, and, with a nice kick, eqaulised. The Bed backs wer e away again, Hughes cutting in beautifully hut his pass went astray, The ball then travelled along the line to Schroder who was pushed into touch near the line. The leather . then gravelled to the other wing but the pass t.O Pfahlert was astray. The home team were now having thp better of things and their efforts were rewarded when Davidson kicked a goal from a penailty.

Merivale then visited the Reds’ territory, backs and forwards tossing the ball about. Play was now of an up and down nature, and play was in midfield when the interval was taken with the -score: Westland 6, Merivale 3. Westland took the offensive upon resuming, and Growcott, following up well caught Parsons In possession on his own goal line, Howatson finally clearing with a good kick. Frequent infringements kept things quiet for a while. Merivale were not showing very much dash, arid were losing opportunities by kicking too mudh. Merivale swept all before them in a rush which took them from their own ground to within the Red 25, but Hughes cleared well. Diedrichs, (Hughes, Martin, Walker and Kelly were to the fore in a return rally, and from a me’ee Wright secured and dived over, Davidson converting. Westland 11, Merival e 3.

The Reds were now in the ascendency and swept Merivale back to their 25. The backs flashed iinto the scene,, all handling, but Schroder was well grassed. Merivale entered Red territory for the first time for about a quarter of ai. hour. At this satge Martin was carried ■off, but returned later, and a few filin•utes after Kirkland wag. ordered oft things having become fathei 1 willing, Frriril h lend ran over. We s Ua«4 11, Merivale '6;t A. hies - passing rush soon after dimong the backs saw,' Hendry cross, decreasing the visitors’ deficit. 1 Just before time Davidson, sent out to Diedrichs who dummied -two men and passed to Staines who scored, making the final score Westland 14, Merivale 9. , Mr A. Cutbush was referee. ~

SUB-UNION V. GREYMOUTH. Tho selectors have chosen the following team to represent the Westland Rugby Sub-Union next Saturday in the mutch against Greymouth for th'e Dittman Shield at Greymouth:— Full-back: Freitas (E). Three-quarters: Schroder (E), Staines (El, Pfahlert, (Rivals). Five-eighths: Died) icb-s (K), IV. Hughes (E). Half-back: Davidson (E) Forwards: Martin (Ross), B. Kelly (E), C. Wright (Ross); L. Hughes (E), Gmowcott (Rimu), King (E), J. Jones (Ross): Walker (K). Emergduci'js: Back, West (K), forward, M. Kelly (E).

GREY DEFEAT SYDENHAM. At Greymouth on Saturday Greymouth representatives defeated Sydenham (Christchurch) fifteen by ill to 13. Sydenham were not able to field their best side. There was a good margin of points in Greymouth’s favour at the final whistlje, but this would net havle been the case had the visiting captain, Wa'Jburton, not, haud.i.d so badl.v, quite a number of spectacular movements breaking down at this player. In addition, Greymouth had e.],l the luck of tile game, while Martyu’s goal kicking helped considerably to increase the score. Sydenham led by teh points to Bat half time. In tlile second spell the Greymouth backs., especially Scaildrett, Fong and Gilbert, Were to, be seL-n in snappy passing ruches, whilst Oil the other hand Sydenham failed to repeat the dash they d:i.r played in the first sped. Tire Greymouth forwards outplayed the visiting pack, although in the first half th'e Sydenham hooker, Line, gave his backs the greater share of the hall from the scrums, whilst throughout, Sydenham won the g -eater number of line-outs.

Tiil.a were obtained by Fong, Gil bert (2), Wilson and Scandrett. Martvn kicked two penalty goals and converted five tries. For Sydenham Hat-t-esly potted a goal and scored a try, Brown and W-arburto-n- scoring tries.

JUNIOR MATCHES. A curain raiser to the big matcch. was played between Kiwi and School, and resulted in a decisive win for Kiwi by 22 points to nil, the Kiwi forwards playing a ! great part in the success. Mr J. McCleary was referee.

A match between Excelsior and Kokatahi juniors yesterday was won by Excelsior by 14 points to 9. J. Bannister was referee.

DULLER DEFEAT MOTEUKAGOLDEN BAY.

(Per Press Association — Copyrights)

WESTPORT, July 30

In fine weather to-day for the second match in the Seddon Shield series Bulldr defeated Moteuka-Golden Bay by 40 points t.O 3i Bulier were superior . depa rt^ygftiis^vijfcn^rashing fonval'd rushes mid snappy back move* moots, Bailor drew first hjcod, Hill scoring well out. '|,h6 try was not converted, Shortly after a great passing movement saw- Greer score, Graham converted. Then Loder went over for’ an unconverted, try. Bay brightened ■up and from a free kick in a handy position, Soames goaled. McNeight v- scored again for Bulier. Half time score: Bulier 14, Bay 3. On resuming, Bay took a new lease of life, and invaded Bulier territory for a short time. Then Bulier backs and forwards combined in a scintillating passing /movement. Hill soon scored, converting himself. Buller’s centre Jones, raced over for a converted try, and. again shortly after. From a loose forward rush Orman scored an unconverted try, and Jones took his third try a few minutes lat-

Golden Bay could not combine either in the backs or forwards, the fast attacking of Bulier* breaking up any attempts. Just before time Gilsennan got over, .converting himself. Bay were no match for Bulier, good defence alone preventing a larger score. The final score was:—Bulier 40, B-ay 3. Mr S. Hollander was referee.

AUCKLAND V. HAWKE'S BAY

HASTINGS, July 30,

Auckland Rugby reps. defeated Hawke's Bay here this afternoon by ten points to eight in th© first matoh of their tour, played before 4000 spectators, in ideal weather. OTAGO BEAT CANTERBURY. DUNEDIN, July 30. Otago defeated Canterbury to-day by 24 to 9 in a game which was characteristic of bright back play on both sides. A crowd of 10,COO people saw the match, which was played in fine Weather on a heavy ground. Though Otago won 'by 24 to 9, and were undoubtedly the better side on tlrp. day, there was not smelt a wide margin between the teams as the scores might seem to suggest. The first spell, as a matter of fart, was fairly evenly contested, and at that per’rj, it looked as if either side might win.

In the second spell, however, the game assumed a- different aspect. The Ota,no forwards, though conceding weight to their opponents, mastered the situation towards the end of the game. They were definitely superior. The hacks of both sides were always ready to throw tlie ball about, and, with a bevvy ball and a damp ground, tin handling was good. Tible passing of the Otago hacks wn« l'ar more effeeivv than that of their opponents, who did a lot of handling standing, and failed to run their outside men into position.| Good defensive work was also shown by both sides.

i"- MAORIS V. N. AUCKLAND. A OHAEWAI, July 30. At Rugby, the N.Z, Maori team defeated North Auckand by 24 to 3 ii a bright game at Ohaewai to-day. The Maoris were too good, and after lending by eight to nil at half time, ran away in the second spell to score four beautiful tries, two of which were converted. The North opened theii account with an unconverted try. vSOUTH CANTERBURY BEAT . NORTH OTAGO. 0 AMARU, July 30. At Rugby, Smith Canterbury defeated -North Otago by Ho points to 8. in a game full of incidents, this afternoon- The home side played ag a dazzling sun to lead by 8 points to 3 at half-time. RESULTS AT OTHER CENTRES. . WELLINGTON, July 30. Rugby: Ruth 15, Ponoke 14; Petoue 50, Oriental 6; Wellington 21, Eastbourne, 11; Mnvist 18, Miramar 9; Old Boys 23, Athletic 0; Unive>rs ; ly 14, Bcrhainpore 8. OHUTSTCHURGH. July 30. Football mat lies to-dav were played in sunshine. The grounds bad dried well after rain. Chriatchui' ii 27 beat Varsity (3; Old Boys 35 beat Athletic 1G; Lin wood 21 beat Albion 3.