RUGBY FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1932, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL

•'*' #Y? '•*;!r, ' > • WEST COAST

RANFURLY SHIELD COMMENT.

CHRISTCHURCH, August 29.

The perforntahce •; of the West• Coast (Rugby team is acclaimed by public and press here. '

Freitas, leader of the West Coast pack, was the outsthndihg.'. forward ; of. the game. He waeCtßwdys up with the play and was never absent from the rushes'' thaif sorely Hflfied Canterbury -in the second;‘spell, playsing a "game that would have gained him 'a in any: representative side. In the ' lineiouts ■his .work-,wasi;particularly g00d,,-and,:he* often got ,t;he, ball ,;out .Jib; hii backs, who Wer© to' set' hp t'hei attack. INext .to Freitds .was OottreiL Jones, tR. King and Deere, wwe gdod''forwards for the Coast.' West Coast hacks were" n lively and eager- set, and'although they often pfehetrifled'--'tbs.;-Canterbury - defence their combination fell-, away: ot critical times and. scoring chances were'lost; The outstanding pVyeiv was; IA. Fong. 'Showing a great ■ sense, : of anticipation Hie whs -a valuable man, on attack' and' also on defence. . On his play- he-i's . wor.thi:his- place in - any' provincial, side . in... Ne>v Zealand. Schroder was ithe best wing, on the ground and his flyirig trips down thg line in the second spell were a feature contributing to -the rexcitement ofthe game, i He-aiso showed a solid • defence; The “Press”', says Young and keen the West Coast , tea'tfi made 1 the 'pace from .the outset, their . forwards .espech ally, showing fin© form. In; the set scrums and the;; impromptu tight scrummaging the visitors . seemed to combine better and; at 'several stages of the match hed a decided ascendancy in those respects. The challengers - held an. absolute advantage ih line put play and Canterbury lost a great nianyop--po-rtunities 'because of its; poor form displayed in line-out work... In the open play, F. Fi-eitas, .who played ..for’ fchef All 'Blacks in 1928, was one of the two best forwards on /the ground, the .other being A. I. jOottnelt, the Canterbury captain., .Freitas was very fit' and .made an inspiring leader for .the challengers in y ' ...... •'

all the loos© play, -whi/ch was de--d oped,.and which caused the Canterbury backs a lot ,of concern on defence. The big forward seems to have improved his form rather than to ’have lost it. and his line-out play was th© best seen at Lancaster Park this year. The'. other outstanding packmen for the /West 'Coast .were the captain, W. Deere, L. Hughes, R. King and W. Buchanan. Hughes did splendid work iiri ' th© : tight ‘ruckmg play, receiving support continually from Buchanan. King proved himself a fast, loose forward, .and, a great spoiler of opposition rearguard - movements. E. ’ Jones . was • also prominent in loose rushes late in -the game, an'd his tackling was also high-class. . ~ v-v. The back divison of the challenger# Talked penetrative power, but compensated to some* extent' for- that deficiency by playing close up to their opponents apd taking advantage- of every mistake made by them to break away and initiate passing rushes on their own account. The West Coast. defence so far as the backs were concerned was never penetrated and the tackling was a t r eat ,-eldom seen at a Rugby, match. To those who saw the game ,the outstanding memory of the play dill be the tackling by both teams and especially by the visitors.

It was magnificent and .an object lesson to those who, favour the high smother '• taOkl© which . makes use of speed rather than skill,. and in which the element bf chance plays'too big a pjtrt. Easily the. best exhibition of flying tackling and dour defence seen in - Canterbury this year was given by A/' Fong, second flve-eighth for . /the challengers, who marked, the All Black, 0. D. Innes,..;

Fong has played for the West Coast for many seasons, now and, earned a reputation fo.r tackling'against Spong, the .crack English five-eighth, when he played in the Dominion.,: He lived up to his reputation on Saturday in a manner which will hot, soon ho forgotten by the crowd; Time after time he 1 stopped the inside thrust to follow that up by running across behind his Backs to tackle Canterbury’s odd man out. r' ‘ ‘ '' ;■' V'.■■■’' ■ -■

From yards away from an opponent he would bring him down with a tackle which ‘ never . failed. Fong also used

the kick to the gap to advantage in attack. At .one: part : of th e match it looked as if the Canterbury bicks would run their opponents off their feet, but the defence stood the test, and the West Coast backs all deserve praise for the manner in which they rallied in defence to m e et each thrust.

The half, B. Scandrett, played well and to a stern defence he added the asset of keenness in attack. Three times late in the game lie was nearly over Canterbury's goal lin e with stirring solo bursts through melees. W. Hughes did not impress as an attacking player at first five-eighths. G. Gilbert, the centre, though sound on defence, missed some opportunities on attack which spoiled his display. One opening he had should have ended in a try ; if his judgment had been sound. The wings, C. Schroder and L. Martyn, were speedy and enterprising. Martyn’s try was a fine effort. J. King, the .full-back, produced form equal to provincial standard in any part of New- Zealand. “His tackling was above the ordinary.