BETTER TEAM ?

NZ Truth, Issue 1181, 19 July 1928, Page 14

BETTER TEAM ?

Qld Boys Won Glory,

But Not Points

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Wellington Hep.) ; Although. the game went to Po'neke m their match against Old Boys by 16 points to 12, the latter team collected the glory though hot the points on the day's play ; when the two teams met at Athletic Park last Saturday. THE last two" tr-ies^scdred by Poneke -■ when -the whites .-were m the lead,, wore sheer gifts' from the gods. In-' ability to tackle -let the, Poneke-ites through when ordinary tackling, would have prevented scoring^ Territorially, Old Boys held the advantage throughout most of the game, but It was . the sterling work of their ■forwards, pitted as they were, against the best vanguard m tne senior competition, that brought this about. The game throughout was a battle of forwards, and except for one or two bright instances, neither set of backs showed out to advantage. ! When they were m possession of the ball, the main desire ,of one set of backs seemed to be to give it to their opponents, with the result that very little m bright, snappy passing movement,,was seen. ANYBODY'S AT HALF-TIME A sharp wind blew across the field, but Old Boys were hampered m the opening spell by the sun. Despite this, however, the score stood at 9-6 m their favor at half-time. . Old Boys' firs^ score came from a penalty, Malcolm putting over a beauty from near half-way. Their full-back is not brilliant, but he possesses a good kicking boot, and is safe when m a tight corner. It takes a lot to bustle him, but his real weakness is his tackling.. . • In the five-eighths- line/ Dustin stood out, to advantage on occasion,, but once KeT Sadly • mulled a pass ,when m a scoring position. : The 'ball came out to Bydder, the half, straight and clean, but it got no farther than Dustin: •'"' bu.Ghateai). at centre, went -well and showed out to "advantage with Dustin and Fitzmaurice when any passing was indulged m. J. Lamason, the Old Boys wingforward, is as keen as mustard, and 1b always on the ball. His one fault is being too ready to nip round the scrum. His side were penalized on more than one occasion through his offrslde tactics. ' Of a sterling set of forwards, the hardest toiler of the pack was Claridge. In scrum and line-out he proved a match for any of the Poneke men.. Emersonj Hum, McPherson and Preston were, also great toilers for their side. ' ' • ' ! > - With such two well -matched sets of forwards, the game m the second half was a treat to watch, but there were one or two unsavory incidents which tended to mar play. "Truth" clearly saw one of the Poneke .men aim a telling blow at ; one of his opponents, and later on, the same thing occurred again, resulting m one of .the Old Boys players being grassed. - •. .-'..- , Murmurs went up from the stand and there were cries of: "Put him off, referee," and: "Why don't you play clean,, reds?"; , \ ■/■' SPLEEN 'BETWEEN TI M ES ' A match can surely be keenly contested without feeling running as high as it did last Saturday? , Such an undue display of spleen is not. good for -the. game, and it is to be hoped the 'players concerned m the match m question will take heed. Poneke, as head of the senior' championship ladder, did not show, up to great advantage. They played as well as their opponents let them. Without their forwards, the team would be nowhere, and this waa never more exemplified than on Saturday. They frequently broke .through Old Boys'- van' with ;the ball at toe. They did the ; work, but their backs were not able to take advantage of it- ' ••■ ' ■■;'.■ .' ■■ ';■''.■- ? ->;-i-. ■■ Wilson, the wing- forward, scored a brilliant try from near half-way; He came through the ruck with the ball at toe, gathered it m his arms and went over the line just as he pleased. Four or five Old Boys made ineffectual attempts to v stop him, but he sidestepped the lot. • On the wing, Edgar was easily Poneke's best back, although Elliott,, on the other side, played well. Murphy,/ centre {;hree,-quarter,- was safe though; never : particularly brilliant. TTie backs only handled the ball about three times during the whole of play;- ■■'••,. ';■,"[ " .■.,;.'■,; , : ;■. '■. Tilyard, at half, was disappointing and missed several opportunities. He pfteh passed infield when n clear run went begging out on the opposite wing. „ , • In a pack that plays consistently, Sly, Shearer and Pickrang stoo4 out 'prominently. , ;•' i , The latter is,: a regular boring machine, and'-with the ball tucked • und>er his wing is a hard m^n to bring down. When he did get grassed i.twas usually with about,;.- half a. dozen players on top of him. He also splashed around with a bit of offside., ' Pearson and Jessup,, the front-row men, held their opponents well. 'The -closing stages of ' play saw the whites battling, hard to regain their earlier advantage, but the bell caught them still four, points to the bad. In a. hard-fought game at Kilbirnie, Wellington defeated Marists by two tries (one converted) to niL Play was tight throughout and. at times inclined to be rough. EASTBOURNE DO IT AGAIN . v. ... Athletic received another tx-ouncing on Saturday, this time at the hands of Oriental, going down by 17 to 5. Athletio were without some of -their regular players. , „ . ' „'..'■•'■ Oriehtal^backs gave; a poor /display, their forwards being mainly responsible for the side's win. ; Out on the village oval, Petone. had to accept defeat at the hands of Eastbourne. Play was open, though very one-sided, the lads being outclassed m every , department of the game.. Tlie final score was 19— 3. Eastbourne are getting well on the map. ' : . The students scored another win on Saturday, when they accounted for Berhanipore by 20 points to 6. Now. second' 'on the championship: ladder, the. students play a fast, open game. They should extend Poneke the next tim^he teams meet. •'■; ; :