COOKED 'EM!

NZ Truth, Issue 1182, 26 July 1928, Page 14

COOKED 'EM!

Bert Takes Shield — And Kudos ' (From "N.Z. Truth's" Christchurch :'" ' Rep.) - . Canterbury is surely the most unlucky team that ever battled for the Ranfurly Shield. TN game after game the red and blacks have been just one or two points behind, and their luck did not ' turn when at last they, won the . trophy. « They lost to Wairarapa, 8-7, after overshadowing, the greens m ' most departments of play for the I greater part of a game. ; It was a tragic day for Canterbury, for at least - three tries were thrown . away and twice men -went over the ', line, but could not ground the ball. 1 The Wairarapa captain, ' A. E. Cooke, remarked after the match that his side were a little lucky to win, and that is : so. : At the same time, Wairarapa must i be given credit for making much more thorough preparations for the match than Canterbury did. The greens had benefited from a number of rep. games this season, .but the Canterbury team, picked for the , first time just a week before the | match, had had only one gallop together. ' . At the same time it was ajmost worth losing the Shield to see Cooke play as he played against Canterbury. New Zealand's greatest footballer was at his best, and actually'it was he who won the Ranfurly Shield. With' Cooke out of the team, Wairarapa would-be a team of good, hustling forwards, and only fair to medium backs. Against Canterbury, Cooke covered the play of both the first flve and the centre, and riis defence was simply marvellous. More than once he had to race back and stop a Canterbury rvsh from 'behind, and time after time he amazed the crowd by his cleverness m turning desperate defence into dangerous attack. • The most remarkable feature of his play was' his wonderful kicking. Right up till the last quarter of an hour of play the red and blacks gave Cooke no chance at all of showing up on attack. They made a bird of grass•'ing hiip, and the solid tackling nipped m the bud many promising passing rushes. N But, right at the end of the game, Cooke came to light with a brilliant try which he converted himself. It won the game. The most surprising feature of N the game was the success of the < Canterbury hookers against W. lr- • vine and Q. Donald. Although -the ex'- All Blacks came to light with some very clean hooking near the end of the game, Cottrell and Clark secured most of the ball from the scrums. Canterbury had the better of the line-outs, too, and were superior m the tight stuff, but Wairarapa were better m the loose, their rushes going further. Irvine and . Donald both played splendidly from start to finish, and K. Fairbrother and N. McGregor Were perhaps the best of the rest, although every forward went well. Cooke was the mainstay of the whole team, and the only possible criticism of his play is that sometimes his passing was not accurate. I_. Hart, behind the scrum, played 1 a fine game, going down to rushes, tackling, and setting his backs going m attack m great style. A very hard worker, he was right m the thick of the play all the time. L. Roach: Avas kept busy, and he gave a very fine . exhibition of full-hack play. He tackled splendidly, and handled and kicked well. * i On the day he was a little better than Jack Harris. The remainder of the backs were only fair, and their handling against very solid and aggressive tackling was not as clean cut as it might have been. The Canterbury backs were a fairly evenly matched crew. Oliver wafe absolutely brilliant m his slashing breaks away, but was inclined to hang on to the ball too long. He played a very sound game on defence. '< D. G. Grant was splendid on defence. His one great attacking run was spoiled by his bad pass. Dave Hay made very few mistakes, and he was absolutely solid, without being brilliant. M. L. Page played a fine game at half. He initiated some very clever _ attacking movements, and his passing was first-class. He varied his play cleverly, and on defence was irreproachable. Chesley was the most unfortunate player on the side, for it was his lot to run up into unmarked positions, and then not get the ball. In the few opportunities Jne was given he ma^e some very dangerous runs. G. F. Hart was weak m defence, but made some very determined dashes for the line. Harris' weakness .was m his kicking, which was very ineffect- • ive. Otherwise he. played a good ganie. The Canterbury forwards surprised those ' who had seen them .perform against South Canterbury. Every man of them put every ounce of weight into liis work. . The -best of them were. A. .^.Montgomery, J. B. Jackson and T. Lawson, 'but "they"' were '-all good. •Although the Shield is gone, the game against Auckland is being looked forward to already -/with the greatest of interest. : - .■'-' '•-