NOT UP TO STANDARD

NZ Truth, Issue 1187, 30 August 1928, Page 14

NOT UP TO STANDARD

Wellington and I)4ahawhenua Reps. Give Ragjged Display (From "N.Z. Truth's" I Manawhenua Representative.) THOUGH the annual clash -of} the Wellington and Manawhenua 1 representatives at Levin on] Saturday last held the spectatorsr— the issue was m doubt unt?'j I the ; teams walked off the field— the match, m many respects, j failed to come up to the standard expected m representative •Rug' hy.

VI /"ELLINGTON'S 28 points, consistf sd VV - of six tries (three converted) al ad : • one field goal, while Mjrjjj aAyhenua's total of 26 points came- f n 3th six tries (one converted), a goal fro ri.x a mark and a penalty goal. ; • The fast breaking and speedy Maflnawhen'ua forwards tended to make | the game less spectacular, keeping i the Wellington backs quiet on occas ft ons throughout the afternoon. i " Even without Coulston and Jej - sup, the two hookers who did 4 o well against Auckland, and Wairf - rapa, Wellington,* with Wilson asj d O'Regan_in the front row, enjoys d an advantage a,ver Summers ai id Crawford, the Kia Toa club pad ir, who acted m a, similar. capacity i? or Manawhenua. . ; j The Manawhenua forwards, how/ jver, were more ; finished m scrumnuj ging and gave their backs plenty of thq ball from the ruck. In the line-out^ too, they secured a preponderance cij: the ball. •' V A Pendulum j Scores came at regular interval^ and. af tew one side had scored the , other would launch an attack from the.; kickout which soon had the desired ejj 'feet. ■ Both Wellington and Manawj lenua notched six tries, but to their s« iccess m the kicking department do W<4 lling-ton.-OAve their narrow victory. J Even allowing for the fact thtf it the Wellington backs -plashed only r« 3 well as they were permitted, theh'-exhl i.bition must be regarded as being disan pointing. ' They gave the appearanc^ ; of lacking confidence, and did ncf t try to open up the game as mu<J.h.as they should have, being contq nt to let their forwards do the j Hon's share of the work. f When they did handle the b:i'il, they did hot distinguish themselves! Their passing Avas bad, and when tj ley did not give standing" passes th| jy were inclined to run across instead j» jf down field, and all too often the y mulled their acceptances. J Collectively they were but a j! aedipcre lot but individually they gave* the fans an idea of their capabilities,). Chancy and Coman m particular ( U alighting the spectators when they- set w -ed their solo tries. : ■ Cuming, the Wellington ? ull-baclq, Avas worse than a . passenf rer. Not only did he fail m his task.y but his' utility was negatived by : his j'total unreliability and more than onei try Avas scored through his mistakes. I . ' It 'is indeed hard to uncl srstand how he could ever have be^ m pre-

: ferred to Peterson, who replaced ' 'him, shortly after half-time. The field goal Petersen kicked was a godsend to Wellington. Mackay had too much pace for Roberts, his 'vis-a-vis, and m addition to scoring two tries he kept the Manawhenua wing m place. Ramson did not get many opportunities and was not impressive. . ■- Broderick, who opposed Strange, had his work cut out to keep the Kla Toa w.inger from jazzing across more than once, and m the second , spell particularly, neither permitted the* other to go very far before effecting a tackle. An Object" Lesson In this respect they were an object lesson to the pair of full-backs, neither of whom appeared to have the faintest idea of this form of defence. Mackenzie received too much attention from Akuira to do much, but he fed Chancy well, the latter being a constant source of anxiety to the homseters whenever he had possession of the ball. Coman did not receive the ball from the set scrums as cleanly as he should have, and as a consequence his deliveries from the scrum base were not over well directed, many of them being aimed- at Mackenzie's head or at his toes. Porter was the best forward on the field. There were not many movements m which he did not participate, and he was also very useful on defence. Shearer, Sly and Blacker were good battlers m the line, with Wilson and O'Regan at their best m the tight. Galpin and Tatana were ever m the thick of the fray and gave the Manawhenua backs plenty of the ball from . the line-outs, while -Crawford, Satherley'an'fl Miles revelled m the thick stuff. ':.' ' ■ '.. . Dalzell, who opposed Porter, was allowed to get away with a lot of obstruction, but was overshadowed by a far better player. . W. Parata proved a staunch little half-back who knew what to do with the ball when he got it. Akuira was too intent on keeping Mackenzie quiet to shine much, but Robb showed a big improvement on his recent form and was a lion on defence. Strange proved to be a great trier, and fought all the way. He has the makings of a good player, but; at present lacks weight. He. has a sound tackle, to which Broderick can .testify. Taylor gave a very indifferent dio- ] play, his handling and kioking ° being none too sure. - ?!