GALLERY PLAY

NZ Truth, Issue 1188, 6 September 1928, Page 14

GALLERY PLAY

Brought Disaster To Canterbury (From "N.Z. Truth's" Invercargill Rep.) Canterbury v/ere hot favorites.. A hard, dusty ground, brillian' sunshine and a breeze, which, strange to write, helped them each spell — -and yet they were beaten. TWENTY-FiyE to seventeen does not appear to make a wide margin, but there was more m it than eight points. With a lead of five points at the end of spell one, the visitors ran themselves off their legs by playing to the gallery . when they should have bee^ lining for position. .The crowd was delighted to see thb backs, . from the full-back, Mehrtens. to the half, Page, running about th< paddock with the ball. Well, that was the mistaken idea they let them rob them of a win. The second spell should have given Canterbury a fair margin — and yet they scored only six points while the maroons put on 19. Playing to the gallery m your own twenty-five, when there are good packing forwards opposing, will always bring trouble. And trouble was Canterbury's ' constant companion m trie latter half of the match. i BIRD IN FULL FLIGHT With romping forwards m front of him, Bell was really great on the clay. There was no other man of the thirty to hold a candle to\him and any mistakes he made were the result of pace, j A game of thrills began with a somewhat poor first half and ended by producing'some. capital thrusts from the winning backs and forwards. Chesley received a bad bump on tht thigh early m the second half and wa: a passenger. Of' a badly-trained forward seven, "Toby" Robinson was outstanding. By badly trained is meant that the forwards ought to dribble now and again; . The colors thought that, heeling was everything-^and the closely-packed maroons smashed their backs time and time again. O'Driscoll and Bird were doing very strong line work. Canterbury had no such smashing forwards. Barnett, of Queenstown, was tried at wing^ three-quarter. His play ranged, from 'ordinary to very good, and Loveridge, of Canterbury, was 'not a patch on him during the last half-hour. The lesson of the game is that attack is not the best defence when a side should be holding the fort.