BRILLIANT FORWRDS

NZ Truth, Issue 1240, 5 September 1929, Page 16

BRILLIANT FORWRDS

Canterbury [Was Unlucky In Battle For Supremacy In The North (From " N.Z. : ' : TruthV' Special Auckland Representative). The bright light of true sportsmanship shone m the eyes o /every enthusiastic. Rugby fan who could push his way into; Erie: Park /.on Saturday, and cheers echoed across the ground ; more over, the applause was for the visiting team.

WHAT occasioned this phenomenal exhibition of enthusiasm was the ..' ,: briiliant play- of the Canterbury forwards.: ' ' ■' The Canterbury pack, assisted by the inside backs, thrilled , the fifteen thousand , spectators by their* dashing, play, and even the die-hard "fans" of other days wagged their heads as theyleft the 'ground' and" declared that/./ it, reminded them of the gobd old days/ ' That the Canterbury forwards had provided an exhibition such as had not been seen jih Auckland for many years— and • ■ ' -. "•; --certainly riot fhis

season — ' was y the -popular opinion ' of< those who saw; the game. -' • A, Although > pleased . with -^the /Auckland victory, the great majority of the spectators ... must have felt that Canterbury were unlucky to haye. a margin of - eleven poirits ' a'g a i rist them at the finish. In the first half, Canterbury was by far the superior team, but the concluding stages saw

Auckland coming into its own.-. The. final score, however, was no indication of the, calibre of: the game. , . Quick; breakaway ' forwards, with • great ability m handling the ball, and clever five-eighths, literally swept Auckland off their feet from the outset, y To a man, ;• the Canterbury forwards were perfect. They broke' through the scrums, harassed the Auckland backs, and threw the ball about with seeming abandon yet with excellent judgriient: .-..' There was no shining Canterbury forward to single , out for praise, for they worked as a pack, and play was so fast and combined that there was.no chance for individuality. Harris played full-back for the visitors, and his place- at centre was .taken by Steel. Merritt was brought from the reserves to replace Steel on the wing, Lilburne not putting m; an appearance. Merritt arid Hart on the wings, and. Hay arid Irines at five-eighths, gave a delightful exhibition of back play, and, A fed 'at every opportunity by Mullan and Scrlriishaw, they threw the ball all over the field m a manner that , disconcerted the Auckland backs. With, perhapsV ythe exception of Corner, -' the clever Auckland half arid .the mainstay of •':.-' the . hoirier side, Innes ,was ; the ' hardest worker -"oh the field. \ ' He was always. conspicuous when Canterbury broke thrpugh, and the forwards, m their speedy rushes A with the' ball flying from hand to hand; could always rely on/ his being handy to relieve the stress.' - -y :A" .■':"■■■ A- ' '-<; - . '■-/■ : .-. '■-> The fast and- heavy Canterbury: forwards., arid the clever 'inside, men made things too hot for Lucas, : the Auckland skipper, and' he was seen to advantage only orice. Alt was not the ; ;style of ; play that Lucas enjoyed, and he* seenied' less

willing to give it a go than onprevic occasions. * ; - - - The greater part of the. heavy we and the thrillrproviding dashes on t Auckland side . came from. Minns . a Corner, who were playing the game their lives. . ■' — ' ■"■ - The full-back cleared at times,, bul 'generally the speed of the Canterburj inside men and the powerful forwards I- had him bustled, and. it. -was ' ■ fre- > quently left to: Minns to save the situ- • ation. • . - Merritt, was. well on to ; M.inns, and r a stop to 'many' of /his promising mo^ ments,. but when' it came to a show-'doi

with Minns going at full speed, he r , away from. the Canterbury winger. Once Auckland woke up to Canterbur; quick breakaway attacks • and adopt similar tactics, the backs were h 'harassed, v and Hook and- Jariiieson, t Auckland : inside men, got a chance show themselves. . . Previously the home team's five.eighths had been swamped when the forwards let the opposition through and Ho'bk, partlcularlXf had beer bustled. Given a clearer vision anc more roorri to run In when -the forwards held .the opposing pack, Hool and Jam leaon handled well., y AHook was found wanting on defend and was not seen to' advantage until t home^team' turned the tables. Fletcher had his work cut out, playi rover in ' opposition to Scrimshaw, a his Honors were wellrearned. Hejyas t brains of the forwards, battling hard defence and losing no chance to bre to inter-

cept. from the flying Canterbury forwards. A ,'-■•'. . . Th c Auckland backs, however, got :most of their work from Corner. The clever, little half's play m this game will be remembered for a .long tiriie to come. VHe snapped up the ball from seemingly impossible tight play, arid whipped, it out be-, fore the galloping Can terbury forwards came bolt-

irig.ythroughi --...'■• With, the Canterbury forwards playi like men with a.• mission arid teari through to swamp the Auckland- backs 1 fore they could move, Auckland owes great-deal to Cbrrier, for without him, t backs- could never have swung into li to face the forward onslaught; Had. the backs been unable to get 1 ball— tad the Canterbury forwards w< doing all they knew tcf keep it from th — there would have been a different stc ; to tell.

THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENED Wairarapa Stalwarts Went Down To Southland In Shield Battle CHALLENGERS' SENSATIONAL VICTORY i ' (Prom '■■" N.Z. 'Wairarapa Representative). . . , . Regarded as the biggest certainty: that ever walked on to a ■^ football field, Wairarapa's chosen! fifteen handed its supporters f§|ilthe most severe jolt m the whole history of its existence When it lost the Ranfurly Shield to the touring^Southland team at CarterW j ton last Saturday. ! ; . , ,a. ; . •

CONSIDERING that." Canterbury had 'beaten the visitors by a 20-point margin, and Wellington, had won as they liked three days previously, ? . Wairarapa's comfortable win over ' Canterbury gave every justification for the widely-held belief that Southland T could, not- hope 'to seriously extend the Shield -holders. i , That they would win was an idea not even lightly entertained and it can therefore be readily . Un-

derstood that the result of the game was nothing less than a sensation. Except, perhaps, for the last • ten minutes, m which Wairarapa made a great and almost i successful effort to I pull the game round, the type of play .was well below proy i n cial | standard, being noI thing, more than a I . tight go between 1 two teams playing

' '' second-class foot--5 - - Cooke ' ball, -with only the t, fact that the Shield was at stake' to .lend the game more than, . passing interest. • , ... ■. i On the play,- Southland -deserved to win— or ..rather, Wairarapa deserved 1 to lose — for compared with their play t. In the match against Canterbury, their display 'In the game under review was nothing less than a descent ,/ from the sublime to the ridiculous. ; . The orily possible explanation of their > defeat seems to lie m a combination of over-confidence and staleness. . Without wishing to rob Southland of ', any credit due to therri for their, win, it was very evident that Wairarapa were ' feeling the effects' of tlieir hard game L against Canterbury three days, previously. : . The green pack got possession from the scrums, nine .times out of ten, ( but., apart' from this useful accomplishirient they . seemed as awkward as a squad of plough- ' boys. '''.'■-•'. ■ They pursued their usual bunching tac- '. tics, seemingly more as a safety-first ; measure than as a

This slight -delay m transit gave the Bird Southland /insides ' .

tiriie to close the gap, and Cooke— as usual, a well-marked man — was dumped more frequently m this game than m probably any other m his experience. . While there were plenty of good individual flashes, the back machinery as a whole, moved m fits and starts. The 'game took on an entirely different aspect when Cundy. and Corkill changed places. . Back: m his old place at first five-eighths, Cundy seemed to supply the vital spark and changed the Wairarapa back division from a disorganised set of individualists into a srriooth-working combination. . . ; Had the change been' made ten minutes earlier, Wairarapa would : have won. Wairarapa were all over Southland In the last few minutes. Stringfellow went across for a . great

rarppa had properly awakened to the fact tba ( t the game had started. Spine of J. Donald's tricky work at the 1 side of the scrum was responsible, for the penalty. Seeing, that Wairarapa *vvere getting the ball practically at will, any attempt to gain ari advantage from unfair, placing ,of the ball was either obstinacy or foolishness. Bird was the best of the visiting forwards, with Purdue running a close second. Fast and sure with his hands. Mahoney made a continual nuisance of himself as rover. He scored. a clever try arid- had the worst of luck m just missing another. i

try five minutes 'before time and , Wairarapa lost two tries m quick succession when Fuller dropped his I pass- m a scoring position, and' again when Stringfellbw only had to take a pass to go oyer by the posts. The Southland backs were not a g r eat attacking proposition, but m defence were veritable A Rocks of Gibraltar. \ .11 6 lden went down to anything and everything,

1c while Bell and Porter opposing Corkill j\v: and Cook respectively, tackled . like de_l mbns, doing much to, throw Wairarapa's of rear mechanism completely out of gear.