REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY.

Shannon News, 19 July 1927, Page 3

REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY.

MANAWATU TORN THE TABLES HOROWHENUA BEATEN BY EIGHTEEN TO NINE. VISITING BACKS OUTCLASSED. It was generally conceded, wlieii Manawatu were defeated by Horowhenua at Shannon a month ago by the narrow margin of two points, tbay th Northern men were unlucky to lose on that occasion, and in vindication o this impression, they the decision in the return matcly played on the Showgrounds on Saturday before a good attendance, y a - ministering Horowhenua s first this season, arid winning by the comfortable margin'of nine points. _ The weather was excellent, but the ground was on the heavy side; still, not sufficient to affect the play. The game was a triumph /or tne. Manawatu backs, who proved themselves a speedv, clev.er combination and on the day's play, they completely outclassed the opposing rearguard. At least three of their tries were the outcome of their celerity in seizing ■openings made by, their forwards when defending in their own territory, when time and again they'would race away in possession of the ball to turn defence into attack before the opposition had hardly realised what had happened. , The Manawatu forwards were also smart in the loose, but were no match for Horowhenua in the tight'work; however, the Greens showed much superior team work, there being a better understanding between forwards and backs which- enabled them to register, such a clean cut victory. Apart from this, Horowhenua’s display was disappointing, and they gave every indication of showing the effects of last Wednesday’s hard game against the Bush, lacking their usual dash in the open This applied particularly to the back play, which was well below the usual standard, being slow and awkwaid compared with Manawatu’s bright play behind the scrum. Horowhenua received more than their share of the ball from the set scrums, but there was a decided weakness evident at the base, and this to > a very great extent hampered the outside men, the passes usually being. of the stand and deliver variety, enabling the Manawatu players to get through a lot ox spoiling work. . Although the Horowhenua vanguard dominated the play at frequent intervals, they failed to infuse the.necessary dash into their movements and more finish was wanted when near the line- „ A remarkable feature of the game was the fact that although no less than nine tries were scored, not one was converted, while many penalty kicks were missed, which-again emphasises the necessity of a reliable place kicker in n team, as some of those missed were simple in the extreme.

THE GAME IN DETAIL. The teams were asfollows:— MANAWATU (Green and White). Williamson H. Darragh Brophy Amadio Dewe * G. Darragh Shapleski A. Walden - Anderson Persson Hare T. Parsons Crawford Hammond Tremewan HOEOWHENUA (Red and Blue). Ryder Roberts Hunt J. McDonald Warren T. Parata Chisholm Jacob (Capt.) D. McDonald Hakaraia Gleeson Bond Dalziell Payne. Tatana Horowhenua won the toss and accepted the advantage of the sun and breeze, defending the Southern goal. Walden set play in motion for Manawatu who rushed play into their opponents * territory. Warren gained possession from a lmeout and cleverly side-stepped his way through the invading forwards, only to spoil his work .by booting after breaking clear, with his own men in support. Williamson returned with a neat linekick to Horowhenua’s 25. The Green forwards, playing with -plenty of dash, overran the defence on to the line where Crawford managed to get off-side and Jacob found relief with a needy penalty. \ The Red backs then attempted a passing movement until Hunt failed to accept his pass. He, however, retrieved his mistake by tapping the ball into touch at halfway. _ _ . Play drifted across field, until Roberts came into action, and headed the Horowhenua' forwards with a dribbling rush to Manawatu’s end. Jacob made a poor attempt with a penalty, and G. Darragh returned activities to well past halfway with a great kick. Following the line-out, the opposing forwards fought for the ascendancy until Maihi handled in the ruck, and the kick saw Ryder find touch only a few yards from his own line after fumbling the ball. FIRST BLOOD TO MANAWATU. Manawatu now fought hard to maintain their advantage, and their forwards, getting out among the Red backs quickly, effectively smothered any attempts to change the venue of play. That they were successful to a marked degree, was borne out during the next few moments when their succeeding play enabled the speedy men behind them to open the scoring. Receiving possession from a line out near Horowhenua’s line, Shapleski passed out smartly to G. Darragh, and snappy passing saw the ball travel along to Dewe, to Brophy to H. Darragh, who raced away down the right wing and all but got there, only to be desperately forced out at the corner by J. McDonald. Using their weight in the tight, the Horo-

wlienua forwards slowly pushed the invaders back, but all to no purpose, for a quick as lightning Walden gained control at his feet, booted the leather across to. Dewe, for that player to send on to Brophy. The defending backs were hopelessly out of position as the Manawatu centre sped diagonally to the opposite corner, and as he reached the line he handed the ball to Amadio, who had no difficulty in running around near the posts for a spectacular try. Amadio failed with the kick. Manawatu 3, Horowhenua 0. HOROWHENUA QUICKLY EQUALISE. Play settled down between the twen-ty-five lines for some- time after the kick out, with Manawatu slightly in the aggressive until a Green passing rush that was heading goalwards, terminated as Dewe dropped his pass and Jacob and Dalziell regained the ground lost with a dribbling rush. Then R. McDonald and Tatana became prominent with good play that transferred activities to near Manawatu’s line and paved the way for Horowhenua to equalise the scores. The Red forwards swarmed around under the defenders’ goal, and at last Chisholm received and opened out to Warren. This player headed straight through towards the posts, and then all of a sudden verged away to the right, cleverly cutting out Darragh, Dewe and Brophy, to send out a long pass to Roberts for that player to dive over m the arms of Amadio wide out. Hunt bailed to improve, ihaking the scores — Horowhenua 3, Manawatu 3. This belated success somewhat inspired the Southern men to more decisive play, and for a period they created the impression that their success was only an indication of something -better to follow. A neat punt down the centre by Chisholm found a gap in the rank of the Green backs and smart following up enabled the Horowhenua forwards to appear in a dangerous light until Dalziell handled offside with about six men in support and the defence beaten. Manawatu expressed their appreciation for this let-off by rushing play upfield, and after a skirmish between theopposing packs a clever cut in by Dewe saw him thread his way down on to the Reds’ line until well dumped by Hunt, and J. McDonald relieved a difficult situation. Offside play by Tatana saw Brophy narrowly miss with a penalty shot' and play settled at midfield. DEFENCE INTO ATTACK. Horowhenua then took up the attack, but from a scrum, Warren dropped his pass from Parata and the versatile Brophy, ever on the alert, pounced upon the ball and broke dean away, supported by H. Darragh. Drawing J. McDonald at the halfway line the Green’s Skipped transferred to Darragh and the Manawatu flyer, brushing off Ryder’s tackle,-outstripped any attempts to overtake him to score brilliantly. Brophy missed. Manawatu 6, Horowhenua 3, SCORING FLUCTUATES. Shortly following this, Warren was responsible for some great solo play that brought the crowd to its feet as he dodged his way through the opposition, broke clear and running up to Williamson, punted over that player’s head. There followed an exciting race between Brophy and the Horowhenua five-eighth for the ball, that had gone perilously close to Manawatu's for the former to win out, and boot into touch in goal. The invaders controlled the ball in the ensuing scrummage and hammered away at the defence until their persistency was rewarded as Warren again became prominent, and after temporarily losing the ball that had come hi‘s way, to regain, transfer to Jacob, who drew a couple of defenders as he forced his way to the line to send Hunt over on the left wing to again level up the scores. Jacob’s kick struck the upright and rebounded into the field of play. Manawatu 6, Horowhenua 6. CLEVER PLAY BY DEWE.

Horowhenua were dominating the forward play at this stage and kept proceedings mostly at Manawatu’s end; however it was all to no purpose as once again over-eagerness cost them points, and only off-side play frustrated [heir efforts. Then the speedy Green backs were almost immediately responsible again for changing the fortunes of the game. A passing movement in midfield became effective as Dewe sold the (< dummy” to Warren, and side,tepped his way at top speed through ho opposition to Ryder. There followed a wild scramble under the Reds’ goal, but before the-defence could rally round, Crawford managed to get his hands to the ball and scramble across. Once again the kick was unsuccessful. Play of a give and take nature followed with the Horowhenua backs losing .-.everal opportunities through faulty passing and half-time arrived with the score-board reading— Manawatu 0, Horowhenua 6.