NOT CLASS ENOUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 679, 3 June 1929, Page 13

NOT CLASS ENOUGH

AUSTRALIAN VARSITY TEAM FAILS TO IMPRESS N.Z’S EASY WIN (Special to THE SUN) CHRISTCHURCH, Saturday. i Frankly, the Christchurch people are , ■vary disappointed with the play o£ the vustraiian University Rugby team, j Even atter it lias been admitted that 1 the tourists have had to play on .‘•rounds slower than they are accustomed to. the fact is that this team, iontaining only half a dozen men who have been regular members of their university teams in first grade Rugby n Sydney and Melbourne, is not truly representative of Australian universiof the forwards are tall enough, but they have not very much weight, and no great driving power in themselves. A good bustling pack tan put them right off their game, which is chiefly to feed their backs. Some of tho Australian backs are dashing and all have speed, but only a couple of them appear to have much dea of direct attack. Most of thenmovements go simply across field, gaining little ground, unless the tacking is weak. TWO BROTHERS GOOD A. K. Kennedy, one of tho wingthreequarters, does make use of a neat cut in from the flank, and bis brother, D. K. Kennedy, one of the centres, lias a knack of making a good opening occasionally, but there is usually a crabwise movement from _ tlic_ tlveightlt onwards. The passing in two names in Christchurch lias often been ill-directed, and much of it has been too low. and. as the handling has seldom been precise, these passing rushes broke themselves almost as often as they have been broken by the opposing side. Tho Australian forwards and backs should, of course, work up better combination by the time they get to Auckland, and if they have a dry and fast ground there they may show their speed in o-thodox movements sufficiently to make their play more attractive than it has been in the South island.

NEW ZEALAND’S LOST CHANCES New Zealand University should have put up a big score, thirty points at least, but the backs missed many chances, some of them through taking the wrong sort of chances. Twice within two minutes in the second half of the game, the wing-threequarters lost potential tries through trying to take tiie ball one-handed, and failing. The chief trouble, however, was lack of combination in the inside backs. These did good work at times as isolated units, but they were not happy in combination. Mackenzie, the first iiveeigrhth, gave several bad passes. His use of the punt was not judicious, and just as he did in Victoria College’s same, he put the ball several times into the hands of the opposing fullback, with his punts giving the Australians the opportunity to find the line. Several times, he went too far in his efforts to beat opponents, but it must ho said that sometimes this was because he was not backed up quickly enough. Indeed the backing up of the New Zealanders generally was not a Prepossessing feature of their game. Houghton, at second five-eighth, was scarcely thrustful enough, and Mchlymont as centre-threequarter missed too many passes. Buth was a good fullback, one h't of fielding by him being positively brilliant. The New Zealand forwards went JJUch better in the second half than in no first, especially in the loose, but '■ncy appeared to lack a good general ~o would have led them to utilisa*on of the lessons of the Australians’ tc l ? 63 tnst Otago Varsity and Canroury College, in which the green norwards soon had their ways of feedT n * the hacks from * h * line-out stopped. the* Otago Hindenach * n d Douglas had ffot toe bn 11 in throe our scrums, * u < the New Zca‘ana Packing was °t good enough to Stive them that udvantage this time ln all round play, there was no bet°n tlie srounc * than Hin*>fwmere vras an attendance of about J. ua * today’s match. The weather order**** 5 and the ground in excellent Z, ' alr| nd led 6—3 at half-time, g*. ln th second spell, increased its ij ve* - ***—3. New Zealand scored ‘ Y l **' n °ne of which was conridJ»;«» try-getters were Lovekenvi Douglas, Mackay and Mactors. A. Kennedy scored the visihv v, on ; from a fine opening made y hl » brother.

0n t . a Rucrby League inter-State match 'or& yjiney ground on Saturday, beWai spectator?. New South S, Ip |. an international motor-boat r.’ce, U. T^ nry sp grave established a. world’s of 72§ miles an hour. This was Unrfcstriott * < i class for sliding