MANAWATU DEFEATED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 201, 26 July 1937, Page 9

MANAWATU DEFEATED.

WIN FOR HAWKE’S BAY. A HARD ENCOUNTER. By defeating the Manawatu . Rugby representatives at Napier on .Saturday, Hawke’s Bay made amends in some measure for Mnnawatu's victories in the two previous encounters between the two sides. r \ he (core was 26 points to nil and while this might indicate that Manawatu were outclassed. it was certainly not the case. Territorially the play was very even, and the Bay players declared that the game was the hardest they had encountered this season. It was hv the way Hawke’s Bay’s fifth consecutive win and they have scored 176 points with only 24 'scored against them. The teams were: Hawke's Bav. —Dyer. Herbert, Bradley, Apsey, Robins, Bradley, Clothier (captain). W. Johnson. C. \\ ilson. Griffin, Reid, O’Brien, Hanmgan, Dalton. Jackson. . Manawatu.—Waldin. Bradley, Gillespie. Buick, Tliomaß. Nicol, Edlin, J Finlay, Fleming, McKenzie (captain), Powell, Terry, E. Fell, Ewart, Sullivan. The attendance was 6000. Although Hawke’s Bay won by such a big margin, the game was not altogether one-sided. There were occasions when the Manawatu pack, led by McKenzie, rose to great heights, hiit there were occasions, too, when the Manawatu defence failed completely. In the earlv line-outs and scrums Manawatu lin'd an advantage, but this did not last long. Hawke’s Bay s first points came from a penalty by Bradley, and plav had then been in progress for over 20 minutes. C. Wilson then scored an unopposed try near the posts, after Johnson had drawn the Mfinawatu full-back, Waldin. Herbert’s kick missed. .Dalton, snapping up the hall from a rebound, was the next scorer. and again the kick missed. The first spell ended with the score Hawke’s Bay 9—o. A shower of rain fell during the intervnl. and. although it did not greatly affect the plnving area, the ball bees me greasv. By kicking a penalty Herbert, raised Hawke’s Bay’s score to 12—0. Hawke’s 'Bav were now setting the pace, and a spectacular try came when Reid, from a scramble, bullocked his way through to the fullback; lie passed to Herbert, who had a clear field of over 50 yards ahead. He beat Nicol, who chased him all the wav. and grounded the ball as he was tackled. Johnson’s kick missed. Hawke’s Bav, 15—0. At this stage Clothier. the Hawke’s Bay captain, had to retire, and he was replaced by Moss, Dalton taking over the captaincy. Wilson was the next scorer, and the try was converted by Bradley. Hawkes Bay, 20—0. After a spectacular io

.yards run, during which he sold several “dummies,” Jackson scored wide out; the kick at goal failed. Hawke’s Bay, 23—0. The final try was scored by Herbert as the result of a short punt by Robins; it was not converted. Hawke’s Bay 20, Ivlanawatu 0. , Mr J. Laws reiereed. STRONG FORWARD BATTLE. The defensive play of the backs was the greatest difference between the two teams. The Hawke’s Bay rearguard was sound, in an orthodox manner but, while the visitors proved brilliant at periods, they slumped to the other end of the scale at other times and were very weak. There appeared to be too much of a tendency to watch the individual opposite and not the man with the ball. Consequently, when an attacker broke through near the scrum, tlie outside men seemed to deem it the job of the inside men to bring him down while they watched the Bay outside men in case the ball came their way. It was to be expected that the greater part of the play would fall to the forwards and that proved correct. They dominated the game almost throughout and for the first time this season'the home side’s pack was fully extended. In only one respect were Manawatu inferior and that was in lining tip for short passing bouts, but then this has been characteristic of Bay forwards for years. There were some hard struggles in the tight and the rucking was excellent. though both packs made poor jobs of the raking from set scrums, the ball taking too long to come out. Particularly was- this so in the first spell, when Manawatu. mainly on defence, were awarded close on half a score of free kicks because of the Bay forwards breaking away too qu ckly and being caught off-side when the back row of the Manawatu pack impeded the anticipated progress of the ball to Edlin at half-baelc. In the tight all the forwards worked with a will and there was no slacking on either side. Tn the loose McKenzie Finlay, Terry and Fell more than held their own and were constantly in the limelight, but they preferred to k’clc I and follow-up and work more or less individually. Dalton, Jackson and Hannignn were the outstanding Bay forwards and they wore well supported by Reid, O’Brien and the other member of the pad?. It was the park work that made them more effective than Manawatu.

It was noticeable that both first fiveeighths stopd deep, evidently wishing to be well away from the last moving forwards. Gillespie (who played in place of Le Quesne) and Nicol were both responsible for some enterprising breaks of a solo nature. On at least four of these efforts a little support from the forwards would probably have brought success. Both the wingers. Buick a.nd Bradley, had so little of the ball for attack that it was difficult to estimate their worth. Each had only a short run and on each occasion was forced into touch. On defence, however, they rendered yeoman service, though they were by no means without blemish. The big mistake made by Buick was in not bringing down . Jackson towards the end of the game, though he kept abreast of him for close on 25 yards. A flying tackle on that occasion would have brought the Maori down and saved a try. Wnldin. at full-back, was sound and brought off many great saves. He was inclined to get ’out of position, however. but he more than made amends for this by the manner in which be went down, big as be is, to the Bay forward rushes. Of the Bay backs. Bradley, Herbert and Dyer showed quite the best form. Bradley cut through nicely on several occasions, but Herbert was the best performer in this regard, using Ins weight to good advantage and also bis cured. He s-ored two very fine tries. Dv-er at full-back, was excellent.