Massey v. VUC

Massey arrived in force in special buses on Wednesday last, their supporters far outnumbering their players and, incidentally, also outnumbering the few evident VUC supporters. Despite the frenzied barracking of the Masseyites their stalwarts could not quite overcome Victoria.

Kelburn Park was far from perfect when the main game commenced, a steady drizzle making conditions worse as the game progressed, and making the ball most difficult to handle. Despite the poor conditions, as one Wellington paper pointed out. "the teams turned on a display of back movements that would not have disgraced representatives under perfect conditions." Victoria's firsts were far from full strength, with five forwards and one back not available but with a number of Senior B players filling in the gaps admirably. Massey were given strong opposition. The back-line mastered the sticky ball and with Jacob feeding the line well the backs made many bright movements. Until injured, Goodwin played magnificently. Radich, outside him, went well in his new position, and the centre. A. MacLeod, and wingers Loveridge and Berry, made a very strong attacking force. Peters, a third-grade player, who replaced Goodwin, further enhanced the reputation of the Third A team by his sure handling, dashing runs and solid tackling. In the forwards Burke, Gardner and Bennett were conspicuous in set scrums, while Barraclough and Coleman excelled in the loose rucks. As the score Indicates the game was by no means one-sided, and at times Massey were swarming over Victoria's line.

The visitors seemed, however, to rely mainly on their fine pack of forwards led by Gunnell, and gave their backs fewer chances than Victoria's. Points were scored as follows:—For VUC: a penalty by Gardner and a try by Loveridge, For Massey: two penalties by Wright. Mr. Ian Ramsay's fine refereeing was [unclear: of] great [unclear: aralstance.]

An Interesting curtain-raiser to the main match was provided by Massey seconds and a combined VUC lower grade team, this ending in a draw. 6-6