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Rugby

Taita Swamped

Battell and Henley have Field Day

The weather was clear with only a slight breeze but the ground was still very slippery. Wednesday's rain and the subsequent light frosts had left a greasy surface. The nature of the ground had a far reaching influence on the tactics employed. Fitzgerald soon found that side stepping and propping was extremely difficult. He turned from a running five-eighths into a kicking five-eights. Towards the end of the match it appeared that he was overdoing this. Even if the condition of the ground made quick changes of direction impossible it should not have stopped chain passing. And with a three-quarter line as fast as Varsity's this could often bring results.

The player who found the soft turf most suitable to his game was Henley. His break-throughts are not obtained with quick changes of direction but through running hard and straight for an already existing gap. With the turf not giving a sure foothold this type of play is very hard to counter. Henley has showed that he is the best attacking five-eighths in Wellington especially when the ground is wet. His has a safe pair of hands but lacks any degree of kicking ability an essential attribute for a five-eights. Henley has been fortunate in that whenever kicking was necessary Savage at half-back usually did It. Without Savage in-side of him and on a dry ground Henley may not look such an accomplished five-eighths. He is still inclined to tackle high, and against a strong running five-eighth of his own typo high tackling is useless.

Battell had a field day on Saturday. His quick burst of speed and determined running gave him three tries on Saturday. The penalty and conversions were all good kicks. From the point of view of defence Battel! has much to learn. Speed will not always make up for weak tackling.

Although the forwards gave a much improved showing, they still did not gain their share of the ball in the lineouts. In the scrums McHallich did extremely well against the Taita hooker Sage who la spoken of as the likely rep hooker. Burden gave another good display as did Stuart and McLean. The presence of the latter two has greatly increased the proficiency of the scrum. Bill Clark maintained the high creditable reputation he earned over the Queen's Birthday game. Nepia showed remarkably sound football sense in the manner in which he stopped some of the loose forward rushes. One case in particular comes to my mind when a Taita player had broken clean away with the ball at his toe and Nepia realising that he must slow him down to give his cover defence time to reform, gathered the ball and allowed himself to be tackled. If he had tried to kick he would probably have lost possession and lost ground because of the little time he had to act in.

With four games to go for the completion of the first round Varsity remain undefeated. They have three relatively easy games after the Petone encounter and should enter the second round with a four point lead.

Dave Page. University's utility inside back and indoor basketball player is in hospital with meningitis we wish him a swift recovery.

Graham Murray is also on the injured list. Pulled ligaments may stop him from ever playing again. He is at present on section in Wellington from Ardmore Training College.