Page 45 - 1966

Thirty- ve
PENNICOTT: Stocky, cheeky, courageous - he caught most approach punts, and he bore his coach's criticism bravely. The full-back position of cardinal im­ portance is one not quickly learned, and a casual atti­ tude is no substitute for a cool one. Next year, with more experience, he will give even better service.
DERMODY: Quick, eager, and slowly learning that forward_play is hard work rst and last. His e orts against Hargest late in the season were excellent.
DIACK: The School has no more determined player. He runs, chases and tackles as though his life depended on the outcome. This year he played in the three-quarter line, but next year will throw his energies with forward play.
McLEAN: A utility back with speed and a fair amount of skill whose most serious lack is the urge to get into play at every opportunity.
HUNTER: Had an unfortunate season. When t, tackled resolutely and is a split-second feeder of the ball. Unfortunately, a hesitancy marked his play of centre for the Firsts, and he was inclined to allow too great a latitude for cover defenders.
Jam Harg t
ceived the ball and made several runs up- eld, the rst of which brought them a try in the corner. Our cover defence was taxed to the limit. Wallace and Sharp were our two main defenders and they managed to upset Otago play by their close cover and tackling.
In the rst inter-school of the season, School defeated Hargest 20 points to 3.
Attack and counter-attack followed in quick succession until a beautiful run by Wallace gave him a try in the corner. At 14-8 we were back in the game, but Otago had the last say and scored the nal points just before the game ended. They had accomplished what O.B.H.S. 1st XVs had failed to do for 13 years.
Wait B.H.S.
Hargest entered the Third Grade competition this year, and it was decided to play the rst of the club games as an inter-school xture.
This game was played at Oamaru on the new Cen­ tennial Grounds under a summer's day sky and tempera­ tures close to the seventies. The ground was very hard and dry and conditions were ideal for rugby. This proved to be a disappointing game for School in that we never, as a team, seemed to get going and went down 16-3.
The new ground at School was rather wet for the game and made handling di cult but our backs did manage to move the ball better than the Hargest side. A very pleasing feature of the game was the strong, quick rucking of the pack and this resulted in two well­ earned tries.
The rst half was relatively even, with School get­ ting their chances and Waitaki also getting theirs. When­ ever our backs ran the ball they looked quite dangerous. One e ort particularly was worth a better fate. Playing in his rst inter-school, Poutu broke cleanly from a scrum just outside the twenty- ve and, with McKenzie inside him, raced down to the full-back, who was lucky enough to knock the pass that must have led to a try.
Hargest had control in the rst ten minutes, but as the game progressed School began slowly to dominate the line-outs. Newton opened the scoring with a long penalty shot early in the rst half. Line kicking by Sharp brought play to within 10 yards of the Hargest line, and from the resulting scrum Erskine ran behind to score in the corner. Then again from a line-out Erskine switched play and sent Sharp in for another try on the blind side.
It was Waitaki who scored rst. From a scrum ve ya _rds from our line and just to the left of the posts, Waitaki's half-back put the ball in and it was hooked for him. He ran wide on the open side and cut back to score in a tackle under the posts. It was converted. Waitaki led 5-0. They stormed back on to attack but half time came shortly after.
The pattern at this stage was to contain Hargest in their own territory.
The second half opened well for School when McIntyre ran with the ball from a ruck to score in a handy position. Then from one of Hargest's drives into our territory Sapsford scored from confusion in a de­ fensive line-out. School swung back on to attack and for 28 minutes had Hargest pinned on their line. Their defence held well but nally broke when from a ruck on the line Erskine dived over for his second try.
The second half opened with School playing into the sun, which had dropped a little. With about three minutes gone, Waitaki scored again from a loose ruck about ten yards out. It was Waitaki's half-back who ran on his own through about four School tackles to score mid-way between the goalposts and sideline. The conversion failed. Waitaki led 8-0.
The pressure was maintained through the second half and from a scrum in mid eld the ball went through the backs and Wallace ran strongly to score under the posts. Newton converted to make the nal score 20 points to 3.
Both sides at this stage were attempting to spin the ball to the wings at any opportunity, with Waitaki getting more ball and looking more dangerous. It was only because of good tackling by the School backs, especially Wallace and Stevenson, that the Waitaki backline did not score on numerous occasions. A spell of 20 minutes was spent before the next points were scored. It was Waitaki again. They spun the ball through their backline. Their winger was tackled just short of the School line and it was a Waitaki player who picked up the loose ball rst to score in the corner. The conversion failed. Waitaki now led 11-0.
Otago
At Dunedin, playing into a strong wind and driving rain, School went down to Otago 17 points to 8 in what, in the conditions, proved to be a bright, exciting game.
The ground, though fairly hard, was wet, making the ball di cult to manage. We played with the wind in the rst half and consequently had Otago back on their twenty- ve most of the half, but as is so often the case we failed to make full use of the advantage. The Otago backs were dangerous every time they re-
Looking at the score at this stage one would think that it was all Waitaki's game, but this was not so. Poutu was running most e ectively from the scrums
The forward pack won good ball from the line-outs but much of the play was fairly static throughout. Fol­ lowing a series of probes, however, Elder nally scored when he followed a ball centred by Billows after a blind­ side run. At half time School led 5-3 but the driving play of the Otago forwards in the last 10 minutes looked ominous.
On the resumption Otago applied steady fressure and after 10 minutes' hectic defence the wal nally broke and the score swung to 14-5. Rallied by a party of Old Boys, our forwards found a new lease of life and possession in the line-outs, and scrums became more even again, but School backs failed to make full use of it.
Play continued to swing up and down the eld.