Pirates well beaten by Invercargill rugby 1946....

Pirates were weakened by the absence of Beale and Bennett in 1946 but this should not have been the excuse for the poor tackling by the team.  The poor defence made Invercargill look better than they were and when you have players with the calibre of A.G. Sutherland, you are going to be stung.

The teams were:
Invercargill:  S.A. Ramsay, J. Couling, R.G. Mahony, A. G. Sutherland, C. McKenzie, H. Hammond, H. Sandri, O. McKay, M. B. Fern, A. Huffadine, R.D. Cody, A. W. Baird, L. Ramsay, W. W. Stewart, R. Sutton.
Pirates:  T.R. Webster, A. Chandler, G. Cleveland, B. Mackay, D. Thompson, R. Campbell, J. Taylor, I. Duff, R. McEwan, E. Shepherd, W. Wright, H. McCulloch, R. Whyte, A. McEwan, T. Shirley.

Hammond scored the opening try after 10 minutes with S. A. Ramsay converting.
Pirates were playing deep inside Invercargill's 22 and Thompson made a determined run but was stopped by Invercargill, who were penalised for playing the man.  Campbell converted.  Invercargill 5 - Pirates - 3.
Sutherland was the star in Invercargill's attack on Pirates and was involved in several movements which resulted in Mahoney scoring a try and Sandri's drop goal.
Pirates made the most of a mistake from Invercargill in the last 20 minutes.  Whyte secured the ball after a mix up and ran strongly to Invercargill's 25 and confronted Ramsay where he off loaded to Duff who scored.  Webster's conversion failed.

Mr J. North refereed the game.

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