RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 150, 7 April 1930, Page 3

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

RAKAIA v. ALBION. The Rakaia Rugby Football Club opened its season on Saturday, when a match was played on< the Domain against the Albion Club (Chnstchurch). The match was won by Albion by 14 points to 11, after a close contest. . , , , Albion’s team included many semoi players but was not by any means at full strength, while several changes were made at half-time' im order to try out new members of the club. The game opened with a- rush by the visitors, which was spoiled by Lilburne knocking on when in a good scoring position. Rakaia were getting the ball irom the scrums and attacking vigorously, their forward work compelling Albion to force. O’Connor, a Rakaia forward, was doing great work, which kept the opposing backs continuously on the alert. Lack of condition soon took toll, both sides showing signs of distress after 15 minutes’ hard (play. Howell scored near the corner, opening the account for the visitors. Lilburne failed to convert. Another try came to Albion when Polf, the left wing threequarter, got over from a good passing bout. Lilburne converted, making the score 8-nil. After 1 alf-time Rakaia pressed hard, and Davidson ran round to score between the posts, and easily converted his try. Rakaia for a time had Albion well, bustled. O’Reilly scored for the home side near the corner Davidson just failing with a most difficult kick. 8-8. Taking advantage of another quick follow-up, Lilburne scored between the posts, but failed with an easy kick to convert—Albion 11, Rakaia 8. Thompson! made a fine run and scored in a good position. Lilburne again failed with, a fairly easy kick. Just before the final whistle Smith scored again for Rakaia, and a. i£ood try-out game concluded, Albion winning by 14 points to 11.