FOOTBALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 192, 28 May 1934, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

MATCHES IN THE COUNTY.

THE ASHBURTON COMPETITIONS. There was another small attendance at the Showgrounds on, Saturday afternoon for the continuation of the Ashburton Rugby Onion's competition matches. Resulting in a victory for Old Boys by 13 points to 11, the senior fixture between old Boys and Technical Old Boys was an improvement on the games seen at the Showgrounds so; far this season and with the result in doubt until the end, aroused some interest among the spectators. Not a great deal of attention was paid to the Hinds v. Allenton match by the public.

Results at a Glance. Senior Grade—' Old Boys 13, Technical Old Boys 11. Methven 3, Rakaia 3. Allenton 6, Hind 3 3. Junior Grade— Mount Somers 12, Tinwald 3. Rakaia 6, Springburn 3. Methven 47, Lowcliffe nil. Old Boys 15, Mayfield 4. Technical Old Boys 9, Hinds 3. Third Grade— Methven '}&, High School 6. Springburn 22, Old Boys 4. ' Technical Old Boys 16, Rakaia 8. Old Boys 13, Technical Old Boys 11. There was nothing brilliant in the' first 15 minutes' play until Old Boys forwards opened up _ a movement in their opponents' territory for J. Mulhern do obtain possession and sprint over the line well out. J. Betteridge added the necessary points with a good kick. Old Boys 5,' Technical Old Boys nil. Technical tdok a turn at attacking and J. Varcoe opened the scoring account with a penaltv goal. Old Boys 5, Technical Old Boys 3. Old Boys forwards were seen to advantage in scrummaging work, breaking away fast and setting the backs in motion. A. Bradford and R. Sharplin, drawing their men well, gave Daly on fche wing an opportunity to go oyer in the cor-. her. The try was not converted. Old Boys 8, Technical Old Boys 3. Attacking vigorously, the Technical forwards forced Old Boys back into their own territory where from a ruck Prendcrgast dived oyer. Varcoe converted to even the score—B all. Old Boys took a turn at pressing on the Technical line, but lost several chances through mishandling and lack of penetration. A free kick gave Technical relief, but the attackers were soon back on the line again. Their backs tried some passing, but the ball was fumbled and a scrum relieved. Technical carried play up to the centre of the fiehjl and half-time saw the score unchanged. After the spell, Old Boys kept on the attack for several minutes and were working right on the line once or twice. There was some good passing on the part of the backs, G. Day and Sharplin being prominent. A series of dribbling rushes and kicks gave assistance to Technical. Betteridge put in some beautiful line kicks, landing the ball just where he wanted it. Back play in Technical's twenty-five saw Bradford take a pop ah goal 3 but the kick went wide. Then Technical took a turn. Bearing down the field Scott took the ball with him and then kicked, but was overtaken by several Old Boys men. "Shepherding" on the part of an Old Boys player gave Technical a penalty in a good position. Varcoe put his kick over to give his _ team a lead of three points. . Technical Old Boys 11, Old Boys 8. After two forces on tlw Technical line, Old Boys got across, d'Auvergne scoring the try. Betteridge converted to moke the total Old Boys 13, Technical Old Eoys 11. The game ended without further incident. Mr G. W. Brown was the referee. Methven 3, Rakaia 3. Methven was on the defensive for half the first spell and the first movement which showed promise of opening the score was a penalty kick awarded to Rakaia from a scrum near the corner. The kick was not successful. Methven rallied and invaded the territory of the_ opposition who_ sought relief by forcing down twice in quick succession. A passing rush was inaugurated by the Methven backs from the Rakaia twenty-five and looked as if it would result in a try, but broke down under the posts. Play remained tight and there was no score at halftime. On the resumption of play, Rakaia attacked- strongly and Methven was hard pressed, obtaining relief by a penalty kick. Shortly after Rakaia obtained' a. free kick which Behrnes converted. Rakaia 3, Methven nil. Play was even for a period and it was not until ten minutes before the call of time that the only bright passage of play developed. Rakaia took the ball to 'Methven-'s line, where G. Cleeve (full-back) relieved'with a kick and the forwards dribbled the ball to half-way. From a scrum McAlister (Methven's half-hack) got possession of the ball which he passed to G. Stephen, who cut through brilliantly, making a splendid opening for 0. Dalton to score. Dolan failed to convert. Rakaia 3, Methven 3. C. Davison (Rakaia) retired with an injury to his face. The game livened up during the last few minutes, each side striving to obtain the score which would give it the match. All the forwards played well, and G. Stephen and G. Cleeve (Methven), J. Behrnes and Greygoose (Rakaia) were the pick of the backs. Mr E. S. Chambers was the referee. Alleniton 6, Hinds 3. With a team of 11 men, Hinds was almost a match for Allenton, and was unlucky not to score in the first half, when it made frequent dangerous excursions info Allenton territory. The Allenton backs were superior to their opponents, the Cates-Woodham-Mose* combination showing excellent promise at times. Allenton's opening score came from a movement initiated by Moses, who ran to a handy position

and passed to Woodham, who finished off the movement with an unconverted try. Allenton 3, Hinds nil. Woodham had, an excellent opportunity to: repeat his performance some time later, but he slipped and lost a certain try. Early in the second half the Hinds players were rewarded for their dogged play, when Rickard picked up trie ball about 15 yards from the line and scored. Allenton 3, Hinds 3. A combined forward rush led by Fox-(Al-lenton) carried play to the other end of the field, and Hinds was penalised in front of its goal. Woodham kicked a goal. Allenton 6, Hinds 3. Mr 0. Miller was the referee.

JUNIOR GRADE. Mount Somers beat Tinwald by 12 points to 3 in the fixture played at Tinwald. The game was a good one, the half-time score being 3 all. hor the winners, D. Wood and A. ,Wooa scored tries, one of which was converted by R, Beckley, who also put over a held goal. Tinwald's points came from a penalty kick by Cobden, following a scrum infringement. The home team only fielded 14 men. Mr J. McMillan was the referee. In an even game at the bhowgrounds, Rakaia defeated Springburn by 6 points to 3. Ironside and if. O'Reilly scored tries for Rakaia, while Pawsey obtained one for Springburn. Mr D. P. Macdonald refereed the match.

MATCHES IN OTHER CENTRES.

Christchureh—Merivale 12, , church 6; Sydenham 9, Athletic 6 Boys 11, Linwood 5; Albion 23, University 8. . Tiniaru—Old 80y5.6, Pleasant Point 5; Zingari 6, Celtic 0; Star 16, Geraldine 3; Temuka 24, Waihi 3. . Auckland—Otahulm 11, Technical 0.8. 5; College Rifles 6, Grammar School 0.8. 5; Graf toil 17, Marist 12; Ponsonby 19, Manukau 6. Wellington—Old Boys 13, Poneke 0; Marist ,C.B. 12, Athletic 9: Hutt 6, Petone 5; Eastbourne 6, Wellington 3. Dunedin—Kaikorai 32, T'aieri ,8; Southern 19, Alhambra 3; Zingari 11, Pirates 8; Union 16, Dunedin 8.

THE ASSOCIATION GAME.

IN OTHER CENTRES. Christchureh—Thistle 3, Western 1; Nomads 7, Linwood 1; Technical 0.8. 4, St. Albans 2. Auckland—Mt Albert Grammar 0.8. 3, Comrades 2;' Thistle 3, Onehunga 0; Y.M.C.A. 4, Eastern Suburbs 2; North Shore 3, Ponsonby 1. , _ Wellington—Marist 2, Petone l.j Waterside 3, Hospital 2; Lower Hutt 2, Diamonds 0; Swifts 2, Nada 2. Dunedin—Northern 2, Seachff 0; Maori Hill 4, Roslyn-Wakari 1 • High School 0.8. 2, Mosgiel 1; Technical 0.8. 7, "Mornington 0.