FOOTBALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 179, 13 May 1935, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

THE ASHBURTON UNION. MATCHES ON SATURDAY. Three field goals were kicked in the senior football match between Rakaia and Old Boys on the Ashburton Showgrounds on Saturday afternoon, and this was the feature of the fixture. There was a small attendance of the public. The senior match between Methven and Technical Old Bovs was staged at Methven. Lower grade matches were seen at the Showgrounds and elsewhere in the County. Results at a Glance. Senior Grade— Rakaia 27, Old Boys 16. Methven 20, Technical Old Boys 0. Junior Grade — Methven A 29, Springburn 0. Old Boys 24, Tinwald 0. Mayfield 18, Methven B 5. Rakaia 16, Technical Old Boys 0. Third Grade— Old Bovs 16, Methven 12. Technical Old Boys 12, Rakaia 6. Allenton 11, High School 8. Rakaia 27, Old Boys 16. Old Boys kicked off against the sun, and lor a time play was on the Rakaia 25 line, two free kicks placing play at the other end of the field, where a free kick for Old Boys gave relief. lne black forwards made more progress, and Rakaia forced a long kick. Soon after Todd put his side well up to the Rakaia line, but a series of lines-out regained the lost ground for Rakaia. Play was tame. There was a good deal of talking on the part of the players. The handling of the ball was poor most of the time. After a while Old Bovs got close to Rakaia's line, where a scrum developed, but Rakaia broke away, but only for a brief spell. Then Betteridge came up, and opened the scoring with a goal from well out in the field. Old Boys 4. Rakaia nil. Almost at once Rakaia rushed down the field for Meade to score. Davison converted. Rakaia 5. Old Boys 4. From a scramble Hobbs slipped over to score for Old Boys, Betteridge converted. Old Boys 9,' Rakaia 5. It was soon after

that Rakaia made a series of breaks, that ended in Davison scoring well uot. He converted with an excellent kick. Rakaia 10. Old Boys 9. Territorially, Old Boys had the advantage, but Rakaia were getting the ball from the scrums, and counteracting much of the progress being made by the blacks. Davison had a sliot at goal from a tree kick near the half-way, but it tell: snort, and piay returned wneuce it* started. A line kick saved Uld Boys in a tight place, and a second put thein up near tne ItaKaia 25 line, uld lioys lorwards were working well individually, but liaKaia were worKing togeuiier much oetter. Alter several eiiorts, UIU lioys got away, anu JNewton scored, .beoienage lau«d to convert, oid .boys V2, itaicaia IU. inter liaix-tune, xvakaia kept Ola xSoys wed penned up, ana then Jordan tne uaii over >ue oar ror ivaiiaia, one seconu potted goal ol tne niatcn. ivuKaia 14, oid i>oys V2. itaKaia weit abuaciiiiig au tne way at tjius stafe«, and uid lioys were awarded a Iree Kick. on tneir goal-line, JLhis opened tne way lor tnem to get weil down tne nelu, wiuugn tney met strenuous opposition. nacK in uid JJoys grounu, ItaKaia were awarded a tree kick, which uavison laiied to put over tne bar. Just alter tiiat, however, Davison broke tlirou&n to score in tlie corner. His kick was low. itakaia 1.7, Uld Boys 12. Old Boys then took up the offensive, and for a while tiieyi Had Rakaia bustled. The forwards got away nicely, and Rakaia forced down. Bad tackling by the opposition allowed Rakaia to make headway, but Old Boys again kicked too far down the ground, and the ball was out behind. A blue forward rush carried the ball almost to the Old Boys' goal-line. The tackling of the blacks was pathetic. Davison missed with a free kick, but at the end of a good forward movement he got round behind the posts to score. He also converted the try. Rakaia 22, Uld Boys 12. .Old Boys came to light with some good forward work that put them within striking distance of the opposing goal-line, and in front of the posts Argyle secured and put over the third "potted" goal. Rakaia 22, Old Boys 16. Again Old Boys attacked, but Rakaia forced down near the corner. The closing stages of the match saw a very fine forward rush by Rakaia, ending in Davison again ci'ossing the line. Taylor converted. Rakaia 27, Old Boys 16. Mr 0. Wellman was referee.

Methven 20 v. Technical Old Boys 0. From the kick-off play went to the Technical 25 line, but a free kick gave relief, the ball finding the line at halfway, where play for a time remained. From a loose truck G. Stephen came round smartly, and passed to Palmer, who drew the full-back, and passed to T. Lilley, who went oyer without opposition. Lilley's kick missed. Methven 3, Technical Old Boys nil. Play developed in the Methven territory, and an attempt at a from a free kick awarded to Technical Old Boys failed. From a scrum near the Methven line all the Technical backs handled the ball, but the rush broke down near the line. Methven took a turn at attacking, and carried play to the opposing line, where Technical forced down. Fast following up saw E. McKenzie score behind the posts. The kick failed. 6M). Stephen made a good run, and Lilley followed up, being almost oyer when he stepped out. Technical had another shot at goal from a free kick, but missed. The next score came when McAllister passed to Stephen, who sent on to Lilley, to score an unconverted try. 9-0. Almost immediately after J. Dolan secured on the Methven 25 line, put in a good run, kicked across the goal line, and went up fast to score. The major points were not added. 12-0. After half-time, Methven continued to bustle their opponents, McAlister, Palmer and Lilley being prominent. From a scrum McCormack secured the ball, passed to Stephen, who cut in and scored between the posts t Again the kick missed. 15-0. Near half-way Stephen secured and made a good run, sending on to Lilley, who beat all opposition, and scored behind the posts. Stephen converted. 20-0. Play till the end of the match was fast and open. Technical G. Day showed up best, and the full-back also ; played a safe game. For Methven Stephen was outstanding, and was ably supported by McCormack, McAlister and Lilley. Mr J. McMillan was referee.

JUNIOR GRADE. Playing at Tinwald, Old Boys beat Tinwald by 24 points to nil. McNally obtained two tries, F. Jordan, S. Kerr, and Coldicott one each, while McNally converted one try, and D. Dhite converted two and kicked a penalty goal. „ Mi- A. C. Trigg was the referee. In the match played at Mayfield, Mayfield defeated Methven Bby 18 points to 5. , Mr A. H. Guiney was the referee. Methven A had a .complete walk oyer Springburn, at Methven. The game was decided on the first half, up to which Methven had made 29 points to nil Springburn were three players short. After half-time a friendly match was played 1 . The Rev. E. A. Osmers was the rerAfter a fast, open match, played at Rakaia, Rakaia defeated Technical Old Boys by 16 to 0. Tries for Rakaia were scored by F. Ironsides, H. Breach, D. J. O'Reillys and K. Hood. R. Douglas converted two.

TRIAL MATCH AT ASHBURTON

THE CANTERBURY TEAM. A combined Ashburton-South Canterbury Rugby football team will play a match against Canterbury on the Ashburton Domain Oval on Wednesday. The match has been arranged in order to give the selectors of the three unions an opportunity of selecting the combined team to meet the combined North Otago-Otago-South-land representatives at Dimedin on May 25 in the first of the AH Black trial games. The following team has been selected by Messrs W. C. iDalley and N. Carnegie to represent Canterbury against the combined team : —> Full-back—G. T. Nolan (Old Boys). Three-quarters—G. P. Hart (Christchurch), 0. J. Oliver (Merivale), R. Chinnery (Sunnyside). Five-eighths—K. S. Mortlock (Old Boys), A. P. Cobden (Old Boys). Half-back—L. Brown (Sydenham). Forwards—l. Crockett (Sydenham), J. E. Manchester (Ohristchurch), A. Brownlee (Linwood), D. G. Simpson (Athletic), H. Deavoll (Merivale), F.

J. Wilson (University), R. B. Burke (University), O. Hattersley (Sydenham). Emergencies: Back, J. Poison (Christchurch); forward, G, J.* Howell (Sunnyside). J. Wilson, Albion front-row forward, was not available because of an injury. The combined Team. The combined team, selected by Messrs H. R. D. IPorter (Ashburton) and S. H. Sullivan (South Canterbury), is a very strong one, and should give a good account .of itself. Ashburton has five forwards and South Canterbury three, but tne pack is a very solid one, and will probably average about 14 stone. The Ashburton men showed splendid form against South Canterbury last year, and also in other representative matches, while the three South Canterbury men selected could nardly have been passed ever. Giddings played an outstanding game on ; Monday week, while Adkins showed to better advantage in big football last year than he did) in club games. Seaton is in good form, and will be up with the play throughout. It will be noticed that, with the exception of the full-back, the backs are all from South Canterbury, The combination is exactly the same as that 1 which met Canterbury last year, and if the forwards can seoure a reasonable share of the ball they will keep the Canterbury backs busy. Ait four emergencies are proved players, and arrangements have been made for all of them to play one spell. FRIENDLY MATCH. A friendly match was played! between Hinds and Carew, at Hinds, on Saturday, resulting in a win for Hinds by six points to three. INi OTHER CENTRIC. Christchurch—Sydenham 8, Sunnyside 3; Albion 11, Merivale 6j Athletic 11, University 3; Linwood 16, Old Boys Auckland—A surprising feature of yesterday's Rugby was the defeat of Grafton, last year's champions, at the hands of Ponsonby, by 8 to 3. Other results ai'e; Grammar 0.8. 21, Varsity 11; Marist 18, College Rifles 11 j Otahutu 14, Manukau 8. Wellington—Hutt 8, Poneke 6; Wellington 22, Eastbourne 5: College 0.8. 15, Marist 11; Petone 11, Athletic 3. Dunedin—Varsity A 18, Kaikorai 6; Zingari 19, Alhambra 9; Southern 21, Union 3; Dunedin 8, Varsity B 6; Pirates 3, Taieri 3. Timaru—Star 9, Old Boys 3; Zingari 30, Celtic 0; Waihi 14, Temuka &

THE ASSOCIATION CAME,

MATCHES IN OTHER CENTRES. Christchurch—Western A 3, Linwood 1; Thistle 2, Western B Oj Rangers 2, Technical 0.8. 33 j Nomads 3, St. Albans 2. Auckland—North Shore 3, Thistle 1; Ponsonby 4, Eastern Suburbs 2; Mt. Albert 0.8. 2, College 1; Y.M.C.A. 2, Comrades 2. Wellington—Petone 3, Institute 1; Swifts 5, Hutt 1; Hospital 3, Waterside 1 j Marist % Diamonds 3. Dunedin—Technical 0.8. ,3, High School 0.8. 2; Mornington 5, Northern 4; Maori Hill 6, Roslyn-Wakari 0; Mosgiel 3, Seacliff 2. MATCHES IN BRITAIN. LONDON, May 11., In the Northern Union championship final, Swindon defeated Warrington 14-3. At Association football Ireland! beat Wales 10-2 in a special Jubilee match.