FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 155, 1 July 1919, Page 8

FOOTBALL.

RUGBY. COLLEGE RIFLES V. PARNEU.. Though one-aided, this game was not devoid of brilliant play, and wont at a I Igood pace throughout. The Rifles , bucks | i had tile upper hand, and whenever they | i got going the reds were gven v jt)trenuoue time in defence, ami herein lay i their principal weakness. They are I still inclined to tackk- too high, and j time after time, us a result of this, Wil- ! json gained ground for the blues. (Jrler- j son, though brilliant on several oceu- | sions, was not up to his u~;iu! form, i Watson, who made his first appearance | |ac full-hack, wa- both safe and resource- j j fill, and altogether gave unite a credit- ■ able performance. The forwards were j an even lot, who showed no superiority i over their opponents, Bloinfield being prominent on occasions. I'urnell were handicapped by the absence of Gedye at full-back, and'of one of their best forward.-.. Still, on the whole, they gave, j a much better, and certainly a very much I I cleaner display, than several of their recent ones have been. Their fullback was lamentably weak, but the three- ! quarter line, starved in attack, did well j on the defensive. Thomas, Rowe, and Simpson are a trio who would chow to much better advantage were the liveeighths more, reliable. Kasmiissen did several good pieces of work on his own, and Hall was always in the thick of the fray, but he lias a mo-t pronounced habit of hanging too long to the bull. Through this" fault his side lost two probable, tries. Ciisley, behind the serum, played the hes-t game on his side, and well "deserved \\U try. v Uerrieli. Simons, and .Icrratt were the best of a I hard working forward division. UNIVERSITY'S TIUI/Ml'll. What was expected to prove the downfall of University, and opened with all the characteriostics of a Waterloo, was turned by the students on Saturday into a veritable triumph. To have eleven points registered against thorn in the first twenty minutes, and then, without favour of wind or weather, to wipe off the deficit and run the score to an eventual win of 20 points to It. against a team like "Urafton. is an achievement that University might well be proud of. Incidentally, the occasion was also a notable win for the new style of play developed by the lnuch-di.icussed Auckland "amendments," which are played in their truest spirit b> the University. College Kitle.s, and Grammar Old Hoys teams. Under the old rules, Grafton. with a jump of eleven points in the first twenty, would probubly have been able

to hold to their advantage by playing to the side-line, and giving the spectators a dull sixty minutes, after an exciting start. Grafton opened the game in great style, their forward;, jumping off with a hang, and sweeping the University pack off their feet, while the Grafton backs, playing close up behind their backs, completed the demoralisation. The University backs attempted to stem the tide by their customary tactics of heating a man or two before swinging the ball the other way, but they came up against prompt and decisive tackling that smothered their efforts, and the opposing backs, following close up to the smother, turned the circumstances to advantage. In the second twenty the University backs changed their tactics. Immediately the opposing forwards broke away, the student backs nipped the ball up and booted it into the air, with the result that the opposing backs, having followed too closely, had to move back to it. anil they. in turn, were smothered by the followers of the kick. Then it was that the individual speed and nippiness of Thomas. Eliffo. and Milletbrought tries in such quick succession, that with the added circumstance of a fine penalty goal by Lewis, University finished the spell with a lead of three points. The students opened the second spell with a number of characteristic passing bouts, in which Lewis shone a* a particularly hard man to stop, and though a dash by Nixon enabled Grafton to equalise. University quickly ran again to the lead, and they added another twelve points by the very tactics which had netted them the quick scores in the early part of the game. Generally, the hard, bunching rushes of the Grafton pack overwhelmed the University pack throughout, but this advantage was lost by their backs getting too close up and being caught out of place by well-judged return kicks from the other side, with the result that the followers of the kick again nnd again got the ball with the opposition all behind them and only a burst of speed required to bring the score. From end to end the game wee fast and exciting, and the result, even decisive as it was, left the impression that the decision might easily be reversed at the next meeting of the teanio. A THREE-POINT WIN. There was nothing very spectacular about the, early portion of the Marist Brothers Old Boys and Grammar Old Boys' contest at the Show Ground, but later on there were patches of good play ■and the concluding stages would have been really interesting only for the <i failing light. Grammar owed their victory to superior combination, their backs I participating in some nice movements, I which were on several occasions engineered by Cleal. a hard-working forward. Badeley and Woolley were the best of the backs, who were somewhat disorganI ised by a mishap to Fisher, who broke his collarbone early in the game; despite I this contretemps he bung on until near | the finish. Both the wings got through i a lot of work, but Rewiti at full-back j was patchy, and nearly let the two I blues in when he chanced and missed a j speculation in his own twenty-five. I'ill- | ing was a tower of strength with his (kicking, and accounted for six of the j nine points scored by his side. Caseyplaced a try to his credit toy breaking I away on the blind side, and beating what little opposition there was. The best of the Marist backs was Graham, who figured invariably in the passing bouts, many of which were engineered by him. A three- point victory to Grammar was a moderate margin as a guide to their superiority. THE COLLEGE MATCH. The first contest of the season be- ■ tween the old college rivals, King's and Grammar, was looked forward to with > more than usual interest this year, as , each school was credited with having a . strong combination. The exhibition jus- , tified the anticipation of a good game, , and one of the most exciting in the . many memorable battles between the colleges resulted The ground was in good . order, and play was fast from the jump, . at times excessively so. there being one i portion where a sequence- of lmuts i among the Grammar rearguard kept the . large audience in a tense state of excitement, and it was only strong tack-

ling by the reds that kept their oppo- i nents at hay. For the greater part of I the game the Grammar forwards mono- 1 polised the scrum, and made repeated < openings for their backs, who combined i well, but the handling was not faultless. < The King's rearguard did not get the ; opportunities that came the way of t their opponents, and there was, cotlise- t quently, not so much concerted action among them. King's have the happy i knack of jumping into their stride early ; in the game, and for it period, at the i commencement of the first and third < quarters dominated the play. After a \ forward rush early in the second spell t they were awarded a penalty, and a c good kick evened nplthe try recorded by i Grammar early in the game, as the re- I stilt of a nice passing movement.« On i I the run of play. Grammar were .slightly ' a better team on Saturday, as they held ] the attack for a greater portion of the < game in King's territory. Their rover i was the stumbling block in the rueees of j many incursion**, and his vagaries cost a Grammar many penalty kick-. Mr. i Wetherilt was referee. 1 . _ i MATAMATA UNION. Two matches in connection with the Matamata Rugby Union's championships were played on Saturday. I At Okoroiro. Patetere were defeated ' jby :)0 points to nil by Mat.imatn. i The Wiiharoa Club visited Matamata ' and defeated Pairere by 0 points to I!. : The team now remains the only unbeaten one in the competition. ROTORUA MATCHES. ] (From Our Own Correspondent.) ROTORUA, Monday. Play under the Rotorua Union commenced on Saturday, when Knhiikura beat Whaka hy (I to .">. The winners notched two tries through the instrumentality of (.'. Dick and Geof. I Rogers, neither being converted. I. Taw hi gained a try for the losers, which , 1!. Thorn converted. Mr. W. T. Par.ita refereed. j In the Waikite v. Soldiers match, the , former proved the stronger team on the day by S points to nil. The points . were made up of two tries gained by S. TrasU and C. Kangi. the latter being converted by Kereti. Mr. J. Duff was in charge of the game. The Union will have five senior nnd four junior teams competing during the season. •