'FOOTBALL. TOWN Y. COUNTRY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1699, 17 June 1884, Page 2

'FOOTBALL. TOWN Y. COUNTRY.

The ahove mateh w;*s. flayed on Saturday afternoon in the Boiri am Ground. The players on each Side were as follows :— Town : J. Sfrddgrass, C. Jltansel, H. Mansel, R; Dowel, E.D. Hoben, J. Jordan, J. Hall, J. Carter, A. Ginders, H. Rutherford, J. Clarke, C. H. Perring (absent), J. Tanner, and H. Tanner ; Country: M. A. Stewart, H. Stewart, E. Gledstanes, J. Whelan, M. Goss, J. Browhlie, A. Snodgrass, Alex. Snodgrass^ A. Good, C. Turner, W. Tovey-, IL Morton, H. Strangway, G. Brabant, and S. Tanner. J. Jordan captained the Town team, and E. Gledstanes the Country. It was decided to play the match in four periods of fifteen minutes. The Town kicked off, and at once the players settled down to their work, and for the first five minutes the pace was tremendous, and the Town worked the ball down past their adversaries' 25 yards flag, and after one or two ineffectual though clever attempts to get. the hall away they were compelled to touch down in defence. The play was exceedingly good, and every inch of the ground was well contested. The Country had the advantage in weight, but the Town representatives showed the vahie of a little practice together, and some very good passing was witnessed. At the first call of timo neither side had scored any points. During the second fifteen minutes the play was not quite so fast, and the performance on the part of the Country was particularly noteworthy. J. Whelan made some good running, hut was collared. A. Snodgrass got hold of the hall once or twice, and made plucky efforts to get past the opponents, and managed to get through the forwards, but only to land gracefully among those guardians behind who would stand no trespass on their domain. There was very good play shown hy the Country forwards in this set, and in the scrummages they showed to advantage. It may be remarked here that the very fast play on whioh hoth sides seemed to rely tended rather to neutralise the good effects of the forward play, and chances were given, though fortunately not made use of as effectually as they might have been. The same result brought this second effort to an end, and again the Country had to touch down in defence. In the third fifteen minutes the play was very good indeed. When the ball was kioked out of scrummage to Jordan who did not refuse it, and made a veiy excellent run, but was collared at the last moment, after having evaded the field. Here a good scrummage took place, and the Town was forced down. A series of most exciting scrummages followed, when out of one of these H. Tanner got hold of the ball, closely followed by J. Brownlie, when with a rush he managed to get the ball down and secured a try. A question here arose as to whether a try could be claimed owing to the peculiar position of the players, and whether they should not decide the point hy a maul, but on reference to the umpire he ruled that the ball was clearly behind the goal line, and a try was allowed. The ball was accordingly carried out, and, J. Jordan kicked an excellent goal. This was the first score, and time was again called. The last set was, as might be expected, very closely contested indeed, and E. Gledstanes made some good running. On both sides the efforts were earnest and constant, the Country again compelling the Town to touch in defence ; but when time was called no further scoring had taken place on either side. The Town were therefore the victors ; and tho match, as the opening one of the season, was exceedingly good and well contested, and either team could give a very fair account of themselves anywhere. We hope the respective captains may make arrangements for a return match at an early date.