BIG GAME

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 24, 14 June 1939, Page 8

BIG GAME

, PAROA AND CITY ON SATURDAY MATCHES LAST WEEK Saturday's Rugby games in Whaka. tanc were not very interesting but the Paroa.Whakatanc match on Saturday should be worth seeing. Whakatane's rccord this season has not been distinguished, but if last year's champions can field their best team they will give this season's leaders all they arc looking for. The wiseheads among the Paroa supporters are ready enough to back their team, but they arc not giving too many points in. Paroa has the great advantage of a. standard backline which has had a chance to work up while the City backs have lined up differently for every match. In th? forwards Whakatane should have the edge. T. Houngan hooked very well against C. Mcrito at Taneatua on Saturday, and gained an even share of the ball, and if he goes down as hooker next Saturday and repeats th? performance he w r ill help his team tremendously. PAROA'S WIN. Against Ruatoki on the Domain Paroa had a practice match, but though they got eight tries their form was not very dazzling. Of course they played some reserves, and some of the first-line players were nursing injuries. is a better back than either of his wingers. but at times he ran on Saturday p. trifle too far to the touch line and gave them the ball in cramped quarters with men cutting over towards them. If he had run a little straight, er and made more attempt to beat tacklers he would have given them a better run in. There was not much between Old Boys and their Reserves who played the second junior game on the Do main. The Reserves arc gaining combination and are the makings of a good team. Prominent players wer.Coutts Moore and Fitchett. The game between Taneatua .and Poroporo suffered as a spectacle through the fact that it had an important bearing on the junior competition, so that neither side was ready to take excessive risks. The powerful Taneatua pack also kept a tight grip on the game. T. Sykes and Mitchell played good games for Taneatua, and Kelly and Pakeha f°'' Poroporo. JACK THE "KILLER" J. Stewart is getting a bit of a ''killer." In the Matata-Edgecumbe match on Saturday he brought down D. Rota and broke a bone in his leg. He has sent several other players off th : s season, and there is talk of his arranging a benefit match for his victims! Matata Avon by 33 to 10, but w r licn the winners were comfortably ahead the not uncommon brotherly discus., sion developed in the back line. Some day an opposing team will take advantage of a moment like this. Looking back at the OpotikLWhakatane representative game on, the King's Birthday the writer is inclin. Ed to think that he was a trifle too cheerful in his first summing np. Undoubtedly the Whakatane forwards were the match winners, but even in the van the Whakatane team will require stiffening before it has much chance of winning the Shield. One was probabty a little unjust also about Rangikotua's play. He was slow but very determined and he threw himself in under the feet of the Opotiki forwards to stop rushes without hesitation,. M. LEES. The four new forwards Ra.ngitaiki fielded against Tauranga on the iving s Birthday are stated to have gone vtrv well indeed. They were Watson, Creswell, Jack Stewart and T. Gardner, and Watson, Avith Schooner, was the outstanding packman on the field. M. Lees spoken of as a coming back in the past t but those avlio saw him at Tauranga and against Edgecumbe last Saturday, sav that he has definitely ani\e<l now. He is said to be at his peak, and to be playing the best foot, ball of the Matata backs.