RUGBY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1912, Page 14

RUGBY.

(By "Dropkick.") The 1912 football season., opened quietly. There were no sensational happenings in the opening garnet, and, with the exception of .the. MelroseSouthei'n contest, there were no surprises. Petone accounted " for Poneke after a poor game; St. James overwhelmed Old Boys, Oriental and Athletic won from Victoria College and Wellington by fairly large margins, and Melrose comfortably beat Southern. To . most people the result of the lastmentione'd game came as a surprise, as, after Southern's good showing in the'seven-a-side tournament, there were many who gave tho maroon-jerseyed players an outeide chance in the contest for premier honours. However, on the day, Melroee were superior, their combined efforts being altogether too much for Southern. The policy of the Melrose Club in looking after the juniors is apparently about to bear fruit. Each member of the team is as keen as mustard, and, under the able guidance of Col. Campbell and other prominent old players, improvement can be looked for with each game. ' Of the Southern team little can be said. Combined effort was conspicuous by its absence, and many of the individual efforts were misdirected. The team, however, will yet make good, and th# writer quite expect* to see Southern, before the season ends, prove a stumbling block to many of the stronger teams. At Petone, Wellington fairly held their own for some time against the strong Athletic team. It was not a very interesting game to vratch, as the forwards held control most of the time. _ The Athletic men were more experienced than their opponents, but they were by no means a sixteenpoints better team on the day. Judging by their initial display, the Wellington men should do well this season. The forwards are young, weighty, and full of dash, and the backs are eolid. In Miller, a last year's junior representative, they have one of the most promising forwards in the city. Petone well whipped Poneke. The Blues headed past the po«t with five point* to the ' good, but it might just as easily have been fifteen with any luck. The suburbanites, it is said, are not' at present a happy family, but they showed some combination ou. Saturday when their opponent* did notl It look* thus early as though Poneke have not a roseate prospect. They have lost F. Mitchinson. This man of late years has not played up to his reputation, 'nevertheless he was no sheer bullocker— he had a good reason for doing most things. Then Tom Walehe has' gone to Auckland, and Walshe until he was so badly hurt last season wae a regular sheet-anchor. ) And as "that clever half, TiTyard, i* also a-wing,'the Poneke backline has suffered. It was the weakest defence ' imaginable last week. Individuals simply "botched" their work, and there was no health in the rearguard at all.. The Petone pack toppled through this weak-kneed wall a«s easily as though that wall were made of paper, and the comparatively small crowd at the Athletic Park grew strangely disinterested. The Petone "bankere 1 ' excepted. They gave tongue whenever the quarry was struck down, or whenever their i-epre-eentatives threatened success. They cheered, when' a blue was disabled fighting valiantly, and they hallaoed when the warrior recovered his wits and his wind and sallied forth once more. As was noted' in the Sports Edition the match was only half a match. There was very little football until the last fifteen or twenty minutes, when the Poneke pack threw off some of its lan guor and took to hard following up Petone had a lead of eight point* up to this point. The game had been a series of turgid scrums, scrambling line-outs, erratic line-finding — In fact, most everything but the finer, points of the game. But Poneke, thanks to Sotheran, Chapman, Brewer, and one or two unrecog* nised others, beat down on the Blue goal, and from a rush Dingle took a penalty and dropped a pretty goal. This was Dingle's beet effort. In the first spell he was stationed at full-back, but " mulled " badly, and was as slow as an omnibus. Shifted up to centre three-quarter, the big-limbed Dingle became, as dashing as he was able, and got into the "spot" light several times. Morris, who was conspicuously uncertain on the ' three-quarter line in the first spell, was sent back in the second, and did -a little better. Ryan (Poneke) was nervous, Elliott showed only flashes, as did Gardiner, and the pack was mostly much of a muchness. Petone had nothing the better of what luck was going. Th'ey^ had Price and 'Lindsay injured, though' the latter returned to the field with- his eye bandaged. Then Ramsden, swung into a corner with the ball, apparently well over, but he had run into touch. At the opposite corner Daly capped a gallant run with what seemed to be an excellent score, but the referee decided that he had been thrown into touch. Ramsden's effort was the result of a dashy passing movement from Millar to M'Kenzie, to Ramsden, to Boyd, and back to Ranusden. M'Farlane, besides playing a good hard game (while his condition lasted), wa6 directly responsible for the eight point* scored by his side — a goal from a mark by Nunn, and a try converted by himself. G. Parker, fullback, 16 going to be useful, Jock M'Kenzie is as tricky as- ever, Ramsden was solid and fast, and Kunn, though only a, handful, was slippery at tunes, and mostly shot the ball out snappily. Daly Hashed in the second spell only. Tho forward* were more or lens an even lot. It is possible that James Ryan will again take the field for Petone. Of the Old Boys' -St, James fixture, played 'at Miramar, not much can be said. There were disadvantages to be reckoned with, but they were practically equal for both teams. For interest, the mere fact that it was the first game of the season excuses a little of the indifferent play. Also, the wind made conditions particularly unpleasant. In the first spell the St. James backs played with a corner to corner wind, and in taking the ball and kicking did not show so much to advantage &b they might have done. After half-time, however, and the wind they sp^ l "^ 4 to do appreciably better. There is not much to be said about the game save that the loaers had little cohesion and lacked the steadiness of purpose that brought the St. James team its 29 points to nil. Grace, for Old Boys, played his usual consiet-ont game, and. was particularly übiquitous in the last spell, when he seemed to be -charijinp with the forwards, passing and collaring with the backs, and playing a fine all-round game. Fordham, amongst the forwards, work<?d "hard and headily, following up well and using his feet to good purpose. For the "winneis King scored tries willi an almost monotonous persistency.