PONEKE AND EASTBOURNE.

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 139, 16 June 1930, Page 14

PONEKE AND EASTBOURNE.

Conditions were much more wintry in the Hutt Valley on ■ Saturday afternoon than in town, and when Poneke and Eustbourne met on the Petone Oval, the ground w<it heavy underfoot and passing showers'of. rain-and hail made matters decidedly unpleasant. Eastbourne . generally make a good showing- on the Petone ground, but on this.- occasion the circumstances were-not suited, to their open style of' play and Poneke, who also go well at Petone, were able to bring the heavy artillery of their forwards ,to beat. effectively enough to hold the lead all the way and win convincingly. Eastbourne had a good share of the running, and there was a period, in the second spell when it looked as if victory might come their way, but a stronger finish by Poneke clinched their hold ou the game. Neal,- 'who .played wing-three-quarter, as he was troubled by a sore shoulder, scored ten of Poneke's points. The teams were:— • -.. . :. Poneke: Foote; Neal, Barratt, Edgar; Pelham, Gilbert: Julian: Currie;" Jessup, Rene, Fraser, Shearer, Wilson, Joyce, Rouse. , Eastbourne: Clarke; Murray Dinniss, Mayer;\N. Foley, E. Foley;V; Martin; Price; Drummond, Gibbons, Sleep, Corliss, Jones, J. Dellabarca, N. Dellabarca<y, There was little between the teams during the first spell. As in the^sfifcond. session the strong wind kept playSSmfined to one side of the field and ■ line-outs were frequent. The Poneke forwards were not long in indicating that they were going to play a big part in the game, and Eastbourne endeavoured to square matters bj' throwing *the ball abotit freely, but their handling was often uncertain. Both sets of backs were given opportunities but Pelham, for Poneke, repeatedly relied upon short punts for breaking through the defence, and the Eastbourne passing rushes frequently broke down at Dinniss, who was not satisfactory as a connecting link. Pelham opened the scoring for Poneke by finishing off under the posts a clever piece of passing and reverse passing, and a little later, from a ruck near the Eastbourne line, a long pass was thrown out to Neal, who crossed. Neal converted both tries. Just before half-time a beautiful swerving run by E. Foley took him clean through the defence to score -near the posts. _N. Foley converted and the score at the interval was: Poneke 10,-Eastbourne 5. Poneke opened well when piny was resumed and it was not lon's before Neal finished off a forward move with a try. Eastbourne then took charge, and persistent attacking was rewarded when E. Foley made a brilliant interception and worked in with Dinniss to score in a handy positon.^E. Foley failed to convert. Poneke 13, Eastbourne 8. Eastbourne tried desperately to take the lead, but could not get through ■ and .before the end they had to_ give, way to Poneke. 'With about a numite to go Shearer broke away and passed to Edgar, who scored an unconverted try. The final score was: Poneke IP, Eastbourne S. Mr. G. Rathbon refereed.