ATHLETIC AND BERHAMPORE.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 139, 15 June 1931, Page 14

ATHLETIC AND BERHAMPORE.

There were not many.bright patches.in the game.between. Athletic and Berhampore that wasl witnessed by a good number of spectators at the Prince of Wales Park. The ground was on the heavy side, and the ball difficult to handle, so play was confined mainly to the forwards. Here Berhampore had the advantage of getting the ball regularly from the scrums, but the backs could do nothing with it. Athletic had a clear superiority in the backs, and held their opponents in the forwards, and thoroughly deserved their win. The beat feature of the match was the strong, willing contest between the two packs. The teams were:—

Athletic.—Williamson; Snllings, Bingham, Hughes; Scotland, Diack; Burgess; Watson; Christenson, Adams, GusLofferson, Boyd, Howard, Davis, Burnett.

Berhampore.—Mailman; Gordon, M'Donald, Lang; Brettis( t Gqff; Hooper; Glennie; M'Donald," Charles, Powell, Cameron, Miller, Gair, Hill.

Athletic," ' playing with' the northerly wind behind them, had the better of the opening exchanges. Their first points came when Diack kicked a penalty goal. Shortly afterwards, from a scrum in Berhampore'ff territory, Burgess obtained the ball, and dummied before passing to Sullings, who scored.. Then Berhampore at-tacked,-but nothing .came from their efforts. After Athletic had had. several unsuccessful attempts at kicking penalty goals, , an. Athletic player appeared to score near the south-eastern corner of the ground, 'but a five-yards scrum was ordered. A .clever cut-in a. few minutes later was spoilt by ..a wild pass* to a.supporting back. Davis, was' injured during a prolonged attacking spell, and was replaced by BeZzant. Berhampore moved dowufield just before -half-time; The half-tinie score was: Athletic 6,'Berhampore 0.

Berbamporc started., the second spell well. Taking..play, to their opponents' line, they kept Athletic strictly on the defensive. Borhampore were gaining the ball with monotonous regularity from the scrums, but their inside backs were never able to feed the wing-three-quarters, who, apart from Hooper, appeared to be the only players" in the Berlinmpore back-line with any start of attacking ability. Athletic; made a few breaks, and the only time during the first ten minutes of play in the. second spell, they cleared, the halfway they nearly-Bpoved. Berharapnre instituted a fstronjr offensive aft.rr this, but another Athletic rush gained much

ground. Gordon was instrumental in saving his side once, but a few minuted later, from the ruck in front of the goal posts, Watson dived over and scored. Berhauipore fell away after this, and -Athletic held the upper hand until the close of the ; game. Burnett, was injured on the. Athletic side, and had to retire. The final score was: Athletic 9, Berhampore 0. Mr. 11. H. Anslow was the referee. MIRAMAR DRAW AGAIN. Miramar played their, second, successive drawu game on Saturday, when they met University at Lyall Bay. The match-end-ed 11 points each. With. a number of their best players absent" the students were not at lull strength, and the side was further weakened by the retirement of Ramson, Mahoney, and Mackenzie during the game. Despite these misfortunes University battled away gamely, and, although the combination among the backs was almost entirely upset, such was the individual dash and vigour of the students that they managed to hold their strongly finishing opponents to a draw. Miramar improved on their showing of the previous week. The pack worked hard all the time, and there were a number of flashes of bright individual play among the backs. There was still, however, a lack of efficient co-ordination in the rear line, an individual tendency _to go too far spoiling many penetrating thrusts. The team came with • a rattle at the finish, W. Smith, .Thompson,1 and I'arfitt in particular showing up in some bright work, but they could not just get there. JJavidge, who played another dashing game, was the first to score, cutting in nicely from a scrum close to the University line. Pinkerton kicked a poster, in the ensuing play Ramson was injured, and had to go off. The venue of play changed rapidly, but University could not successfully break through the delence. A Miramar forward rush ended with Murray going over. W. Smith converted. University's turn came when Hislop secured and put in a great run, scoring near the posts. The 'kick missea, but University returned to trie attack vigorously, and from a scrum Pacey went over and scored a nice try. The kick was unsuccessful. In the second half University were without the services of Mahoncy and Mackenzie, but the students did not waste any time in getting into action. Shortly after the resumption Young crossed unopposed, and Cormack converted the try. M™ reverse stung Miramar to further eftorts, and for a time they kept University penned up. A penalty gave Pinkerton a chance, and lie landed a beautiful goal, and levelled the scores. Both sides went close to scoring again before the game ended, but there were more individual than combined efforts, and lack of support at the critical moment ended some promising moves. Mr. D. Calcinai was the referee.