RUGBY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 91, 18 April 1932, Page 12

RUGBY

COMPETmOIf OftMET

ORIENTAL SURPRISE HUTT

PONEKE'SIHEAVT WIN , BESULTS AT A GLANCE., * j Oriental .... '"!. Hutt {■ % ...'..., ,6. Poneke .. . 39, LnlvcrsUy .... 3. Wellington .. 16, Old Boys .... 0. Petone 10, Sl.irist ....;. a. Eastbourne .... 10 Athletic- ._ 8. Berhampore .. 13,' .Sllfarflar- £ ;-:'.•.--8. lii fine, sunny weather -a- start was Biado on Saturday afternoon with; the .Wellington Rugby Union's 1032 senior A grade competition. G.amcs, .w.ere played at Athletic^ Park;'Petone, f the Hutt, Eastbourne, and on the Polo Ground. The attendance .at Athletic Park, where Wellington njot Wellington College Old Boys in air early' game and Poneke played University, was estimated at not more than 3500, which, in view of the teams engaged, no doubt ■was rather below anticipations. With the benefit of the training gallops during the past few weeks, most of the teams-showed very fair form, and spectators,™'several of >tha"games, tvere proVided With some/.excrtingiS nio.men<ts. "After, their.. showjLng; against Wellington;the previous j Saturday j University were a •-big- disappointment iv their match, with Poneke,i;st:;morp.: experienced side which ;o.u|played the Students both back and-^fjjrward. ':>Fbr the first half of the first";sp)ilUUniversity managed to hold Pone"ke;'.in;;clicek, but after that Poneke held the'upper hand. University Js ranks becanio demoralised, and Pdneke/.,' r pilod::.pn. ; -the points. Julian, the Poneke'V;half-back, was in fine form^seoying .^our,,.,^jies. Players on both sides""receiyqd" "some rather hard knocks during "the ..game, and there were a-number of stoppages on this accoun,t. ' There was sontc: "bright play: at times in the match between Wellington and OM Boys:^^? s qidßoys made a good "showing,AJandlTvere leading at half-time; - They-1 faded a^little in the ;scco^dAhalfJ' and ' Wellington, •with their backs "going ■: nicely ..at times, gained aclear-eut-win;— Old Boys, packed a^S-S^sCTiM,;-^ adopted a 3-3-3 formation.. They were two,s<rfid"pa~<Jk's: —Old-Boys- were more successful in_ the set scrums, but the "ball'Tsometimes wa^'slow ir' coming out, and often, when it did, it, came out at the side of the serum. :i_ •'?' !.l' ". The big surprise of the,, afternoon was the defeat of iHutt, -last lyear's champions, by Oriental., Hutt, Jfho t were without the services of liii^u'rjl% = and Jaggers, went down by"th*d narrow margin ;of one point, after a.;hard-fought game,; in" which the Orie'ntalSforwards played splendidly. ■■-/ '.^'-. Oit the" Petone' Recreation "Ground Petone":'scored""a"de'cisivfi 3wJn---"over Marist, an - Eastbourne jr.; forcing the pac^ most of the'way^defeateS Athletic by. a margin-of-'eieven points at Eastbourne.' . Playiijg on the; Polo ground, Berhampore defeated Mirainar. In-view of the decision of delegates to the annual meeting of tho>New Zealand' Rugby Union last week to recommend ttf all unipps the of a three man;frQnt row, special, interest attached to the serums^ In." 'most of the games three men ■we're put-down in the front-rowj"but-:th"ev:forination .of the rest of/the pack Varied-, :3-2t3j-3-3-2, and 3-4-1. •■ scrimmages being played. The old traditional .2-3-2 scrum was also employed in some instances. ' — POttEKE7*mit "ErtSttY: — • A heayy^fnrwArfl.>iattpry snnported-by, * set of quick-moving and clever backs, mudfi Poneke too strong for University in the second match at Athletic Park. For about the first twenty minutes University managed to keep their line in: tact, though gradually losing ground, ani changed round with, a deficit of J3 points,!, A try within ,five\ minutes of the conimencement of-£he^seconrJUspell promised well for the students, but they, could not; score again 'jfod the. latter.^hVttpf the spell saw.the Poneke,.toTtip; mohijjtferapidly. Poneke_ made xa impressive "showing for their : first c^ampibrajnp game, and it was evident ?that''soynd preparation had been made'for the:start'-of .the. season, the team maintaining its,.dash .fight to the finish. Mainly 4due't6' the■'tact that the Poneke backs fpund ;penetratjpn "eotn..paratively easy, there'were"some bright open movements in-the-play, ■-•with5 some solid wprk in the forwards until University were worn "down. ""The outstanding individual player .was -j?. Julian,- 'the Poneke half-back, who scored four: tries in addition to having an important- hand in several- of-the others" which- came his. team's'way. Particularly during-tne"first spell, stoppages for injuries JKete frequent, and in' the course of fife game three replacements had to be ihade;- Griffin replacing Young, the University, three-quar-ter, soon; after the starfej^and Barrett and S. Nealujater filling vacancies' caused by the retirement of E. Heal and Gair on the Poneke side. - '„:■ ■' The teama.,-sfere:-eiv.&l i'-Ponekfr.^-Payne;' C S;Etf gat^VjEhesterman, Mincham; G>iJEtKs;#E:<:'"sNffeai;«Julian; Jessep, Quaid;* Shfearer;; Quirt, son, Gaißi^oss^and Stenei .;-. \ ' Univer'eity>-r-Cprrhac|j^'-'U Young,- Ruru, Hislop;»;Thur^an>v^iai{son;.r ClifforaJones; wElliott, Wood, jDjxon/iVßScfoifeyafedericß^v. ' Poneke s packed with Shearer "going; downVbffiiide' f '.Qii^ia'? and Jessep ''In; "row- to flcfcas the 'loose v^ea'di"-;,ai»a. University -put;":down a 3-4-1 rscrum; at ;first>: chapging. later to a" 3-3-2 sccamij'.-vjrli'ere was some bright play in the'earlyiit'ages, but : it waVto<soW extent ,-disoounitedi' by the numerous stoppages pix ■ttQcpwit'^of. injuries;.; ;Despite Univeratyfs.^es^iiVe'diwingibnia period, it was: sopii ey?4ent thatlPoneke -were"the proba.bje. yiniiers; ' .BefpreShalf-time itries were scored by Julian (2) and E. Neal, the-last-rtamed also- goaKng-from- a-penalty tick. Early in. the .second spell Diederieh scored under the posts- for University, but the rest of the scoring was done by Poneke.' ,/ The following scored tries: Julian (2), Edgar (2), Shearer, and Minchajp". . Chesterman converted a try and; ; goaled from a penalty^ and; Griffiths and. SKearer also cohyertedr. tries:.. The final score was Poneke 39, University 3. Mr. R. J. Paton was the referee. . '^PETONE AND" MARIST. Petone-defeated Maristby" I^"p~oifats to 5 at the :Petone Kecreation Ground. For so early in the season, good; form was shown! at times. The first, spell was very even, and Marist appeared to Ijave a good chance jo£ winning, but were easily the better team in the second spell. Petone used two kinds of eight-men scrums during the game, but Marist mostly used the 2-3-2 scrum. Petone obtained a greater share of the ball, and that enabled them, to use their backs effectively. y The, following/were, the teams:l— Petone.—RyanV 'Huxtable, Pollock, Valk;. McGurk; Nepier; cO.'Hallbran; ■ Potts/-Lambourne, Lin,d?,:R'ee'd,-;Martin, Carr, apence, Riekard;::.''! T ! ;:"ivS'" -•<;•.■--

Marist.—Hepburn; "Vtgfigipni; McDonald;' Kilpatrick; Robins, ;Do6gan; MillsStiver; Gill, Ottaway, Butler, Kitchie, Connor, Peters, Russell.

Marisfc opened with aa attack, . but Petone retaliated with ajrush from which Martin scored after O'Halloran. made a good opening. Ryan converted/-ifcith a fine/kick. . Robins jihissecp a penaTtyi.froin an easy position soon afterwards. 'Marist, playing -with the sui-in their eyes, were foUqwJng- up fast, and worrying the Petone backs at times. Vangiohi retired hurt, and was replaced by McCarty. Hepburn, had an unsuccessful attempt with a penalty kick. Yalk made a good run for Peton? before being thrown';out. Marist got going well with a fine passing rush that was, however, spoilt by wild passing. Pollock cleared. For a time Petone had more than their share of play,-twice going close to scoring. Stiver started a strong rush that was stopped only short of the ;:line.-::;jr-From;-arsubse-quent .scramble RtwwH" seeled^-'Stiver converted^ Petone nearly scored when

ball; Jusfc before half-time Valk made a great run through the Marist rearguard to the full-back. The score at half-time was: Petone, 5; Marist, 5. :Doogan made a good opening for Marist early in the second spell. Petone had a; penalty kick that missed the posts. Marjst missed an excellent chance of scoring when Robins ran up to the fullback with, another player' in attendance, but failed to di;aw his man before passing. After further attack by Marist, Petone piessed strongly. The ball was •whipped out from a scrum in Marist's territory, and Nopier gave Huxtable a clear field before him, and a try well out resulted Shortly afterwards, from play in mid field, Pollock obtained possession, and drawing his nian, sent Valk away in a deteimmed urn that ended in a try near the corner flag. Another try was lost shortly afterwards when Pollock held on to the ball too long.. ~ Almost immediately afterwards, however, O'Halloran passed to McGurk, - who scored. Pollock converted the try. Petone were nbw sweeping all before them, and wcut close to scoring just before time was called with the score: Petone, 16; Marist, 5. Mr. G. B. Heley was the referee.