RUGBY

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 50, 27 August 1932, Page 20

RUGBY

By "Dropkick" PONEKE 'AGAIN

; SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

WELL DESERVED

2 ; The Poneke Football Club is now completing the fiftieth year of its operations, and the jubilee is to be celebrated early next year; For that rea£sbn alone, it is most fitting that Poneke ••should have won the , senior. A grade '^championship, which ended with the faeries of matches played last Saturday. ">But the honour goes to them very de■as the reward for meritorious throughout the season. *There haa been a good deal of incon~sisteney this season, and if one'team Umore than any other has.played con-. -Ssistently good ' football it; has - been True, they were beaten in jj'four of the seven matches in the second ground, but in some of those defeats rfthey still played good football. Their "£ championship prospects looked to be particularly bright at the end of the Jflrst round, and it was those defeats t^hat put a different complexion on the ■•whole issue. Other teams had glorious ";§ opportunities of stepping in and gains.iijg a strong grip -upon the championbut they failed to take them, and :'sxtL the end Poneke emerged as senior W champions for the fourteenth time. The -*team, and those who have cared for the iplayers so well, are to be congratulated S.upon this further honour won for the ;;club. Petone ran Poneke a close ~ second, but like other teams, their performances were inconsistent. Care was "Exercised in' getting a solid, even pack ijworked up to concert pitch, and when *;that work was achieved there came an unaccountable falling off in form. rose again, though their displays i-Jwere somewhat erratic. Eastbourne, •^'Wellington, and Hutt all appeared to >;;have strong claims to championship Chonours, but with the progress of the they, too, showed some surprising reversals of form. Wellington Sand Hutt were undoubtedly affected to a 3Considerable extent by the fact that they Cjeach lost three of. their foremost playjera for the time that the New Zealand "tLteam was in Australia. One team which »3has shown, marked improvement in the •-'JJatter stages of the competition is Wellington College Old Boys, and it is lather a pity that they could not have tried conclusions with all the teams above them in the second round. There is still one senior match to be played— .that for the National Mutual Cup. For /this a team has to be chosen to meet .Poneke, and on performance in the second .round Old Boys certainly have -claims to consideration along with other .teams for the right to play the champions. , following .is the fifty years' re--rcord of senior champions in Wellington:— 1882 Athletic, 1883 Wellington ..and Greytown (equal), 1884 Athletic, :2885 .Wellington, 1886 Poneke, 1887 -.Poneke, 1888 Poneke, 1989 Poneke, 1890 rWellington, 1891 Athletic, 1892 Poneke, ■c1'893 Poneke,lß9C Poneke, 1895 Petone, .;i896 Melrose^. 1897' Melrose, 1898 Mel--iqse, ;i899- Petone, -1900 Melrose, 1901 Wellington, 1902 Melrose, 1903 Poneke, "1904: Petohe, 1905 Petone, 1906 Petone, yilfiOT P.etpne, 1908 Melrose, 1909 Poneke, ;,3910 Oriental,. 1911; Athletic, 1912 Atheistic, 1913 -Athletic, -1914 Athletic and -;;W.ellington, 1915 Athletic, 1916 Petone, >:l?i7 Petone, 1918 Poneke, 1919 Poneke, '2920 Petone, 1921 Poneke, 1922 Petone, ;:i923 Petone, 1924 Petone, 1925 Poneke, ;-1926 Athletic, 1927 Wellington College .Old Boys, 1928 Victoria University .College, 1929 Victoria University College, Petone, 1931 Hutt, 1932 Poneke. Piaranaki's Team. i--Prior to the match with Wellington ..'at Athletic Park to-day Taranaki's record of representative matches played ,-rsO, far this season was as follows:— "'!, !,'v. Wanganui A, won 19-12. ; r>v. Wanganui Maoris, won 23-11. -i 2'y- "Wellington, lost 15-18. ■;'■ "-'V. Wanganui A, lost 13-24. ','- .'y. Wanganui Maoris, lost 12-21. remaining engagements -iare:—3lst August, v. Manawhenua, at CStratford;' 3rd September, v. Hawkes \:'Bay, at-New Plymouth; 7th September, .''TV Waikato, at Hamilton; 10th Septem- " ber, v. Auckland, at Auckland. ■"•■: '-The following comment upon the ;~sfclection of the Taranaki team to meet " "Wellington to-day was made by a New .^Plymouth paper:— 4 : With the unhappy experience against ,:!Wangariui in their mind's eye, the --selectors, Messrs. W. A. Guy, D. J. :llalone, and C. Brown, have been fore- '.£& into another experiment in the five.'eighths. They have taken their courtage in both hands and moved Gudgeon >from half out to first five-eighths. Edthe young Okaiawa half, goes in the representative scrum, for j-tlte first time; K. Fookes" has been --■transferred back to his old position on ~:ihe wing; Watson, who was engaged ~- in the Maori match at New Plymouth -^dn Saturday, is the new centre threequarter; and Collins, the All Black fullJbaek, is once again custodian, displac- - Petty, who is reserve back; Thus _fhe only back in the combination that 1-played Wanganui who retains his ppsi:[;tion against.Wellington is Kinsella, on .■one wing. The forwards are unchang- ; 'jAlthough there may bo criticism "r:against the experimental nature of the -back selection in view of the strength -Jot the Wellington team, the selectors -Had no option but to make an experiment, and the experiment seems to be j.a,"n extremely wise one. On recent form rthey could hardly have made a better. _The full-back and three-quarters line "could not be improved, except perhaps ",-that it may be found wiser to interchange Fooks and Watson, making ;v!Ppokes centre and Watson wing. The .-five-eighths are, of course, the biggest cproblem, and the trying out of Gudgeon ,',in the inside position seems to be the };<raly alternative left. It might fail, Jbxit it should succeed. The luckiest >™<jmber of the new team is Haughton, .^who has not been outstanding during "".the season. However, he played a /sound game for Stratford against Star ron Saturday, and should be at the top _-_©£ his form at present. If he can com--tfine successfully with the others he .should at any rate hold his end up .After Brown's indifferent showing at -Wanganui on Saturday Edwards was ;tbe obvious choice for half-back, and -all will wish the young Okaiawa lad good luck. Petty is a fine all-rounder, -^na is an excellent choice as reserve. ,JD4"aloolm on the All Blacks. ■;= .-In a letter received by a New Zealand resident from S. J. Malcolm, some interesting opinions of the latest New /Zealand team are given by the noted Australian half-back, who also touches upon Australia's prospects in South and other matters, one of which ishis displacement from the captaincy _bf,the New South Wales team. Malcolm says:—"l must congratulate you :3STew Zealanders on winning the Bledisloe Cup. I think it was a great effort, /considering tho team that was sent -.over, and that all the credit is due to ;*Billy' Wallace. He made a wonderful ,team of them—the best team, I think, that I have played against. At first we would win the Test : matches, but the All Blacks developed into a great combination. The forwards put it all over ours, ana, of .feonrse, I had a wonderful time, seeing about six forwards coming at me all day. When New Zealand beat us in the ■second Test I thought our selectors would strengthen up our forwards and put in some good, hard luekers. Any-

way, we were well and truly beaten, and I don't know how we will faro in South Africa. . : "The" 1932 New Zealand players were the best-liked team that has been over here, by all accounts. They played,the game in the right spirit, and I did not see one punch delivered in any of the matches. I thoroughly enjoyed every match'that I played against them: '• I: think Page was: the mainstay in the backs. He made the fiveeighth position look easy, and he was never troubled by 'our breakaways. Kilby also played good football in the last three games. Of course, the forwards got plenty of the ball, and Kilby served if out wonderfully well. I thought Innes, the centre from Christchurch, was worth his place in the Test side. ' Ho runs very hard and straight, and is a great defender. I would have preferred him in my team. Ball' also played well over here. All the forwards played like forwards. Solomon was always in. everything. Purdue was a great; line-out, man, and in the second Test he was a superman. It would be hard; to single any one forward out that was not .worth his ; place. "I only wish we had a few of them to go to South Africa with us. It will not be long now before our team is selected. It will be announced in September. ',"'.. ■ "I. think I must be . slipping, •as I have tbeen; displaced from the captaincy of the New, South Wales side in favour •of ' Alex. Boss. [That was for the match two weeks ago.] I have captained New South Wales since 1928, and I suppose it is time- they had a change. Anyway, good luck to Alex. "Saturday's gate (North v.. Manly)' at North Sydney Oval was a club gate record—lo,ooo people—so you can see that the old game is progressing. The New. Zealand tour was disappointing as far as the finance was concerned. I think we will only make about £200 profit, by all accounts. I have not heard anything official yet." Auckland's Recent Tour. On the return of the Auckland team to Auckland this week, Mr. F. E. Sutherland, the manager, had a good deal to say regarding experiences on the tour, which was regarded as probably the longest ever undertaken in New Zealand by a provincial side, over 2500 miles having been covered. "If we had played as well as we did against Wellington there may_ have been a different story to tell," said Mr. Sutherland, in discussing the Banfurly Shield match agaiinst Canterbury. "The inside backs have been accused of being the weakness, ■ but they were not the main one. The chief weakness was our forwards. They were slow in breaking, and their slowness was probably due to a haTd tour. The Canterbury forwards •were always quick to break, and they swarmed round the ball all day. They swept through before our forwards were able to cover. Just as we swarmed over Wellington, Canterbury, forwards swarmed over us." Confident, but nof cocksure, the Aucklanders did well in the early stages. They got, a, bigger percentage of the ball, but Mr. Sutherland pointed out that niost. tries came from the unexpected rather than from set formations. Corner was always sound. The threequarter line played well, and Caughey gave a good exhibition. 'It was the first time on the tour that the team played on a solid ground—in the other matches, the greasy ball and greasy field had nullified back play. Clark and Pearson showed themselves players of promise, and Milliken sailed for the line with all his old dash and determination; Bush was dropping the ball, and he hardly took one cleanly all day. He also found difficulty in getting the line. "The forwards plodded along, but they were not on their toes," said Mr. Sutherland. "The only thing that I could put that down to was continual travelling and too much play on soft grounds. We varied our tactics, but could not find a way. thi-ough. Corner tried solo work, and Caughey went on his own.. Once Caughey was almost over. He cut clean through and a try looked certain, but a Canterbury back managed to tap his heel and he stumbled and fell. Southern officials . said that Canterbury played one of the rare games that Canterbury can play. They could not be recognised as practically the same team which played South Canterbury the previous Saturday." Naturally, the team was delighted with its win over Wellington, but they were sorry that Wellington had to complete the match with only 14 men. "I am more than; ever firmly convinced that the rule barring replacements is a wrong one," said Mr. Sutherland. "We suffered more .than our opponents in this respect, and the fact, that some of the men played on with injuries only intensified their hurt, and their recovery was made slower. "The standard of refereeing could not be classed as high. Some of the referees showed a lack of knowledge of the new serum rules, arid this naturally bewildered our players for a time." Police v. P. and T. Great interest is being taken in the Kugby match set down for next Wednesday between teams representing the Police Force and the Post and Telegraph Department. Strong sides have been arranged for the match, and that is saying a good deal, as there are some noted footballers among the policemen and the P. and T. employees The event is being made of more than ordinary interest by having it played on behalf of the Mayor's relief fund and to that end a special "drive" for support has been under way for some time, with, very encouraging results. The match will be played at Athletic Park,_ and there- is every indication that it will attract a big crowd. With the talent available, there should be no doubt about a fine game being witnessed. Shipping Match. The annual football match between teams representing the Union Steam Ship Company and the combined shipping companies is to be played on Saturday, 3rd September, at Williams Park, Day's Bay. It is expected that the Terawhiti, with the teams and supporters, will leave the tug wharf about 1.45 p.m., and return from Day's Bay as soon as possible after the match. Particular interest is being created in this year's match, as this is the twentyfifth anniversary of the first game played for the Shipping Shield. However, only twenty games have been played, there being no play between 1914 and 1918. The combined companies have won twelve games, and the Union Company eight. Most of the games have been keenly contested, and from present indications it appears that this year's contest is going to be quite up to the usual standard. In the evening the annual smoke concert is to be held ija the Conference Hall of tho Dominion Farmers' Institute, the chairman being Captain S. Holm, and included among the speakers will be the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), Mr. C. J. B. Norwood (chairman of the Wellington Haibour Board), and Captain C. Sinclair Thomson, E.N. Wellington's southern tour will be commenced next week, the first match being with Canterbury next Saturday. In the event of the Eanfurly Shield not changing hands in the meantime, the match will be for tho trophy. It is expected that Wellington's team will be much the same, as that which was fielded against Taranaki to-day—un-doubtedly one of the youngest' that has ever represented Wellington ■in the more important inter-provincial matches, Tho selection is a good one, and has met with fairly general satisfaction, but, as is not unusual when many players of "the right type are offering, there are not a few players who are to be counted unlucky in "not being chosen. Lamason and Coulston, to mention two forwards, are certainly unfortunate on present form.