RUGBY FOOTBALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 September 1929, Page 3

RUGBY FOOTBALL

NORTH DEFEAT SOUTH.

A GREAT STRUGGLE.

(Per Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, September 29.

The 17,000 spectators who thronged the Athletic Park on. Saturday afternoon were well pleased with the standard of play produced in the annual trial of Rugby strength between the two Islands, this game reverting to the International Rules. The South Island fielded a strapping lot of forwards, who dominated the play in the early stages, but the brilliance of the 1924 quartette—Mill, Cooke, Lucas and Porter —soon gave the North Island the mastery, and they eventually triumphed in a stirring tussle by 29 points to 20. The superiority of the North was demonstrated by the fact that they scored seven tries to two recorded by the South. Brilliant place kicking was a feature of the game, Strang putting the ball over the bar five times for the South, and Heazlewood converting four tries for the North.

Enthusiasts were present from many parts of both Islands. Direct kicking to touch form any part of the field certainly speeded up the play. The' game was played at a fast clip throughout, but both sides kept going right to the final bell. It was to the outstanding brilliance of their rearguard that the North Island owed their victory. The Southern team was severely handicapped through the absence of a halfback of class and dependability. The teams were: —

North Island (black): Full-back, A. K. Heazlewood (Wellington); threequarters: W. Elvy (Wellington), F. W. Lucas, (Auckland), P. C. Minns (Auckland); five-eighths: A. E. Cooke (Wairarapa), L. M. Johnson (Wellington); half-back, J. Mill (Wairarapa); rover, C. G. Porter (Wellington); hookers: K. H. Reid (Wairarapa), A. Finlayson (Auckland); lock, E. R. Steere (Hawke’s Bay); supports: C. Campbell (Hawke’s Bay), F. McLean (Taranaki); back row: W. Batty (Auckland), A. G. McPhail (Poverty Bay). South Island (white): Full-back, J. Harris (Canterbury); threequarters: J. McDonald (Marlborough), W. C. McClymont (Otago), D. Olliver (Otago); five-eighths: H. Lilburne (Canterbury), A. Strang (South Canterbury) ; half-back, A. Holden (Southland) ; rover, G. Scrimshaw (Canterbury); hookers: A. Cottrell (Canterbury), J. Burrows (Canterbury); lock, Sontag (Otago); supports: W. Hazlett (Southland), A. Stewart (South Canterbury); back row: F. Freitas (West Coast), E. Snow (Nelson). A bright sun and southerly wind dried up the ground. The conditions were quite good when play commenced. Porter won the toss from Lilburne, and the North Island had a helpful breeze behind them in the first spell, though the sun was in their eyes. After strenuous work in midfield, Sontag (South) and McLean (North), put in some pretty dribbling. Mil) shot out a long pass to Cooke, who short punted, and the northerners "swarmed on the line. Lucas secured at about the quarter mark’ and he made a dazzling run through the southern backs to score close to the posts. Heazlewood easily goaled. North 5; South nil. The Canterbury pair, Cottrell and Burrows, were hooking from almost every scrum, but Lilburne and Strang did not handle well, and dropped passes. They lost some glorious opportunities. From some warm work about the northern quarter mark, Porter, when tackled, passed into touch, and was promptly penalised, Strang landing a beautiful goal.—North 5; South

Then followed a brilliant movement, which raised the crowd to great enthusiasm. Mill secured from a scrum, ran to Lilburne, and handed to Johnson, who flashed between Lilburne and strang, and got clean away. Cooke came up at top speed to procure the ball from Johnson, and raced over between the posts. Heazlewood made no mistake with the kick. —North 10; South 3.

A great kick by Harris placed the South on attack, and Strang again put the ball over the bar when a. Northerner was caught offside. —North 10; South 6.

The whites were now going well. They came at the line again, and, with a bit of passing by Holden, Freitas and Snow, let the big Nelson forward over near the posts. To the surprise of everyone, Strang failed with the simplest of kicks. —North 10; South 9. Some exciting work was seen in the Southern goal mouth, till a penalty relieved, and the defenders rushed back to the northern end,, where a force came. Once more Mill broke away, and Johnson handed on to Cook, who swerved past McClymont and allowed Finlayson to score between the posts. This was a finished movement. Heazlewood landed his third goal.— North 15; South 9. From a scrum, Scrimshaw and Stewart overwhelmed Mill, and the whites burst away with some brilliant passing, which saw half-a-dozen short, sharp transfers, and a few lobs, before Strang went over near the posts. Strang kicked his fourth goal.—North 15; South 14. Elvy was nearly over in the corner just before the bell’ went for half time. SECOND HALF. With the wind behind them, it was expected that the South Island would have the better of things. They started. off with dash. Porter, who was playing a great game,’wriggled out of the clutches of an attacker, and passed to Minns, who sprinted fast, and kicked ahead. The ball dropped some yards in front of Harris, and before the Canterbury full-back could get to it, the speedy Cooke raced up and whipped over the line to score between the posts. Heazlewood put over his fourth goal.—North 20; South 14. After a period of fast play ip midfield, Porter was caught offside round the scrum, and Strang put over his fourth goal.—North 20, South 17. The Northerners then rushed play over the Southern line, and Lilburne Iput in a smart clearing kick. The ball landed in Elvy’s hands and he side-stepped three men, and made an amazing dive to score in the corner. Heazlewood made a brave attempt to convert from the side line. —North 23; South 17.

A great burst of cheering went up when Strang landed a magnificent penalty goal from a few yards within the centre mark. —North 23; Sbuth 20. With victory in. sight,, the South Is-

landers clapped on the pace, but the Northerners danced too fast a tune. Dazzling reverse passing between Porter and Lucas ended up in the Auckland centre fending off a couple of defenders and scoring a brilliant try, well out. Heazlewood this time made' a weak attempt at goal.—North 26; South 20. The Northerners’ next try came from a neat bit of strategy between Mill and Porter. A scrum was formed near the side line in Northern ter- ) ritory. The Southerners were anxiously watching the open side, but Porter as soon as the Northern forwards hooked the ball, ran round to the blind side and Mill popped the leather into his captain’s hands as he passed. Porter scaled down the line and gave Minns a clear run in at the corner. Heazlewood failed at goal, and a stirring match, in which the standard of play had been uniformly high, ended with the scores reading: — North Island 29 South Island 20 Mi’ S. Hillander, of Christchurch, controlled the game. TO PLAY MAORIS. WELLINGTON, September 29. The following team has been selected to represent New Zealand on Wednesday:— Full-back: Heazlewood (Wellington). Three-quarters: Elvy (Wellington), Lucas' (Auckland), Olliver (Otago). Five-eighths: Cooke (Wairarapa), Lilburne (Canterbury). Half-back: Mill (Wairarapa). Forwards: Rover, C. G. Porter (Wellington) ; hookers, Cottrell (Canterbury) and Finlayson (Auckland); lock, E. R. Steere (Hawke’s Bay); supports, Hazlett (Southland), and Campbell (Hawke’s Bay); back row, R. Stewart (South Canterbury), and McLean (Taranaki). Emergencies: Back, L. Johnson (Wellington); forward, McPhail (Hawke’s Bay). INTER-UNION MATCHES. BULLER DEFEAT NELSON. WESTPORT, September 28. Playing under excellent weather conditions, Buller won their first match this season, when they defeated the Nelson touring team by 14 to 8. Nelson, with the sun at their backs, were not long in opening their scoring account. At one stage they were leading by 8 ( to nil, but by halftime Buller had reduced their lead to 8 to 6.

Playing with more dash in the second half, Buller had the better of the play, and put on 8 more points, Nelson failing to score.

Lockey and Quinn played well for Buller, and Max, Garvin, and Fowler for Nelson. For the winners, Quinn (2), and Goodall scored tries, Graham converting one and kicking a penalty; and for the losers, Thompson scored a try, which was converted by Garvin, who also kicked a penalty.'

HAWKE’S BAY V. WANGANUI.

• DANNEVIRKE, September 28.

The last match in which Hawke’s Bay was engaged this season took place at Dannevirke Showgrounds to-day against Wanganui, in the presence of a big gathering. Considering the Antarctic conditions of the morning, the ground was good. The play was generally of a ragged nature, and Hawke’s Bay held the upper hand practically throughout. The first spell ended in their favour by 14 to nil, tries being scored by Cairns, Roach, Crawford and Grenside, the latter converting one. In the second half Carlson kicked a penalty goal for Wanganui, and McDonald, Grenside, Cairns, McKay and Wilson scored tries for Hawke’s Bay, Ruru, Grenside and Roach converting one each. The game thus ended: Hawke’s Bay 35; Wanganui 3.

DISTRICT SEASON ENDS.

SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNAMENT.

Beautiful weather conditions favoured the conclusion of the Rugby football season on Saturday, when a seven-a-side tournament for senior and junior grade teams was held before a fair attendance at Victoria 'Park. Unfortu-

nately, teams from the southern end of the district failed to keep their engagements, and the contests were therefore restricted to the town teams and Brunner. The play was good in most of the nine games and some sparkling football was witnessed, while the lack of condition usually so pronounced in seven-a-side tourna-

ments was not much in evidence. Generally speaking, there was too much kicking, and those teams which adopted passing tactics did best. Cobden A won the junior grade and United the senior grade tourneys. The results were as follow :—

SENIOR GRADE

Blaketown seniors had an easy win against United B by 19 points to nil. Mason early sent McEnaney away to score in the corner, McDonald failing with the kick. A drop kick across the field to McEnaney led to another try, and McDonald converted with a good kick. Soon after half time Blaketown invaded the other end, where Sadler tried to pot a-goal,'but was unsuccessful. The third try was registered by Bunt, McDonald kicking another good goal. Mason broke away from midfield and scored a good try, but touched down farther out than was necessary, and left McDonald a task which proved too difficult. The final try was one by McDonald, as an outcome of a good run by Bunt. A better game was provided by United A and Stars. Greer and Jamieson were early prominent on the wings for United, but on two or three occasions the latter failed to accept transfers when he was racing and likely to get through. However, halfway through the first spell he accepted one from Walton at midfield and fending two defenders off he outpaced the others and scored between the posts. Walton added the extra. The second spell was evenly contested until Walton got possession and ran about 50 yards to score well out. The try .was unconverted and the game ended, in a win for United by 8 points to nil. The semi-final ‘was between Blaketown and Brunner, and soon after its commencement the Blaketown forwards got away and a nippy run by Mason produced the first try which McDonald converted. A good solo effort, in which the “dummy” was used effectively on two or three occasions, gave Mason another try, to which McDonald added the extra points. A third try was the outcome of a strong run by Mason, who transferred to Cooper to cover the last stage. McDonald again goaled. , After changing ends, Brunner took a I hand and Dinwiddie scored a good try i after- especially good play by Nash,

who missed with the kick. Prompt retaliation came by way of a nice passing rush by Bunt and others to Mason, who touched down behind the posts, but on that occasion McDonald missed the goal. Brunner attacked again, and Nash failed with a drop kick from the field, the game ending in favour of Blaketown by 18 points to 3. The final was played between the following teams: — Blaketown: Liston, McDonald, Bunt, Mason; McEnaney, Cooper, Lemin.

United: Walton, Ferguson; Williams, Bunt; Greer, Kennedy, Jamieson.

The opening play was fast, and Jamieson was given two early chances, the first being lost through missing the pass and the second through losing possession when he was going at top speed with little opposition to overcome. United threw the ball about well in the Blaketown zone, and it resulted in E. Bunt scoring a good try which was converted by Walton. United 5, Blaketown nil. Bunt lacked across field to Jamieson who gained possession and streaked for the line, but was sprawled by Mason .about five yards out. Walton missed with a penalty kick at goal. After the change over, United attacked for a while and then Lister got away from neutral territory, but he had not sufficient pace to escape from Jamieson, who bore him to earth. United then attacked persistently and never looked like being beaten, especially when Wilson dashed through and scored another good try well out. Walton failed to improve, and the game ended in United winning by 8 points to nil. JUNIOR GRADE. The opening game of the tournament was the junior grade contest between Cobden A. and Cobden C teams. The latter was overpowered by their heavier and faster opponents who ran up 16 points to nil in the first half, and in the second, saving themselves increased the score to 19 points to 5, a try by Knox, converted by Minchin.

United was fortunate against Stars, as early in the game Baldwin secured possession at midfield' and crossed the Stars’ line, where he dropped the ball but recovered it and scored, F. Saunders converting with a good kick. That was the only score. Stars had the better of the last two-thirds of the game. On one occasion McGinley crossed the United line, but was unable to get the ball to the ground, and on another United had to force.

Cobden B possessed more weight and speed than Blaketown. In the first spell Lindbom kicked a. penalty goal and then scored a try, which lie failed to improve upon. Wilson scored a try and then Keith dummied cleverly and crossed at the corner, Cobden winning by 12 points to nil. In the semi-final, the first half between Cobden A and United, was well contested, the only try being the outcome of a tricky run by Taafe, which enabled N. Eggleton to crown the effort, but the latter’s attempt to add the extras failed. Two minutes after the change over, King went over unopposed for an unconverted try. Then Taafe, jumping and dodging found a way through and registered behind the goal posts and converted.. The last try was gained by Eggleton as the bell rang and Cobden ran out winners by 11 to nil.

The final was contested between.the following teams: — Cobden A: —Mead, E. Eggleton, Hindman, Taafe, N. Eggleton, Sexton, A. King. Cobden B :—Wilson, Spencer, Anderson, Gordon; Keefe, Lindbom, Hayden. The club mates provided the best game in the division. Soon after play started the A side, wisely refraining as much as possible from kicking, threaded a way through the defence, and the leather was sent out to N. Eggleton, who raced on to score in a

good position which enabled Taafe to add the extra points. That was followed by a try registered by the other winger King, but his attempt to convert was unproductive. The B team then worked to a position from which Lindbom essayed a potted goal but without success. Soon after the change over the B side made a vigorous advance, which was capped by “Bull” Wilson scoring a well-earned try, which Lindbom just failed to convert. After that the game was evenly contested, and it ended in Cobden A. winning the game by 8 points to 3. HOKITIKA v. UNITED THIRDS. On Saturday United thirds travelled to Hokitika and there met a combined High School and old boys’ team, being defeated after a fast game by 22 to 13. SECONDARY SCHOOLS. TECHNICAL RETAIN SHIELD.

At Reefton on Saturday Greymouth Technical High School defeated Reefton District High School fifteen by 6 points to nil, in the final game for the < Newman Shield, thus winning the title ] to the champion fifteen in Buller and t

Coast for three years in record in the Shield competition. ditions were more in keeping vTJP cricket than football; the ground was in fine condition, and a big crowd turned out to see the game, which proved ; to be one of the finest tussles yet for th eShield. The play was fast, open, and even throughout. The first spell was productive of a particularly high standard of Rugby ; and when halftime went neither side had scored.

Reefton opened the game with a promising attack, but Leach came through well from the Technical backs and handed on to Davies, whose run put the visitors clear. Good runs by Kay and Jones were features of the next stage of play, when Technical attacked persistently, but several infringements gave kicks to Reefton which kept their fine out of danger. Tech, backs did not function up to expectations, handling badly. On© fine Technical movement, Scott, Jones, Eggleton, Leach and Davies, all handling, looked promising, but a Reefton man effected timely relief. Then another blue rush saw Eggleton almost over, but a free kick against the visitors stopped play. The Technical forwards were playing fine football, Shuttleworth, Mahoney, and Rose being prominent in leading telling assaults on the local line. However, further free kicks gave Reefton welcome clearance. There was a sudden change in fortunes, when Morris, on one Reefton wing, dashed down like an All Black and over the Tech, line, a kick over the dead line saving. Shuttleworth then led a counter . offensive, ‘ which saw Technical again attacking. A penalty to the visitors was well used, play going back to neutral ground. Reefton had had slightly the best of play so far. The game was fast and the crowd worked up to a rare pitch of excitement. Then Reefton shot down to tile Grey line, Mills starting a good run which ended in a man going over, but he was brought back for offside. Play was in Technical territory until forwards cleared, Mahoney and Richmond being prominent in the movement. Half-time was called with no score up. . Reef ton attacked from the opening oi the second spell, a timely mark by Rathbun stopping the rush. In ensuing play Scott, of Reefton, missed with a good pot at goal. Then after some even play Technical backs went off m a fine movement; Eggleton lost possession, but Mahoney and the Tech, pack carried play on right to the Reefton line, Jones getting over to score the first try. Jones failed with the kick. Excitement in the match grew - until the referee had several times to stop the game in order to keep the crowd back. Technical, however, took charge from this stage almost to time, fine work in both divisions giving them a big lead territorially. The lighter Reefton side played valiantly. Time was close when during another Technical back dash Jones received, and cutting in nicely, went over for his second try with a Reefton man on his back. Rathbun missed the kick. Time was called shortly after with the scores 6 points to nil in Technical’s favour. The Technical School team was as follows :—Backs : Rathbun, Davis Leach, Kay, Jones, Eggleton and Scott. Forwards: Burrows, Mahoney, Bridgeman, Hart, Rose, Jones, Rich mond, and Shuttleworth. Mr Irvine refereed. REEFTON RESULTS. REBFTON, September 30. Matches played during the weekend resulted as follow:— . Waratah juniors and Rival juniois drew, the score being 9 all. Greymouth P. and T. played gahua Juniors and won by 16 to 14. IKAMATUA 17, LANDING 3. Ikamatua seniors easily defeated Landing yesterday at Ikamatua by 17 points to 3.. The ground was in good order, though the strong wind blowing across the field made goal kicking difficult. Ikamatua had the best or the game in the first half, running up 14 points, but the second half was very even. The game was very fast throughout. Tries wel ’® S T° r n d -«S' Ikamatua by J. Burne (2), J. Griffin, A. Smith and J. Doolan, M. Freemap. converting one. For Landing, W. Hunt scored a try. Mr D. Mcßae was in charge of the game. ffwgjCTsaQjgEiEaanEzsEinsffiSSESSSSSEa