LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 May 1943, Page 3

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

BLACKBALL DEFEAT MARIST.

In the West Coast Rugby League competition, yesterday, Blackball defeated Marist by 29 points to 11 at Wingham Park and Ngahere defeated Runanga by 23 to 11 at Ngahere. The teams in the former match were: Blackball: C. Mountford, R. Mountford, W. Mountford, Jamieson, Nuttall, O’Donnell, Ord, Williams, McClure, Reynolds, Baillie, Howden and McNaughton. Marist: Mann, M. Power, T. Power, Coll, Newton, Hatch, Watson, Thomson, Crowe, Dunn, Malone, Rae and Ward. Marist displayed initiative in the early stages, but Blackball opened the scoring within a few minutes when VZ. Mountford crossed the line. McNaughton took the kick, but failed. Malone secured the ball from a melee on Blackball’s twenty-five line and passed to Mann, whose kick at goal failed. However, Coll followed up to score nicely, Mann converting. Blackball again took the lead when C. Mountford made an opening for W. Mountford to score beneath the posts. Newton failed with the kick. After'a period of up-and-down play W. Mountford again scored, McNaughton adding the major points. Blackball were consistently on the attack now and soon afterwards O’Donnell secured another good try, but failed with the kick. Shortly before the spell ended Marist were awarded a penalty in front of Blackballs posts and Mann easily secured the points, makin£Z the score: Blackball 16, Marist 7. Blackball played aggressively in the opening stages of the second spell, but the Marist defence was effective and when they secured a penalty against Blackball Newton kicked a fine goal from 40 yards out. Blackball early sought revenge and Jamieson scored at the corner after accepting a pass from W. Mountford; McNaughton failed to convert. However, from a penalty near the sideline he shortly afterwards sent the leather home, to be followed by Coll kicking an easy penalty for Marist. The pace was keen and two more Blackball scores came from W. Mountford and Reynolds, McNaughton converting the latter’s try. Mr. J. Griffen was referee. NGAHERE’S WIN. The match at Ngahere was of a fast nature, with the ground in good order. The teams were: — Ngahere: Balderstone, A. Gibson, Hill, F. Gibson, Dowell, Campbell, Krakosky, Elmers, Smith, Clark, Kirk, McGuire, and Mulcare. Runanga: Clark, Glynn, Merriman, Fitzgibbon, Stevens, Bullan, Anderson, C. McTigue, N. McTigue, Lee, Higson and Dalziel. The tries for Ngahere were scored by Hill, Dowell, Smith, Balderstone, and F. Gibson, Clark converting three and kicking a penalty. Runanga’s tries were scored by Stevens, Clark, and McTigue, Glynn converting one. Outstanding Ngahere forwards were Elmers and Balderstone, while Smith, Mulcare and Dowell were the best backs. Glynn and Clark were the best of the Runanga forwards, and C. and N. McTigue, with Lee, the outstanding backs. THIRD GRADE GAMES.

In the curtain raiser at Wingham Park Runanga defeated Marist by 6 points to 5. Soster scored twice for the winners and Willis once for Marist, Curnow converting. At Ngahere Blackball defeated Brunner 21-0. Stenhouse scored thrice, and other tries were secured by Smith, Lee, Mcßride, and O’Flaherty.