LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 2 May 1932, Page 2

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

MARIST AGAIN Runanga Beat Waiuta RESULTS AT A GLANCE. SENIOR. Marist 19, beat Brunner 8. Runanga 27, beat Waiuta 17. JUNIOR. Runanga 25, beat Ngahere 9. Marist 21, beat Rapahoe 9. Pirates 13, bent Waiuta 3. THIRD GRADE. Marist 17, beat Pirates 11. FOURTH GRADE. Marist 13, beat Pirates 6. SIXTH GRADE. Marist 11, beat Blackball 3. The commencement of the football

season evinced a deal of specticism as to the possible interest of the Senior Competition on account of an alleged uneveness amongst the various, teams. Results, so far go to prove unsound, the judgment of the fans, for both Waiuta and Brunner have displayed splendid skill, both teams being potentially winners of the competition. The original forecast of only two possible winners of the Senior Grade has receded from the realms, of certainty, and th© wise ones can exercise their thoughts now on a more complicated prob.em. In the Junior Competition, Marist and Pirates retained their unbeaten record at the week-end, and their meeting should be very interesting.. MARIST I V. BRUNNER I. FAIRLY EVEN GAME. Apart from an erratic cross wind which made passing somewhat hazard ous. and the taking of the ball rather difficult, conditions at Wingham Parx for a good exhibition of the code were ideal, and the fair crowd of spectators who had assembled in anticipation of an interesting display were not disappointed, although the. game might have been considerably improved by the adoption on the part of Both teams of more open tactics. A pleasant feature of the match wag the splendid fight waged by the Brunner vanguard against players of such redoubtable strength and experience as the Marist pack. For the greater part of the game Brunner gained possession of the ball from the scrums in the porportion of three to one, and in fact quite frequently pushed their opponents right over the leather. With more combination in the backs and a little more confidence in opening up the play, the. Brunner team should prove a tough proposition for anything on the Coast. Forwards of the type of Wilson an I Hallinan would not be unworthy of a place in any League thirteen. Cut bush was the pick of the Brunner back division, while at five-eight, and Anisy at full-back shared the honours on the Marist side, O’Connor alone notching fourteen points, including four tries. Amongst a rather even set of forwards, Williams deserves commendation for the determined manner in which he followed up the ball and Burning and Beban for their efforts to set their backs going. THE GAME The teams were:— Marist: Calder, O'Brien (2), Wi> liams, Scott, Burning, Beban. O’Con »or, Restieaux, Kennedy, Anisy, Davis and Waist. Brunner: Becks, L. Hunt, Anderson. Cutbush, Ryan, Ramsay, Kitto, Rose Clarke. Hallinan and H Bunt. Brunner kicked off against the. sun. play immediately returning to thier 25 as the result of fast following up or the part of the Marist forwards. Th. Brunner full-back in endeavouring Io effect a clearance, was caught in pa« session of the ball and for a moinen l it soe/ned that the greens we*-® earl’to open their scoring account. Ho ? - ever, the defence rallied in fine style sending the home team back into the’’ own territory, where some scraggy plawas indulged in. A series of scrums made it appear evident that the Blues would more than hold their own in th" tight. From a scrum in nud-field Kit to sent his backs away, and a well judged stab-kick by Cutbush found the green rear-guard m trouble unti’ Kennedy relieved. Play veered uncer tainly in mid-field for some time, m.w excellent opportunities of opening ur the game being lost by both sides. A' last, the vigorous and dogged efforts of the Brunner forwards were reward ed, the crowd being treated to a series of splendid dribbling rushes.' The blue backs lost many good chances at this stage of penetrating the green de fence by themselves assuming the defensive position, and lining out at almost right angles to their scrum, who were practically invariably hooking tho ball The players, of course, were nearly stationary when accepting pas ses, with the result that the Marist rearguard had no difficulty in smotb ering them. Kitto essayed a penalty goal, but failed, and from the dropout the greens regained possession of the ball, O’Connor, O’Brien and William* participating in a snappy passing bout which gained some thirty yards. Nothing daunted the Brunner boys returned to the attack, but the green fullback was playing brilliantly* and many a promising rally wap thwarted by Anisy’s clever footwork and bursts of speed. Beban was playing a good wing-forward game, being penalised some half-dozen times foe coming around the side of the scrum a bit in advance of the ball. In his own 25, Restieaux cross kicked. The leather was gathered in neatly by Ross who was pulled down only a few yards from the green line. During

some loose forward pluv in the green 25, tho ball was kicked through to Anisy who had the misfortune to slip and lose possession. Wilson, who was coming up fast, snapped up and scored well out. Kitto failed to goal. Brunner 3, M ar * s f nil.

Shortly afterwards Brunner were penalised and from, the free kick Cai der goaled. Brunner 3, Marist 2. Good work by the Brunner backs made play very interesting, Cutbush putting in a very fine run and narrowly missing a score. Kitto, coming around the blind side of the scrum, gathered up surely, and stab-kicked effectively. Wilson followed up fast, gained possession and after making a good run transferred to Anderson who crossed the line. Kitto converted. Brunner 8, Marist 2. Half time. When the game was resumed O’Connor filled the five-eight position, and M. O’Brien played behind the scrum. The ball was being thrown about a little more freely now, and from a splendid back movement, O ’Connor outstripped the defence to score in a handy position. Calder failed to goal. Marist 5, Brunner 8. Play had, scarcely resumed, when O ’Connor again amazed the onlookers by gathering up smartly and sprinting successfully for the line. The scorer failed to convert his try. Marist 8, Brunner 8. Brunner were still fighting gamely but the luck was not with them, O’Connor again breaking through, this time with the ball at his toe, a nice bit of dribbling, resulted in a 'try. Scott missed with the kick. Marist 11, Brunner 8. O'Connor’s appetite for scores was not to be denied gratification and once more the blue line was crossed. O’Connor missed with the kick. Marist 14, Brunner 8. The luck was all with the greens now. From a forward scramble, Scott dived over to add another try. O’Connor converted and the game finished Marist 19, Brunner 8.

RUNANGA (27) V. WAIUTA (17), Runanga kicked off against the sun, and immediately attacked, but an offside by Griffiths relieved. Currie then kicked a goal from a free kick for offside. Waiuta pressed but Harrison relieved and a good passing rush ended by Mossop going out in the corner. From the scrum, Mossop' kicked through for Tipp to force, Currie taking the k : ck and initiating a passing rush, which ended in Maddison scoring, Cui : rie failing to convert. Waiuta attacked, but faulty handling lost a sure try, and Masters resuring. ran the length of the field to secure a brilliant fry, which he converted himself. At this stage, Waiuta backs were losing s.cor;ng opportunities by kicking too much. Masters intercepted a pass from the scrum at half-way, and sent Griffiths over near the post, Masters converting. Runanga again attacked and Tallentyre scored between .'the posts, Masters adding the extra points. Shortly afterwards halftime sounded with the scores, Runanga 20, Waiuta nil.

Ou the resumpition of play, Waiuta attacked for Runanga to force. Then Griffiths kicked a penalty for Runanga Waiuta now commenced a determined attack and Coulson broke through bringing play to Runanga’.s line, where Topp secured a beautiful goal. Coulson then took a drop kick successful penalty kick a nd shortly after from a scrum in Runanga’s 25, McCarthy went over for Coulson to add the extra points. End to end play ensued until Masters kicked through and scored between the posts, converting it himself. Waiuta were next to score, McCarthv going over near the for Smith to convert. Wa’uta now held the upper hand and from a scrum near half-way, Young went over in the corner, but ‘the attempt at goal failed, full-time sounding with the scores, Runanga 27, Waiuta 17. For Waiuta, Carroll, Young. Smith and Kear were the besft backs, while Shannahan, Coulson and Flaherty were the pick of the forwards. For Runanga, Masters and Harrison were the best in the backs, while all the forwards played well. Mr F. Beard was an impartial referee. JUNIOR. RUNANGA (25) BEAT NGAHERE (9) A fair crowd witnessed an interesting game on the Dunollic ground Runanga proving definitely superior. Nga. her e notched the first try under the posts, but failed with the kick. F'nd lay next scored for Runanga and Kennedy converted. Medlin put in a good run to scoije in the corner. The kick was missed. A clever interception by Kennedy resulted in his scoring an I converting h's own try. Gilman (Nga. here) was next responsible for some fine work, notching two tries 'n rapid succession, buit failing to convert either. O’Connell added three more points for Runanga by a good try in the corner. Kennedy failed to convert. As the result of a scramble near the corner, Stagg crossed Ngahere’s line, but just failed with a long kick. Runanga 25, Ngahere 9. R. Culling controlled the game.

MARIST (21) BEAT RAPHAOE (9). An interesting open game was provided at Rapahoe, when Marist juniors met Rapahoe. The backs threw the ball about in fine style, the Rapahoe 4ads being at times a littl e bewildered by the rapidity of the movements. From a forward scramble, Eyelington dived across to register '.the first try. Timlin missed with the kick. The Marist backs next had their turn, all handling the ball to send Roberts over in the corner. The try was unconverted. Another similar movement saw Binger score. Stop'forth failed to convert. By this time the green backs wer e moving I ke a machine; and following some pretty handling Binger again scored. This try was also unconverted. Brown !the ball on his own goal line and after outpacing the opposition over the full length of the field, scored in a handy position, failing in the attempt to convert the '.try. Shortly after halftime McHugh scored in the corner, after an opening had been made for him by Higgins. This effort was fol’ lowed by another try by McHugh. Rob. erts missed with the kick. From th<» kick-off, Sweetman missed the bounce for McGill !to pick up and score in the j corner. Timlin failed to convert a for ‘

ward rush in which Timlin was promin. ent resulted in. Mouatt adding a try for Rapahoe, which was unconverted. With a score by McHugh, the match ended—Marist 21, Rapahoe 9. Brown (full-back) for Rapahoe, and Roberts and Meates for Marist, played sterling games. C. Purnell was the referee. PIRATES (13) BEAT WAIUTA (3). At Wingham Park on the B. Ground Pirate Juniors defeated Waiuta by 13 points to 3. The new town team show considerable promise, the scores being a fairly good indication of '.the merits of the respective teams. Waiuta’s three points were the result of an obstruction try. The scorers for Pirates were: Lord, Martin and Moore. Tobin converted two tries. Both sets of hookers were quick workers, the ball coming out cleanly every time. Hempseed played a good game for Waiuta, while, for Pirates-, Lord and Martin, were often prominent. A. Fielding ably controlled the game. AT OTHER PLACES. CHRISTCHURCH, April 30. For to-day’s Rugby League games the weather was showery and the grounds sodden. Linwood 19, beat Addington 10; Sydenham 8, beat Hornby 3.

DUNEDIN, April 30. League results; City 13, .Athletic 2; ‘'hristian Bios. 17, Pacific 3 LONDON. April 30. In the Northern Union semi-finals to-day Huddersfield beat Hunsley by 12 to 9, and St. Helen s beat Leeds, by 9 to nil. Other Northern Union results were:— Broughton R. 14 v. Featherstone R. 5. Leigh 13 v. Barrow 7. Widnes 28 v. Keigley 0. Dewsbury 32 v. Hull 8. York 13 v. Castleford 8.