RUGBY FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 11 May 1936, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

COMPETITION MATCHES Blaketown and Excelsiors Win InJer must lavoiirnble weather Lion.-. compel ilion games i.tcn resumed ill the West Umtet W"; Union's c. mipelUiuns, on Salmdat JAC, is.ms ou:ei:.--d Ptotto. al Hok , k:1 . lhe | :i .j,.r ‘.cam’s lirM match, lijis- I'dake.lowii deie.aited Stars <ij; u ,.|,v I'ark. Ivwis, who drew with Bia’kc.town the pievmus week-emi. H played a. dr:,.a.u game with Cob den, al llokitika .

ELAKETOWN I (17) V. STAR I (8). ■l’!,,.re was only one senior match at Ruobv I’ark on Saturday when Blaketown defeated Stars by 17 points (three tries, one converted, and two penalty coals) to eight (two tries, one ot which was converted) A good ut.tendance of spectators witnessed a keen y contested and at times a very ‘‘-xeiting ~-nne. especially towards the end ot the second spell, when the Llaketown team exploited the open game to advantaoe. These tactics had the ot-n fifteen continually on the defensive and the only time that they were out ot their own territory was during tlie last few minutes of the game when Mann made a beautiful opening from a line-out to send Long over. As a I team Blaketown played well, and would have been unlucky to lose, although

had Mann kicked more accurately the final scores might have been in favour of Stars. Pedrotti was again outstanding, his tricky footwork and neat swerve being a constant worry to the opposition and a delight to the spectators. Elder again clearly demonstrated his scoring ability and K. Olsen on the other wing made the most of his limited opportunties. A welcome addition to the Blaketown pack v.as M. Olsen and he made Ins debut bv immediately having a mortgage on the ball from the set serums. This however, was nullified by the ill-direc-ted passing of the half-back, Goodall. C. Furness, who replaced Dowdall, aflei half-time, proved himself an opportunist and he scored a nice try by intercepting a pass. The Blaketown pack plaved good football and always tried to keep the game open by getting the ball to their backs. The .Seandrett Bros and Pascoe impressed as good workers. In the Star team, Mann plaved a. great game and proved himself the brains of the side and he turned defence into attack when lie made lhe opening for the last try of the day. lit- was ably supported by Aiderton,

a voung jdaver with :i nice turn ol speed, who saved his side repeatedly, perhaps lhe most outstanding forward on the ground was the veteran, ‘‘lie Stevens, who played a grand game in both tight and loose, for Stars, and lie was always on the ball. Furness and Wilder also played well. The teams lined out as follows:— Blaketown: Mcllerron, R. Olsen. Elder Pedrotti, IV. Minehin, Dowdall,. Goodall. M. Seandrett, M. Olson, AScandrett. Bruhn, Furness, Pascoe, Stenhouse, Preston. Stars: Muir, Mann, Minehin, Aiderton, Long, Dixon, Gage, Hammond, Fell. Buchanan, Furness, Monk, Stevens, Wilder, Patterson. After an inspection of the players, boots by the referee, Stars kicked olf Blaketown defending the southern line.

Almost immediately Blaketown attack ed. W. Minehin handed Io Dowdall, who cut in nicely, short-punted ahead, gathered again and sent on to _Fedrotti, who ran his wing into position before transferring Io Elder, who went over in the corner after an exhilerating piece of [day. Pascoe goaled magnitieently from the side-line. ■ Blaketown 5; Stars 0. Following some bright up ami (town loose forward play, the Blaketown forward< worked their way to the .Star 25. Stars were penalised and Fuscoe matte no mistake with an excellent, kick about ten yards from the sideline—Blaketown 8; Stars 0. Stars took a hand in attack and were soon cansinv Blaketown some discomfort. However a free-kick relieved the situation and play became very even, the ball going from one end of tlie field to it other Mann had several good opportuni ies to goal from infringements, but his direction was faulty and at the half-time whistle, Stars had failed to open their account. On the resumption Stars took play into Blaketown territory, but follow-

in" another unsuccessful kick at goal bv” Mann, the. Blaketown forwards transferred play to the Star 25, and Pascoe further increased Blaketown s lead with a penalty goal.—Blaketown 11; Star 0. Blaketown again attacked from the kick-off. From a loose ruck the ball came to R. Olson on the li ' in SFinding his way blocked he centred with good judgment for the forwards to gather and hand on to Pedrotti, who scored in a hanay position. The kick failed. —Blaketown 14; Stars 0. Stars rallied after the kick-off and front a loose rush in Blaketown territoiv Gage handed to Aiderton, to Stevens, who scored a good try wide out. Futness converted with a good kick. Stars 5; Blaketown 14. The next try was a result of bright anticipation by C. Furness Stars were defending and he neatly intercepted Dixon’s pass back to Mann and he outpaced the opposition to score near the posts, but M. Seandrett failed to convert—Blaketown 17; Stars 5. A bright period of play followed, the Blaketown team throwing the ball about with abandon,, but the defence held. After a lengthy spell in Star territory Mann relieved with a long kick past half-way. From the line-out he again secured the ball and swerved his way through the opposition before handing a perfect pass to Long, who scored wide out. A difficult. kick just missed as the final whistle blew, leaving Blaketown the winners bv 17 points to 8. ' Mr. N. Eggleton was referee.

KIWI v. COBDEN. This game attracted greater attestion at Hokitika than the other senior one on Saturday being so even that the draw, 9 all, was a fair criterion. Mr. Collett was referee. Cobden team were: Vaughan, Tennant, Lindbom, King, Eggleton, Collins Allsopp, White, Sumner, Kirkwood, Birchfield, Moss, Keith, Hughes, King, Spencer. Kiwis, starting with 13, eventually had fifteen, including Morgan. Cooper, M. Morgan, Cray, Mason, Roberts, West. Griffin. Webb, Chinn, Leslie, Garden, Buckingham, Walker, West. Kiwis scored early M. Morgan getting a pass from Cooper and beatin’g several men for a fine try. Walker’s kick was poor. Kiwi backs were pass-

ing better than the opposition, whose pack, however, heeled best, and irom serum in Kiwi 25 Allsopp worked the blind for King to score, Lmdbom s kick missing. Cobden scored next, alter a good while, King going over well from a pass by Collins, but the scorer failed to convert. Roberts with :I . fine dash beat a number, and Mason finished off a good movement with a trv. Walker failed to convert. Co >- den regained the lead when Birchfield bulloe.ked over from a melee. On ehangin<r ends Cobden attacked, but then Imcks lacked penetration. After a lot of resultless play, Kiwi forwards got on a rush. Chinn scoring at the corner. Though Cobden attacked hard, and pen- t ned Kiwis, no further score resulted < Kiwis owed their showin'g largely ? to the backs, who were at then- best A especially Roberts, Mason, Cooper and ] Morgan. Buckingham. Walker and Griffin plaved hard forward games All- ; sonp did well for Cobden, and King, , Collins, Tennent and Vaughan wore ( f. t ir but the side must learn to run . straight. They can do bettor than , thov'did on Saturday, Heeling is fruit- ( less if the backs make for the side- ] lines. Kirkwood, Moss, King and i Birchfield played good forward games. ; Kiwis mav have been lucky, but they i deserved all the luck that came their way. They fire fast, but could do with more weight, in front. EXCELSIORS v. PIRATES. Winning bv 32 to nil, Excelsiors maintained their predominance over Pirates convincingly after the first few minutes. Mr. Rutland was referee. The teams were: — Excelsiors: Maekrill, Bradley, Connellv, Conning, Muir, Fleming, Davidson,' Kelly, Turley, White, Wri'ght, King, Key, Parker, Adamson. Pirates: Hanson, Pfahlert, Agnew. Mann, Hagan, Thorpe, Broadbent, Aitken Harrison. Cribb, Brown, Herland, Abbott, Anderson. The scoring opened with Maekrill potting :i goal, and Kelly soon after got a trv. Pirates then made a stand, but they lacked combination, while their half Hagan, was weak. Just before half-time Kelly sent the ball from the tight to Davidson, who transferied to Muir, find his pass saw Connolly go over and run round, tor Davidson to convert. Excelsiors .attacked on resuming am! Davidson ran ’ opposition to score. Felming and King I were associated in a smart, movement, the former receiving back to score. When Davidson tried a pot that went I very wide, Pirates let him 'get up to ! score off the kick in the corner, and t Maekrill converted. Muir notched the 1 final try, making 32 points. 1 ft was not :i stylish game. Pirates - were never together in play, many be- ’ ing out of form. Excelsiors have an f acquisition in Fleming, who is nippv and does better in good company than >in his former teams. Davidson is in 1 excellent form ami Muir is very fit • also, Connolly is improving, while ■1 Maekrill is a promising full-back. ’ Kelly, King and While wore urominont 1 in :i hard-working pack. Pfahlert was

Pirates best bark but. his chances were limited, he being tackled vigorously any time he got possession. Alarm played' a fair game at live-eighth. A'gnew was subdued. Among the others Aitken, Thorpe, Broadbent and l.lerlund worked hard. LOWER GRADE GAMES. In a curtain-raiser to the senior game at Bagby Park, Baited juniors defeated Blaketown by 5 points to 3. I'or United Hamilton scored and Ferguson converted. while Qmirterman scored , (!1 nneon verted try for Blaketown. 'l’he eame throughout was quite intei esting. the play being very even and Blaketown were rather unlucky to lose, although a draw would have been a mod indication of the merits of the teams United led bv five points to ml ai' half-time. Mr. Newport was re- ' Star juniors defaulted to Celtic, and Celtic placed a friendly match with United seniors, the latter side winning bv 17 points to 8. AIL Black G. Cul- ' bert scored 14 of the United points Star won bv default from Blaketewn thirds and in a friendly match ’ Star thirds heat Celtic 29 to 5. Cobden thirds beat Technical by G points to 15. Blaketown fourths beat United by 1 15 points to 12. after a splendid game. I WE1,1,1 NG TON. Afav 9. East borne 8* Poncke 6. Athletic 20, Marist 0.

Wellington 19. Petone 17. St. Patrick's 22. M’ramar 3. Johnsonville 29. Pirates 3. CniIMSTC'IIURCTI, May 9. Old Boys 10, Varsity (>. Christchurch 24. Albion 3. Svdonham' 22. Merivale 21 Sunnvside 18, Linwood 8. AUCKLAND. May 9. Ponsonby 17. Tra ning College IlGrafton'l7. University 17. Technical 0.8. 9. Grammar 0.8. 8 TTMAIRU, May 9. Stars 7. Old Boys G. Temuka 9. Zingari 8.