RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVII, Issue LVII, 19 August 1910, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

TARANAKI SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. WAIMATE (6) DEFEAT STRATFORD (3). By their win against Stratford team at Eltham on Thursday in the provincial championship match, "Waimate club set up a record of which the club and its supporters have good reason to be proud, for this was their third consecutive victory, and they thus win the shield outright, a performance the club was also credited with in the years 1892, 1893, 1894. The honor of appearing in the final championship match is nothing new to either club. In the play-off last year the same two clubs were the contestants when Waimate were credited with a win by a narrow margin on the Stratford enclosure. The previous year Waimate beat Tukapa at Manaia. The Stratford Club was reported to be much stronger in the forwards this yeai than last, whereas Waimate, in addition to strengthening the rear division, was as well represented this season forward, if not bettei, than was the case a year ago. During the past few woeks the games between Waimate and Okaiawa were closely observed by northern Taranaki enthusiasts, who declared the southern football to be superior to the northern and confidently predicted a Waimate win. Then came a fine performance by the Stratford players against a combined north team, which suggested that the two clubs may be more evenly matched than many people predicted. It was no easy task, therefore, to try and gauge the football abilities of the respective teams by way of comparison : only their meeting in the arena would decide that question. Unfortunately the weather on Thursday was most unfavorable. Tho heavy rain of the previous night, followed by an almost continuous downfall on Tlmrsday, made the ground very sodden and detracted considerably from the spectacular aspect of what promised to be a great game. Rain fell nearly all the time the play was in progress. Under the circumstances a gate of over £40 was as good as could be expected. The teams were as follow : Waimate— D. Ryan, C. Burke, McLeod, Prince, Franklin, Christie, backs; Taylor, Patterson, Burke, M. Ryan, Tamu, McKay, Pini, Wilson, Birchall, forwards. Stratford — Collins, Abbot b, Anderson, Burgess, Cameron, Bonner, backs; Marchaiat, James, K. Abbott, Boon, Melville, Murphy, Smith, Young, Harkness, ♦forwards. Anything but a forward game was out of the question under the conditions that prevailed. The quality of football, however, was distinctly good, and the game proved interesting to a degree. Indeed, at times the play changed so quickly from end to end as to produce great excitement, first one team's supporters and then tho other being in evidence with loud cheering. Both sets of forwards gave exceptionally good performances. The better team won on fke day's play; and this was generally admitted by tho northern club's supporters. Whereas Stratford Club had tke advantage on tin first half of the game, but were decidedly unlucky, Waimate had a marked advantage in the second spell. The latter team had all the worst of the luck in the second half, the Stratford line having several narrow escapes. The line-outs were closely contested.- In" the scrummaging, Waimate were a 'little superior to the northern team, though' in loose rushes each forward contingent was splendid. Line-out work was of a fairly even order. The Waimate backs adapted their play to suit the conditions more so than the northerners, and to this feature a lot of the credit for their win is due. Stratford backs repeatedly lost ground by attempting to pick up when the opposing forwards were too close on them, whereas the Plains men dribbled effectively or returned into touch cleverly (particularly Prince and C. Burke), and .saved their f oi wards considerably. About, ten minutes from the call of time it seemed likely that a play-off wouj* be necessary. Waimate were persistently attacking, but without tangible result. Following a scrum near Stratford 25 the ball came to McKay (who from a grand-stand view was palpably off-side) and he started out with a dribble whiclji others joined in near the line and Birchall scored. The Stratford team, tried hard to change the venue, but Waimate continued to play vigorously and kept up an attacking position. Eventually one of the defenders kicked from near the posts to find touch, but the leather was caught by Prince, who darted OA r er and appeared to score a try before rolling over into touch-in-goal. After an exciting melee on the Stratford line the whistle blew with the scoies: — WAIMATE: 2 tries— six points. STRATFORD : 1 try— three points. Stratford had hard luck with several shots at goal from scoring positions, the ball failing to respond to the desire of the kicker by reason of its sodden condition. Had the day been fine and the ground in good order tlie game would probably have produced the best display seen for many years in club matches. For tho winners Ryan at full played a cool and safe game throughout. The threequartcr line, Prince, McLeod, and Burke did good work, the first-named being particularly keen to accept any chances that came along, while defending consistently when called pn. Franklin and Christie played quite up to reputation, the latter, who is" such a diminutive player, standing up to the opposing heavy forwards in fearless fashion. In the vanguard Taylor and Tamu stood out for dash, whilst Pini also set a merry pace as an example to a splendid lot of forwards. Of the Stratford team the full-back Collins could not be described as a success, though he saved well by forcing on several occasions. Dixon was much missed from that position. "Bunny" Abbott did a vast amount of work at three-quarter, whilst Anderson and Burgess played very creditably. Cameron did not do his reputation justice in the early portion of the match, but he did fine work later on. Bonner played well at half The forwards put up a capital performance, Abbott and Smith doing a lot of solid work. The tackling of both teams was distinctly good, and the manner in which the backs went down to forward rushes left little to be desired. It was a hardfought game all through, and two tired sets of players left the field when the final whistle blow. Mr Spurdle ref creed. Waimate juniors v. Okaiawa : — Campbell, Katene, Duncan, Patterson, Wallace, Brown, Hughes, Watts, Mourie, Jones, Hird, Ryan, Taylor, McCullum; emergencies, C. Jackson, W. Bolton, J. Frost.

TAItAXAKI REP. TEAM. The following team has been chosen to represent Taranaki in its match against Wellington next Thursday, at New Plymouth : Fi-11-back, McLeod (Waimate) ; three-quarters, Roberts (Okaiawa), Stohr (Tukapa), Cameron (Stratfoid); five-eighths, Mynott (Tukapa), and Divo (Eltham) ; half, Brown (Star) : wing forward, Taylor (Waimate) ; forwards, Cain (Clifton), Osborne (Eltham), Tamu (Waimale), J. Martin (Opunake), Smith (Stratford), Pini (Waimate), and Whittington (Haweia). Emergencies: Milne (Okaiawa) and Franklin (Waimate). The Hawera Association Club played a match against an Old Buffers team' on Wednesday, which ended in favor of the latter by two goals to one. In the evening an enjoyable smoke concert was held in the Foresters' Hall. Mr J. Campbell, one of the vice-presidents of the club, presided. Vocal items were contributed by Messrs Inns, Smith, Bray, Bain, M. Cameron, S. Boyd, Stevens, Fox and Pearce (practically all being encored), recitations were given by Messrs Campbell and Fox, a step dance was contributed by Mr H. Rodger, and the usual toast list was observed with enthusiasm. Music was .-upplied b y Messrs G. Sargent and Pearce. The gathering was a- decided success.