UNBEATEN RECORD

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2665, 3 September 1937, Page 5

UNBEATEN RECORD

LOCAL RUGBY FIFTEEN

REVIEW OF 1937 SEASON

LUCK IN PEACE CUP GAME

PROSPECTS FOR NEXT YEAR.

With the rugby season drawing rapidly to a close and the last senior representative match having been played by the Paeroa team, it is interesting to survey the results of the year. Paeroa has emerged with a splendid record —not having been defeated in any representative match. Training and Publicity. Outstanding in the tale of success is the spirited challenge for the Peace Memorial Cup against Thames. The holders had built up a strong team with a high reputation, and when Paeroa was allotted the third match of the year very few local people paid more than passing l attention to the announcement. However, the union was quick to realise that the material for a first-class team Was available, and that team had, furthermore, given a glimpse of real form in the first representative engagement of the year, against the strong Grafton senior team from Auckland.

Appeals to the players to undergo strict training were only partially successful, unfortunately for all concerned. One or two responded well, others half-heartedly, but the majority took little or no notice. Publicity, however, had some effect, and as the season progressed and Paeroa emerged the winner of the Poland Cup, the Thames Valley ' championship, the union’s chances in the Peace Cup contest looked more rosy and the spasmodic training efforts became more regular, although nothing like as strenuous as the occasion warranted.

Paeroa’s fifteen played a splendid game at Thames, amply justifying the great reputation that had been built up, and only the goddess of luck kept the Peace Cup in Thames. The players have one item of satisfaction and that is, if they train from the first whistle —or before it—next season, and realise their own potentialities, they will achieve even greater success in 1938. The Poland Cup. An outstanding record in Poland Cup contests is continued by the winning of this trophy for 1937. A drawn game with Te Aroha—one of the three even-scoring matches played—did not give good promise of success, but a convincing win later in the competition told its own tale.

In all, seven representative matches •were played, Paeroa winning four and drawing three. All home games were won with the exception of the Grafton match at the start of the season. Following is the tabulated record of the season’s representative fixtures and their results:

Points for, 85; against, 65. Another point upon which the Paeroa union can congratulate itself is that six players were selected for the Thames Valley team. All those players acquitted themselves well, and form the nucleus of the valley fifteen, this union having more representatives than any other of the constituent unions.

It can be taken that, notwithstanding the fact that only three teams entered for the senior competition this year, football is definitely on the upgrade. The union has had a hard financial battle, but with further support from the public as well as from the players, 1937’s record should easily be eclipsed next year and Paeroa should be a sub-union not easily accounted for.

cd czi o p C g3 § J 5 s Q H Dh fC o May 22 Grafton Paeroa 20 20 June 9 Hauraki Paeroa Plains. 8 3 June 19 Te Arha Te Aroha 12 12 July 17 Waihi Paeroa 6 0 July 31 Waiuku Paeroa 15 10 Aug 7 Thames Thames 9 9 Aug 28 Mnkau Paeroa S-union 15 11