RUGBY FOOTBALL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4696, 26 September 1938, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL

HETET SHIELD RETAINED.

DRAWN GAME WITH OHAKUNE. Te Kuiti retained the Hetet Shield by drawing, 14 all, with Ohakune at Rugby Park on Saturday. Play started off rather raggedly, but became keener until, at the end of the match, the spectators were tense with excitement. Up to a few minutes before the final whistle Ohakune led 14—11, but a penalty kick enabled Te Kuiti to draw level.

Play in the opening stages of the game was mainly confined to the forwards, Ohakune holding the advantage owing to the many penalties awarded them and to the rushes led by Hancox. Rzsko took two penalty shots at goal. The first missed narrowly, and the second opened Ohakune's account. 3—o.

A penalty kick by Dowie for Te Kuiti scraped past the upright after swerving suddenly outward. A quick thrust by Te Kuiti saw Max Waretini whip the leather to Hayward, who crashed a way over by the posts. Dowie converted. 5—3.

An epic passing rush, instituted from deep inside the 25, resulted in Ohakune taking the lead once more. Kane gave Hardy an opening, and such was the latter's speed that no Te Kuiti player could get near him. Rzsko missed the hard kick. 6—5. Before half-time, however, Te Kuiti again took the lead. Jackson crosskicked and, the Ohakune winger failing to get under the ball, R. Barlow and Richards bore down, the latter racing round the corner and thence under the posts. Dowie screwed the easy kick off his boot. Thus the halftime score was B—68 —6 in Te Kuiti's favour.

Hectic and exciting play was the characteristic of the second half, during which Ohakune claimed two field goals* A short left foot kick by Dew brought Ohakune's total to 10 points, but a penalty kick taken by R. Barlow returned Te Kuiti to the lead. 11—10.

A hard forward struggle, with individual efforts by the backs ensued as first one team attacked and then the other. Richards and Dowie both saved certain tries, but when a scrum on the line by the posts was ordered Ohakune took advantage of their chance —after the ball was hooked it was passed back to Ward, who dropkicked a goal. 14—11. This setback seemed likely to give the visitors the victory, for though one or two Te Kuiti players were breaking their opponents' defence, there was no combination on attack. Richards and R. Barlow were both responsible for spectacular runs. Mainly, however, the game developed into the forwards buckling down to hard loose play, with some short passing, dribbling and harrying rushes by Ohakune countered by individual bursts by the Te Kuiti players. Excitement was at a high pitch when R. Barlow was successful in placing a difficult penalty shot between the uprights. The game thus ended in a draw, Ward failing with a penalty kick that was his side's last hope of gaining the trophy. The Te Kuiti side was a trifle lucky to retain the Shield. Though the depleted side they put on the field played well as individuals, there was little co-ordination, largely as a result of the ball coming so slowly from the scrum and lineout. The half-back, Barton, received little help from the pack, and Hancox, undoubtededly the best forward on the ground, was ready to risk playing forward to lead the extremely successful raids. This upset any hopes of orthodox attack, and every back movement was initiated from the open play. Hayward, Gilbert Waretini and Len Wi were probably the pick of the Te Kuiti forwards. In the backs Jack Barlow staged quite an impressive comeback, R. Barlow was constantly beating his man, whilst J. Dowie as full-back played a cool and heady game. Richards showed a return to the form that raised high hopes of this player's advancement at the beginning of the season.

Much interest was taken in the King Country full-back, Ward, whose sure handling and long, low kicking was a source of great strength to his side. The back line swung away nicely on occasion, but except for the time that Hardy outstripped the opposition they could never break the Te Kuiti defence. It was the raiding and smothering of the forwards that worried the home team the most.

SENIOR B SEVEN-A-SIDE.

WAITETE TEAM'S WIN.

The senior B football season was brought to a close on Saturday when a seven-a-side tournament was staged at Pio Pio for the Snowdon Memorial Cup, which was won by the

Waitete A team. The tournament was a successful one from a football point of view, though very few people witnessed the matches. The football, was of a high standard in most games, there being very little between the teams. The Waitete A team was easily the best in the tournament, playing first-class football. They had the most essential factors in a seven-a-side tournaments-speed in the backs and good combination. The fact of scoring 24 points in their two matches to nil clearly showed their superiority.

The Pio Pio A team played good football, although they leaked combination and understanding. Waite, Cullen and Trust played good games. Results were as follows:

Pio Pio B 8, v. Mangaotaki B 0. Waitete A 15, Mangaotaki A 0. Pio Pio A 6, Waitete B 3. Pio Pio B defaulted to Waitete A Waitete A 9, Pio Pio A 0.

The Pio Pio B-Mangaotaki B game was slow but hard. Pio Pio's points came from a score by Cullen and Dempsey, one of which was converted by the foi-mer. The Waitete A Mangaotaki A match- was the best of the day. The Waitete team were too polished for their opponents, and combined very well—most of their tries were gained through the ball travelling from the half back to the wingers, who scored most points. Tries were gained by Matthews, Anderson, Thornton, Arnold, Gatam..

Pio Pio A were better than Waitete B in their match, but the latter was very sound on defence. At the end of the match points were even, 3 all, scores being gained by Waite for Pio Pio and Grace for Waitete. Two 2-minute spells were ordered by the referee, a score or force down terminating the game. In the second spell Cullen scored for Pio Pio.

In the final between the A teams of Waitete and Pio Pio, the first half was fairly even, but in the second spell the blue backs were too fast. For Waitete, Arnold (2) and Matthews scored tries. Mr. J. Wilson referee.d all matches.