SATURDAY'S MATCHES

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 170, 20 July 1908, Page 2

SATURDAY'S MATCHES

The second round of the Senior Cup contest has now concluded, and the position of the teams is as follows :— m W. D. L. Pts Awatere 6 — 1 6£ Moutere ..... 3 2 2 4 Opawa ... 3 4—3 Central ...... 2 4 1 2| • Awatere have now a strong lead, and, even if they should win only one more match, must gain the championship. Moutore hajpe strengthened their position, and there are those who assert that the black-and-whites will not lose another game, that against Awatere included. Both these teams are examples of .what a great difference one good man makes; Awatere without O'Brien and Moutere before Manning joined them, were teams -which, although possessing good in■dividual players, yet had no masterliand to 'mould them into one compoite whole—and the clubs which suffered by the loss of these two men are now at the bottom of the list. Both senior games were played on the Show (Ground. No. 1 (ground, on ■which the Awatere-Opawa struggle took place, was in fairly good order, "but. the other was simply a;quaginir.e. The usual trouble occurred with the <;rowd, w^ho swarmed along the touchlines in utter disregard for the-play-ers or the ladies who were standing behind the wires. Ope or two Rugby Union .officials, assisted by aeonstable, attempted to keep the lines . dear, but almost as soon as they reached on© end the spectators were Back on the other.' This sort of thing is on a par with1 the behaviour of a section or the public in Market Square «ni almost any evening, and cannot be, "too strongly deprecated. ■.- !

AWATERE (8) v. OPAWA (3). Those who have.the true interests of football at heart could, no| be anything but disappointed with"this game --or at least with certain portions of Y-it—and v the referee cannotj be held blameless in the matter. .; It seemed as it he let^he players get out of iand, and could not regain control •>' <>ver them. Punching, vicious kicking^ bad language; throwing a man iafter he'had got rid of the ball—these were some of th« features at which exception must be taken unless the Rugby game is to be allowed to degenerate into, a p.luggingT-jnatch. Mr Bodson,; no doubt,1 did his best, but nevertheless he was not half strict V . ■ A\yatere vvon the toss, and played vwith the sun behind them. O^Brian kicked off; and Saunders returned to vostello, who found the line at midneld. Awatere carrjed the first . scrum, after which a short period of £- $ ay Meowed; then P. Casey whipped the ball out to Saunders, who it to Herbert; whence It went to OBrien, Daly spoiling the bout by massing his pass.-<Y An Awatere for-ward-rush was well stopped by Dunckley, and a free r kick brought the Opawas relief. The Awatere forwards ticked to G'Rourke, who missed, and they then rushed, the. ball over the line, Dunckley saving by forcing. The yellow-and-greens kept up the attack, f n iV?. 111 a Gambling passing-xush the ball came out to J; Casey> who knocked on when right in front of the Opawa goal. The blacks; cleared their •hnevwith.a free-kick, biit a free to Awatere brought the ball back, and more tight, rough play followed till a rush by A. H. Oben and Paul • carried .the leather to v midfield. A ■/■■ yfae.n> Clouston and O'Brian took it on to. Awatere quarters, but a long kick -^whict O'Rourke allowed to bounce was the means of putting OpWa on the defensive v agam, Forbes contribute .ing to this position with a good dash alon^^ sideline: O'Brien had a pot, but the ball went under the bar. picking by the ;•• respective backs brought play to .the. centre, .where Awatere infringed the rules. 'Good tollowing-up by Clouston spoilt the rereturn, and the same player" was soon afterwards 3Ust beaten in the race for l£ c Aall' which had been kicked over the Awatere line. A mark by Galloway and ** long . liner by Peafpoint kept Awatere defending, and the Upawas assayed a passing-rush, but IWkley missed. The ifwatere forwards, led by;Eorbes, then set in motion a dangerous rush, which Galloway stopped, and Opawa were given a free kick. A penalty to the^greens ) soon followed, and another was the means .of, taking play to Opawa! couri-' try, • , well-judged line-kicks' by O Brien serving to keep it there for some time. Eventually C. O'Brian broke away with the ball in his possession, but was unsupported. In a tew.mmutes he repeated the processthis time _Costello was handy, and -kicked out m Awatere territory A ■ f£ rum \f as f°rmed near the Werthe ball came out to H. Obeir who ; passed to his brother on the blind side after a. short run; A. Oben, after gaining some more ground, passed to «£?' ' In4- t116,--(?PW- win Ser hashed over. O'Rourke's kick, though a good one failed to find the posts—Opawa 3 Awatere 0. "The greens retaliated with a great onslaught, J. Casey and Higgins rushing tlmball right & the -Opawa line. Saunders marked, and OBnen had a shot at goal, which caused Opawa to force. A kick by H Oben and good following-up by Martella and (Houston took play & neutral quarters, and then Galloway made a great run down the touch-line, but went too near, and the umpire's flag stopped his progress. The result of a i number of scrums on the Awatere line was that the greens were forced PearHi7 s grassed by Bogle, who had followed up well, and the Awatere forwards rushed the ball to the Opawa JSl'V«i CofteUo and Clouston cleared, ' ™f 2 U?° n Sot 7 away- With only 'W An t° pas- S) he clvn S *<> the bail instead of passing ■ when he did pass ho gave Paul a bad one, and the terT 06 S kS" A f ree'ki(;k to A^a" •' T»an^, °Pawa , were defending agam.M: Costello carried the ball ovef the line, but lost* it, and Opawa were enabled to force.' Th e P kfdS brought only a short respite, tight play m black country continuing; then U iirien had an unsuccessful shot from a freerkick, and Opawa again forced. Half-time was now called. On changing ends, the greens immediately commenced to attack, and a to forL° B A nen ™m^ d the' blacks to torce. A number of scrums then took place m midfield, from which P Oasey whose forwards were getting the ball, attempted to institute soSf passing-rushes; but his five-eighths were unable to handle the ball Accurately, and no ground was gained. M Costello followed up a kick of his own at mjdfield, and the slowness of the ■ Opawa backs nearly let him through O'Brien's kicking was standing his side in good stead. He repelled the Opawa attacks whenever they came his way, and sent the forwards back . with excellent kicks to touch. From a mark by P. Casey near the touchline O'Brien centred near the Opawa goal-posts; the Seddon hookers sent the ball to P. Casey, and he to Saund<ers, who lifted it over the bar with his

foot.—Awatere 4, Opawa 3. The Opawa backs seemed now to be breaking up, and several times the Awatere forwards broke right through them; Forbes made a long kick to black quarters, where Saunders marked, and O'Brien, made a good attempt.at goal, which forced the blacks. An Awatere passing-rush came to an end when the ball reached Daly—or did riot reach him, as he missed it. A number of scrums followed in front of the Opawa goal, and)Saunders had an ineffectual pot. ;H..,/Oben kicked out to Daly, who made good his previous- mistakes by registering a fine "goal.-. —. Awatere 8, Opawa 3. It was not long before the Awatere vanguard had tne ball back' in Opawa territory:.';'again, but H. Oben : and Patehett relieved, and the blacks carried play to midfield. Here , a free-kick ivas given them, but O'Brien's return-more than neutralised matters. Several times the blacks penetrated into their opponents' country, but were always driven back by O'Brieri's artillery. A cjpuple of free-kicks to Opawa were followed by a run by O'Brien, but Costelk> collared him, and the black forwards then, rushed the leather to the Awatere 25, Herbert gaining a timely mark. M. Costello broke away, and put Opawa oil the defensive again. Dunckley and- A.. Oben came to the rescue when their side were in difficulties, arid then the ball burst. On jresumirigj the Opawa forwards took the ball into Awa.tere's base; but v he übiquitous O'Brien repulsed them. A couple of free-kicks put Opawa on the attack, but a dribbling-rush on the part of- the forwards was spoilt by their over-running the ball. An- exciting time for Awatere followed, the blacks pressing them very determinedly. However, the defence was equal to the occasion, and Herbert cleared the line as the whistle sounded.

It goes without saying that O'Brien was the hero of the Awatere backs. He had an "off" day in regard to placekicking, but otherwise his play was splendid.-- Saunders, at five-eighth, and P. Casey, at half, were also good. J. Casey and Higgins, on the wing, were prominent m the loose rushes, and of the serummers . Forbes and Webster were the best. H. Oben was Opawa's -star performer, getting his side out of trouble and the enemy into it on many occasions. A. Oben made some good runs, and Dunckley was noticeable when there were rushes to be stopped; the other backs were offcolour. Paul and Galloway, on the wing,, both did some fine work, the former in particular giving by far the best exposition that he has done this season. Clouston was the best of the forwards proper, O'Brian and ,McJlenna also showing up well. Mr F. W.. Dodson refereed.

MOUTERE (13)' v. CENTRAL (5). This match, played on theN east ground, served to bring two good men out on the Moutere side (Ross at nve-eighths, and'Skelly at half)! The. game was played on a slithery, greasy mud surface, and the ball seemed to be only . half-inflated. Whether mud or ball, however, the backs, especially the light-looking blue rearguard, found great difficulby in handling the leather; In the first spell the Centrals were outclassed in all departments, and were defending most of the time but in the second half they brightened up a bit and made the game •interesting for a; while. The Moutere backs played with rare combination; and, considering the. nature" of the ground and ball, their passing was fairly good all through and at times brilliant. , . ; .Moutere kicked off, and almost immediately became aggressive. From a scrum in the whites' 25 Skelly picked up, and the ball made a passage through the hands of Ross and Manning to .Peter McDonald, who made a dash -for the line, but was thrown out at the corner. From the throwout Ternll centred, and after a few returns a - dangerous Moutere forward rujh was marred by a pass forr aTdiu F^? m a scrum¥ the white line the^ Moutere fliers got possession, but Parker, with one of his meteoric dashes, intercepted a pass meant for Manning, and took the ball at his toe well down the field. Moutere quickly took the leather back, and Ross had an unsuccessful try at goal from a penalty kick. On the Centrals charging prematurely he had another try, but again failed to over the bar Shortly after Skelly again in-itiated-amassing rush, transferring the ball to Manning, from whom it passed to Peter McDonald, the latter racing strongly for the line. A score seemed inevitable, but McArtney gamely tackled the big Moutere aI 6'^ 3?^? and saved the situation. A hard + kick from a line-out beat Pattie, the Central full-back, and a race ensued in which the Central man was successful, a force-down resulting. After some give-and-take - play the i white rearguard again got to work, i ' but Peter McDonald's attempt to S ; score was again frustrated by McArt- : ney. Moutere were attacking strong- !: jy, and Sheridan scrambled over the j " hne and scored first blood for Mou- \ ££f« T * r«giste i red the major ' Pomts. A tew exchanges occurred, 1 and Ross, kicking well up the field, ( followed up fast and secured the oval ■ but was pushed into touch at the cor- ; ' /ac°"^ i !

ner. The Moutere back line were ' playing with nice combination. Manning got possession and passed to Skelly, who niade a fine jinky run, and when collared returned to Manning, who handed on toPeter McDonald. The Moutere man this time beat McArtney and crossed the line. Ross was again successful with the kick. A series of scrums and linesout followed, in which Moutere had the whip-hand. Skelly whipped the ball out from a scrum to Manning, who passed to P. McDonald. The,, latter made a dash for the line, but McArtney was there, and averted the danger. Half-time found the whites busily attacking. -.: Shortly after resuming Terrill, who was playing five-eighth, got a nasty kick on the ankle, and for a short spell exchanged . positions with the full-back. The blues were putting more "devil" into their work, and were making strenuous efforts to score. Their passing hitherto had been of poor quality; but a pretty piece of back play resulted in "White getting over. Terrill kicked a beautiful goal from an acute angle. The game *now grew fast and'furious, arid it was not a "beg pardon" game either. Sowman headed a rush which looked dangerous, but .kicked too hard over the white line, and O'Dwyer forced. When the ball came out again the white backs' gave a brilliant exposition of the passing game, in--which Nolan, Skelly and Ross figured, the last named getting over, Ross failed with the kick. McArtney was mulling the returns, > owing to the greasy nature of the ball. Just before the call of time Skelly got away again and passed to Nolan, who nearly got over at the corner, and the whistle sounded with the scores : Moutere 13 points, Central 5. ,

Mr Chisholm was referee, and gave every satisfaction to both players and spectators.

Skelly behind the scrum and Ross at ftye^eighths played a great game for the black and white team. With Manning, who ' was playing centre three-quarter, and P. McDonald on the wing the Moutere back division are a nippy lot; and will take some beating. J. McDonald, Nolan and Sheridan were the pick of an even lot of forwards. W. O'Dwyer was safe at full.

On the Central side McArtney played a plucky game, and with a little more confidence and head-work will develop iiito a useful threequarter. He had a hard row to hoe in opposing P. McDonald,, but stood up manfully to the task. Parker shone up at times, and saved the situation repeatedly. The forwards all .worked hard, but were not a match for their heavier opponents.