Old Boys’ Week-Old Lead Trembled In The Balance

Northern Advocate, 21 June 1937, Page 7

Old Boys’ Week-Old Lead Trembled In The Balance

Rugby

gENSATIONAL upsets apparently are always on the cards in the Whangarei Rugby Union’s senior championship this season. The tendency for the unexpected to come uppermost has developed now each,of the five teams has settled down. / That the class of football being turned on is appreciated is proved by the patronage which grows every week. Considering the prospect of a heavy ground, more than justified by the state of Rugby Park after heavy rain, many of last Saturday’s large crowd could.not have expected the fireworks which were to come in the second part of the Old Bpys-Kia Toa . clash.; - '' Excitement reached its pitch when the lead which Old Boys had secured only the previous week by their great win over Hikurangi, was in jeopardy. With only a minute to go, however, they snatched the brand from the burning in a thrilling climax. •Little again separated City and ’Karamea, who drew, eight all, in their first encounter. On Saturday, the metropolitans pulled it off by a single point. The surprise in the junior grade Was the overthrow of the leading team. Hikurangi,; by Old Boys, who held the advantage throughout. It was a worrying day all round for the lead ers in the different grades. Whatitiri, senior B pilots, figured in a scoreless draw,, and Hora Hora were overthrown by the High School third grade team.

ing downfleld with a nice burst of in-and-out passing. _ . An infringement spoilt it, and Kia Toa countered per medium of Williams. Webster backed the centre up nicely, and things looked nasty for Old Boys until Smith, running towards his own dead-ball area, found the line with a safety kick. ■ ... Following up a ball centred by Collins’ Tapper caught the Kia Toa,fullback, and Knew, piloting the pack, was there to pick up and cross. Both kicks missed,, and Old Boys led 6—o after , rather an uninspiring , first half. Lively Onslought,

A lively onslaught by Kia Toa resulted in C. Moore diving round a. five yards scrum for a try. J. Rika missed the kick, as he' did a rather easy penalty. However, on the latter occasion, Kia Toa regained possession, Edwards, in a 3 inky run, cut out a couple of men and threw a long pass to Williams, to Patterson, who showed acceleration powers to cap off a lively movement. Hats' were in the air# as Rika put his side two points in front, wJth a kick from the sideline. With only a quarter l , of an hour to go, and the Maoris thoroughly on top, an Old Boys defeat appeared certain. Old Boys forced, but, in the last five minutes regained their grip. Darting round the blind side, Tap-, per, now a five-eighths, opened up to Collins, who sent on ; to Smith. .V:-Tfler half picked the ball off his toes, and, recovering his stride, went across for a magnificent try. Tapper 2 repeated his amazing goal-finding of the previous week, landing it from trie lefthand touchline., Teams:, ■ ... „ -i- '

i s - Old Boys.—Masters, Symes, Tapper, Alison, Saul, Collins. Smith, Jones, Scarborough, Me Master s, Hart, Bradley, Boreham, Whiteman, Knew. Kia Tpa.—G. Moore, Patterson, Williams, Baker, Edwards, Webster, C. Moore, Tito, Tikena, Amon, Sam and Sonnie Alison, P. and J. Rika, White. Kia Toa’s Dashing Play.

Early in the second spell, Saul whs injured and was replaced by Skelton. Old, Boys owed their close call to the dashing play of their ’ opponents, especially in loose work, and the inability of their ' own rearguard to function efficiently.

It was not until the closing phase that faults, in the inside positions, which had been very obvious throughout the game, were rectified. When Tapper moved into five-eighths, Alison to centre and Collins dropped opt on the wing, there was a noticeable improvement. ■> Neither Collins nor Saul was a good feeder unit. Tapper turned on another good exhibition wherever he played. Masters’ finding of the line from any position was again excellent, but he speculated on a couple of occasions. Early in the game, he proved that a high tackle is sometimes justified, when he imprisoned Baker’s arms as the fast winger was diving for the line. Scarborough met with success as hooker, and Jones and Whiteman were leaders in the open. In recent games, Patterson has reached .top form as a winger, and on Saturday he played an inspired game. Edmonds stood up to a great deal of mishandling and still got accurate passes away. Webster, an Otamatea senior representative last season, played in the curtain-raiser for Waikiekie juniors, but retained sufficient vim to put in several dangerous runs. Playing close up, Williams shattered Old

Boys’ passing rushes with solid, tackling. |

Sonnie Alison was a tower of j strength in the line-outs, and is a for- ! ward well worthy of consideration for better things. In better condition than ever before, Sam made some telling runs, which usually were not stopped until half a dozen opponents attached themselves limpet-like to him. In the decisive concluding minutes, Kia Toa were unfortunate in losing one of their best forwards, J. Rika, who suffered a leg injury.