RUGBY FOOTBALL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21829, 18 June 1934, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL

GRAFTON DEFEATS OTAHUHU EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH SCORING ' PONSONBY-UNIVERSITY DRAW Fine weather prevailed for the continuation of the Auckland liugby Union's senior championship competition on Saturday afternoon, and there was again a large attendance at Eden Park. For the first time this season, however, the main match lacked excitement and thrills. The contesting teams were Grafton and Otahuliu, and, as tho score of 38 to 25 indicates, the defence of both teams was very weak, resulting in a succession of trios. r lhe first spell was fairly even, but Grafton never looked liko being beaten after tho change round. - Ponsonby aud University had an interesting duel on No. 2 ground, tho former making a late but successful effort to draw level at II points each. With the two teams in the curtainraiser equal in championship points, it was a battle for retention of A grade itatus, and Technical surprised by claiming such a substantial margin over College Rifles at the finish. Grammar had a comfortable win over Marist at the Show Grounds. Manukau had a bye. Hie results of Saturday's matches place Grafton in the lead for the championship, this team having an advantage of one point over Manukau. After next Saturday three teams will bo Relegated to the B section, and Marist 7js certain to be one of them. The other two will como from University, Grammar, College Rifles or Otahuliu. Following are the results of Saturday's matches: — Grafton, 38, Otahuliu, 25. Technical, 19, College Rifles,' 4. Ponsonby, 11, University, 11. Grammar", 1(3, Marist, 8. SUCCESSION OF TRIES • TEAMS SHOW WEAK DEFENCE Very weak defence was displayed by the Grafton and Otahuliu teams on numerous occasions during their match on 1 ground at Eden Park. This led hp to the scoring of some simple trios, una the crossing and recrossing of the. respective lines became a little monotonous. The result was that before the end a large proportion of the spectators turned their attention to fso. 2 ground, where a close match was in procress between Ponsonby and University. The first spell of the came was evenly contested. The Otahuhu backs and forwards followed up fast., and this en abed thtm to tsmolher the passing rushes of the Grafton backs, who were frequently caught in Possession Grafton secured more of the ball horn the set scrums. Whenever Otahuhu obtained the ball in the first spell Hedge, the first five-eighths, passed • before he had run up to his man. with the result that the baoks outside him were easily chased straight across the field. However, lie mi proved greatly in the second speU. arid made one brilliant dash that leel to Gladding scoring one of the best tries of , Grafton forwards played „ a Y'J. fi ," e came, every man doing his full share to wards gaining victory. The b * c * s im-nressive as a combination. Stuart snowea improvement in the five-eighths line while Currey displayed much dash on the \ =. Paton was bustled a few times, but ho m Lazaro™ C and°Peterson rl played outstanding games Tn the Otahuhu pack althouph the other* were all genuine grafters. Solomon cave a good exhibition of halfback Pl I and the whole line looked a more dangerous scoring combination than the opposition. Pearson played a splendid nll-r°iind Kame i at centre. His anticipation of play was cx--7 cellent while his ability to. gather, pace ciuickly not only led up to his scoring a nice try, but enabled him to make an opening for his wing to cross the line on un--6 Whit O e oCa the OD btahuhu fullback., and. Inglis Grafton's half, with minor injures in the first and second spells respective iy. Otahuhu drew first blood five minutes * four' tnes kicked t Tlr T>e A al E. Austin was referee. / ' GRAMMAR SUPERIOR MARIST AGAIN DEFEATED Grammar. Old Boys beat 'mmm I I Sages Grammar again exerted itself, and " C Thf Marist towards stoutly resisted the ; G?ammar a p%: but did not o of the ball from scrurns. Iho £ ram:n backs used to advantage i fnrwnrHs vet were, by no means as « 'centre. Clapham, and the secondl fi eighths. Slyfield. Clapham always tried to AnA nil onenine an example of this initio tive h.ine 'lis ™ ovc ,hat enabled. Grammar Inn" Slyfield made amends for this Ron played splendidly at iuUOacic. *'< steadiness and strong, accurate lacking constituted u performance unmarred by err . Marist might have done better but for the fast breaking of the Grammar 01%va nnd the indifferent play of Mullcr at first five-eighths. He lacked . sharpness in at nnd persisted in running across the field and cramping his supports, the play of the second five-eighths. Hassan, , nd rordingly. but his straight runnin„ and well-placed kicks frequently helped his side. The outstanding Grammar forwards were Knight, Lockington, Macbeth and • ,C!ir j borough. For Marist. W. Hadley played I ! keenly and received pood suppoit from ' .Tudd, Eville and McOrory. About 25 minutes after the start the ball travelled out to the wing, where Hammon allowed, himself to be beaten by Bell-Booth, who ran down the line and scored at the corner. Elliott failed to convert. SooYi afterwards Clapham received from hlyneld and, cutting in, pierced the defence before passing to Hammon. who scored between the posts. Slyfield goaled. Tha second sptfl had not. been m progress for long when the ball was passed from a scrum out to Slyfield, and he ran past the , defending backs to gain n try. lie failed / to convert A little while later Stehr began an attack, from which Slyfield scored fairly easily, and also converted the try. Mnrist attacked vigorously, and Hassan made a fust dash and scored as he was tackled. Loombe converts!. Almost immediately Loombe let Grammar through; Buckley kicked the ball and, following up. fell nn it for ft try. Slyfield missed with the kick, and the game ended Grammar, 10; Marist, 8. Mr. C. P. Paull was referee. TECHNICAL'S GOOD WIN DEFEAT OF COLLEGE RIFLES Technical's victory over College Hides was well deserved, although the margin of points was perhaps a little flattening to the winners. The game commenced brightly with both sides opening up. play without achieving much combination. Technical opened the ' score at the end of 10 minutes. 'he spell continued bright and open, with Technical holding an advantage throughout. Another - try gave it a lead of eight points, and just before half-time Murdoch electrified the crowd by running right through the College Rifles' team with tho ball balanced in one ! hand, only to bo beaten in a final scramble. ' Shortly after the resumption Souter canle off with concussion and was replaced in the College Bifles pack by "Watson. Technical quickly added to its points, Murdoch scoring his Becond try. Stung by this reverse

College Rifles began to fake more interest in tho game and Kirk notched his side s only points with n good field goal. Iho College Rifles' team was having all the better of the game territorially, but its back movements were sadly lacking in penetration. Until the final whistle the Collego Rifles' forwards continued to give their backs plenty of chances, but Technical had more method in its attack and added two more tries to run out an easy winner by 19 points to 4. ~ , The Technical backs were uniformly sound. The threequarter line especially overshadowed College Rifles, Oldbury. Turbott I and Common being at the top of their form with Turbott. at centre, and Oldbury par- | ticularly prominent. McAdam was a rcliable link, while Murdoch nt first five-eighths revealed flashes of brilliance find many times left the defence standing. His backing-up was a pleasing feature of his game. Aro was as reliable as usual and scored one very pretty try. The Technical pack supported its backs well and in the open esrieciolly was a great factor in the attack. Savoury showed up well in loose passing rushes, while others to catch the eye were Ansley and Weber. Kirk had plenty of work at fullback for College Rifles nhd came through most of it with credit. Tho College Rifles' back lino was definitely overshadowed, most of the movements lacking direction, wfth nobody able to straighten them tip. > This. was largely due to the excellent, smothering of the Technical backs. The defence was wanting on several occasions and Technical s policy of short and centring kicks often caught the opposition out of place. Little of the blame for College Hides' defeat could be attributed to the forwards. They more than held their own for most of the game and gave .the backs a generous share of the ball. Batty was outstanding, especially in the first half, while Stone. Ware and Hurt, were solid workers. Technical's points came from tries by Murdoch (2). Common. Aro and Oldbury. Murdoch and Aro each converted one try. College Rifles' score consisted of a dropped goal by Kirk. Mr. J. G. C. Wales was referee. ELEVEN POINTS EACH PONSONBY AND UNIVERSITY F.xcitement, prevailed until the final whistle in the match between University and Ponsonby on Xo. 2 ground at Eden Park. Forwards and backs alike struggled hard for supremacy, but the game ended in a draw, although there were some anxious moments for both teams toward . the finish. University took the offensive at tho kickoff, but play was very patchy for a time, until Boswell and Kedgely broke through and things looked dangerous for Ponsonby. This put tho Ponsonby backs the alert . and they played solidly right until tho end of the game. Ramsey took play into University territory and Lendrum kicked a penalty goal from a fairly difficult angle. University then attacked strongly for a time, butr solid defence by Fraiikham and Moses kept the. sidft out, until Jenkm .and Bush, with a vigorous passing rush. Krdglev an opportunity to score. Bush failed to convert and the score was 3-all. Ponsonby then took a turn at attacking and Frnnkham and Jamieson made several valiant attempts to'brealc through, r many Pearson fought his way through to score in a handy position. Lendrum converted, and at half-time the score was:—Ponsonby, 8; University. 3. , Universitv again took the offensive when play was resumed, and with powerful runs and splendid line-kicking Caughey kept Ponsonby in its own twenty-five. Jenfcin and Mnlvihill were supporting their centre well and Inglis gave very good service from behind the scrum. Kedgley, who had proved dangerous on the wing, sustained an injured eye and was replaced by hirkmnd. Lendrum proved very useful to Ponsonby at this stage and. by judicious use of nis powerful line-kick, brought play back into the University twenty-five, where Frankham, still playing magnificently. Was unlucky not to score. A penalty outside the Ponsonby twenty-five was converted by Bush. • ~ A brilliant piece of back work was then seen when Caughey stopped a pass from Jamieson, And Mnlvihill, racing through, snatched up the ball and passed, to Lewis, who scored. Bush converted, putting University ahead. 11—6. Ponsonby then made a list desperate effort. Fraser broke through and scored wide out. Lendrum failed .at goal and the exciting encounter ended with the score 11 all. Boswell and Bush were outstanding ill the University forwnrds and Thomas was always very useful. Fraser. Potter and Knight were the hardest workers in the Ponsonby pack, while Warren was very consistent. Both teams had a fair share of the ball, although toward the end University was getting most of it. Caughey was the outstanding University back. although others showed up well on occasions. Frankham. .Tamieson and Lendrum all played good games for Ponsonby. Mr. G. Peace was referee. LOWER GRADE RESULTS Senior Grade B.—Representative trial: B team, 12, A team. 8. „ Junior Grade.—Grafton. 3, Northcote, 0; Mamiktiu, 20. Trinity College, 6; Marist, 8. Grafton Colts, 3; Eden. 12, Suburbs, 3; Grammar. 6, College Rifles, 3; University A 6. Technical Old Boys, 0; Oratia, 8, University, 3; Newton. 18. Suburbs, 0. Third Grade—Suburbs, 12. Northcote, 0; Technical Old Boys, 10, Eden, 5; Collego Rifles, 17, Eastern Suburbs, G; Waitemata, 14. North Shore, 7. ' Intermediate Grade.-—ParnelU 33, Tamakr, 0; Grammar. 9. Technical Old Boys, 3; Ponsonby. 21,' Manukau. <H. Suburbs, 12. Northcote, 0; Grafton, 25. North Shore, 0; Otahuhu, 17, University, 0. Fourth Grade.—Northcote, 24. Otahuhu, fi; Grammar., 19. Takamma, 0: Manukau, 6, Ponsonby, 4; Suburbs,„ 17, Marist, 3. Fifth Grade.—Eden. 10, Grammar. 3; Ponsonbv, fi, Manukau. 3; Technical Old Boys. 9. Marist, 0; Suburbs, 27. Grafton, 13; Parnell, fi. Technical Old Boys, 0. Sixth Grade.—Northcote Won from Otaliuhu by default: Suburbs. 16, Manukau. 11: Parnell, 13, Technical Old Boys, 0. 'Junior Boys.—Senior grade:. Eden, 29, Taluipuna. 0. _ Intermediate Grade.—Eden, M, St. Barnabas. 0; Suburbs. 29. Manukau, 0; Parnell, 0. Northcote, 0; Newton, 13, Otahuliu, 3; Good Shepherd, 20, Y.M.C.A., 0. Junior Grade.—Manukau, 17, Good Shepherd, 0: Takapuna, 23, Suburbs, 0; Newton, 18, Eastern Suburbs, 0. „ . Secondary Schools Matches.-—Sentor grade: Sacred Heart. 22. Takapuna Grammar, 3; Mount Albert Grammar, 15, King's College, 6. 'mill Second Grade.—Grammar B, 17, Technical College B. 0. Third' Grade.—Auckland Grammar, 40, Technical College, 3. Fourth Grade. —Sacred Heart, 27. Takapuna Grammar, 4; Auckland Grammar, 25, King's, 0. Fifth Grade.—Technical College A, 3, Sacred Heart, 0; Auckland Grammar, 30, Dilworth, 0. —- Sixth Grade.—Auckland Grammar A, It). Sacred Heart A. 0; Otahuliu, 32, Sacred lleart B, 3; Grammar C, G, Mount Albert B, 3. Seventh Grade.—Sacred Heart A, 8, Technical College A, 6. House Matches. —Bridges and Ov<?rington, G, Hydra Bacon Company, 3. SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS MANAWATU BEATS DANNEVIRKE [ijy TKUxMiAi-n —rntfss association] New Plymouth.—The Taranaki Rugby Union's senior championship matches resulted Tukapa. 17. Clifton, 3; Stratford. 10, Stars, 3: Opunoke, 14. New Plymouth Old Boys. 13: I'atea. 3. Kapoilga, 3; Eltham. 14, Stratford United Old Boys, 0; Hawera. 20, Emnire Old Boys. 3: Okaiawa, 22, Waimate, 11. Masterton.—The Wairarapa Rugby Union's matches resulted:—Carterton. 12. Martinborough, fi; Old Boys. II Dolefield, 3: Red Stars. 20, Musterton, 8: Gladstone, 10. Featherston, 0. Danncvirko. —In an evenly-contested game, in which the winners showed better back combination, Manawalu defeated Dannevirke by 12 points to 11. In the first spell Majiawatu scored nine points, a potted goal and a try scored by Dcvine and converter) by Findlny, to 0. In the second half Irvine scored a try which Findlay did not convert. Dannevirke's score consisted of two penalty coals kicked by O. Grant and a try scored and converted by Cochrane. I Wellington.—First division: Poneke. 11. Hutl. f>: Marist, 24. University,' 7; Wellington College Old Boys, 12, Petone, 12: Fasfbourne. 27. St. Patrick's* College Old Boys. 9; Athletic. 9, Wellington, 4. Second division: Ponek®. 15. Wellington. 10: .Tohnsonville, 15. Petone. 7; Mebose-Selwyn. 12. Athletic, 8; Miramar, 11, Onslow.- 5: Berhampore, 4, Oriental. 3. Christchurch.—The ranks of several of the senior Rugby teams were weakened on account of players suffering from prevailing influenza. The matches were played in perfect weather. Results:—Merivale. 14, Sydenham. 6: Albion, 11. Old Boys. G; Linwood. 13, Athletic. 3; Sunnyside. recently promoted from second grade, beat a weakened University side by 22 points to G. Duncdin.—Rugby matches were played in fine weather. Results University A. 8. Southern. 3; Kaikoiai. fi. Alhambra, fi: Zmgari,l 14, Dunedin, 3: Pirates, 6, Union, 0: Taieri, 25. University 81,B l , 11,