FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1262, 7 May 1896, Page 27

FOOTBALL.

RUGBY UNION CHAMPIONSHIP

FIXTURES

SENIOR. The following fixtures for the first round have been drawn : May 9th—Petone v. Wellington, Park No. 1; Poncko v. Athletic, Park No. 2. May 16th—Petone v. Poneke, Petono No. 1 ; Athletic v. Melrose, Park No. 1. May 30th— Wellington v. Melrose, Park No. 1 ; Petone v. Athletic, Park No. 2. June 6th—Petono v. Melrose, Petono No. 1; Wellington v. Poneke, Park No. 1. NOTES.

Roberts, judged by his form last Saturday, should bo as good as ever this season.

The Athletic Park ground is splendidly suited for one match.

Nino hundred and ninety-six people paid for admission to the Athletic Park last Saturday.

On the whole the display of the Poneke backs was poor in view of the individual brilliance of the men. There was scarcely a passing rush between them during the match.

Baker's retirement has not improved him.

Gage did not have a wonderful amount to do, but ho was always safe.

On the whole the match was not a brilliant exhibition of football. There was far too much tight forward play for that.

The Wellingtons were not in good enough nick to make much of a stand against the Athletics on Saturday, and the quantity of loafing that went on was surprising.

Besides, Cuff, the full-back, was not of any practical use, having sprained his ankle that morning, He did his best, however, and Roaehe. assisted him in really first-class style.

Cooper played a splendid game at threequarters for the Blues, and looks like making his mark this season.

Taplin hangs on to the ball too long, and it was his selfishness which lost him a good chance of scoring for the Yellows.

The want of touch-line flags on the Tetone grounds was a serious inconvenience, and the state of one of the lower grounds was perfectly disgraceful. The Rugby Union should see that the players aro not forced to play among such conditions as prevailed on Saturday.

The referee in the inter-College match was freely ct 'cisod by some of the spectators for awarding the. last try to St. Patrick's College. As a matter of fact ho was quite right in doing so. It was a fair enough score, and the statement that the ball was dead through having touched ono of the spectators was incorrect.

Besides, what right had the spectators to crowd so near the lino ? Theirs was the fault, and they should not blamo the referee.

ASSOCIATION NOTES

The Senior, Junior and Third-class Championship matches were, all started last Saturday, there being altogether fourteen teams in the field. At Newtown the Swifts boat the Diamonds by three goals to love. Til': gamo waa very slow and uninteresting. During the second spell the Diamonds were almost entirely on the defensive, and it is to thencredit that they only allowed two goals. At Petone the Thistle beat the Thorndon by three goals to one. The latter had only nine men. The gamo was fairly fast and open, and some good form was shown by both sides. At Karori a really good game was played between the Rovers and Queen's I'ark, which resulted in a tie, each side scoring ono goal. Nicholson, at half, and I'lenderleith, forward, played best for the I'ark, while Wooldridge, Abbott and Hepworth were conspicuous for the Rovers. For the Junior Cup the Swifts beat Queen's Park after a hard fight by two goals to one. Naughton, Stevenson, Plajloand Greenside, for the Swifts, and Tra'vers, Leatham and Swain, lor the I'ark, were the best. At Karori the Diamonds beat the Thorndons by four goals to love. For the Third-class Cup the Swifts went down to the Excelsior by three to one, and the Pearls beat tho bed Star by two to one.

JUNIOE SHIELD. kt. Patrick's collf.ce v. Wellington COLLEGE. Tho majority of those who journeyed out to Petone on Saturday afternoon devoted their attention to tho contest for supremacy between the two colleges. This match, which is always looked forward to with a great deal of interest, is generally well worth seeing, and on this occasion was fully up to tho standard in this respect, although it was played much earlier in the has been the case hitherto. The Blues played against the wind in the first spell, and although it had been con-

Isidered the chances were in their favour, they yet found they had all their work cut out to assert their supremacy. In point of condition they were ahead of their opponents, but tho excellent combination and great skill of the Blacks told greatly in their favour, and from tho first it was evident that the match would bo hardly \ contested. For some time the play was of | a fairly even character, until from a scrum lin the Blacks' twenty-five Gaffney I secured the ball, and after a splenI did dodgy run right through tho j Black forwards, secured an excelj lent try amid loud applause from tho Blue portion of the spectators. Campbell failed in the kick at goal. Some splendid forward rushes by the Blacks carried tho play clown into the St. Patrick's territory, ami just before half-time Downes made a splendid run clown the centre of the field and scored, his success being greeted with loud cheers, which were increased when / McKenzie converted the try into a goal. In the second spell Campbell potted a | splendid goal for the Blues, which was followed by another try scored by Gaffney, and converted by Qainn. Shortly before the call of time McGrath claimed to have secured a try for the Blues, and was awarded tho score by the referee, albeit some of the spectators urged that tho ball

was at the time dead. Quinn failed in the

kick at goal and the game ended : St. Patrick's College, 15 points; Wellington College, 5 points. For the winners, Quinn, Campbell and Gaffney played best, while Hales, Kember, Rofhenberg, McKenzie and Payton showed up most prominently among tho losers. Downes put in some good work in the first spell, but in the second spell he tvas rendered unconscious for a short time through colliding with an opposing player, and was unable to continue the game. Mr Finucane acted as referee. THE FIRST OF Till? CONTESTS FOR THE SENIOR SHIELD. PONEKE V. MELJIOSE. The first contest; for the Senior Shield between the first fifteens of the Poncko and Melrose Clubs was played at the Athletic Park Company's ground on Saturday afternoon. There were about 1000 spectators, and the ground was in excellent order. The Poneke won a hard fought game by seven points fa goal from a mark and a try) to three points (a penalty goal). The play was mostly confined to the forwards, and was generally of the rough and tumble order. There was very little open play indeed, such as would naturally be expected from such a splendid combination of backs as represented tho Poneke, especially as their forwards, particularly in the early stages of the game, got possession of tho ball. Pudney, however, declined to make use of tho great combination behind him. It seemed rather strange that such men as Galloway, Lusk and Roberts should remain idle, so far as any concerted action was concerned, while the half was getting the ball. The Melrose, on the other hand, tried to make use of their backs, Osborne, a very smart and promising little player, who played half, never missing an opportunity of feeding his backs, but the result was not a success. Baker fumbled dreadfully and Pollock, on the other wing, did not appear to be c'ass enough. 'J he Melrose forwards are a fast, strong lot, and when they have picked up a little more combination will be very hard indeed t:> beat.

The Ponckcs had the great advantage in the first spell of having a strong northerly wing behind them. In this spell Gago secured an easy mark, from which Lusk kicked a very good goal. A try was obtained by McGillicuddy, but Lusk failed to increase the score. The Melrose had one chance of scoring, a free kick being allowed them inside the Keels' twenty-five, but Campbell made a very poor attempt. The Melrose had their turn with Iho wind in tho second term, and they made things very sultry for the Ponckcs. The Melrose were awarded a freo kick, and Campbell placed a nice goal. Shortly after Bell cleverly obtained a mark within range of the Reds' goal. While the preparations were being made for the kick, Campbell handled tho ball, and iho Ponckcs immediately rushed the Melrose player, and prevented him taking the kick. Tho referee allowed the charge, which ho was (dearly wrong in doin'_r. It; is understood that' the Melrose intend to appeal. Tho winners' forwards, although weakened by the absence of Poland and White (Connail and Broderick taking their places), played much better than was expected, ar.d generally showed more knowledge of the game than their opponents. ATHLETIC V. WELLINGTON. This match was played on No. 1 ground, Petone. but attracted' comparatively little attention, the majority of those who journeyed thither preferring to watch tho more interesting iuler-oollcgiato eontest. The match resulted in a victory by II points to :i tor the Athletics, who quickly showed that both in condition ami combination they were more than the equals of their opponents. In the first spell Hart touched down tor the Blurs, Cooper failing in the kick at goal. Cooper next iconic!, increasing the score in the kick at, goal. In the second spell Tripe scored for Wellington, ami Pritchard touched down for the Athletics, the kick at goal by Cooper failing.

The St. Patrick's College v. Wellington College.' ended in a victory for Patrick's College by 15 points to 5. The heat between the Poneke third and Oriental second was won by the former by .') points to nil. Cording touched down for the winners, and Wallace eonverte 1.

Tho Oriental first fifteen defeated the Poneke second by It points to 5 at Newtown Park. The Ponokos played two men short. A match was played on Saturday morning at Newtown Park between Clyde quay and Willis street school, and resulted in a.

victory for the former school by 25 points, to nil. Petono and Newtown schools played a drawn game, neither side scoring. Mount Cook and Terrace schools tried conclusions, the former winning by P.) to .'5. 'I he Wairarapa Union proposes to play Hawke'a Bay, Bush, Manawatu and Wellington Unions this year.

Mr J. Duthio, M H.R., has presented a silver cup to the Rugby Union, and it ban been decided to allot it to the Wednesday half-holiday competition. The West (-'oast Union is willing to send a team to Wellington this year, provided the latter can return tho visit. The Wellington Union is willing to meet tho West Coast team

in August as suggested, but it cannot undertake to repay the visit. The annual match between the Wesley and St. John's Bible classes will be played on Newtown Park on the morning of the 25th May. The Feilding footballers met tho Red Stars on tho Masterton Park Oval last week, and were defeated by eight points to nil. 'lho visitors were entertained at a smoke concert.

Mr E. Davy, on behalf of the Athletic Club, has given notice that he will move at the next meeting of tho Wellington Rugby Union, " That a club may enter one or more teams for each competition in its class." Tho secretary of tho Auckland Pugby Union lias written to the secretary of the Wellington Union stating that they would bo glad to meet a Wellington team in Auckland this season, but they cannot possibly bind themselves to rcuirn tho visit next year. The Association match Hovers v. Queen's Park at Karori ended in a tie, each side scoring one goal. As far as the play went, the Rovers had slightly tho best of the gamo.

'the Association match Thistle v. Thorndon at Petone was won by the Thistle, who thus had their revenge for the only defeat they suffered last season.

Petone third defeated St. John's second by -18 to .'!. Petone backs played with splendid combination, and every time the halt-back secured the ball from the scrum they either scored or took the ball right to their opponents' goal line. Barber kicked no less than six goals out of seven attempts. Puketapu had three attempts at tho goal from trios, but failed to convert. Stevens potted a penalty goal for the losers. The Petone Club arc placing three good teams in for tho ehampi- nships this season, also a very good team in 'or the Wednesday Cup. The match between the Poys' Institute and the Petone Esplanade Club at Petono resulted in a win for the Institute by 11 points to nil. Foley, Robertson and Olson scored for the winners.