Championship Matches.

NZ Truth, Issue 98, 4 May 1907, Page 2

Championship Matches.

•: The fates were again kdnd to foofc bailers on Saturday afternoon last, when another series of the Senipt Championship matches were decided with the * following, result : Athletic and Oriental played a draw-"-l# paints each ; Petone beat Old Boys by 31 to- nil ;- Wellington ' went under to Ponelte to the tune jof 11 to nil, and Melrose walked over Victoria College, the margin m favor 61 the" red and blues at the finish toeing 34,, the Collegians failing toscbre. The weather was delightful, and the going at the Athletic Park left little cause for grbwling. on the part of the contestants. From a Rugby view-poiftt, the Old Boys. v. Petone game is worthy of no comment* , The, V'nfiw-chuni- '•• combination, made no headway against the suburban team, whose . vanguard, tore through tie indift'e'rejrtlypacked and weaker opposing forward division. The Old Boys' rearguard was misera/bly weak, especially so m defence, and the tendency pf its members to get out of position when play was m their • quarters made matters simple for the other side m the matter .of going over the chalk-marjt. Generally speaking the passing of the Old Boys was badly timed and mis-directed. The stopping was horrible, and the fielding and catching poor m the extreme. The tendency to run across the field instead of pbinsc straight whan opportunities loomed up was noticable all through. It .would hardly be fair to judge the Petone team on Saturday's 1 show-ing, opposed as it Was to Such a weak team. The fdrwards evinoed plenty of dash and energy, their loose rushes wore executed m union, whilst their . foot-work Was often

first-class. With more combination m the tight the suburban brigade would be hard nuts to crack (wr, the strongest of other senior vanguards. The backs struck one as safe, though brilliancy is not a characteristic feature of their display. Their defence is solid enough, but m attack they appear to be sluggish, and incapable of quickly engineering, a n enveloping movement for the discomforture of their .opponents. Going; on Saturday's form I should say that if the suburban forwards get beaten at any time, the rearguard will not be equal to the task of pulling them out of the soup. ..'.':■ There Was no triokiness or cleverness to speak of among the Petone backs,, ami their line- kitting Was of precious little service to the forwards. Their, inability to diico\er a mistake of the .other side and turn it .to profitable account , was alaringly illustrated when the Old Boys ' rearguard was playing the "fool" half-Way through the second spell.i '. '■ " ' ■ ; The haphazard scramble for positions m tiie Old Boys' pack was ludicrous, and m nine cases out of ten the ragged formation was easily! crumpled by the ''shoving" scrum-a-gers from the . suburban township., In point of physioue the white forwards make a , faiirly preventable showing, but , their listless and unskilful tactics- court disaster every time. ■••'•- - There was a- good deal of roughness- m the '- .tackling line, ' and "Bumper" Wright .; was. an : .archoffender in •■'■■■ this; ;'.:The early suppressions of " Bumper ;?.'• will be necessary if trouble is tojbe avodded. Some fine • afternooft the Petoneite will strike a snag m either a Melrose, Oriental, or Ponelre player, and the consequences might 're unpleasant to him. One of th> Old Boys ' three-quarters was grabbed . around the neck by '.'Bumper,": and 1 thrown heavily after: ;he had transferred the., ball to another. Is "Bumper" looking for another^ s^eli on the banks ? .It Would, gelem . so. Petdne, is going to feel the kbsence of "Dunk" McGregor for his place-kicking alone, .-■■• The, attempts from easy J'anges te pildt the leatheir over the crossbar 6b : Saturday were screamingly fuftnyr' ThOugH five tries were notched m tlie; . firgt spell, not a: single one was improved upon.. The marksmajn.sb.ip m the Succeeding half, tpo, was not a ffeax With Togo's . dftiil6ry\ m the iStiraits of Japan.It was a- champion Raffle ,, for breaches of the i rules, and referee Francis shut his -eyes to some glaring irregularities'. His decisions Were often ineompreTiensibie jq those who understand the game, m ali its Bearing. Francis should make . has% to digest his rule bdokinore tßarotighly. No wonder skipper -Hardihain was constrained to offer = a, mild protest against one peculiar decision, of this 1 very pefiuliai 'referee, . ..... .' • Cdcky ' i DawSdn made the finest run ifl the match" when he" darted ddwn'th© tdUchline towards, the close of hostiiltieis; and within .indh^s of the. coveted fcbalk-mark. -.' VGoeJk^;" made the mistake of sHkr-tf^inß for the posts when a. sifiipie. s#efve the other Wayi would probably Have baffled the opposing field, aiidearhM a try» It Was a . filashi/ttg -furi, aM splendid dash*- and deseryedi a better fate. Had the cc^tr>e^ree-Ki!u&,Btfer supported him, as he should have done, fldthiiifc tin earth could hfite Stopped tHi'ee pdiii't^ff.om vfaeiflg-de-bited against . Petoni; .^Gocky ' ' ; w4s commiseratied upon for. having fiad such hard "nozzle." : Eiias will make a more; proininetiiti name for himself wheil he learns to use biti feet ortenef and taore accutctirateiy, and Studies the art ol ieUttiß» m When oiriiumstanoes; demand that course. He has speed; t)a»h, and vitality, but has ia pronounced disiuclinal>ion to tafee on the rduph stuff. ' . ■-.••■■!■■•;.■.:.. . ■■,-. Jiiii Barber has ldsVndne df his old-time aolidnesS, but hifi pace appears to have decreased .somewhat; Mick Ryan and Brother Jina were let off With pasy toil, and Green, behind the scrum had something <iii the ii4- :- ture of an aftetti i b6h picnic. ; Grt#fl is trioky 4 tut not o^ver-burdened wiifo cleverness, aad his five-eiehth .found this so on several occasions m pld Boys' tWenty-five. - -...'- . JoloQtsdn and Elip wduld dd w^ll to remember that it Wprkg padly as ■k> rule fo* two players to be -incliti- . Ed witli a desire to display . .their catching ' abilities at. the. same time. Johnston landed.his side dii. difficulties twice- by rjinhitiK hick to. take a Mgi retUffl, instead of l&aying his full back -"to negdtJatte thfe task , The inollirig. ' between, ttte pair ended,, m Byrne -- swooping ddwn and registering, a try the first time. - Byrne is m great "iiick** just Mw. The Petdne nian has setoiiVßly „ kept himself m fettle durinS the ofi-Em-son. He Was efer. m the Vail m tnfe loose rushes, aiid his iduick followitt^ up paralysed the tortoise-like backs m the white jerSeys. He has, however, a penchant for 'playing offsMe.. - -.'■-,. ■ „,. "The '-e&tlY- ! hb6t catdhes the ball' 1 is an aMom disregArded by* the OM Boys scrumtnagers; lii 4t least three instances against Petdne th4re Was open couniry where a good "root," followed by a quick dash oh the part df a ftirwaifd of back tif, Moderate spirihtirig abiii'ties would lla^ie rone very near to taldng the ball &ver the chalk-niark. ; Otterson, the ex-Wellington College scrunvhalf . was m sore straits by reason of the tornadolike tushes of the Pefco&e forwards, and the little felldw'had atacks d'f hard graft m attempting to stpm the headway. Hjs stoppins, however, was not always sure, whilst his passm*; Was anything bait the essence :tty-tc-cision m its execution. What dn earth WeTe the Old Boys doing when. Petotoe i f esi^te^d iti first' try. that old same of, Vthinking" has landed many, a tfam iu't«

c bad hole. It is the softest try J I have seen, scored at tie Park m inese contests, and the "dullheadedness" of the whites v/ould have been i nny had it not teen so painful. _ The Oriental-Athletic game was an iute.estuvp; one for the spectators present, first one side and then the other holding the advantage, the result being doubtful till the call of time. . There was. an absence of .tight play and the game, though at time rugsed was Fast and open. The blues, Tor the first time for some seasons, managed to secure their sbaive of the ball from the scrums, and thus enabled their backs to. take a share m the game, though sa&lv handicapped by the,, .loss of their fiveeighth, S; Wilson, who lost his col-kr-bone at an early stage of the game. . The Oriental backs, with the exception of Roberts and Highet, were disappointing, and had not the .weight of their forward brigade told its tale m the latter part of the game, the* result might have been different. : One of the pleasing features of Ithe game .was the place-kicking. Out of seven attempts six went fairly over, and the odd one only missed By inches. Roberts for Oriental kicked three goals, two beauties, and 1 Evens?n two for the blues, also one which was disallowed on account of the leather touching a forwards' fingers m its flight, v - Hie-heti, who filled the position of full -back lor-- the Orientals, has never teen : seen- to better advantage, fielding and kicking really well. Furrie scored a try m the second spell,' I'is pace enabling him to beat the opposing backs. Matte son and Scott were disappointing, the latter especially so. The five-eighths were not up to senior form, and though well fed by their half, -made no use of the bill when they got it. RoleTtts, at half, was the mainstay of his team, for besides kicking three goals, the bulk of the defence fell to his llort r Lile, though carrying a lot of surperfluous flesh, played well at forward, and -was well supported, by Gillespie and Manning. ■'__, Collerton was a source o^ .^-nger to his own 'side and his opponents. The writer does not think the bright- ; hoaded one is ' intentionally rough, but thlat tie looses his jhead, and butts out at the ball, and sometimes gets some-thing else instead. The evergreen Tom Hales; who filled the gap caused by the retirement of Wilson played as well at full for the blues as he has done m his best days. Evensen was the star three-quarter and if he keeps up his present form must excite attention from the selectors whpit they . come to business. Cunningham, on the wing made his •first appearance this season, and shaped well. With experience he should turno ut a good man. ■ Murphy, at centre, was unlucky. ff\wo appeals he made for apparently fair marks were disallowed by the referee, and his opponents, knocking the ball out of his arms, led up to the tries scored by his opponents. Pownall at half did his work well, and got rid of the ball to his backs smartly. / A Wilson Was un4oubtedly the best forward on the ground, and the two tries, he scored were well deserved. "He was 'in the front m all the blues work, and on the line-out fairly ,ex- . celled. On present form he must trouble the optics of A'Berny" G*lJagher and Co. Bell and Standen were perhaps- the pick of the remaining forwards, x Who are to' 'be ■congratulated on the way they held their: heavier opponents. Time and space is far too valuable to waste m describing, such an exhibition as was given m. the Melrbse^Vicfcoria College match. The Collegians .were a veritable, choppiogblock, for the red and blues, who were never called to stretch their legs or exercise their ingenuity m compassing the downfall of a combin- 1 atioh which lacked cohesion m oil/ber division, was devoid of strategic «,- bility m the least degree, and proved Tar too sluggish to seize the chances which cropped up at not infrequent periods, owing' to the opposide side throwing union to the winds, and electing • to trust to their individual efforts to perform the trick. Some of the college forwards were not slick enough -to catch worms on' a warm summer's day. Bogle alone glimmered brightly among' the backs, and his stopping of the Melrose forward rushes and tackling generally were redeeming features m an otherwise painful display, as for his confreres behind the pack they would scarcely have done fustice to a school kiddies' team. G. Spencer was en a great goalkicMng mood. On six occasions he. piloted the leather over the bar, 'and potted a goal besides. There are one or two willing, robust, and lively College packmen, but they don't to use their head pieces. This was very notdcable on the line-out, when their mission was to grab the nearest opponent, .Without ; troubling to ascertain whether the ball was m Ms possession or not. Dv Blois is showing weil t-his season. He is . always prominent m the open. ' His weight tells heavily when handy to the goal-line. Altogether, Ive is a very sorry gentleman tn bump up. against. The "sprawling all over the shop" system of the College brigade was enough to send one into convulsions at times. When Melrose got a big shove on there was a wholesale scatIfcering of the College forces. The Wellinston-Poneke fixture was played on a ground which was anything but a billiard table. The holes and lumps which studded the field were similar to ' the crude entrenohments of a Maori battlefield, and how the Rugby Union can have the "knoc'ter" to send ::.en -or teams to play on such a ground Is teyond my understanding. The Poneke backs were m fine form, ani got! through some good passing, but the condition of the ground nullified their efforts to a lar c extent. Wallace's try, ' whore lie delivered his pass and,' came round a 0 :? m and scored was' a masterpiece, and shows what a persevering grafter the Poneke captain is. Throughout the piece the Wellington team seenied to be ■directing the major portion of their vigor, against Walla/?e, but the latter was a long way from being annihilated. v - lc ' Instone did very weil at half, ?nd initiated some-- good passimg rushes. His play was all the more conspicu-

j uous oa account of Hie poor display ;of the opposing half. Toohtll put iv one or two fine runs, and kept the Wellington backs busy on several occasions. The other backs shaped well, and showed good combination. Considering the state of the ground and the fact | that Poneke were without Mitchinson their register of three tries is a i meritorious one. As regards the scrumming qualities of the teams there was not a ereat deal of difference between them. If the yellow vanguard was a trifle weaker m the scrum they made un for it by a little extra dash' m the loose. Carey, thte Wellington Winger, was continually on the ball, and Henry's shone out once or twice by intercepting some of the Poneke passing. With a little more from these two .things should liven up m future matches. ; Wellington's rearguard contained two five-edghths, Barclay and White, but both weie at sea, and seemed to have no understanding with thoir team. Hill was the best of the yellow backs, and his pace stood him m ffood stead on one or two occasions. B Gollan, the centre-three-quarter, hung on to the ball with a tenacity that suggests he would have been a useful forward m the days when mauling was m vo^ne. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he had two fast wings m Hill and Riley. Seilars, the full-back, was fairly safe, and during the play he made a good shot' at "goal from about half-way, the leather missing the post by a few inches. On the whole the Poneke backs seemed immeasurably superior to their opponents, especially as regards the half and five-eighth, and thoueh Wallace came m for a lot of attention from the yellow fifteen, he frequently shone out above it all The defeated team played with good heart from start to finish, and prevented the reds from taking things easy, hut it was evident throughout that they were inferior to them m point of combination.