Championship Matches.

NZ Truth, Issue 104, 15 June 1907, Page 2

Championship Matches.

Perfect weather , favored lovers of the winter pastime on Saturday i and the attetid4bfce at 'the Park was a - ffain on t|ie x lar£e side. The tun", however, was very sprt. The several .results, paritted out as follows ':— Athtetric V I IV Mfelr osa 3, ; St. J^es 11 . Weli^ton U ; Orientei ,18, Old Boys ..till ; Pjeton^ 29, Victoria College 3. . v vThr';]fflel^ose-Attiletic game, played oil ;N0,..:,l ground/^at the Park, -was it. struggle betweeii the forwards^ aftd owing i;o tie state of the Wf was not of an interesting nature for ths onlookers* . . . ' . During 'th i first Spell tjie tine forwards rn^de the' pace "' warm, and 1 scored thre^ <tries, two of which Wer» converjbedi W Atkinson. ai^d Eyenscn. Hafi O'Mea:a ; used -bis. bead and parsed to his viii'g instead of tryi^K to 'Scbre; himself- his ■ side Would have aMtsifi-a&o-tier try. „ v -y . • •;', ■ M&ftet r letnbn spelli'- the Metros* ma<l» on atteinpi : ft6 play 'a back gajne, but as the men had rievfar tried tiie before the result was a failure; .; Tl 3. bail woultj cotoe tj\it from ■Mthe feerums to the ;h«ilf;: who }?dt . *Id of it, h\x t the fif^-ei^hth. either .was collared before he :could :pflss,'i.or thr.iHiss went wide. ► ' ■■"■'■ ■' Sfienoer, vho usually has r.ith«: b&ll kicked into his: hands by his opponents* had f<w opportunities to Mftß his hearfc-'br&k-in.g kicks Into iifes, -attd his forwards suffered ftccordingiyv ' ; The v *Melr<se" ! full was 'not as- conspleuous ■- as -tigaal. His oprnrnta kept 'the ball" i away ? from "him as 'much' as po sible, and when ' it cam e his way th^ was usually a blue.forward with ft.- ;.; ■. ' ....- ' ! . McKay, tlougjh he made one OS two ajttempts t hvd no luck#with ,his vpp.t shots >at thfei^oal. ■ „> .' The half- rack; Sinclair, attempted to fee-d ®iv ie behind him but the result '^was a failure. , ■■: ■: , > King, , the witogHforwaru, played a hard- game, but should < bear Jn miftd that H -ti»e/ Mil should be his •abject, ■flrtd lhat paying an opponent is first •allowed.. H< -was lucky m hot catchih» vtiie . eyejof the referee on OSie • '6'r two pcoasiottS. . . .; ■ . -I.te blur barks : cont3rt f .((l ' vhwtj* f.DJ\es with aavine their fovwi^rd^. , •'■ .1 when tfiet» .pot- possef«ion >i. i tef ,-<;t'lf6d. vfor the line and ■ :*?a^|v. :J'>vensen was very Conspicuous «ih^ Spt m ; somc «reat boot. work. ■ The forwards were s^o.tt b* con^ di tlon , a ndi the heavy , goi * j; , tppk what little, :hfiy ha;d out qt thfia.. .Bell, w;hqse fast following up en.abieid him t> score, is a forward who does more than his share m tha work of the tefam, and plays th» i, game, sis it ) should b© .played . " • Wilson wa? too well lqolfed after. . and was not ,so ,i conspipuous as usual. Osbprne, Jwlib m&de his; first appearance m -senior ranks this season* la another, sol jd player who plays th* Kame and does not waste, time talkStandon was prominent m the first spell, but if the second the. play wai kept too ctyse for Mm to shine.

For tSe first time this season Victoria College has scored • also lot- the , first time . this season it was lead-^ ing. Th« Collegians played a good attacking game— for about twenty ,raihutes-?tM^B Petone took a hand. /The first %se\\ was very evenly contested'cm the whole, Victoria College initiated" several promising rushr es, but the. faciNthat the backs can't, or won't), ... take the. Itiall— and this remark applied especially to Prende'ville, "who was 'playing five-eightii-— prevented them from scoring. The 1 Miramar grounds were j n a Da d 'state oh Saturday; but the one allotted to the ' Oid-Boys-Oriental lor their -contest' t-Ouk the cake. It was pretty well- a' sea of mud from end to end, tfie only difference beinir that m" some places, it was thicker tl'an •others. • : At' -an' early stage of tbe proceedings the players were' caked m mud >tp such an extent as to make them almost unrecognisable to .their besjj friends . Under such- conditions the exabiition ©f Rugiby was a poor one. ■ Neither combination was represented by anything like its full strength and the services of junior players ■were enlisted' for the occasion. In thd first', sp&l .Matheson, Roberts and Wells crossed the Old: Boys' chalkmark, Anderson, Wells and Lile severally repeating . the performance m the succeeding half.; But for faulty passing ■Vvd-n. the. Oriental rearguard the tally" of points to. the .Union's credit would probably have been larger. *."'•'■■■■■■■ '. ' ...•.■• .-. . ■ "Cocky" Dawson was the only representative of the Old Boys' back division to do himself credit, aftd his sound defensive play staved off several onslaughts, ; ; In the ' Oriental scrummaging brigade Lile was noticeable for consistent graft, and Anderson, Roberts and CJeary were ths Lest of the backs. Owing to pressure on our space this week \J. am- /Compelled to shorten the criticism, en .the doings: in the St. 'James v. Wellington match, which ended m a draw— ll points each. In the first spell WelliK*tcm notched six pointsV'Per medium of a try .by Riley, and a penalty goal 'kibkedi by Seilars. • v \ ■ . When lemon time had ended. St. 'James 1 got early to work by registering a penalty goal, Crewes 'being the kicker. Warwick and Bunckenberg raced, % across tie WelMnEJton line, Orewes adding the? major points ; m theulatter instance:.' ■'• Henrys -got over the -"Jimmies' " obalkmark. The same wajk interesting, each teamvfcein£> tent on keeping the hall m -play. Neither was disposed to keep the\ proceedings, closed up, but She failure of :t>he' St.' James', reareuard to turn its advantage to pro- ' Stable; 1 account left openings for the - yellows, "who made i^te best use. of " what f^ll "their way. ' : ' ■'., ■;■' The weakness of, the St. . . James' -rearguard wSsaigain a want of' har"'mony ( vfcetweeh the five-eigJith , and _;centre J - •thfceiq i uarter 1 The handling "■ was not always certain, and what , openings were, made were put to less s) use than Was the case With the yelf lows. Singly, the backs were good on ; . the whole. ,As a combination .they '/""rdid no#-' perform so hdffhly ; as 'm 'former matches. ' ' . • It wa s also , . noticeat le that tie St . ; "James I , ibacks.lost chances on-seyer- ]■ id occasions of effectually" blocking , the yellows when the 'latter. got with.--.....in. striking distance by playing) too „ close up, to a, scrum devoid of , the requisite pustvinp 1 . power for defensive purposes. Had they been confronted s . with! packer, nippier and cuter, oppon- - ; ents -t-hs result would have, been a. most disastrous to them. . The Wellington baoks were 'lively, r. : . and .their handling and kicking, was . i capital: The passing was' generally • well-timed and accurate,, "but there ■ were times when the men were slow to get moving to receive the pass, and -so threw away finishing, -touches io the initiation, of sparkling tit-bits , whi' h should have led up -to sue- .-•. cessful. scoring results. . The yellow rearguard might have backed each other better though. Ne- • gleet to : do' so brought I disaster m its train when Warwick crossed their chalkmank.. The defence was not the personification! . 'of soundness or sureness, and'J the stopping was sometimes execrably weak. Some really Rood work -was put m by the' yellow packmen. They were the heavier com!bination, and played much the stronger .g-ame*. There were occasions When they Lad the St. James' babks ' adequately covered and . on the leather- getting amongst the latter the. Wellington forward brigade : was 4 quickly on ? top of them. What the yellow scrumma-gers want badly is -expert coaching in -tight tactics. Thomas, who may "be put down as (the most .forceful kicker m Wellington, was: not as good as he might have •been 1 when I,he yellows were aggressive. He made"- several errors, and Wit for good fo-acKing up by Ferguson, 'Ro-ber-ts and others there would have ; b€fen heavier scoring debited against ; his side. , His caitchinKi was unreliable aod his fielding lacked cleanness and sureness. ■ If Thomas wishes to get into bigger Rugby company he will have to" show more Agility m the field and take a hand at' going for l;he rough : stuff .when it happens his way. Buncfce nib-erg . was always on the bal l xnd none d«i r better service for his .side than ' our white-haired friend. "Bunckey*". is always seen to advantage, with" the ball at toe, and m the follow-up and tackle. The value of hea#jiess at a pinch, might be. impressed', upon both 'the St. James and. Wellington hawk divisions'. Neat bits of combination, alertness and resource would have" paid both when , strongly attacking. The every-man-for-himself style comes off only 'When .you're clever enough to bring- it to a fine art.