SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL.

NZ Truth, Issue 218, 28 August 1909, Page 3

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL.

Poneke- Defeats Petone and Secures : the Premiership.

Saturday was. not yrtiat one wouifc-call sax i«i£al day for. football. Tfce ta.pt. Kept ofi and the tuff was m fair owter, but a stiff northerly interfere*! with the play, mie' game itself was o£ a strenuous orfler from start to finish, sandwiched here antt there with, clever and skilful work, and of - sufficient interest at times to evoke great hand-plapping right Touud the enclosure. . Interest m the match was evidenced by the big crowd which gathered at the park— something over 6500, and the takings, £353, contribute a record for a clab contest m the Dominion- The . struggles > between Kaitorai and Alhamftra Jn'.DUnedin, . and Ponsonby and City m Auckland, have drawn, large attendances m the past, but the bullion rated m on j Satuniay easily eclipsed that handled by the Diroedin and Auckland Rugby officials on. the occasions mentioned. .- Ponclko pierced the suburbanites' defence on four occasions, Dennehy, TatmabUl, and Mitchinson being try-getters m *te first spell, whilst Elliott crossed the ! chalkmarfc m the second bout. Gardiner added the major points m two instances. Cteartown's men found a weakness m tie Red's' line : of defence on one occasion m the. first half,. and twice after lemon time. McFarlane, : . "W. Ryan, and RardKam .touched down, but neither score was improved upon. . With the : breeze at their backs, the Reds assumed the aggressive, but the Blues, settling down to work m grim earnestness, kept up a stiff pressure tor twenty-live minutes, .after which the town men began to get their .bearings, and Botne sparkling -work by both divisions saw -them at the. end of the spell with ten points to lite good. Both . vanguards dish-dashed and. bungbanged m resolute r fashion. .No quarter was asked and none given. Fox real, solid -'hardness" and deadly tackling, the writer doesn't ever remember seeing its equal:- in club tussles. ' Making attack their mode of defence, the Blues opened the the play m an unexpected manuer while struggling against the breeze. , It was not a diplomatic move- as events proved, for wnen the teams had crossed over, it was ..quickly apparent that the. herculean efforts: of the Blpes- m the preceding 45 minutes -had taken- much of the sting out - : of . their play, -and when it came to hard punching within striking distance of the Reds' base they hadn't. ,the /ginger m them to turn the advantage to profitable account. . , Ppoeke was also assisted by tne weakjudged tine-kicking of the Bine backs, who rendered ineffectual service to their forwards. The taking was generally sure, but the kicking was execrable. "When it came to the town men's turn to face the breeze, with true Napoleonic strategera, they made the game as tight as could be. Walsh cams up to the edge ot the scrum, and his attentions to Green and McKenzie, aided by- the ability of the Red . hookers to' control the ball m! the scrum, baffled all attempts to set | the suburbanite's passing machinery go.- j ing. The Red backs kept their hooseweil j m order, and, at I>he same time lent val- ; -liable ..assistance to their, packmen by . judjciotisly and accurately driving the ' sphere' into touch. . Poneke knew that, its salvation lay m its forwards. The . slightest wavering and the Blue back s would probably have poured through the opposing ranks. The Red ."brigade bunched together splendidly, and the packing was solid m its formation and of a very adhesive quality. With the injunction given to tf»em that "union ;is strength" the Poneke packmen throughout the 90 minutes" play never once ignored it, and the result was an exhibition which surpassed any of their ' previous efforts m the season's engagements. . In the attacking movements of the second half, Petone . displayed an absence of resourcefulness and combination. . There was .too much sameness m the Blues' methods, and the indifferent pairing of McKenzie and Jim Ryan as five-eight • and centre, three-quarter ' lost opportunities which might have led up to scoring' results.' The Petone three-qnarter line, too, was a somewhat disjointed one — all irntt. vidu.al wbrk and no collective excellence. Two or three times the Blue packmen ■wen^ at it like veritable tigers,' baft tfcey were tty against lions, ami Ike assarts —ere of a negligible quantity. in~j«flged kicking, by bo*h Miller, amfi J<po Ryan gave Pooeke its fins* coopfe of trtes. Tfea Red forwards bad aa easy •snap by the faulty play : of ' both the full and wing three-qnarter. One of the finest pieces of work seen on a local ground produced Petone's first try. Near midfield, on the Western side of the playing arena, Joe Ryan secured the sphere from a cross-kick. He had not "Wo much room to work on, but he eluded ,an obviously-meant neck tackle from Slater, 'side-stepped and dodged to the .right from two more Poneke backs, ans, swerving infield past another opponent "who , ' essayed to bar his progress, made !a' nice' opening'' for Green, to whom the .'leather was transferred. The halfback darted ahead for .half a dozen yards and then slung the sphere to McKenzie who swung his forwards into correct position before handing it to Dent. Timing his pass beautifully, Dent, when within a d&en liet of the Reds' chalkmark, gave the' ball to McFarlane, who went over to the 'accompaniment of great cheering m Which even Poheke's .strongest barrackers were compelled to join. It was a great try, dntt no mistake. There was a consensus of opinion that Mitohinson's, whose fast following up enabled him to beat McKenzie for possession of the leather and Miller and Daley' in the run goal war as, and secure

and secure the Reds' third try, knocked on. The referee, however, thought otherwise. Poneke alleges that McKenzie was really the offender: l<'rom the press tabln it appeared as if the Reds' centre three-quarter had transgressed the knockon rule before lie set sail • tor Petonc's chalkmark with the leather m his possession. Mitchinson took a pot at goal m ihe first half, the ball falling a foot or so away from the cross-bar. W., Ryan tried his luck m the same direction m the second spell, but with unsuccessful results. By his harrassing attentions .to Uxeen and company, Walsh nipped several passing rushes m the bud, • thus converting attack into defence. Petone's reps, had a try presented to them wlien ifc). Ryan, on his own base, recklessly shot the leather to Slater, who failpd to grab it before W. Ryan skidaddled over the chalkmark. Poneke's blocking tactics were at ' fault when Petone was pressing it so hard at that stage. Tilyard executed a lovely breakaway near the quarter flag m the first spell, and cleverly eluding McKenzie and Daley, raced as straight as a gun barrel up field. He had only Miller to pass, with E. Ryan, lying handy. Miller, howeser, howled the Poneke half over m great style before tne latter could effect an accurate transfer to Ryan, /and the Blue packmen dashing up m a 'bunch frustrated Tannahill and Gardiner from well-meant intentions to seize the leather and dart over their line. In tue process of grass- < ing Tilyard, the Petone full was "woodened out" for a minute or two. Early m the. game Jim Ryan was tack- ' led by Tannahill with such deadly pre--cision and force as to render him hors ; de combat for several minutes. The story ! goes, that Petone's crack, player was^j found to be. delirious at half time, and ■•'•! didn't know that his . magnificent work,.' was a potent factor m securing the sub-, urbanites' first |try. One can hardly swallow the yarn, though, there is noj reason to doubt that the tatskle had.lasting effects. on Jimmy for the rest of the game. Jimmy Ryan beat man after man while running at close quarters. He bamboozled the . Reds on several occasions. . McFarlane was' clean off with his placekicking, not one of his shots going any-' where near the cross-bar. Mac'p failures are put down to his peculiar placing of ilui ball. Petone's backs went m for too much "ballooning" m the first half, and the result was disaster. Poneke's rearguard with its low-driving touch-shots, kept • the Blues at- bay again and again. Jlitcainson . had an almost cert try m i his bag what time he was tackled from j behind by a Petone forward. The illegality of the proceeding escaped the eye of ' the referee. '• , Walsh was a bit "rocky" -during the '■■ proceedings, a groin kick being his lot.< He pluckily battled through to the end. Not , infrequently Poneke got into trouble* by the backs, attempting" too long passes. The wind had a big say before tile, ball reached the intended receiver. Second spell's proceedings were often tameless by reason of the monotonous succession of sDojled line-out play and re,- i sultant scrums. Hardliam displayed poor generalship m his throw-out tactics and the disposition of his forces. Poneke took no chances and. played for safety all the time. The try secured" by Elliott m the last ten minutes of the game' was a gem. Taking the ball slickly from Walsh, : the Poneke three-quarter got into his stride instantly, and was off -at a great bat with opponents dropping back at every yard. He swerved past two' opponents, who came at him together, and, eluding the j fuil-bacfc, grounded the leather near ; fee corner, flag amidst' terrific cheering from the -Reds', supporters.. It was , a . brilliant run, and. deserved the recognition • paid to itMitchinson executed two or three lovely twisty runs. The Poneke centre is perfecting a cross-iick which he would do I well to eschew on occasions. ! In the . first half the Petone hookers had the best of the argument' as regards taking. After crossing over, Poneke's front rankers were- successful m getting possession and the Blues were unable to even up matters. The Reds controlled the sphere admirably. Green had' a ravenous appetite for breaking through the. Poneke paefcmen m loose work m the first spell. Price's blocking methods failed to shield the Blues i half from Walsh and Gardiner, Walsh getting m. some ttetdly spoiling work time and again after lemon, spell. Poneke's rearguard was a more harmonious body than the Bines. Miller, the Petone full, was very weak with his kicking. His taking and tackling, as well as stopping, was first class. Jim Ryan gave another solid display, some of his work being really clever. Neither of the wings, Joe Ryan or Daley, were remarkable for brilliancy, their tackling being the best ■ feature of their work. McKenzie was safe m handling, block-, ing and tackling. His attacking work showed signs of stiffness- Green was alert and skflM and put up a fine allround display. Hardham played with .plenty of dash, and was always thereabout m thq loose rashes, whilst his collanng was superb. Of the packmen, Lindsay, Dent, W, Ryan, and Shardlow were most conspicuous. Lindsav was especially noticeable. " Slater's work as goal custodian for Poneke was very solid. His tackling, stopping, and' kicking were alike <?™yn«*». **}. Ryan was only ordinary. Mitchinson put m some fine work, and Elliott was a very strong link m the tiiree-qaarter chain. Walsh was more effective on the fringe of the ficrinn than at five-eight, and m the former •■ role did splendid saviag w»ar4. Flanagan, coiabmsA taezly -nxHh Mitchinson., His defensive work was almost Memssbicss. {Kryasd played to test saa*f. o2 _tte season, asrf. t?as irtSte, if aayaHag.ntfanbr to Qcesn. In rashstoppaag ha' eeiipsßd the Petous saaa. He was very nippy and clever m attack, tardmer was ftdl of dash on the wing, me Foneke scrummagers all played well, and no player couW be singled out for special excellence. , Petone's adroitness on the line-out was noticeable. The Blue scrummagers, by reason of Hardham 's blunders, ihad not : the chance to ram the advantage home what time Poneke was defending its citadel m the second half. In around-the-pack play Poneke evinced its superiority. The suburbanite forwards showed the best judgment and force Un supporting the man with the ball, and this brought aa exceptionally ibrilliant try. to their credit. x Sav L one or two of the Red forwards take the off-side risk m the course of an enveloping movement— with ,the set purpose of spoiling the Petone half-five-eight confederacy, their off-side being executed m such a way as to leave small- chance of a penalty being given against their side. / Poneke's success was as much .attributable to generalship as to anything else. The defence of both teams was great. Deadlier and surer tackling has never been seen before on the Park. The attacking powers of the Red backs was superior and their combination better than Petone. There was more opportunism about the Poneke rearguard's attack. Petone's forwards were very lively m the first spell, but the strain told alter changing ends. Poneke had a bit of luck m its trygetting missions. The other side, however, had reason to bless the fates. Noticeable about the exhibitions of Jim Ryan and Mitchinson that they invariably beat a man before getting rid 'of the ball. Their colleagues were "not s o keen on doing the same. Some ol the pace the rival forwards had on when following up a lofty kick militated against their tackling. However, Ihey frequently compelled the man' with the leather to get his kick m and smartly too. Dent's line-out work brought into bold relief the weak efforts of many of his matea and opponents.

The contest demonstrated that m actual merit there is not a huge difference between the two combinations. II Poneke forwards had played the same game m other matches of the season as they did on Saturday their supporters think .that no third match would have been played against Petone. Poneke went fiill speed ahead Tor fifteen minutes m the second hall", and Petone "had its hands chock full m repelling the invasions. The rally showed that the Red forwards had plenty of oxygen and devil left m them. Poneke's backs bunched too closely on - attack. It's not always profitable for the runners to form a straight line. Often the pass goes forward, but, if accepted, the receiver has sparse room to work m, hence his being invariably nabbed with the ball. Tilyard and Green opened the game up a treat at times. They broke away clean on their little "own" and made some , spirited dashes which took the crowd. The timing of the passes by the Blue rearguard was not the best thing m their afternoon's work. There were plenty of dull moments m the opening stages of the second spell, and Poneke's tactics made it so, though the Bines' skipper did his little bit to assist them. There were no attacks of "cold feet" when tie witling stuff was turned on --so.-: often. There was plenty of vigor m defending and attacking on both sides. Poneke's game of "keeps" was naturally unpleasant to the Blue barrackens. ; Had Geartown's men adopted the same j policy m the first half, the result might' have been "different m the end.