Last Saturday's Results.

NZ Truth, Issue 416, 14 June 1913, Page 3

Last Saturday's Results.

WELLINGTON. ~ Mcl rose (8) v. Athletic (6). ; ..- Petone (19) v. St. James (13). Wellington (3) v. Poneke (3). Oriental (14) v. Victoria College (6).

iOnce again, "a jolly fine/ day for it," and with the; expectation of a close struggle between , the leading team arid Melrose, there was a. good niuster af ; 'the Athletic . Park,, the attendance, being-fofficiai^y estimated at 2500. The takings wiU result m tie Union's national • debt beingr reduced 'by nearly a century; but what -is more, pleasing stnt-j to the.. "heads" is the defeat of Athletic and the reducing of their lead ** -to" within one point of the next team.. "What promised-last . week to be a "lean" year, now smites : the vision, as. a. period "vrttli- great possibilities; and, incidentally, fulfilled-, the of certain Union officials. ::■;:. The football shown by the contesting teanis on' No; 1 : ground' was of the droll, dreary description, so frequently Inflicted upon the public, and at no stage 6iC the game did Athletic .and Melrose play with the same vim and dash which characterised their meeting of -a, few. weeks ago., The Athletic for-. wards were minus Wilson and Paton, and the loss of their energy and experience was a handicap to the Blues in -the line-out, and m the close work on the. ilelrose goal-line. Nevertheless^ the Melrose team was very lucky to win, and on. the play the game should have gone the .Athletic way. A^ain, McDonald scored- an. undoubtedy try for Athletic m the first spell, whicli was not allowed by Referee Bob For•flyceT- ' • ' •■.■;'■" '•-. ■'■ ■' -■ ■ , : Although they were lucky, "Old ReP" offers the "glad "paw" to Meirose, and ~ ' hopes they will continue: to winmatches. To take : down a team of the' Athletic's, reputation is a fine perform:ance, 1 and ;one- of i which the iNewtown *> re^. may well feel proud. , .., . In 'the first- spell, Athletic, playing against rthe suni had the better of .the., tussle during? the first -half -fhpur, but were, unrewarded' with any points. The^f orwards were more than holding the 'Melrose pack, but the backs were TiiMLt)le'to f get over the Reds' defence. Melrose asserted : themselves again, and'trbm a ■•line-out- W. Gilchrist secttred, and ' burst over. ' Athletic again took play down to the 6ther ; goal-line, and Capper raced ' " : back behind his posts .m! an endeavor; , to save. He" kicked high, /and the ball beat McVay, but^bbunced beauOfuliy for. Twpmey, Who had followed through. He. set out with Teddy Roberts- chasing 'him, and landed home an. easy winner. Greeks kicked the goal. > « With eight points to the bad, Athletic set about equalising matters, but were unable to quite reach there. , Ldoni and Madden scored tries m this spell, but neither was ; improved upon. The Blues had the better of the play m the major portion of the time, but Bomething appeared to be loose right through. 'They, appear to 'have gone -- Btale since they fixed np the Petone goose, or mayhap -they have got swelled .heads, and think . they are invincible. In the last ten' r minutes of the game, Mebrose attacked hotly again,and : were ; awarded two easy shots right m front, but both attempts were miserable. The , Melrose line-kicking, too,' was poor all the : afternoon—^the team badly . wants a Geo. Spencer. '*■'. The winners' full-back, Capper, caniaot be compared with a streak of greased , lightning. He was labored m Ws mbyemehts, and appeared to have/ gone rignt off. 'His one redeeming piece, of was his kick down-field when Twomey scored, bnf"6ld Rap" tTiTnirH Capper meant to find the line \ on. that occasion. r . , "Rivers was dashy" on .the wing, but got few opportunities. Flack, at centre, was off his game, and was unreliable m his fielding; the other wing, Coffins, was fair; he is m poor condition, and could do with a few -nights', training- at' the 'gymnasium! - Twoihey was the- best back on the side, if. not on the ground, and. never 'missed :an opening. He, however, did riot comr bine with his fellow-five-eightli, Greeks, at any staged of the game. _Greeks did not leave a good impres"Tfcn, but he is one who : may improve t^th a game or two. Harry Marshall, at half-back, did a heavy afternoon's work, but did not get much of the ball

from his hookers to! set his hacks go-' ing ■■'••'"■-.■. In the vanguard, Melrose held their own fairly well, and at times broke away m great style. Their f ollowingup was also very good. A. Gilchrist was the pick of the hunch, and did fine work m all departments of the game. D Sullivan WES also to the forefront. "Bull 1 - 1 Sullivan and d'Brieri were not great successes as, hookers, but both did hard labor- "as if to the manner born, m the tight. Johnston 'replaced Oakes m- the pack, and proved himself a better grafter than that gent. W. Gilchrist, wing-forward, was overshadowed by his vis-a-vis, but, ; was ever on the alert and the ball. Athletic ■ backs started off well, hut were disorganised as soon as Evensen was injured. Adams, played well at centre, but was not so conspicuous at five-eighth, appearing to be too anxious m that position. Sim Wilson was quiet for him, and McDonald was right below form. Robinson was noticeable for; some nice line-finding, but did not do much m opening up the play. Teddy Roberts was busy- all the time and poked- his nose' into all sorts of places with varying success. Madden, who filled Evensen's; place m the second spasm, was nippy; his try was a neat effort. ' ' / ' Cunninshame was the best .man on his side, and played a "heady".' game throughout. 'Ding-dong Bell felt lonely without his pals, but nevertheless lead all the Blue rushes, Luoni and Ryan took the absentees' positions," and both .toiled well. Ryan, who is an off -shoot o£ the Eetone football family, looks like turning out a. good 'un. E. Orsborn performed' -satisfactorily, whilst Brudder Jerry and Paddy Murphy, had complete cojitrol of the hooking branch of the game, and seldom missed the ball. It was . unfortunate for Paddy and his side that, he forgot to bounce the ball when he landed his goal. It didn't count; The dub should presents him- with a ' pocfeet compass and, directory, so that he :.can correctly locate . his position and. help to keep • on side. He got his team penalised about 999 times' last week for off-side playj and his mutjered "opinions of the referee's ancestors nearly brought on the. rain. ,■ ■ ,V . . . > .-..-,. . ..' . ... At the commencement. of the season "Old Rep" called attention to the departure Irom Wellington of the*. most successful of our. referees, and predicted that-as a.result we would this year have inflicted . on us some wonderful whistliijg stunts. Well/ they have arrived, and m great force. Each week the tootlers appear to- go one better, and Referee Fordyce, who acted last week, was, the "dizzy limit." In ruling McDonald's try out of order, he was absolutely inexplicable, and jnany of his . decisions m the second naif quite took one's breath away. And Mr. Fordyce is one of the Committee whose duty it is to select and classify senior referees! './'"■. ','■■ The battle on No. 2 ground between Petone and St. James, although not replete with sensationalism, provided some bright flashes. \ Petone made the most of the sun. and. wind in:th,e first spell, and ran up 16 points to St. James' 3. It is ;as well, that they, did, for the Saints took a hand m matters, after the ; interval, and notched; a further 10 points to the three of Petone., .The town team's improvement was mostly accounted for by their forwards. Petone played a very open game, throwing ■ the ball about with great avidity. It is a notable fact that Geartown mostly fail, and fail badly, when they endeavor to turn on the tight game, as they invariably do against Athletic. So long as Ithey take all war risks they are m a class by themselves.' Of the Petone team, McKenzie 'played m his best form, and was primarily the biggest factor m his . team's success. Dansey played his best game to date, and made some brilliant runs flown the • touch-line. Nunn and George Parker woxe both on the job and helped to complete a fairly safe baqk , team. Darby Boyd was \ not as prominent as he has been of'latss.. ■- >■' In the forward&y Parker, , Biir Ryan, Parrant, and BilJ Ready (in,' a - Jesser degree) ; were .'responsible 'for .good yvork.«.v ..^Pen" Arrowsmith made his debut for the dark biues, and played a solid game on\the fringe of the scrum. "Die Happy';' life appears to have agreed with. him. St. James started off one short, but within a few minutes they were one „.•■-■ v

over, and Algy, -Thomas prepared ; . to amuse himself on the bank. Poananga with much consideration then managed to get his face cut open, and retired, ■•' and so Algy got his chance. '•Glory, be to Allah !" as Oscar Asche ! says! m "Kismet." J 'At no stage of tlie game were the; ."Jimmy**, backs impressive by their display, biit : the forwards played m fine style . in^ the. second, spell, and were I a source of much annoyance to the Petone. backs; especially those who commenced side-stepping; . Hills again proved to! be the best of them, and scored two really good tries by _his persistency m being where the ball was. ■ ■'■", -■■■. ■'.■'" j , Out- at, Petone, Wellington and Poneke flew at each other's throats, and. a •'-, iwearisome; game ensued. Both 'teams are credited with ' playing their' worst games to date. From all accounts, itwas a deadly performance, and Heaven help the Rugby Union if ever' they should decide such a fixture on No.-- .1," the Park.. Truly, the Rugby public suffers much.. Neither, side won, and. it would have been a great pity to have distinguished between them. . ■■'■ ■■- % -■■. . Away in" ble^fc, barren Johnsonville, Oriental vanquished Victoria College • by 14 to 6. The ground is dotted with tufts and -mounds, and quite unfitted for even Boy Scout tracking. . Had tie- teams battled very seriously,: ttiere,' would m all probability have been some serious *■ casualty to . chronicle: If the Rugby Union were alive to their responsibilities, they would either dismiss Johnsonville as a playing re-, sort, or let a contract for the falling, stumping and levelling of what they

He plays withy vim aid vigor, likewise he plays the ball; Always m the front brigade, hard work he. does not "stall." At least, "Old Bep'-' -. has noticed, so Sandy gets the doubt, Buf, should he catch him .bending, well, Sandy, just , look out.

are pleased to, call a playing ground. It would be unfair to criticise either team under such" adverse circumstances. ' -'■' The table reads this week as follows: — ■ ■'■'•. ' ' oi v ■& iS o to P . t( < Pw Name. *g. . . g S & Q ." S F p P P P< O Athletic ... 8 7 1 0 83 35. 14 Petone ... 8 6 11 112 63 13 Oriental . ... 8 5 3 0 93 56 10 ..Wellington ... 8 4= S 1 46 45 9 Melrose " ... 8 4 40 69 46. 8 Poneke' ... 8 2 5 1 36 85; 5 Victoria 001.... 8 15 2 48' 87 4 St. James ... 8 0 7 1 42 109 1