IS INTERESTING

NZ Truth, Issue 1233, 18 July 1929, Page 16

IS INTERESTING

Competition Rounds In Taranaki

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Taranaki Rep.) Taranaki footballers had an afternoon m the mud on Saturday and- the teams that could meet the conditions fared best. LJEAVi' rain all the morning made the ■*■ union consider postponement, but I it cleared for the afternoon. Still, all grounds soon became a sea of mud. With tho ball 'greasy and heavy, spectacular play, was out of the question. . All the leading teams won and with only thr£e nibre Saturdays to play, tlie position is Still' interesting. In. the north, Star. '. 18, Stratford 17, Trigjewoort 15,, are m the running. In the "Bq,u,th. Opjinake ■ 20;- 'Okaiawa 19, Hawera ■iS,iwill fight hard.. . ■• • !NexJ Saturday should clarify the position somewhat. -in the north, as • : Star meet Stratford and Inglewood 'play 'Old Boys. ' •" ' "'■ . Opunake met Athletic at JTawerai Tuki, the' Athletic full-back, was m great kicking form. He secured two penalties and a converted try. . ~ Dymond, ,%he. Athletic half, went well. He uses tlie (lummy to advantage. • Meyrick was m good form and- scored: a. nice try. ■ ■"■ ■■''-', ' v ■ •': ■• .•■ ■"•'- ■ Dowrtle and Lay are a handy pair for Athletic. .; Tfc. Hohaia, the Opunake ■"■half,, opened up the game well, but, had left' his goalkicking' bioot 1 ' a't v hoine;' and 1 so had' Harrison. <The full-back. •' . . :. , G.VHohaia, at; five-eighths,' ran straight. His' try' -was. J.he result .of quickly sizing up an opportunity when the opposition hesitated; v' ■'' ''.^ : '■'■■■''.' ■- Rutherford went better than ho has done so far this season. ■ . Liusk,. Conroy and O'Rorke were the pick !of. a goo<T set. of ' forwards. . Kaponga'kept Okaiawa busy on a slippery .ground and it was* not 'till the second sp^llrthat they, could prevail. :. E;>:'eargah; who had been playing well, scored' 1 Kap6riga's only try. In the second spell, R. Clarke scored twice arid the irrepressible Ike once, for Okaiawa. ;. Kaponga forwards played a hard game and tackled solidly.

and is quick to set his backs fn action and m- anticipation reminds one of Cooke. The two five-eighths, Qulnn and Storey, were good average players, hut far better than the Bay pair. ' Mitchell, at half, completely overshadowed his vis-a r vis and was one of the best visiting halves seen here for many years. Yates, the magpies' custodian, played much below form. Ruru and Hapi naw little of the ball, so badly did the home inside backs play. South (centre) m the second spoil was disappointing arid that is putting it mildly. His defence, with the exception of one occasion, was weak. Setford, up to the time he hurt his wrist, was playing' great guns, and was second best back on the ground. . Botherway; the first five-eighths, was of little assistance to his .side. Rail, at half, was making his first appearance m big football. lie was suffering slightly, from stage-fright, but gives indications of being most useful to the Bay. • • Sam Gerrimell has played som,e great games m his Jong Kugby career, but never better than .. against ; Walkato last week. " r ; The home forwards, although below their best strength, played magnificently and saved the day for Hawkes Bay.

(From '"^.Z. Truth 1 s" Gisborne Rep.) :In the second game of their southern tour Waikato suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Wairoa by. the narrow margin of two points. QWING to a strenuous match against Hawkes Bay the previous day, the tourists', lacked the sting which characterised their play at Hastings. Wairoa's husky pack adopted shock tactics and everything worked out according to plan. . In fact, the home team's bustling forwards won the day,' and -did not appear to be affected to the same extent as the tourists by the heavy going. The absence of several stars from the visitors' ranks was keenly felt and militated against their chance of success. It Is significant that Wairoa scored their full total of points m the first ■. spell, whilst Waikato failed to. open their account. Both full-backs were showing wonderful form, and time and again pulled their sides out of trouble. Hickling, at full-back, was the outstanding back for Wairoa. His haiid« were like magnets and his kicking firstclass.- „• •■ . ' ..-■;■ . -*, .- ■'-■■

whirlwind rush, this tfme, McLeod,' on the other wing, racing away from all opposition near half-way. . It was the best solo effort of the day, and the crowd rose ami cheered wildly when McLeod dodged two or three men by inches to break clean away. Fraser, at full-back for Ponsonby, was safer than he had been m previous matches, handling the difficult ball well.' His' kicking also' was much improved. Liiicas, although not outstanding, made no mistakes, and wayS always oh hand to relieve from a dangerous 1 movement. • .Solomon excelled himself as rover. Always a good, reliable man m that position, he made great openings for the backs. Albon and Reweti were Manukau's outstanding backs, but they could not liold their own against Ponsonby's clever attacks. ■ ■ It looked likely, early m the. game that the Manukau forwards would win the match on their own. They were 'the only source of trouble to Ponsonby, for they played with excellent combination, and used their strength to advantage. . With, the forwards packing- well, Training .College had a good share of the ball against Technical College . Oid Boys. ••.■■■■■ . , The star man was Abbott, the Training College wing. He , was .the speediest back ■-■■■":■ pn the ground, putting up a fine pcr r , formance time and • again when he was left to ' go on his own. : ' ; . .- Mcßae let ..'• the back-Hne: ..down at. , times, through his foolish ; habitV 6f running into the tight when the out- . side, backs , ■. .were waiting for the • ball. , Technical h a.'d two good wings m Common and Couper, and the team's outstanding forward was Roseveare. ' Honors were easy- in both the City — : Marlst and Grammar — College Rifles matches, and there was little of outstanding merit, owing to the bad state of the grounds. • •" • - - ' - With three points against them, College Rifles were awarded a. penalty through' Knight- being caught offside, and Wilson brought the "teams level Avith a good., kick. ' . Considering the conditions, the Crammar forwards should have had everything their own way,, but they; found the .going too heavy, and the College backs relieved brilliantly from many dangerous attacks. 1