VILLAGE FIFTEEN LUCKY

NZ Truth, Issue 1282, 26 June 1930, Page 18

VILLAGE FIFTEEN LUCKY

Minus Mark Nicholls, Petone Scrape Home From Old Boys BERHAMPORE DOWN ATHLETIC (From * I N.Z. Truths ' '■ Special Wellington . Representative.) .• ' Two surprises m Wellington Rugby games were Berhampore's defeat of Athletic and 'Varsity's effort against Marist whom they held to a draw.

•THERE was little interest m the A Varsity-Marist match at Athletic Park until the broadcast of the Test from Dunedin had ceased. Prior to this the players appeared to have their attention divided, and the standard of play was m keeping with the lack of enthusiasm' by the crowd. Varsity trained hard for this match, but nevertheless they are many removes from the' team that triumphed m the competition last season. . • Three stars of the back division are Ramson, Mackenzie and Mackay. At least, they were stars last season. This season they are very ordinary, and it is hard to understand how Selector Millard, hangs to them for big games. I Mackay has shown form, but it has been Inconsistent. Ramson forgets ■: that there are men on th» wing and regularly boots for the line. Mackenzie Is the "talkie" of the side. It would be quite a job to keep tally of the number of times he appealed and squealed. ..'.,. 'Not enough use was made of Goodson on the wing. This lad is very fast and with a little more experience he will be a decided acquisition to Varsity. Aim and Blakeney were the two outstanding forwards for Varsity. The students went down with three m the front row of the scrum, ' and it was noticed | they more than held their own m the hooking. Marist made a wonderful effort to gain an outright win m the closing stages of

the game. Forwards and 'backs'- started tossing the ball about until G. Barry ran near the posts. An easy kick at. goal was missed by Keegan, which, had it gone over, would have meant a twopoint victory to Marist. „ , .

The Marist coach appears to, have made a 'great mistake m playing Evllle instead of McDonald. Evllle was not m form. McDonald. came on during the' last quarter, of. an hour, and immediately ■ the Marist back division began to function, to advantage.

gave three points to Varsity through sticking to the bad habit- of waiting for the ball to bounce. Breaches of the rules were numerous.. Varsity were awarded thirteen free kicks and' Marist ;Six. ■ - '-■ Ted Barry stood out as a prospective All Black forward. He was easily the best 6n the ground. Butler, McHardy and Ottaway also shone out. - i Eastbourne" and Hutt drew a big crowd to the Hutt ground, and they produced the best football of the afternoon. Both 'sets of backs tossed the ball about with /iiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiKiiiiiiimiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiinmiiiiiiuuimiimiim Results At A Glance Petone' " 6 v. Old 'Boys 3 - . Eastbourne 14 v. Hutt . - t • Marist 9 v. Varsity ■ §": Poneke ■■'-' " 6 v. Oriental 0 Berhampore By. Athletic ~ 7 ' ■iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiNiiiiniiiiiiiiimiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinmni confidence,, and the forwards kept up a rapid series of loose rushes which brought to' light some of the", best defensive tactlcß seen this season. ■' Berhampore got home by a neck from Athletic after a game which did not show either side m senior light. ~i Play wag of the order throughout, and this brought about a continual stopping of .play 'owing to injuries. No fewer than four players had to leave the field. . Petone had to go all out to 'beat 01$ Boys by three points. The village team now has. a. one-point lead -over Marist m the championship.' Old Boys battled gallantly, but they failed to provide the backs with . opportunities. . : Petone,' with • Nicholls absent, decided on a .forward game, and Old Boys had to keep step to the tune set. Petone,' on showings to date, look Ilk* being this season's champions', but there are going to be a few surprises In the second round, which .starts > next-.Satur-day. ■ - • •. • --„-■ It was. right on time when Petone. through -Coman, gained the three -points ascendancy over Old Boys. It was an exciting gam* m which a draw would ■ have been' a fair Indication of 'the merits of the teams' on the ; day!s play. „. . ... ';. .. . •. ; ■ Poneke, although winning from Oriental .by 6 to. nil, did not have an . easy time of it. Orie forwards, ' headed by Cave, Pringle and Smith, repeatedly penetrated, the .red and ' blacks' defence, but never could they actually finalise. , . It was an unusual sight, to see Ponelc*. relying more on their backs than forwards. The; change of tactics undoubtedly brought victory to Poneke.