RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22369, 17 September 1934, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

OTAGO VERSUS MAORIS VICTORY FOR HOME TEAM SIX WINS OUT OF SEVEN MATCHES The Otago team maintained its unbeaten record at Carisbrook this season, when on Saturday it completed its matches for 1934. The defeat by Southland, at Invercargill,, is the only one inflicted on Otago this year. Seven matches have been played and six won—against Haivke's Bay.. Canterbury, Southland (at Dunedin), South Canterbury, Wellington, and the Maoris. The ground was in wonderfully fine order, despite the rain in the morning, and there was not a breath of wind. The game was not lacking in spectacular incidents, but it became a bit ragged at times. The-Blue backs had more thrust and combination than the Maori rearguard, which did not join up with many, if any. smooth passing movements. Their five-eighths were inclined to play the solo game, and the try scored by Kana, in the second half, was the result of a fine dash through the Blue backs. Watson, centre, is a strong, straight runner, but he did not get many chances, as the Black forwards could not get the ball in the scrums. The Blue vanguard appeared to be able to get the ball whenever it wanted it and more than once in scrum play " walked off " with the heavy Maori pack. Hemi, full-back, proved himself a very strong and accurate line-kick in the first spell, but he was not so accurate in the second. He got plenty of distance in most of his kicks. His tackling, once he got to a man. was deadly, and M'Skimming was brought down with a great

tackle in the second- spell when he only had *Hemi between him and the goal posts. M'Skimming, however, threw away a try by not passing. C. Smith, the Maori wing-threequarter, who had already been seen at Carisbrook —in the Hawke's Bay team—was kept well bottled up, first by. Dunne and then by Jones. Jones, in particular, had Smith well nailed down; and he soon showed that Smith, despite his weight and dash, can be dealt with easily with sound and game tackling. Smith, indeed, found it impossible to get clear from the determined tackling of Jones. Tangitu, Ropata, Kawe, and M Donald, were always prominent in the Maori pack. Some of the Maori forwards were, however, far too slow in getting back to the play after they had overrun a movement, or the ball had been kicked back behind them. This was a distinct weakness in their play towards the end of the game. The Blue forwards, playing their best game of the season,,quickly dominated the opposition, and they held the Maori pack comfortably from start ,to finish, and hooked the ball well to Simon. Otago have a fine three front row in their 6crums in Hore, Lucy, and M'Donald, and the other members of the pack also keep into the ploy in solid fashion from start to finish. Parkhill was discovered as a fine long-distance place kick. He had three shots from well out, and although ncne was successful they were not faf away from the posts. S-non once again played a very fine alld game for the Blues, and he fed Ins backs well. - M'Skimming soon found he could cut through the detence, and he made some spectacular runs. His side did not, however, always obtain the fulLadvantage of these runs through the Taien man holding on to the ball too long. M'Skimming's short-punting showed a great improvement on his work the previous Saturday. It is interesting to record that all the five tries secured by Otago were the result of passing movements, Procter scoring two, Dunne two, and Smith one. Mr Pearce was the referee, but he was inclined to be lax at times in regard to offside play by the Maoris. OTAGO Pull-back, R. Silver 12.0. Three-quarters—W. Dunne 12.0, H. Smith 11.2, A. Procter 12.0., Five-eighths, R. M'Skimming 11.7, R. Arnold 12.8. Half-back, H. Simon 10.6. Forwards.—J. Hore 13.0, W. Lucy 13.12 G. M'Donald 13.4, F. Vorrath 14.7, W. Gibson 14.7, A. Parkhill 14.0. R. Allan 13.0, B. Murphy 13.6. MAORIS Full-back. J. Hemi 12.4. Three-quarters—C. Smith 13.10, R. Watson 12.0, W. Phillips 13.7. Five-eighths, R. Kana 12.0, H. Mason 10.12. Half-back. R. Harrison 11.7. Five-eighths. P. Kana 12.0, H. Mason Forwards—J. M'Donald 13.6, M. Lika 14.4, R. Smith 14.0, L. Kawe 14.0, B. Rogers 14.0, E. Ropata 14.3, W. Cooper 14.8, I. Tangitu 14.8. SPECTACULAR OPENING The Blues kicked off from the railway end and from the first scrum Simon passed to Arnold. The Blues' first five-eighth short-punted, and M'Skimming dribbled to the line, where a defender secured and

punted high in the air, the ball being well taken by Dunne, who simply had to fall down to score. One minute's play. Silver missed the goal kick. Otago 3 points. Maoris .. ...... Nil. The Blue forwards were giving Simon the ball from ...practically every scrum, and from play near the Blacks' line Simon started Arnold off. M'Skimming then handled, and Smith raced on to score unopposed at the posts. Silver missed an easy kick, at goal. , Otago .. .. -.. 6 points. Maoris .. Nil. The Blues were for a stage playing over the opposition. Gibson, Hore, and Parkhill were prominent in one rush, Hemi sending the play right back to halfway with a great kick from a penalty. M'Skimming was playing 'fine attacking football, and was cutting the defence in two with strong runs, but the movements were not being finished off. From play at midfield Mason raced along his right wing and passed to C, Smith. He passed infield to Watson —who was clearly offside—and the Maori centre sent back to Mason, who scored. Sixteen minutes' play, and the first time the visitor's had got to their opponents' line. Hemi missed the goal kick. Otago .'. 6 points. _ Maoris .. .. • • •".. 3 points. The-Blues were soon on attack again. Simon ran round a scrum, and was collared, but Murphy picked up and started passing, the ball going out to Dunne, who ran past Hemi and round to the posts. S"ilver kicked a goal. Otago .. .. ..11 points. Maoris .. .; .. 3 points.' In one attacking movement Dunne got past C. Smith, but the Maori speedily caught the Otago winger from behind. Ropata made a desperate attempt to force his way over, Arnold relieving the pressure. C. Smith and M'Donald gained a lot of ground, and short passing, along their right wing and Kawe and Phillips were at the head of a dangerous rush on the opposite wing after a kick by Silver had been charged down, the Blues forcing in a hurry. Hemi was being loudly applauded for his strong and accurate

line kicking. Half time was called with play at midfield. Otago .. .. .. 11 points. Maoris 3 points. SECOND SPELL Harrison and Ropata were in the front of a Maori attack, Simon holding up the movement. The play went to the Maoris' twenty-five, where the Blue backs came away with a good bit of passing. Procter running round Hemi to score at the right corner. Five minutes' play. Silver made a poor kick at goal. Otago 14 points. Maoris 3 points. In scrambling play Kawe .and Tangitu dribbled through to Dunne, who picked up and tried to gain ground along the stand sideline. He was, however, collared, and suffered an injury to his ankle, Jones coming on in his place. Hemi missed with a penalty from a fair position, and the Blues forced. Tangitu was again prominent in attack, Silver kicking to the line and P. Smith, Cooper, M'Donald, Tangitu, and C. Smith joined up in a spectacular piece of passing which enabled the last-named to go over at the right corner and round to the posts. Hemi kicked a goal. Otago 14 points. Maoris 8 points. Hemi brought M'Skimming down with a beautiful tackle as he was racing straight to the goal mouth, the Blue five-eighth losing what looked like a certain chance by not passing out. Fast but ragged play followed, C. Smith, in one movement, losing the ball at the line. Jones was being kjudly applauded for the manner in which he was trickling the strongly-built Maori wing-three-quarter. Simon once again started his backs, and Smith made a good thrust before passing to Procter, who was caught by Hemi as he fell over the line to score. Parkhill made a fine but unsuccessful kick from the side line. Otago 17 points Maoris ~.•.. .. '8 points The game had now become ragged, and the tackling of the Blue backs was not very sound. M'Skimming was going for his opponents too high. At a serum near the Blues' twenty-five Kana secured and bolted clean through the defence to score at the posts, Hemi kicking a goal, and the final whistle going. Otago 17 points Maoris .:.- .. .. 13 points Mr E. Pearce was the referee. THIRD GRADE COMPETITION As a curtain-raiser High School and Alhambra met to decide the runner-up for the Third Grade Competition. High School winning by 12 points to 6. A WHIRLWIND FINISH TARANAKI BEATS AUCKLAND. (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 15. After being overshadowed for the greater part of the game the Taranaki Rugby representatives thrilled the crowd of 8000 at Eden Park to-day in a whirlwind finish, enabling them to defeat Auckland by 28 points'to 15. The Ranfurly I Shield was not at stake.

■ After Miss Jean Batten had kicked off the Taranaki forwards gained command and maintained a strong attack. Gudgeon was playing an enterprising game, and about 10 minutes after the start he sent his forwards away in a great loose rush. The backs joined in and Townsencl took a long pass to dive across at the corner. Colling converted. Then the Auckland forwards settled down to solid packing, and after a brilliant line kick by Caughey, Hedge cut through from a line\out to score a fine try, which Heazlewood converted. Auckland maintained the pressure, and after a run across the field Murdoch sent Kedgley away, Caughey keeping up with the winger to take an inpass and score between the posts. Heazlewood again converted. Another fine run by Gudgeon put Taranaki on attack, but Corner saved well. The Taranaki forwards won from a line out, and Clarke picked up in the loose to score, but Collins missed with the kick. Auckland attacked at the start of the Recond spell, but when a back movement broke down the Taranaki forwards took the ball almost the full length of the field, Clarke spoiling a golden scoring chance by kicking too hard. Auckland returned with a lightning dash by Corner, and when the half-back was stopped Hedge picked up to dodge over for a try. Heazlewood converted. The Taranaki forwards, led by Clarke, continued to play magnificently in the loose, but. the backs lacked cohesion. In a blind-side movement, however, Kinsella badly beat Heazlewood and ran round for a try under the posts, Collins converting. Taranaki immediately bustled Auckland to its goal line, and Brown and Sarigster ran through strongly for the latter to score near the posts, and Collins again converted. Another great forward rush took play to Auckland's line, and Brown dived over from a scrum, Collins converting. It had been a whirlwind burst of scoring which had temporarily demoralised Auckland, and just at the close of the game perfect handling by the Taranaki backs and forwards saw Fastier score between the posts. Collins converted, and the game ended: Taranaki 28 points. Auckland .. .. 15 points. |

CANTERBURY DEFEATED WELLINGTON'S SUPERIORITY. (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHUURCH, September 15. Wellington proved too good for Canterbury in the Rugby match to-day, winning by 25 points to 17.. The Canterbury backs could not attain the precision of last Saturday, and the visitor's forwards were also rather better than the Canterbury pack. Hart and Manchester were missing from the Canterbury side, and both were sadly missed. Canterbury played with the wind in the first spell and ran up the respectable score of 14 points to 3. Tries were scored by Tweedie, Hooper, Wilson, and Mann, and Nolan converted one of the tries. ' For Wellington, Nees scored a try. In the second half, when Wellington had the help of the wind, it was soon apparent that Canterbury's lead would not be nearly large enough, and that the home side had not made nearly sufficient use of the wind when it had it in its favour. Tries were scored for Wellington by Barry, Lilburne, and Leahy. Fuller converted two tries and Sadler one, Fuller kicked a penalty goal, and Dustin cleverly potted a goal. Late in the spell Canterbury added three points to its score with a penalty goal kicked by Nolan. The Wellington forwards, served thenbacks with the ball better than the Canterbury pack, but the combination behind the scrum was lacking. M'Auliffe gave several bad passes, and Mortlock, outclassed by Lilburne, was unable to make openings as he did last -Saturday against Wairarapa. Lilburne shared with Oliver the honours of the day, and they were by far the best backs on the ground. Lilburne's play was an inspiration to his side. In the forwards Wellington was much superior in the loose play. Nolan was much inferior to Fuller both in defence and goal kicking. The annual Rugby match, Police v. -Press, played as a curtain-raiser to the representative game, was won by the Pretfs by eight points to three. MARLBOROUGH OUTCLASSED WELLINGTON'S EASY VICTORY. (Per United Press Association)' WELLINGTON, September 16. Wellington defeated Marlborough before a small attendance by 36 points to 0. Wellington was superior in all departments, and led by 15 points to 3 at the interval, tries being scored by Griffiths, M'Greevy, and Lambourne, Lamason converting all. Roberts scored Marlborough's only try. The scorers in the second spell for Wellington w-erc Lynch (two), Wright, Lamason, and Kenny, Lamason converting three. Grant scored for Marlborough. SYDNEY CHAMPIONSHIP (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) SYDNEY. September 16. (Received at 9 p.m.) In the Rugby Union final, Randwick defeated Manly by 13 points to 12 after a tremendously fast and hard game. |

be of some use in tracing the men, but the police do not hold out much hope in that direction. It was anticipated that an examination of the fatal bullet would provide an important link in the chain of evidence, but the ballistics expert at police headquarters stated that the bullet had ploughed so deep through bone that its markings had become unrecognisable. It had been established, however, that ifc was of .32 calibre. The Government medical officer found the bullet embedded in the murdered man's back. It had missed both the heart and the lungs. A systematic check is being made of all the licensed revolvers, and the police have published a special appeal to the public to come forward and describe any strangers who may have been noticed in the district on. Saturday, night. The crime was a particularly brutal one, as the shot was fired at close range, which did not give the victim a chanoe. Mrs Drasdoff has been a pathetic figure as she bravely continued her activities in the shop this week. She and her husband came to Australia from Siberia 21 years ago. They had been in Sydney only ten months, having come from Queensland, where they also had a small business. As a result of the crime there is a campaign to tighten the laws regarding the licensing of firearms. Heavier punishment for those found to be in possession of unlicensed revolvers is also urged.