CITIZENS’ SHIELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27443, 17 July 1950, Page 3

CITIZENS’ SHIELD

Athletic Moves Into Second Place OLD BOYS DEFEATED Athletic, with its 15 points to 9 win against Old Boys on Saturday, moved into second place in the Citizens’ Shield competition, to be two points ahead of Old Boys and five points behind the leader, Excelsior. Saturday’s matches marked the completion of the third round, with Excelsior cn top with 16 points, followed by Athletic 11, Old Boys 9, and Maheno nil. There will now be a break in club football for four weeks, as three representative matches, all at Oamaru, have been arranged for the next three Saturdays. Excelsior beat Maheno on Saturday by 33 points to nil. Excelsior’s Win In spite of Excelsior’s high score, the game on the Oval against Maheno gave the crowd some amusement. The greasy ball and wet*ground made football heavy going. In spite of this, both teams threw the ball about, and some excellent passing movements, more so by the Excelsior backs, were capped off with tries. Maheno was several senior players short, and had to call on some of its Third Grade players, who had just left the field from a previous game. It might have been expected, when these teams took the field, that Excelsior would rattle up a marathon score, but the final sccore was no higher than those against Maheno in previous games. The Maheno fifteen fought back gamely, but was no match for the opposition. A pleasing feature of the play was the way several of the Maheno players went low when going in to tackle. The Excelsior forwards gave several pleasing exhibitions of close forward passing rushes, while in several instances the blind-side wing moved into the back line to give an overlap. On two such occasions tries resulted. Maheno had three opportunities,' early in the game, to open its account with goals from penalties, but in each instance the shot went wide. From deep in Excelsior’s territory V. Smith, right wing, carried play to Maheno's twenty-five to pass in to Sawers, to Pittaway, who raced round behind the posts to score. F. Diver converted. E. Sawers scored for Excelsior after cutting through following a back movement. Excelsior’s score was increased to 11—nil when Tempero, playing at centre, dived over wide out. Sawers paved the way from M. Alexander to score when he cut through and handed on. Nuttall converted to make the score: Excelsior 16, Maheno nil. V. Smith was Excelsior’s next scorer when, after Pittaway had retrieved a clearing kick,- he sent the back line away. The ball travelled Excelsior’s back line and a reverse pass saw Sawers cut his way through Maheno’s defence to score between the posts for Nuttall to convert. V. Smith scored twice in quick succession, in both cases the ball travelling the back line following line outs. M. Alexander completed Excelsior’s scoring after a back movement, in which V. Smith had moved from the blind side to give an overlap. The final score was Excelsior 33, Maheno nil. Mr T. Cahill was the referee. Athletic v. Old Boys

Football in the match between Old Boys and Athletic was not impressive, and the lack of recent match play was obvious Old Boys playing with the wind had the territorial advantage throughout the first half and led by 9 points to 3 at half time. Athletic in the second half had the advantage which Old Boys had in the first and added a further 14 points to its score to win by 17 points to 9. Neither team could field 15 senior players and both called upon junior and retired players to fill the gaps. Athletic had a greater share of the ball from the line outs, while the rucks and scrums were evenly divided. Neither set of backs handled the wet and greasy ball confidently and infringements were numerous.

Old Boys attacked from the first whistle and several powerful touch-finding kicks by Old Boys full-back, A. Berry, kept Athletic on the defensive. J. Hamilton opened Old Boys’ account when he beat several Athletic defenders to a rolling ball over the line to score in a handy position. M. Codings missed the kick but shortly after made amends by kicking two goals from penalties to give his team a 9 to nil lead at that stage. Halvorsen decreased the lead when he kicked a goal from a penalty into the wind. Shortly after half time Athletic backs snapped into action and Halvorsen who came into make the extra man scored well out. Soon after he kicked his second goal from a penalty to even the scoring. -

Play at this stage was inclined to be willing in the forwards when both teams strove to gain the upper hand. It was not until well into the spell that Athletic went into the lead when D. McLeod, a forward playing on the wing, received a pass from R. Collett on the blind side to score in the corner. J. Ingram added a further three points to Athletic’s total when he followed up fast to touch down a ball which rolled over the line away from A. Berry, the full-back. Halvorsen converted and the game ended with the score Athletic IT, Old Boys 9. Mr R. Hedges was the referee. Lower Grades Junior.—Waitaki 6, Athletic nil; Old Boys 17, Excelsior nil. Third Grade.—Waitaki B 22, Old Boys 11; Waitaki A 25, Excelsior 3; St. Kevin’s beat Waitaki C by default; Maheno 8, Athletic 6. Fourth Grade.—Waitaki A 19, Athletic 3; St. Kevin’s A 32, St. Kevin’s B 5. Sixth Grade. —Waitaki A 54, St. Kevin’s B nil; St. Kevin’s A 23, Waitaki B nil. Seventh Grade.—Waitaki A 17, St. Kevin’s B 6; St. Kevin’s A 61, Waitaki B nil.