The Came

Opunake Times, 3 June 1947, Page 4

The Came

The teams were; Athletic, Blue : _ Whareatu; McClenaghan, Rakino, Rowlands; Warua, Bridgewood; McKay; Toppin, Wells, L. Hohaia;' Clark, Townsend, G. Sole, W. Sole; Peacock. Opunake, Green: McElroy; Fox, Hickey, Riley; Elgar, Tainatea; Robson; McGregor, Stevenson, Dudley; Bennett, Stanley, Mourie, Holmes; , Stan Hohaia. Athletic opened the score early when Townsend dived on the ball in a scramble on Opunake’s line. Elgar intercepted nicely shortly afterwards and raced 25 yards before sending to Dudley who was tackled in possession. Green were awarded a penalty, however, and Hickey kicked a good goal to equalise the scores. The Athletic winger, McClenaghan, gained 40 yards with a powerful line kick to place Athletic on the attack and later the same player fielded Warner’s stab-kick to outpace the opposition and score wide out. Peacock converted with - a fine' kick. Riley raised the.hopes of local supporters with a fine solo run, but he was unsupported, and was tackled in the blue 25. Opunake was awarded a penalty but Hickey missed a fairly easy kick. Mourie, m a good dribbling effort, went 25 yards and. just missed scoring. A scrum followed, and Tamatea snapped un to pass to Elgar who went, straight through the defence to score near the posts. Hickey’s kick missed. Just before half time, Riley was again prominent in a good solo effort. Securing in his own 25 the winger raced to the full back and punted over his head, raced through to secure and again repeat the performance. He was joined by Stevenson, who was just beaten to the bounce within 15 yards of the line. Half-time score: Athletic 8, Opunake 6.

Opunake secured from a scrum Robson transferring to Tamatea who kicked well down field. Opunake were awarded a* penalty riglit under the posts and Hickey made no mistake. Soon afterwards from a scrum, the ball travelled out to Elgar, wlio beat, the defence badly before passing to Dudley, who just failed to hold the pass for a certain try. Athletic retaliated, the forwards thrusting through to Opunake's line where Hohaia secured from a line out to burst through for a very determined try. Opunake were now 2 points down and made repeated efforts to reduce the lead. ITickev brought the crowd to its toes when he took a long throwin on the full and just failed, to reach the line. Solid rucking on the Athletic line followed for several minutes, until McClenaghan intercepted to gain a big break on Fox, who, however, overtook him right on the comer flag, but the referee ruled it a fair try and blew the final whist 1 e immediately after the attempt' at goal, the game endingAthletic 14, Opunake 9. Mr. Elgar was referee.

The Juniors The Junior Game between Pihama and Pahot'u which drew a big crowd of spectators as a result of the Pihama Gala, was ■won by Pihama 13 to 8. It was a hard evenly contested game with play see-sawing from one end of the'field to the other. Pihama's backs were the better balanced combination and deserve 'credit-for the team's win. Gopperth scored two good tries tor the winners, while Drought scored a well-deserved try and converted 2. B. Fleming scored i.V Eahotu's points—one .try, converted, and a penalty goal. Mr. AVebb was referee. sth Grade Playing good football at Pihama oS Saturday, Opunake Gth's defeated Pihama by 13 points to 6; The Pihama fifteen dominated play in the first half but Opunake settled down in the second spell, the forwards securing most of the hall from the scrums and the hacks were seen to advantage in several bright passing movements. Both teams worked well, however, and there was little.between them on the day. Opunake's points came from tries by Maria, B. McCullum and Maindonald, the latter converting 2 tries. Jackson kicked two penalty goals for Pihama. Mr. C.Randford was referee. O.D.H.S. snatched a last minute victory frorh Pungarehu in a closely contested game at the Kecreation" ground. The scores were O.D.H.S. G, Pungarehu 4. Good tackling and solid defence was the feature of the game, both teams being very evenly matched. :,..'; ' A good field goal by Haynes, Pungarehu, and a penalty goal kicked by Ratahi were the only points scored until Clements dived over to score right on time. Mr. E. McCann was referee.