RUGBY FOOTBALL

Opunake Times, 12 July 1949, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

OPUNAKE DEFEAT PATEA CLOSE, HARD GAME Opunake met Patea at Patea in atrocious conditions on a water-logged ground, ■which made good football impossible, altbougb- handling was often surprisingly good- Most of the play was confined to dribbling and speculator kicking but these two even teams played well under the conditions and the game was always interesting. "Walsh was the outstanding forward on the field, always in front in. dribbling rushes and working vigorously in the tight. The other forwards played well, but did not hunt as a pack and were often slow to support one another at times. Riley played a good game on the wing, defending well and being prominent on attack. Rowlands was also in form. The Came The teams were: Patea; Boyce; Willis, Armstrong, H. Barclay: Cameron, Johnson; Walden; Campbell; Simon, Booker, Svines, M. Murphy; C. Barclay, B. Murphy, Stafford. Opunake : McCandlish ; Riley, Humphries, Ranford; Elgar, Rowlands; Drought; Fawcett, Walsh, T- Waiwiri, M- Waiwiri, Harvey; McGregor, Hohaia, Goodin. Willing and hard forward play with both sets of hacks giving good support and occasionally handling quite well, kept the spectators on their toes, as play seesawed from one defence to the other but no score resulted in the, first spell. Drought missed a penalty soon after the spell opened. Good defence by both teams was a feature of the game. Cameron missed a penalty soon after the second half opened, and later Boyce also missed two penalty kicks.

Opunake’s winning try came with about 10 minutes remaining, when Riley fielded Boyce’s attempt at a clearing kick from under his posts, centred and the Opunake forwards were well up for McGregor to secure from the ruck and pass to Elgar to Humphries, who outpaced the opposition to score in the corner. Opunake went straight to Die attack and looked likely to score again, but suddenly a long grubber kick by a Pa tea player reversed the attack and time sounded with Patea attacking vigorously on the line. Final score Opunake 3, Patea 0. Mr. J. A. Maule was referee. Rahotu-higlewood Draw Brightened by one or two good individual back efforts, the game between Eahotu and Inglewood which resulted in a 3-all draw was mostly confined to solid forward play on a very heavy ground. The strong wind gave Inglewood the advantage in the first spell and Wilson scored. Eahotu soon equalised after the changeover, Wolfsbauer scoring from a loose rush. The teams were : Rahotu; E. Phillips; S. Fair 7 hurst, Minhinnick, Dawson; Pennington, Hopkins; J- Phillips; L. Kuriger; Wolfsbauer, Bennett, t. Kuriger, J- Waswo; M. Waswo, P. Waswo, Guillisson. Inglewood: Irving; Wilson, Adamson, Butler; Bradley, Dodunski; Gladding: McKay; Jack--son, Reeve, Mcßeth, White; Kara his, Fowler, McMurray. The referee was Mr. B. C. Simpson, LOWER GRADE GAMES OPUNAKE JUNIORS WIN Our lower grade teams, in fact all grades and codes, will deserve good grounds next year and they should get them. Again the persistent wet weather spoilt chances of good football in most centres where rain sodden grounds forced the ball at roe and forward clashes which have been more or less the rule for the past few weeks. Despite these conditions, Opunake Juniors and Auroa staged an interesting game at Opunake. Opunake won 9-0, but Auroa, . playing without a fullback, were never dominated, their forwards getting through a good day’s work, .and going close to scoring on a number of occasions. Several penalty goals were also missed from good positions towards the end. Opunake, however, impressed as the more enterprising team, were, solid on defence, and the forwards, when they went hunting together, with

Maindonald, Poole and T- Reaver, always prominent, looked more likely to finish off with a try. Cruden, kicked a fine wetball penalty from 35 yards out m the first half and capped off a good game at full-back by scoring after an exciting length-of-the-field movement. Attacking strongly Auroa heeled from a scrum and the centre might have scored had lie held the pass. However, Jackson snapped up well almost on his line and punted down field where the full-back should have been had there been a full-back. Eeek, using" ids speed was away on his own, kicked through, and again, _ but the second time the ball slipped infield off his boot. Maindonald was there and carried on, but i. Hogan speculated hard to clear. Cruden anticipating well, fielded on the sideline and raced through a disorganised defence. Opunake’s other try came after Maindonald had used the wind well to line near Auroa’s goalline, where from the resultant line-out melee T- Feaver forced through for a determined tryMr. Taylor was refereeOkato surprised by beating Rarotu comfortably and Puugarehu also gained their first win against WareaOther results were : Oaonui 9 v. Pihama 6. Okato 14 v. Rahotu 0. Pungarehu 10 v. Warea 9. Opunake 4ths 11, O.D.H.S. 0. Opunake 4ths and High School both showed that it was possible to handle quite well on a wet muddy field and their game was bright and entertaining- Heavier, more experienced and aided by the advantage of a winning complex, Opunake won by 11 points to 0, hut school forwards were never disgraced and die hacks, Pukere and Laurence particularly, showed promise of good things on a dry day- McCullum hit the front of a strong Opunake forward drive to score, first. 10 minutes ,in the new spell Hohaia picked up from a ruck near school’s 25, swerved and partly drew the defence before sending to Woolford and Bntturini took his pass to force across, Smith converting. After Woolfor.d missed a penalty which rebounded off the post, another determined Opunake forward drive saw Ashley McC- trying to beat Coupe for the try but he already had one so we say Coupe scored. Among School’s forwards and Opimake’s hacks it would be unfair to make special mention of individuals, McCulluin, Hohaia and Clement were leaders in the good Opunake pack. Mr. Davis was referee. Pihama 4ths also gained a win over Pungarehu by 13 points lo 8.