STRATFORD DEFEAT CELTIC

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1930, Page 4

STRATFORD DEFEAT CELTIC

NOT AN INSPIRING MATCH. SEVERAL BRIGHT INCIDENTS. The match in which Stratford de; seated Celtic by 22 to nil was not an inspiring one. Certainly the latter half of the second s.pell was enlivened by the enterprise of the Stratford backs, but for the most part the forwards had far too much say in the play. The ' feature of the game was that in close packs Celtic more than held its own against the doughty Stratford forwards, but the latter were much better in the loose. The game opened slowly, rather ragged attacks, chiefly by- Celtic, marking the first ten minutes. Then out of a ..clear, bliieksky there .came a thunderfalter secured, possession in ; mid-field .and streaked through all the opposition, to score well but. Fryday goaled with a kick in which he had to allow for. a lot of windage. Stratford proceeded on a vigorous offensive, but , Fryday ju&t missed with a free-kick and Wilmshurst, Sangster and Pryce were instrumental in invading Stratford’s territory. Celtic was playing with great determination, especially among the forwards. From the way the Strat.ford inside backs punted rather than passed -it appeared that instructions must have been to keep the game tight, .at any rate for the first, half. Hence ' there were few incidents to arouse enthusiasm among the fair crowd of spee- . tutors. - Jones, substituting for Dodd as . full-back for Celtic, was applauded when he executed a brilliant save, picking the ball from, the toes of half a dozen charging forwards and clearing .splendidly to near half-way. Shortly before half-time Young, with the help of Lehmann and Bond, broke clear and the. ball was shot out to Owen, who . sent. Kivell racing to score with two or three Celtic men being kept off by , an efficient fend*A ■Stratford celebrated the resumption by a forward drive that had'Celtic in ■ difficulties.' Although ’Old ! ahd ’ Richardi son relieved, the ball -was soon back on a hesitating journey towards Celtic’s goal. A missed free kick by Fryday and a kick to the dead line ended the movement, and Celtic took a turn at attack. The pendulum swung in the opposite direction and the red and black jerseys were predominating when Owen had an unsuccessful penalty kick, in this spell Stratford made much more use of the back line. Bublitz, Owen, - Grace and' E. Walter generally combined well, but most passing rushes ■broke down at the wingers. About halfway through the spell Owen cut in and scored, though the try was really due to the magnificent run E. Walter made from beyond halfway. He actually got • over, but other hands than his were on the ball and it was from a five-yard scrum that Owen scored. Kivell converted easily. Stratford kept up the pressure and within a minute Owen added four more points with a neat field, goal. ’ Owen ran' through most of the Celtic forwards and was- joined by Walter, Kivell and Bond, the ball being carried to the line, where a dangerous situation was relieved by Beardm.ore. O.w.en was in the limelight at this stage.. He streaked over a few minutes later' after the ball had travelled out to Hamilton and back again. There was no stopping Owen when he gained possession the second time. Kivell again converted. The concluding stages of the game were marked by indifferent play, and the ball was in midfield. The finaL scores are: — Stratford 22 Celtic ». 0 Mr. L. Nodder refereed. OLD BOYS’ LUCKY WIN TUKAPA HAVE THE ADVANTAGE. BRIAR’S MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY. Old Boys .were very .lucky to leave '. pukekura Park with, a nine points to . jeven, advantage over..Tukapa,- for the latter - played better ..football, Jiad the territorial advantage for the 'greater part of the game, and deserved the victory. Old jßoys ,owe their victory to the magpifipent display of their fullback. .l|ria^^vh.q.)'saved:: them, from''disiastcr yiime. <agajn with his' sure handling find splendid line kicking. Fre-

quently he lifted the bull from the feet of three or four onrushing forwards and wormed his way miraculously through them to safety. Finally he turned defeat into victory by drop-kicking a fine field goal from well out near the side line. Tukapa- were a better team fore and aft. H. W. Brown was suffering from an indisposition which obviously affected his play, and apart from Priar, K. Fookes was the only back to play a sound game. Olson and Mace were.- a particular -weakness in the inside positions. In the forwards S. Fookes, .Luxton and Crawford were prominent. The Tukapa pack was a dashing one and the backs much improved, especially Boswell and Dickson. The latter played a very useful game and made the opening for. Tukapa’s .first try, which was gained by the ever-dangcrous Evans.. , Tukapa had the better of the early stages, and Old Boys were compelled to force four times in ten minutes. Old Boys whre too: slow in getting the ball away to their backs, and Tukapa kept swarming through the inside positions. Tukapa broke clear away, with only Priar to pass, but the latter effected a brilliant save, snapping up the ball from the feet of his opponents to stab hi- way through aiid kick hard for the line, making three-quarters of the length of the field. Again and again for the next quarter of an hbur he saved Old Boys from disaster by his sure handling, and well judged line kicking. Down came Tukapa again, and Old Boys had to force again. Tukapa backs-, given most of the possession by their forwards, made all the play. C. Brown opened up a passing rush and Dickson sold ' the dummy perfectly to H. W. Brown. The latter badly missed his man, and Evans came up fast on the wing to score' a meritorious try. L. Petty could not goal.. Old Boys made a spurt and worked down to the other end, where they had’several poor attempts to pot goals. S. Fookes broke away down the touch line and kicked high to the centre. This was the starting point of a series of Tukapa,mistakes that led to. Old Boys opening their score. In attempting "to clear from' aii Old ' Boys ! kick /'Tukapa player badly"-mis-kicked the ball. Even then his supporters should have regained possession, but Medley' plunged’ A through and scored'almost before Tukapa realised •it had happened. Cra-wford converted With a splendid kick. For the remainder of the spell Tukapa had the better-of the game except.for one occasion when K. Fookes spectacularly intercepted and might have- scored had he gone on his own, but he passed to Brown and the movement broke down. From a serum near Old Boys corner C. Brown > shot the ball back to Boswell, and with delightful aplomb he kicked a splendid field goal. Half-time came with Tukapa leading by seven points to five.

Old Boys attacked from the opening of the second spell, and came within an ace of scoring. K. Fookes cut in for a great opening in a passing rush, but Medley lost a golden opportunity when he failed to take his pass. Old Boys continued to attack,, H. W. .Brown cut through to make a brilliant- opening and ran magnificently, but he passed too ,soon , to Medley, .and the latter . was tackled. ' L. Petty was gaining a lot of ground, for his .side-., with .long and. accurate line-kicking. Tukapa took ■ a turn in attacking and fropi a line-out Boswell nearly potted another goal. Boswell mulled a high kick an<l the Old Boys forwards burst away in a dangerous open rush. While defending Wyatt made the mistake of not finding the line and Priar, measuring the distance carefully, dropped a beautiful field goal, giving Old Boys the lead once more. °The° closing stages were full of interest and incident, the. advant- ;e swaying evenly in either direction. The game finished with the scores:— Old Boys ■ ff Tukapa 7 Mr. H. C. Johnson refereed. DISAPPOINTING FOOTBALL PENALTY TRY TO CLIFTON. HOME . FORWARDS’ SUPERIORITY. ,' The game between Clifton and Inglewood at Waitara did not produce the good football usually expected of the fixture. Clifton won by 11 points (Pepperell two tries, One converted by McDonald, and. a penalty try) to three (a. penalty by J. Ross). The day was bitterly cold and Inglewood was half an

hour late. The first spell, which ended three-all, was.a succession of penalties, line-outs and scrums. The Clifton pack was slightly better than the Inglewood) and definitely asserted its superiority in the. second half, to keep Inglewood bottled. Neither back division produced a single co-ordinated movement in the match. Towards the end both teams roused from their lethargy somewhat, probably to keep warm, but numerous injuries nullified their efforts fo make the game interesting. Darkness was falling as the game ended. The home forwards played a sterling game. Fowler was the outstanding forward on the ground, with Ward and Seiwood in close alliance. Pepperell’s height was useful in line-outs. The Inglewood forwards, without Clegg and Rose, were a hard-working pack but were outclassed. Hunt was unsteady at first, but struck best form. Crossman has earned his place at half, while of the Ross brothers, who comprised the three-quarter line, Noel and Jim occasionally showed dash. Carey, half for Clifton, revelled in stopping rushes, but Early was weak at first five-eighth, with the result that the three-quarters gained few opportunities to show their speed. McDonald was overshadowed by his vis-a-vis. Many free-kicks were awarded in the first few minutes, one enabling J. Ross to goal for Inglewood with a good kick. Fowler followed up a high penalty, caught two Inglewood men in possession, and kicked through to the goal line. In the dash to the ball he was obstructed, a try being awarded. It was not converted. The game was hardly up to senior standard, the cold having an effect upon the backs. Seiwood. Fowler and Ward livened play with a rush which gained half the field. Again Fowler broke away and Inglewood forced. Tate lost his pass when in an excellent position. J. Ross sprinted up the line to the home twenty-five, but Inglewood did not follow up the advantage. Hunt put in a grand kick from near his twenty-five, the ball rolling into ('lifton s touch-in-g'uil. .-utton had to force.

The home team was continually on the offensive, but could not penetrate fine, defence, in a melee yvarq was hurt, his place being taken by Body. Clifton had more luck than usual with a passing rush on the .opposing line, but the defence held. A drop-kick by McDonald missed by a narrow .margin. Jonas was forced out at the corner, and then Pepperell dived over for the long-due try . Inglewood was stung into attack and drove Clifton back. Hunt had moved up to centre. A quick kick from a penalty caught the home men with their backs turned, but Watson brought off a good tackle. Both teams were making the pace in a ragged fashion. In -the bad light Inglewood strove to break away. J. Ross had a chance from a free-kick, but it was wide. Hunt ■stemmed a dangerous, forward attack with a good mark. A Clifton man appeared to cross but could not ground the ball. A moment later Pepperell repeated his barlicr score for McDonald to convert. Time sounded immediately. Clifton 11 Inglewood .. 3 Mr. E. Gilmour refereed.