TARANAKI WINS

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1930, Page 4

TARANAKI WINS

WAIKATO TEAM BEATEN . .« ’1 — SCORE SEVENTEEN TO ELEVE.N BRIGHT GAME AT HAMILTON NORTHERN TOl'R OPENS , By Wive---Special Reporter.) Hamilton, Last Night. The Taranaki Rugby team opened the northern tour auspiciously to-day when it defeated Waikato by 17 (three tries, two converted and a field goal) to 11 (three tries, one converted). Though the margin, was not large it must.be remembered that, the'Waikato team, with the. exception of the full-back, was the same as that which played Britain on Saturday. Therefore it had the combination which the Taranaki backs, who were playino- a new set of inside backs with the exception of the half, had no chance of gaining. Taranaki, however, shaped very well, especially in defence. Mace, playing representative football for the first time, came" through the. ordeal well. Waikato adopted the policy of making the game open, the .forwards feeding the backs from the scrum, in which the half showed, a. tendency to anticipate the ball, also from the ruck. Waikato was a solid combination, playing with great dash, but the Taranaki pack proved too good in the loose and,in line-outs, also pushing them in the tight. The ground after showers was holding, though the sun shone through most, of the game. Taranaki. had to, .contend against a strong wind and heavy rain in the early stage's. The Taranaki policy was to keep the game forward. The team had the greater territorial advantage in the first spell, being unlucky not to score a couple of tries. Waikato also had bad luck on one occasion. It was not till jr.st on half-time that Hunt, with a beautiful left-foot. kick, potted an tinm’utakeablc goal. FULL OF JXCIDENT. Elw second spell was full of incident. Taranaki soon established a lead of 12 to 3, but Waikato, both hack and forward, was playing with great dash, throwing the ball about in bewildering fashion. 0 It had the crowd on its toes. For the rest of the game Taranaki defended well and its line was crossed only twice, whilst the forwards, eager to seize any opening, put the issue beyond doubt by scoring also. Allen, an ex-Inglewood boy, who possesses a great turn of speed and is a heady player, gave Taranaki some anxious moments. Only once, however, could he beat Hunter. Watson, too, had a handful in Carlson, but was passed only once. Crawford, at centre, played a solid game, hut allowed Fitzgerald to get away with a dummy which gave Waikato the last try. Hunt, at second five-eighth, was great at defence, hut he had little chjance to attack. Neither ,did . Mace, who went down gamely to fdrwjird rushes and'

tackled all that came along. Gudgeon, at half, was as sound as ever and sent out good passes when the ball came his way, but Storey, the' opposing rover, playing very close up, was not penalised as frequently as he deserved. Guy, the Taranaki rover, played well, his penchant for following up leading to two of Taranaki’s tries. Collins, at full-back, lined with plenty of length, and so, too, did all Taranaki’s backs. The forwards all worked hard and it would be invidious to particularise. Aided by tlic wind Waikato attacked. Efforts to set the backs moving were nullified by the fast breaking Taranaki pack, which swept to the other end of the field, where Gudgeon tried to set his backs going. Cameron, at full-back, lined and had his team attacking, Mitchell sending Allen away to be thrown out at the corner by Hunter. Baldwin, Robinson, Walter and Gargan had Taranaki again attacking, Hunter and Crawi ;rd being nearly over. Watson eaipe across and sent Hunter away to be held up in the corner. BACKS HANDLE WELL. ( Taranaki kept pressing, Hunt stabL p-'-nting, but Cameron was just able to beat the fast following Hunter and Crawford. Fast play followed, the Waikato backs handling well rnd showing their pace, but the defence was sound. Gudgeon collared Storey just in time. Hunter then sent Crawford and Guy away but a knock-on spoilt the effort; . Infringements also hampered Taranaki. • Allen intercepted a pass and set sail> but Hunt tipped him by the toe as he was about to punt over Collins’ heath . The Taranaki pack pressed hard several times.' Allen dashed down the side line, with Fitzgerald and St. George in support and only Collins to beat, but a knock-on saved Taranaki. Carlson, on the other wing, was held up by Watson close to the line. Taranaki, led by Robinson and Guy, reached the Waikato twenty-five, where Hunt snapped up the ball and potted a great left-fuot goal ns- half-time sounded. . ' Taranaki - Waikato t> . Taranaki nearly scored on the resumption, Walter kicking over Allen's head, but the latter beat ■ him to the ball. Fooling the opposition, Gudgeon started a move that saw Macc reach the line, where a pass was taken off-side. However, after Hooper had led. Waikato to neutral territory, the Taranaki forwards carried play to a scoring position, where Gudgeon shot the ball out and Wills, snapping up, dived over. Collins goaled.. Taranaki ~.. 9 Waikato 0

This reverse roused Waikato, whose forwards invaded. The backs threw the ball about dangerously. A dropped.pase . let Crawtord clear and a move initiated by Watson and Guy eaw Wills pushed into touch-in-goal. Reynolds, Bonham and Elinor had the Waikato backs attacking but found the tackling sound. Gudgeon swung the backs into line but Allen intercepted Crawford’s pai?s and with St. George and Carlson worried Taranaki. Play swung to the corner, where (Jourtncy bullocked Ills way over. Allen failed to goal. Taranaki . ~ . 9 Waikato 3 Waikato kept attacking but found the defence soHd/Wathpn receiving a severe' knock in'checking Cltrlkon. A little later’ Watson lined hea?'the twehfy-five and

Clarke, Robinson, Guy and Wills carried on for Wills to score his second try in(he corner. Collins failed to goal..

Taranaki 12 Waikato 3 ; Allen took, great passes twice in succession and clapped on full speed for the line, but Hunter brought him dawn each time. After Allen had had a icsuitless shot at goal Waikato s turn came. Catching Taranaki in possession Alien sent Tuck away and received again to send Carlson over, to score a spectacular try. Mitchell failed to goal. j Taranaki 12 .Waikato 0 'Waikato, with sonie delightful inove.ments, roused the crowd, but the defence held. Allen made .desperate ef- . fqrfe and'was temporarily incapacitated. - Fropi A scrum St. George took a pot, the ball going under the bay. The. Waikato backs were attacking when Fitzgerald sent out a weak pass. Robinson kicked through and Guy and Hunter beat the full-back for Hunter to run round and score near the posts. Collins goale,d.,, Taranaki ............. 17 Waikato X.. 8 Ba’ckteame Waikato. St. George passbed to'Fitzgerald, who. shook off a tackle, ; sold : a-great dummy to Crawford and sent Allbn streaking over the line near the posts.- He was tackled by Mace over the line, but scored. Mitchell goaled and time sounded with the scores: — .Taranaki > 17 '’'Waikato H ■Mr; B. Chapman was the referee. . BRILLIANT HASTINGS GAME. NORTH AUCKLAND TEAM BEATEN. Hastings,. Last Night, f Hawke’s Bay defeated North Auckland in a Rugby match here to-day before 2000 people, by. 27 points to 17.. The. game was full of thrills -find spectacular breaks, . the second spell being one long series of sensations. Bay, having the . advantage of the. •wind, attacked much in the first spell. After five minutes’ play Grenside opened the Bay score with a splendid peni alty kick.-. He added a similar three points within a few minutes. Bay- was penalised in front of its goal, out Ken found the wind too strong and the kick failed.-After this fright Bay attacked with-.passing rushes and pressed hard. North Auckland was putting up a stout defence. Kerr at full-back playing a !• sound game. So' far play was mainly 1 among the forwards, who were toiling hard. After one bright piece of passing: .by the Bay backs Sherrill’ made a brilliant save.

Grenside followed up his own kick into the. scoring area and won a long chase to’Score behind the goal. He converted the '.try himself. Using the wind, Bay resuined the attack, but the ground gained by the forwards was lost by the backs, who were properly bustled by thecspoiling tactics of the visitors. A sensational break, by North Auckland took play to the Bay 25, where Hansen just failed to goal from a penalty. North Auckland-quickly came back and Bay had a close call. At the interval the score was 11 to nil.

Upon the resumption the northerners attacked hotly, ■ but front the corner Gillespie made the sensational run of the igamc to reach the twenty-five before sending Grenside over - to score for

Bay behind the posts. Setford converted "the try. North Auckland beat down the defence slowly and reached the goal line, where from a linc-out W. Rika bullocked his way across. He converted the try with a great kick. North Auckland again, attacked. The backs were handling with more precision and making the game open. Many times they almost crossed, but the home forwards prevailed. Even play ensued for a time at midway until Gillespie, Wilson and C. Brownlie broke away to the visitors’ quarterway, where Gillespie regained possession and scored near' the goal. Setford’s kick failed. A good passing rush took play to the goal, where Nicholls. landed a great pot. Within a minute Robinson intercepted a Bay pass to set a chain of backs in action, Sellars crowning the effort with a great try After this reverse Bay attacked and Wilson raced over near the posts. Evans failed to convert. Two minutes later Gillespie and Grenside did a little in-and-out passing for the former to score between the posts. Setford converted. A forward rush by the visitors saw Wells, cross at the corner just on the call of time, making the final count: Hawke’s Bay 27, North Auckland J 7. RUGBY MATCH ABANDONED. WANG A NUI-CANTERB URY GAME. Christchurch, August 0. The Rugby match Canterbury v. Wanganui, set down for to-day, has been abandoned owing to heavy rain. The Wanganui team returns to-night. PRIMARY SCHOOL RUGBY. TOKO TEAM DISQUALIFIED. The final in the southern junior school Rugby competitions., will be placed ' at Hawera next . Saturday between 1 Turnturu and Eltiiam Convent. . Toko defeated Convent .in the group final, but has been .disqualified on account of playlug a boy from, another school. Moturoa is?,the winner of the junior contest in, the northern division. FIXTURE FOR SATURDAY. MATCH AT T’UKEKURA PARK. The postponement of all the competition matches, in New Plymouth on Saturday has given the Taranaki. Rugby Union the opportunity of holding the annual match between the Whangampmona and Taiiiui sub-unions at Pukekura Park. This will be the third occasion on which the fixture has been played. The union arranges for the match each year to encourage football in the country districts. So far the matches have been played at Stratford. Both sub-unions play lively, fast football. The Whangamomoua team consists of ,a selection from the Tangarakau, Strathmore, Whangamomona, Tahora and other districts, and the Taintii team is from the Tongaporutu, Awakino and Malioenui- districts and the Maoris. . ■