RUGBY COMPETITIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1933, Page 9

RUGBY COMPETITIONS

SOUTH POSITION UNCERTAIN WAIMATE-PATEA DRAWN GAME. KEEN.STRUGGLE IN THE NORTH RAIN PREVENTS . BRIGHT PLAY. The draw between Waimate and Patea still leaves the southern issue open, with these two holding a by no means impregnable lead over Kaponga. A replay seems inevitable, and by, the form displayed by Patea and Waimate on Saturday' these teams are very evenly matched. On a' dry day anything may happen, especially on a neutral ground. What might have been a really good game at Patea between the Patea arid Waimate teams was spoilt by* the weather and the only really, good thing about it was the result, a draw, which will profitably bring the best teams in South T»ranaki together in a re-play, as was the case last year. On the day, with real Rugby impossible, Patea with 1 the advantage of the toss, probably had the better of it. Wills and Hamblyn led a willing pack that handled the impossible conditions as well as could be, expected and in the last half hour was really splendid in its cleaseless attacks, fruitless though they were.

Backs were just forwards except that they did not see as much of the ball. Crawford was Patea’s star, he playing right up to the form he has shown this season. Malcolm never let his side down, while Richards, naturally, was more at home than most.... The Waimate forwards played like Trojans in the first spell, with Gargan and Burke where .the fight was thickest. Later a heavy day in the quagmire largely robbed them, of their sting. The backs did their best work in stemming the Patea tide , in the last half-hour, when they spent a good proportion' of the time, being ground into the mud by their opponents. Their handling was surprising. I. McDonald played soundly right through, but with the conditions that prevailed it would be' inipossible to fault anyone. OPUNAKE PACK PERSISTENT. ' Persistence in attack gained Opunake its six-point margin over Hawera on the wet Opunaka ground. Back play was practically impossible in normal style, and the Opunake backs, realising the peculiarities of the situation, combined with the forwards in fast and vigorous dribbling rushes. On the one occasion where a passing rush was attempted Opunake scored a fine try, but this could not have occurred had the attack, not originated near the Hawera goal-line. . • The winning' forwards showed no marked superiority over the losers, and at one stage it appeared that Hawera might win. Where the Hawera pack failed was in not realising that defensive ■ play was impossible and that the only way to succeed on such a slippery ground was to maintain a series of dribbling rushes. Harrison was Opunake’s outstanding man, while Holloway played well for Hawera. The two conversion kicks of the game, Harrison’s and Greenbank’s, were fine-efforts. As a whole the game was • surprisingly fast, and both teams gave good performances. ;

MUD BATHING AT KAPONGA.

If is difficult to say whether the -play- • ers enjoyed what was more of a “mud bath" than a game of football, but it is certain that their antics were the cause of : much amusement to the spectators of the Kaponga—Eltham match. Under such conditions the game was very willing, and -although the ball was difficult to , handle much fine individual play was seen, particularly with speculative kicking and “soccer? tactics. ' The Kaponga team included three juniors, Arnold, Eynbn and Williams, who all gave a fair display. Eynon particularly did very useful work on many occasions. Bickford was solid at fullback and C. Paterson was an active worker, as usual. His two goal kicks were remarkable achievements in the difficult circumstances. The Eltham forwards played with dash, but they met with stubborn resistance and failed to penetrate in the first spell with, the advantage of the wind. In their offensive work the Kaponga forwards might have done better but in general tactics and staying power .they were slightly better than Eltham’s pack. Scrum work was v, difficult and it was soon found that the only thing to do was. to keep the ball in motion with the. boot.’ M. Paterson made many useful line kicks. Back work was difficult and Eltham’s rear division performed well. AU the Kaponga-backs were kept busy on the defensive and they performed much good individual work. Practically every player on the field made a contribution at,some time or other. Kaponga’s scores were the result of rather lucky circumstances and there was not a great deal, of difference between the two teams. . OLD BOYS-OKAIAWA GAME. Real football was out of the question . by the time that portion of the field on which most of the play took place, near the side-lines, had become a sea of mud in the Empire Old Boys-Okaiawa game at Hawera. Nevertheless both packs infused a lot of vim into their play, and there were plenty of really • good wet-weather forward rushes. Both sides used the line considerably to gain ground, but play was at times fast and interesting • considering the conditions. Attempts to open up play made in the earlier stages by Old Boys were almost futile owing to the difficulty of handling and maintaining the vertical position. There was, as uusal in a game played in such conditions, - a lot of speculative play. Old Boys’ forwards, however, showed a dash and determination which enabled them to have the better of the run of'play and to score three of the side’s four tries.

OLD BOYS. AND CELTIC. "It looks as if Celtic might stand a chance to r day,” was a remark heard often in (the stand at Victoria Park prior to the Old Boys-Celtic game. The remark was based on the fact that the ground had developed into something like a lake. The commentators, however, had overlooked the fact that the Old Boys were an infinitely better team than that which played at Stratford during the first .round. Those who expected to pee Old Boys labouring under the disadvantage of being unable to use the backs on attack had their eyes opened. There was the kick-off, a scrum, Old Boys hooked and the backs went away passing perfectly. At that stage the ball could be handled but as the game progressed and the field became, a .quagmire and the ball greasy the Old Boys backs operated with a degree of accuracy that would have been commendable on ’a”dry' day. Celtic was certainly outclassed in that respect. Forward play saw • the two packs fairly evenly matched, except that the Old Boys were able to win a majority of the scrums. When they could not hook the ball they were prepared to challenge Celtic at the dribble or punt and follow up methods. It was not a day for in-

dividual players to shine, but in a welter of water and mud that made the players so much alike that they were nearly indistinguishable S. Fookes attracted attention.

Celtic was handicapped by the absence of Dodd at full-back, and his understudy •Ryan having succeeded several times in finding touch without picking the ball up became wedded to’ the speculation idea. Unfortunately for Celtic, he could not maintain his form and his failure on two occasions to find touch was responsible Jor two of Old Boys’ tries. STAR WINS IN LAST MINUTE. Like most of the other matches on Saturday, the Star-Clifton game won by Star in the last few minutes was mostly a forward one, although the Star backs opened out on several occasions. > Olsson and Fowler led a vigorous Clifton pack, and for a long time it looked as if the result would be a three-point draw. Star 'battered at the Clifton line for most of the second spell and were finally rewarded with a try when E. Clegg dived over.

The most' noticeable improvement as far as the Star backs were concerned was the handling of K. Clegg, who took the wet and greasy ball with studied ease through the whole game. His coolness meant much to Star on the day. Just before half-time the Star backs went off and J. Kinsella capped a back movement with all his old dash. T. Wallace, Clifton’s. full-back, could not field a roling ball, and on several occasions left his team in bad positions. Giddy, playing first five-eighths, and Newa were the soundest backs on the day.

The Star forwards went well ' after warming up to their work, and McLeod, a most consistent and vigorous forward worthy of a trial with the province’s best, led them tirelessly. E. Clegg and Clark'were prominent among the other battlers. GOOD GAME IN MUD. - In spite of a handy lead established by Stratford in the first spell of the match with Tukapa at New Plymouth, Tukapa held on grimly and in the second spell scored eight points to Stratford s nil, the failure of a difficult conversion kick in the last minute robbing the home team of what would have been a welldeserved draw. The home forwards went hard for all the game, but for a brief period in the first spell, when Stratford rattled on eight points in as many minutes. Decisive play by the good_ Stratford forwards .at this period won the match for the championship leaders. Played on a ground that heavy rain made steadily worse as the game proceeded, the match was nevertheless interesting throughout and the sparse attendance was well served for its money arid interest. Handling was almost impossible and the work of the two full backs, Papps and Lash, was especially good in view of the conditions. Both Boswell and C. Sangster, the two halfbacks, played to their forwards as much as possible, and bcth were responsible for some splendid rush-stopping. G. Sangster played one of his best games at first five-eighths for Stratford and came through a difficult day in solid fashion. O’Dowda and Ruakere (Tukapa) and Hinton, Fastier and the two Youngs were prominent among the forwards.

Tukapa’s try towards the end of the first half gave the impression that, had the ground been dry, Stratford would have been hard put to hold out a fast and dangerous set of backs. In spite of the slippery ball, the whole Tukapa line handled when McNeill got the ball out after a smart break-away and Webster went over in determined fashion near the corner flag. It was a great effort. Webster also scored in the last minute of the game, gathering in the wet ball and speeding over in the corner. He has improved out of sight in the last two games and is playing determined football. J. Sullivan, the third brother to join Tukapa, looked like a valuable acquisition to the team at centre threequarter.

The Stratford team fully deserved its win and all through the second half the forwards held a determined Tukapa pack and the' backs booted the ball into touch. W. Fastier, who turned out on the wing, scored Stratford’s opening try by being on the spot, and he showed sound form throughout the game. P. Collins also played very steadily, while C. Sangster’s try from the base of the scrum was a good and wise solo effort. Good conversions by C. Sangster and Boswell were features of the match.