UNITED-OPUNAKE DRAW

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1935, Page 10

UNITED-OPUNAKE DRAW

DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY OLD BOYS MUFFS ITS CHANCES. FAILURE OF THE INSIDE BACKS. Playing against an Opunake team that showed little of the spirit that carried it to victory against Patea, United Old Boys let opportunities slip by the dozen at Stratford and left the field with one point from a draw When it should have had a' 10-pdiht margin. The score Was 6-all, Old Boys scoring two trie? to OpUnake’s try and a penalty goal. / Both the Old Boys CbhverSidn kicks were from easy positions and Only ' oiie goal would have been sufficient, but the kicking aside the team threw the game away because it neglected the obvious advantages it had over Opunake. The forwards gained 75. per cent, of the ball from set scrums and W. Lash sOrit the ball out regularly; Some bf his passes were certainly astray but On the Whole they were fair enough. Ifi the threequarter line were McCready at centre and L. Lash and Cochrane oh the wings. All three played excellent games and the objective of the inside men should have been to get the ball to them. Instead, Barlow at first five-eighths stood up too close and nearly every time he took the ball he was immediately tackled by Harrison, who, having been caught offside early in the game, kept within the letter of the. law and swamped Barlow With the aid of the Opunake inside backs. On these. occasions When Barlow got the ball, away COok WaS usually too far up too and had to try to gather the ball off the back of his neCk with one hand. Cook was responsible for several bright tricks, one Of which led to Cochrane’S first try, -but his general tactics left much to be desired for his habit of standing . too shallow and his speed took ■ him into, trouble before he could release the ball nine times out of ten. Meanwhile the three-quarters cooled their heels and prated for the possession that was denied them except for half a dozen occasions during the match. And on two of those occasions Cochrane scored. . , Faulty though Old Boys’ back work was the Opunake line compared unfavourably. Langton, who changed places with R. Hohaia soon after the match started, was inclined to take too much on his own shoulders, but the only Opunake try rewarded Ohe' of his solo efforts. For the rest, he fed R. Hohaia fairly consistently and the first fiveeighths was equally consistent in running into Barlow’s arms while trying to pass in to the forwards, As a Speculative ruse ■at psychological moments the method 'could have .been very effective, but as a’steady policy/it dulled the edge of the few lino attacks that developed and reduced the outside , men to impotence. Pepperell on the wing was & good man wasted. He turned all his casual opportunities to good account and impressed as a winger of potentialities. Old Boys spent much time kicking into Richards’ hands and he returned everything with interest. Behind Old Boys Adlam was safe and kicked deeply along the - line. ■ J ■ ■ • i-X # “Once caught twice shy” Was. Harrison’S' summing, up of the disadvantages likely to. accrue from work offside, and he Steadied his usual enthusiasm while still playing a very effective spoiling game. Ruakere and Upson were bright workers in the loose. The pack could not compete with Old .Boys’ in the scrumages and Kofoed’s. height and reach let him get a big proportion of the throwsin. Moreover, he played a particularly good all-round game. Forwards who did well in the loose from time to time were Goodman, Heath, Hughes and Bonner, but whoever initiated anything' ho very seldom had the rallying of the others to turn impulse into directed movement.-

The teams were:-. , Old’Boys: Adlam/L. Lash, McCready, Cochrane; Cook, Barlow; W. Lash; Kofoed; Heath, Hughes,/ Murphy, Bonner; Goodman,’Walker, O’Keefe. Opunake: Richards; J.’ Malcolm, R. Malcolm, Pepperell; C. Hohaia, Langton; R. Hohaia; Gadsby; Harrison, Ruakere, Smith, Upson; Mabey, O’ShannesSy.Old Boys’ pack sent the ball back to W. Lash and he sent the backs away in a series of good runs which Opunake broke up by solid tackling and three failures- by Cook to take .the ball cleanly at critical moments, though on one occasion he was responsible for a neat dummy which he spoiled by failing to take the return pass from L. Lash. Pepperell put Opunake on Old Boys' line but a series, of scrums arid line-Outs was terminated by a free kick to Old Boys. From the line-out and scrum at midfield Old Boys backs sailed away and Cook, made the opening and distance that enabled Cochrane to take his pass and score beneath the .cross bar. Aalam missed with the kick.’ Failure, by Old . Boys to field, cleanly jet Opunake down on the line and Langton; who Had changed places with ,R. Hohaia, received from the scrum ' and aS the forwards broke apart, he simply ran through among them, Nobody even touched him and .he equalised the score at 3-all, for Richards did not goal.. ■With an open field before him. and only a few yards to go L. Lash eould not collect Cook’s' pass after the, ball had gone along the. line from a. SCrumy and R. Malcolm picked up and cleared. • Opunake forwards broke away repeatedly in Old Boys 25 but could not carry the ball over. R. Hohaia kept running into Barlow and trying to pass in to thd forwards while his outside -men starved. Harrison kicked a penalty from well back and the game began to liven up. It was not sustained, however. The next 20 -minutes contained nothing but ineffective handling, lob kicking and lack of concerted effort. Then came the exception. Old Boys’ backs snapped the ball out in the way they should have been doing all along, McCready cut out a man and Cochrane raced over at the corner and round to make the kick easier, but W. Lash failed. United Old Boys •• • ® Opunake ? ® Mr. A. O’Sullivan refereed. . COASTAL DIVISION PLAY. WAREA TEAM IN THE LEAD. Saturday saw the close of the first round of the first junior competition, in the Coastal Division. A very close game between the two unbeaten teams at Warea, gave Warea victory by two pointe over Rahotu. Warea therefore enters the second round with a two-point lead. At Opunake Okato defeated Opunake by nine to three 'and is third four points behind the leader. The game between Rahotu and Warea provided a bright exhibition and a very keen contest. Warea had the better of the first spell in which it scored. eight, points, Pepperell opening the scoring with a splendid try as the culmination of a spirited passing bbut. Harvey converted. From a forward scramble Hanwright scored a try which was not converted. In the second spell Rahotu had the better of the game but met determined defence. It’ crossed the line on one Occasion, D. Pennington scoring a try. G. Butler kicked a penalty goal. At Opunake Okato proved superior to the local juniors, winning by three tries to a penalty goal, Moorby scored two tries and Hodge one, neither being converted, and Ross kicked a penalty goal for Opunake.