MIDHIRST UNBEATEN

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1935, Page 13

MIDHIRST UNBEATEN

CENTRAL DIVISION RUGBY TOKO DEFEATED BY STRATFORD. CARDIFF ADVANCES IN POSITION. White Midhirst, leader of the central division first junior Rugby competition, Woh. yesterday, the runner-up, Toko, WSS lowered by Stratford 'in a bright, hhfd gAhte at Stratford. As a result Cardiff, Which was three points behind Toko, is fioW Only one point behind. With two points and a match in hand over Toko, Midhirst has every chance of holding its lead. . Third grade games brought no surprise results, but in the fourth grade Toko defeated Inglewood at Toko and let Stratford gain another two points on Inglewood, in addition to its previous one-point margin. Toko is now only one point behind Inglewood. R»=ultS Are: — Junior. Midhirst 19 v. Old Boys 0. Stratford 12 v. Toko 8. Cardiff 14 v. Inglewood 3. Eitham a bye. Third. School 16 v. Eitham 6. Stratford 6 v. Midhirst 0. Old Boys a bye. Fourth. Toko 13 v. Inglewood 8. Stratford 43 v. School B 0. . School A a bye. STRATFORD DEFEATS TOKO. OPEN PLAY BY BOTH TEAMS. Bright football on a fairly dry ground Was seen at Stratford, where Stratford defeated Toko by 12 points (three tries and a pefialty goal) to 8 (two tries, one Converted), It was a hard game from to. finish, and though the standard of play was not very high the match WAS always interesting. Toko was probably superior all round on general play, but Stratford scored the points and held the lead. None of Stratford’s three tries Was won. in orthodox style, coming rather frdm an effective use of opportunities than from connected movements. Both teams played open football, and the Toko backs handled well, only to And the Stratford defence also on form. A pleasing feature of the match Was the willingness shown by both teams to abandon the cautioxis tatties of perpetual line-kicking in favour of fast, open «play infield. The Toko forwards were for the greater part Of the match on top, exploiting the advantage of their superior weight in both set scrums and loose. They also hooked regularly. The backs consequently saw the ball often, ana frequently made good use of it, but minor infringements kept them back. Standring showed a tendency to knock on, but' more than made amends by determined running on other occasions. For Stratford, Foley and Hill combined well, hut the. ball seldom reached the wings direct. 'Watson was speedy but not always reliable; his try near the end a fine piece of work. Richards handled soundly at full-back, though he did not always find the line when he meant to. The teams were:— Stratford: Richards; Collins, F. Collins, Watson; Foley, Hill; Wellington; Woollett, Demchy, Charlton, Young, Bourke, Vivian, Volske, Bonner. Toko: Jones; Latham, Standring, Wihnshurst; Wrigley,. Sangster; Jones; Sunbury, Chapman, Were, Brown, Hall, Kilsby, O’Halloran, Sangster. The game opened at a good pace, and ■within five minutes Stratford had drawn first blood, Richards goaling from a penalty kick. Toko forwards forced their way deep into Stratford territory, but a stalwart defence held them up. Hill broke away With an intercepted pass as Toko was prfessihg on the line and raced down to half-way. A short punt beat the full-bavk, and With Foley and Hill in the lead Stratford rushed ahead, Jones attempted to clear and landed the ball in the arms of S. Collins, who scored without difficulty. Richards’ kick missed. Toko forwards again swept up the field, and within two minutes Standring had crossed the line. The kick failed.

A pretty passing movement that came within inches of the line opened the second spell, when after a solid attack by the Toko patk Richards’ clearing kick was taken by Sangster and handled cleanly and swiftly by all the backs. Wilmshurst was caught in possession. Toko was temporarily repelled, but within five minutes Richards had to force at the feet of the Toko forwards. Toko pressed steadily for ten minutes until Foley and F. Collins broke away with the ball at their toes. Jones checked them, but the Stratford forwards gained the ball again, and S. Collins kicked for the corner. Watson raced up the line, gathered the ball at top speed, and was over in a flash. Richards could not convert. Toko heeled from a scrum near the line and the ball flew out to Standring, who bullocked his way through the Stratford pack to score. J. Sangster converted. Within two minutes Stratford egain increased its lead. Stratford gained possession from a scrum just past

half-way, and Wellington dodged round the blind side with F. Collins. Collins took the pass cleanly and after a heat Swerve past Wilmshurst raced Jones, to the line and scored well out. The kick failed. The final whistle soufided soon afterwards, leaving the scores:— Stratford J....;..... Toko Mr. A. O’Sullivan refereed. MIDIIiRSTS SCORING MOOD. NIL-TEEN POINTS ON OLD BOYS. Fast breaking forward.? and an effective back line Enabled Midhirst to dominate Old Boys at Midhirst and win by 19 points (five tries, tw° converted) to none . Old Boys showed from the start that the game would be open, a V hopes the team had of minimising Midhirst’s forward superiority by use of tae backs were nullified by the extreme y sound defensive tactics of Midhirst backs, who also outclassed Old Boys as an a - ta old g ßjys played a fair game, blit Midhirst was a more flmshea team in all respects. There was nc. a lr— man in the pack, and if Bottin, Henry, Walker and Gibson can be singled out because they were more often to the fore, the selection casts no reflection on the other four. Richardson D. Thomson, Cook and Cannon all did a great deal for Old Boys, but there was not the team spirit in the van as a whole that was so evident with Midhirst. Boniface was the outstanding back of the day and has rapidly developed into a clever centre since Midhirst has beer using the backs freely. Calcot. was inclined at times to hang on too long and run Old Boys’ line into the Midhirst tackling, but his play otherwise was sound and heady and he had no counterpart in the other backs. .Harkness behind the Midhirst pack maintain-

ed a faster and more accurate service to his backs than,, did Lawrence, which was a contributing factor m the failuie of Old Boys’ backs to penetrate. The teams were:— M-'dhirst: Ludlam; Rdsewarrte, Boniface, Lindsay; Jakes, Cookson; Bottin; Hosking, Henry, Gibson, Walker, Wellington, Alexander. Old Bovs- D. Vincent; S. Vincent, Wilmshurst, Harris; Calcott, McCarnson; Lawrence; Lamason; Bulmer, C. Thom £ c” Ryan, D. Thomson; Richardson, C M?dWrst forwards dribbled unfield and a rush surged over Old Boys line, Henry scoring. Old Boys attc^ pt * ecl to go through with a series of back attacks but a taste for punting and late holding of passes NUdhirst defence to cope easily with the stabs. Then Midhirst backs adopted similar tactics but freer passing made them more dangerous, and the backs kept Old Boys pinned against the line till Walker took advantage of a scramble and scored the second try. Boniface goaled. Raking rushes W Midhirst breakaways prevented ing the ball out. Adlam threw out from the line and the backs handled, Bornface wriggling his way through the defence with a fine sold run to scOre. He also converted the try. Old Boys broke up a Midhirst back attack, but during the scramble Boniface picked up and ran down the line to score. He failed to goal. Gibson picked up from the ruck and went over for the final try. Ludlam cpuld not convert. Midhirst - • • • Old Boys 0 Mr. W. Shepperd refereed.