NEARING AN END

Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1935, Page 8

NEARING AN END

RUGBY IN CENTRAL DIVISION. _ midhirsts chances brighter. Had Stratford beaten Midhirst in the junior Rugby match at Midhirst on Thursday Midhirst and Toko would have been level, with Stratford a point behind, and there would have been a keen fight for divisional honours but in vietv of its win Midhirst still holds its two points lead on Toko and Stratford is three points behind Toko. Stratford held its four-point advantage over High School in the third grade and Stratford fourth staved oS Inglewood’s challenge, reasserting its two points lead over Toko. There were only two junior games play - ed because Inglewood had the bye and Cardiffowing to Eltham’s withdrawal, was left without a fixture. As Inglewood and Cardiff had played together before it was not feasible to match them and make a third game. Stratford is a team that has improved substantially during the season and at Midhirst the match was anyone’s till the last few minutes. Both fore and aft there was little to pick and choose between the two and any mistakes made by one side were counterbalanced by similar faults on the other. The Midhirst inside backs would have been better advised to feed Boniface more consistently and the Stratford .line could have beep, set deeper to advantage. On many occasions Stratford backs handled accurately but the players were running across the field much of the time so that Very little ground was gained. Neither set of five-eighths showed much judgment in punting, for mostly the hall landed just where the opposing fullback could most easily field it. A surprising feature was the amount of bail Stratford obtained from the set scrums. Toko held a territorial at’ antage for fully three-quarters of the match with United Old Boys and that there were only four tries scored was due to the solid defensive work put jn by the home team. The four successful conversions made the most of Toko’s score. On the other hand, United Old Boys should have scored, and would have scored had the backs been able to handle the ball cleanly. There were two new wingers on tne field and, apart from the fact that the back line was weakened, it gave the jiside meh a tendency to hang on a little too long, so that they were tackled »n possession. It would not be too mucn to say that at least two tries were thrown away by poor handling. Central division points tables are:— ’ .' . Junior. Ch.

P. W. D L. . for . ag. pts. Midhirst. ... Toko Stratford .. Cardiff .... Inglewood. . Old Boys •• .10 10 10 9 10 8 8 7 5 4 3 1 1 . 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 3 3 6 £ 94 120 86 69 52 32 30 57 70 70 125 73 17 15 12 10 6 3 Third.. Cn. P. W. D. L. for. ag. pts. Stratford School ..... 9 9 9 7 0 0 0 2 141 179 28 49 18 14 Eltham .... 8 3 0 5 71 68 Old Boys .. 8 2 0 6 18 123 4 Midhirst: 8 0 0 8 18 159 0 Fourth. Ch. P. W. D. L. for. ag. pts. Stratford .. Toko ...... 9 9 7 6 1 1 1 2 142 135 18 57 15 13 Inglewood . School A .. 9 6 6 0 0 0 3 6 148 9 57 116 97 12 0 School B m 7 0 0 7 11 0