PLAINS RUGBY.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 18240, 14 July 1931, Page 2

PLAINS RUGBY.

TURUA. FOOTBALL. DENT CUP WON BY TURUA. u'luiu our own CorrespumlenlJ. In purled weather before a good altenuunce, which included many indies, Turua met and deieuted Paietonga at Turua on Saturday utsi in a match which decided the premiership of the Hauraki Plains competition for this year. The match was played in a particularly line spirit, and the players oil both sides having turned out in good condition, a fast and thrilling contest in keeping with the occasion was witnessed throughout. Turua has still one match to play, but the result cannot affect the issue.

Playing against the sun in the first half Patetonga forced play into Turua’s 25 for the first few minutes, when a high punt and fast following up by the Turua forwards relieved. M. Madgwick then gained possession and put in a good run, his pass being well intercepted by Patetouga’s centre - threequarter, who initiated a good movement, which later developed into a forward rush. Patetonga forwards pressed but Marshall, at full-back, saved for Turua. Forward play took the ball back to Patetonga’s 25. where Gill kicked rather hard and thus spoiled a possible chance of scoring, Patetonga forcing. With tight play among the forwards the ball travelled up and down the field the game being interesting and exciting_ with as yet no score on either side. From just inside Patetonga’s 25 Scott got the ball away nicely to eventually reach Elvin, who, with a useful kick found the line to good effect. However, from the line-out, Patetonga developed a good forward movement which, being well supported by the backs, was not stemmed until within 20 yds. of Turua’s line, where Marshall cleared nicely, finding the line at From here play moved to Patetonga’s territory, where a free kick by M. Madgwick failed to goal. From the drop-out Turua gained., possession and, following close play, Gill dived on the ball far out to score Turua’s first try. Madgwick missed the kick. Turua 3, Patetonga 0.

From the kick-off Patetonga followed up well and got the ball out to Foote, on the wing, this player putting in a good run until forced out by Marshall. From the line-out close play followed and Turua, with Clark, as usual in the van, saw him secured a well-deserved try. Gill’s kick missed the uprights. Turua 6, Patetonga 0. From the kick-off Hutchinson gained possession and, placing the ball at toe, carried play with a good dribbling rush to Patetonga’s line, where Patetonga forced. Resuming, Patetonga, with harmony between forwards and backs, carried play to within 15 yards of Turua’s line, where a scrum was ordered. Scott, who had been playing a good game for Turua, here became over-zealous and was penalised for picking out of the scrum. A free kick at goal by Patetonga missed. From tin drop-out Turua took play to within striking distance, where they remained for some time until Costello relieved. Fast fqjjpwing up by Patetonga’s forwards moved play to Turua’s goal-line and they pressed strongly until for offside play, Patetonga was penalised by a free kick, which eased the situation for Turua somewhat. Almost immediately following this, good play, in which both backs and forwards shone prominently, found first Turua and then Patetonga storming each other’s line. For an infringement Patetonga had a chance at goal, but failed. Half-time followed with the scores unchanged.

On resumption Turua forwards, by a good movement, took play to near Patetonga’s line once more, but Costello, who played a reliable game throughout, saved by clearing nicely to the side line. Following a line-out a scrum took place and from a nice clearance by the forwards to Scott at half, the ball travelled to O’Carroll, to Madgwick, J,he latter putting in a good straight run, warding off tacklers en route, until within a few yards of the line, where Patetonga checked the movement. A free kiek to Patetonga here enabled that team to extricate itself from a difficult position. Once again Patetonga returned to the attack and were somewhat unfortunate in not 'clinching a good effort by scoring. Turua managed to force. Resuming Turua took play to Patetonga territory, where a forward pass spoiled a good movement. Play continued fast and open and the excitement was intense until Hutchinson eased the tension with a timely and well-di-rected speculator which found touch near the corner flag. From the lineout the ball went over the line, where Patetonga forced. From the dropout Patetonga carried play to the Turua 25, where the ball reached the side line. From the line-out Patetonga gained possession and from sparkling play in which both forwards and backs participated, Hunter went over between the posts to score for Patetonga. Costello made no mistake with an easy kick. Turua 6, Patetonga 5. With only one point difference excitement now ran high and both teams, vociferously cheered on by supporters, put forth their best efforts. Play had been resumed for but a few minutes when M. Madgwiek put in a line run up the left wing, cross kicked nicely to Ste: pliens, who gathered in and after making a good run, the ball went

through several hands, eventually to reach Gill, who forged his way over for his second try. His attempt at goal failed. Turua 9, Patetonga 5. Not dismayed, Patetonga attacked strongly for the remaining few minutes of the game, but Turua’s defence held and the match ended with the score unchanged. Mr A. Cleave ably refereed The position ftlhe clubs in the competition to date is as follows: Turua, 11 points; Maramarua, 9; Patetonga, 7; Ngatea, 5; Waitakaruru, 4. Excepting Maramarua, each club has one match to play but the issue will remain unaltered. MAItAMARUA’S VICTORY. SIX POINTS TO THREE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) The first half of the game played between Ngatea and Maramarua at Maramarua provided quite a good exhibition of open and fast football. In the. second half Maramarua relaxed the pressure for a time and concentrated more on forward attacking but Ngatea, in spite of being two men short, held their own. The weakest feature of the whole match was the tackling of both teams, time and again high tackling almost letting players score on either side. Half-time saw the scores 3-all, the result of a try scored by F. Hamilton for Ngatea, and a try scored by H. Jones for Maramarua. The second spell saw Maramarua having all the best of it, but Ngatea put up a great defence, the fullback, C. Hamilton, being most reliable and saying with good line kicks. It was not until the Jast minute that Maramarua managed to get the deciding try. Falkner, put in a strong run from about half-way and fending off .several opponents, who all tackled high, and scored right on the corner, the kick missing. Mr H. Vause was referee.