RUGBY FOOTBALL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 177, 24 June 1940, Page 8

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SATURDAY'S REPRESENTATIVE GAME ! RANGITAIKI GOME OUT ON TOP • There was a fairly good attendance at Matata on Saturday to witness the Parata Cup fix-i ture, Rangitaiki versus Whakatane. The ground was firm although rather tufty in places and the game was played in per feet football weather. After Wliakatane's decisive defeat of Opoliki a fortnight earlier it was expected that a bright game would result when the local representatives met what was considered to he a strong Rangitaiki fifteen but the standard of the game as a whole was poor. For the most part devoted to solid forward st . aggies, play lacked anything oi: a spectacular nature. Rangitaiki appeared to be a heavier team all-round and the pack seem ed to average about a stone more than the Whakatane vanguard, this superiority in weight being demonstrated on more than one occasion by scrum screwing. Whakatane has a 'lind' in Whini, playing his first rep guoe. This Ruatoki half-back served his inside men with some excellent passes and was quick to come round on defence. All round, lie played an excel lent game. How the Pla/ Went. The teams took sonic time to settle down but play was mainly confined to Whakatane territory. An infringement gave Rangitaiki a chance to open the scoring but the kick was missed from an easy position. was transfeicrd to the other end per medium of Hughes and Mitchell, the latter dash in a nice run down the line. After a period of desultory midfield play, Rangitaiki swung into action and a good back movement, with live men handling, saw Thompson gallop across at the corner. Wliakatane's winger, Mitchell, was badly caught out of position,, running infield and attempting to intercept instead of marking his opposite number. There was no conversion, Francis missing narrowly with the kick. The next live minutes or so were notable for a splendid effort by Dodd from just inside the halfway mark and Rangitaiki forward, L. Gardner* being cautioned for rough tactics. Awarded a penal t}', Whakatane evened the score as the result of \ good kick by Dodd. Shortly afterwards Mitchell made amends for his previous mistake by linding the line nicely, extricating his side from an awkward position. Rangitaiki held the advantage for most of the first spell, and despite the fact that the Blues had had a run against Opotiki, impressed a:; the better balanced team. Play livened towards the close of the first half, but Whakatane forwards attempted to break through, led by Wells, but the effort was frustrated. Wells was i>laying a partigood game, both on attack | and defence, and another splendid | kick, this time from the sideline, again missed narrowly. Play was in ; Wliakatane's quarter when the spell ended. The Second Half. The standard of play, which had i not been impressive before, dropped I still more in the initial stages of ; the second half. Whakatane held the upper hand for some time, thy forwards endeavouring to break through and the backs handling once or twice in movements spelling danger to the Rangitaiki line. Relief for the Blue and Blacks transferred play to mid-field, nei ther line being threatened. At this stage, Whitely, Rangitaiki skipper, received a head injury which held the game up for some minutes. Whitely eventually going off the field, to be replaced by Conn.

The rest perhaps was the reason for the now lease of life taken by the home team. They infused more dash into their play and a good back movement saw Elliott turn on a burst of speed and go across. Fend ing off would-be tacklers, he raced along behind the line and touched down underneath the posts. Francis converted. Further time was spent in retrieving the ball, which had topped the hedge and found a billet on the side of the road. More minutes were lost when Thompson was injured and the game slowed down again, to be livened only when Mitchell broke away but he over-ran the ball Three penalty kicks were awarded Whakatane within as many minutes the last attempted by Dodd, from ten yards inside the halfway mark, falling just short of the bar. Whakatane staged a 'come back' for a while and yet another penalty came their way,' Dodd's punt hitting the man an the mark. Give-and-take tactics followed, but Rangitaiki put the ball out of bounds whenever possible, to play out time with the score still Rangitaiki 8, Whakatane 3, Ail excellent exhibition of refereeing was given by Mr L. Anderson, who controlled the game splendidly The teams lined out as follows: —■ Rangitaiki (Blue and Black): T. Elliott, R. Lees, Thompson; M. Lees, McCracken; Howell; Francis, Whitely (Capt), Schooner, Tama, Woods, Tuea, Parkes, L. Gardner. Whakatane (Blue): Wells; Boynton, McGarvey, Mitchell; Courtney, Hotene; Whini; Brown, Hughes, Dodd (Capt), Walker, Gleland, Tahaetu, K. Merito, Hayward. JUNIORS WHAKATANE 8, RANGITAIKI 5 The Junior clash between Whakatane and Rangitaiki was a good game to watch. Played at a fast pace throughout., the game was open for the most part, with the backs of both sides given opportunities to j show up. A feature of this match was the. solid tackling of the Whakatane team. They were right on tiheir men at all stages and smothered many cf the oppositions attempts before they were properly under Avay. Rangitaiki also lacked little in thiis respect. A good game! was played by Mc-C-ready, five-eighth for the visiting team. He shone in all movements and put in some great individual efforts,' Tries were scored for Whakatane bv Wilson and Thorburn, Boon converting one. For Rangitaiki, Fow ell touched down and the conversion was kicked by Waititi.