RUGBY FOOTBALL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 72, 15 May 1945, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SATURDAY'S OPENING GAMES

SENIOR AND JUNIOR SERIES

The Rugby season was officially opened in Whakatane last Saturday when the competilional games under the local union, took place, and attracted a gratifying attendance. As was to be expectcd the games were of a patchy scraggy nature though the senior contest between the old opponents, Paroa and Poroporo supplied some bright interludes of quite promising play. The junior games were typical of the first-of-season play and were confined on the main to rough and tunable tactics in forward scrambles. There is however some, good material showing up in individual play„ which must become a definite asset later in the season when brighter football should obtain. A pleasing feature last Saturday was the number of returned men who appeared in the playing ranks and who had lost no time in donning the old sporting jersey. THE SCORE BOARD WHAKATANE UNION Seniors: Paroa beat Poroporo 15-3; Waimana a bye. Juniors: Poroporo beat Whakatane 9-8; Paroa beat Waimana 20-0. — ' RANGITAIKI UNION Seniors: Edgecumbe drew with Otakiri (3 all. Juniors: Awakeri beat Edgecumbe 3—o; Otakiri beat Matata 6—o; Tc Teko beat Thornton G—3.

THE SENIOR FIELD

EASY WIN FOR PAROA From Poroporo's kick off the blues attacked and swept play into the yellow half where P. Merito had an unsuccessful shot at goal from a penalty. Aided by Dodd's handy liners Paroa returned to the attack, the forwards going well together and severely testing the blue defence. Nuku the Poroporo fullback seemed to wage a lone battle against the invaders and' whilst his colleagues looked on Simpson slipped over to scorc. J. Dodd failed to convert . Paroa 3 Poroporo 0. Superior weight in the pack gave Paroa a substantial advantage which they exploited to the utmost confining most of the play to Poroporo's last quarter. The blue pack however just prior to half-time made a brilliant sortie which broke the yellow defence and allowed R. Maui to slip over and score. N. Ijer failed with the kick. With the scores three all the second half found Paroa determined to improve and Poroporo was once again in hard defence. .Nuku was outstanding and by his clever footwork, he more than once brought his side out of danger. Offside play gave Dodd a chance at goal from a favourable, position with which he made no mistake. Kahui next led his side through and from a hard forward battle in the corner T. Crapp slipped over and scored. The acute angle defeated Dodd's attempt at conversion. With the score i)-3 in Paroa's favour the pace quickencd. Tuta Kororiko made a brilliant opening when he sprinted down the side line but from a forward tangle near the goal P. Tenieti gave Paroa a " further three points from an easy try. Ilarawira failed to convert. Paroa was now consistently on the attack, and Poroporo's defence went to pieces as the game concluded. Mokai scored for Paroa once more with little or no opposition. The game ended with the scores Paroa 15, Poroporo 3. Mr F. Darvill was referee.

THE JUNIORS

POROPORO 9 WHAKATANE S 5 This was* an inconclusive game, in which the teams participating were evened off Whakatane bv dint •t of a hard-fighting pack and Poroporo by its better combination of backs. The winners were unlucky not to score ofter.er, but speaking broadly the scores were a fairly good indication of the play. Scoring for Poroporo were Skelton, W. Paul and J. Kingi (there were no conversions). Whakatane's points came from two tries (Walker and Carr), the first of which was converted by Beaumont. Mr H. Mahv was referee. PAROA 29 v WAIMANA 0

between Paroa and Waimana junior teams, resulted in a victory for Paroa by 20 points to nil. Play was actually much better than the scores would indicate. The first try was scored by Lafferty just on the halftime whistle. The movement was initiated on Waimana's goal line. after play had centred in that 25 ior some time. Lafferty scooped up the leather, dived round the opposing and across the line with half the Waimana team on top of him. The kick was easy, and T. Riini made sure of it. In tlie .second half the. best try was scored by Tawa who displayed a good piece of solo work, while T. Riini was also responsible for con-; verting a penalty. \ ■ Both packs were solid and stayed with the ball t although the back lines also made £ood use of it when it was passed out. Waimana were a number of times within several feet ol' Paroa's goal line, but each time the superior work of the Paroa _ backs lost them the try. f Waimana in the concluding stages failed utterly to hold their opposition in mid-field although stiff defence play at the or 'last „■ tactics, made the Paroa men use ' all their w,eight to force the l>all across. Each time it was anybody's trv and credit must gQ more to , t fch& J