RUGBY FOOTBALL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 86, 3 July 1945, Page 8

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SATURDAY'S BIG PROGRAMME ROTORUA VISITORS OUTCLASSED UNORTHODOX LADLES' GAME There was a spate of games for Whakatane in the realms of Rugby football last Saturday, though for sheer interest and enthusiasm the unofficial event of the day ? the match between the Paroa and Waikite (Roto-, rua) ladies' teams was the undoubted star attraction as far as the spectators were concerned, and certainly came well up to expectation. The friendly games between the senior and .junior Waikite fifteens and the local Paroa stalwarts were disappointing from a scientific point of view though in both instances the homesters notched an overwhelming victory by sheer aggressiveness'. The Waikite boys did not show the same spirit straightout dogedness displayed by their amazon sisters though they certainly paid more attention to the rules. A further walkover was registered by the heavy Waimana team which mauled Poroporo to the tune of 24 points to nil. The junior encounter however though patchy was> tougher and gave the spectators a more balanced contest. THE SCORE BOARD Hurunul Apanui Shield: Opotiki beat Tauranga 25 —3. WHAKATANE UNION Seniors j Paroa beat Waikite 29—0. j Waimana beat Poroporo 24—0. Juniors' Paroa beat Waikite 14—0. Waimana drew with Poroporo 3—3 PAROA'S DECISIVE WIN • ROTORUA TEAM DEFEATED 29—0 The teams were:— j Waikite: C. Reihi, Wadeford, A. j White, Hohua, Midwood, A. Ha'karaia Taipa Te Whata 11. Haka--9 X 9. i raia Merriman, Simpson T. Kingi , ~ •-» > Jacobs and D. Paul. Paroa: Wells C. Bluett, Simpson, T. Riini M. Bluett Lawson Mokai 9 • •• 9. 9 9 Crapp Francis Dodd, Harawira x 1 9 <9 7 9 Wharewera (2) and Awa. Paroa kicked off against the sun and Waikite returned to half where the locals had the better of some forward play from which Crapp shot through to score. Wells' kick went wide. Caught off guard, Waikite. now warmed to the attack and discovered a trio of hard fighting forwards who battled through into Paroa's quarter. Here only an jixlavertant, knock-on saved an almost certain try. Well-aimed line finders from Dodds boot carried, Paroa into the open country again. The game developed into a series of loose unspectacular forward drives, until Mokai snapped up and fed away his backs Harawira sweeping in to a try near the corner. Dodd converted with a beautiful kick the ball striking the upright and bouncing over the bar. Smart handling gave Paroa another opening and. Crapp crossed without much opposition. Wells converted. The score at halftime was Paroa 13 Waikite 0. 9 j The new kick off saw Dodd break away in spectacular fashion only to be grassed on the line by the Waikite full. A moment later however Riini reaped the reward of fastfollowing up by a snap score close to the goal. Dodds kick failed to rise. Shortly afterwards the same man staged another beautiful run-in try which Harawira converted with ease. Paro-a 21, Waikite 0. Simpson was the next to score from a line out ? though Ilarawira's kick failed. A second try by the same man saw Wells lob over the bar and the game ended Paroa 2!), Waikite 0. Mr F. Darvil was referee. WIN FOR WAIMANA A ONE-SIDED GAME The senior match between Poroporo (blue) and Waimana (red and black) resulted in a substantial win for the latter team by 21. points, to Poraporo's nil. From the start of the match Waimana took the initiative and time after time made good use of a piercSing spearhead of attack to drive

through the main* weak points in the opposing team's defence. Grant Mitchell playing at centre tlirce-quarter for Waimana was the e.ye-opener of the match. From the kick off, Hayward led an attack to opposition ground, where, he passed to Mitchell who crossed on the blind side to run round and score between the posts. D. Boynton converted. The ball was taken back to halfway and alter a period of defence, Waimana once again began to force the issue. Suddenly Mitchell scooped up the and put another 3 points on the board for Waimana before the opposition had' time to turn round. D. Boj r nton used his boot to good effect once again and Waimana were 10 points up. A few minutes later, the MitchellBoynton combination once again delighted the spectators by raising the 10 points by another 5. Waimana 15, Poroporo 0. Hayward (Waimana) led the next attack which resulted in another 3 points for his team. Rakuraku was responsible for the actual try, which however was not converted. Half time found Waimana with a consolidatfed lead which they looked like increasing. Several minutes after the changeover, M. Wardlaw, playing fullback raised Waimaha's score to 21 with a try in the corner. D. Boynton's kick, from a difficult angle, | was low. Ross followed up with another score between the posts for the red and black team. The kick from a very easy position hardly left the ground. ' Poroporo woke up a little towards the end of the game but the Waimana defence proved to be just as sound as its attack, and Poroporo found it a hard job to even get their movements started. The final whistle foujjd the scorc board reading jWaimana 24, Poroporo 0. Mr J. Whitehead was referee.

JUNIORS PAROA v WAIKLTE The Paroa v Waikitc junior match was a good all round game which supplied plenty of thrills especially for the home backers. The Paroa line was once again well up to form and the many neat passing rushes Avhich it Avas a pleasure to watch took them time and again to the verge of their try line. Although the Waikite defence was sound enough and marking was good the Paroa men unerringlj T found Aveak points and forced their Avaj 7 through relentlessly. Lafl'crty at breakaway was particularly fast and accounted for tAA r o of Paroa's tries. Merito and T. BroAvn accounted for the other two Avhilst T. Riini converted the firs't of Lafferty's tries bringing the final score to 14—0 in Paroa's favour. Mr S. Pyne was referee. WAIMANA v POROPORO The Waimana v Poroporo junior match resulted in a draw the score being 3 all. The game could only be described as patchy and instances of anything like good football were feAV and far between. D. Black (Waimana) and B. Hudson (Poroporo) were the scorers. AMAZONS AMAZE ! GIRL FOOTBALLERS TO BOOT There Avas no disputing that the most popular highlight of Saturday's Rugby programme was the unique spectacle of two teams of dusky Maori damsels playing the old game Avith a vim and vengeance which could set a shining example to many of our existing local teams. The match though frowned ufton by tlie Rugby Union officially 5 attracted all its members to the front wire with yelps of delight. In fact* from the coldly dispassionate pressman's point of view it was every bit as entertaining to Avatch the antics of the si-doliners as to endeavour to followed the irregular progress l of football as it has seldom been played before, at least in Whakatane. . From the outset it Avas obvious that there Avould be no 'beg pardons' on. either side and the girls in regulation Rugby -uniform bar for footwear banned no holts. Collaring was their and one had only to look in the direction of the lea-

ther to be grassed by every unorthdclox means in the human category. There was plenty of action oil and oil' the lieid, and it is safe to say that everybody, including the referee '(a perspiring limb of the law) got their full monies worth. The amazons wece a hit from start to finish, and the scores each of which were greeted with tumultous cheering were registered by Puggy Mitchell and Rui Amohou for Waikite, and by Julie Campbell for Paroa. There is not the slightest shadow of doubt that a repeat game would once again pack the grounds, in spite of the taboo which the Union has placed (possibly rightly) on any official encouragement to such an encounter. RANGITAIKI SENIOR REPS PLAYERS FOR SELECTION At Te Teko on Saturday July 7 'j 1 * an A v B match will be played between teams consisting of Rangitaiki senior players. Following players must attend:— | M. J. Marr, B. Peni, N. si Davis, W. Mi'tai, M. Pinker, Iv. W. Park, R. Lambert S. Pearce, M. Iv. Woods A. Black P. Burke L Campbell, K. Villis, J.Hawkins, W. McDonald J. Barr, I. J. Wardell J. » , ' Crang S. Green R. Rae B. Kaltaho • » •> » j L. Gardiner, H. Lennartl J. Ngaheu, T. Nathan, G. Hunia, G. Moses and W. Paul.