Opotiki Too Good For

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 70, 19 July 1948, Page 5

Opotiki Too Good For

Whakatane In Shalfoon Shield Elimination Match The Opotiki Junior representa-' tives defeated Whakatane 14—8 in the Shalfoor fit kid elimination mati.li at the "Whakatane Domain on Saturday by weight and superior play in both attack and defence. Carter, second five-eighths for the Whakatane team played an outstanding game. Teams:— Whakatane: Shapley, Martin, Tiepa, Brown, Carter, Thatcher, Goodwin, Sandham, Downs, Taylor,

Chadwick, Howat, Petty, Hudson, Andrews. Opotiki: Kamera, Brown, Hedley, Abbott, Gage, Koopu, Dain, G. Koopu, Ross, Day, Kurei, Donaldson, Black, Eruera, Brown. Whakatane in the first few minutes of the game played as a team possessed, all section working excellently and appeared the winners. Opotiki took a while to settle down, but then their superior weight in the scrums won out. Though Whakatane had the better hooker, they were well held by the Opotiki men. The Opotiki back line had Whakatane beaten with better passing and control. The score at half-time was 8 all. Opotiki got away well after the interval but were held for the most part of the spell by Whakatane on Whakatane’s own goal line. In the last few minutes the Whakatane side weakened badly to allow Opotiki to build the score to 14—8. Carter and Thatcher played outstanding games in this half, mainly on defence. For Opotiki Abbot, Dain and Koopu played great games. Scorers:— Opotiki (14 points): Abbot 2 tries, Dain a try, Koopu a conversion and a penalty kick. Whakatane (8 points): Chadwick and Martin a try each, Tiepa a conversion.