Poroporo Unlucky Not To Win Hard Battle: Wairaka Badly Shaken

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 76, 2 August 1948, Page 5

Poroporo Unlucky Not To Win Hard Battle: Wairaka Badly Shaken

Wairaka’s confidence was badly shaken in the first few minutes of their match with Poroporo, which turned out. to be anything but the easy victims some of the sideliners had expected. Actually, though Wairaka won by a penalty goal, Poroporo had the better of the game and lost through sheer hard luck. Teams: — Poroporo: B. Huta: P. Merito, M. Hr.tene. J. Kingr J. Tr^rvih* -n

Rangikotua; T. Hotene; S. Moeke, W. Kopae, R. Kingi, B. Merito, T. Brown, B. Hikitene, T. Tunui, S. Paul. Wairaka: R. Crapp; Tai Riini, Tina Riini, M. Riini; R. Hudson, Rip Crapp; Ben Hudson; T. Crapp, R. Kingi, R. Dodd, R. Bluett, Koha Merito, Leo Stewart, C. Wharewera, W. Merito. Right from the kick-off, the Poropo.ro forwards surged through to hammer at the opposing goal line, and time and again Hotene let the backs away in movements that landed just short of their objective. With a dash of luck, Poroporo could have led by anything up to nine points by half-time, but the Wairaka - defence, though badly rattled at times, held good. Wairaka’s backs lacked their usual. ' precision on the day and, even allowing for a greasy ball, the handling was not up to standard, and there were only few of the bright moves that have brought the team , thus far. However, they tackled „ gamely, and R. Crapp, at full-back cleared consistently well. Rip Crapp, at first, had one of his patchy days and was often caught in possession,: so that the Riini Brothers, who made up the three-quarter line, had little chance to show their paces. The Wairaka forwards failed to hold the opposition. Poroporo’s forwards all worked well, and there were no conspicuous loafers or “shiners.” The pack showed evidence of sound coaching over recent weeks, and the whole team is a vastly improved combination. Star of the backs was again Rangikotua, who has played consistently good Rugby this season and deserves to be considered one of the best five-eighths in the competition. He is a master of football strategy and the team owed much of its good showing to his generalship. Of the other backs, Ben Huta and J. Kingi ~ showed to best advantage. Scorers:— Wairaka (3 points): Tina Riini, a’ penalty goal. Mr A. Mitchell was the referee.