Te Puke Juniors A Shade Too Good For Whakatane—l9-14

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 85, 23 August 1948, Page 5

Te Puke Juniors A Shade Too Good For Whakatane—l9-14

In a junior representative Rugby match at the Domain on Saturday, Te Puke beat Whakatane 19—14, in a reasonably good game with both sides obtaining a. fair share of the ball and endeavouring to do something with it. The spoling tactics of the Te Puke forwards, some of whom were never in the rucks, accounts for the fairly subdued showing by -the- fast Whakatane back line. Whakatane should have countered this by taking the baj.l through more frequently, so leaving the “seagulling” opposition at a loss.. - The Te Puke backs were standing well up on their- opponents and the occasional stab kiok would have countered this move. Definite weakness on defence was shown in Brown’s bad tackling and Henderson’s not going down on the ball. Among the forwards Tunui, Petty, Downes and Taylor played outstanding games in the loose and the tight and must surely be considered for the Bay Reps. In the backs, .Carter, Tiepa and Shapley played well, though more subdued than usual. After the team was re-organised at half time and Tiepa went in to half, the back line had much .better service, though Hohapata appeared a weak link. It would seem that the following would make a good back line for the Junior Reps: Fullback, Hi; Wings, Martin, Henderson; Centre, Carter; Five-eighths, Shapley, Thatcher; Half, Tiepa.