Whakatane Teams & Rangitaiki Have Poor Rugby Day

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 61, 26 June 1950, Page 5

Whakatane Teams & Rangitaiki Have Poor Rugby Day

With three defeats and one win against Te Puke Whakatane rugby teams had a poor day on Saturday In the senior A and B games at Whakatane Te Puke had two wins in what must Purely be two of the worst displays by Whakatane senior teams seen at Whakatane for some time. In the junior game at Te Puke Whakatane had a convincing win while the third grade team Went under by a narrow margin. At Te Teko Galatea had a successful day when they had two wins over Rangitaiki.

WHAKATANE A v TE PUKE \ Apart from one or two bright flashes Whakatane spectators were treated to some dull, uninspiring and ragged football where they saw the hometeam defeated by Te Puke by 8 (two tries, one converted) to 3 (penalty goal).' Although they won the ball continually from the scrum in the early stages Whakatane never looked like a scoring machine, in fact poor handling rarely let the ball past the fiveeighths. This was meat to the Te Puke forwards, who were quick to make use of a dropped pass. In the forwards Whakatane were sluggish in both scrums and rucks In lineouts few attempts were made to take the ball. From the sideline it appeared that the pack was not happy together. This may have been caused by the fact that half the forwards were trying to work honestly while the remainder played “seagulls.” Walker impressed as a hard worker and he was ably supported by Tuapawa. Ratahi toiled solidly throughout, but appeared to be much over weight. The outstanding back was the full back, Welch, who saved his team time and again. His kicking was particularly sound. G. Stewart began well at half back but appeared to be upset by mishandling of the men outside him. He become rather eratic but he .made up by fine cover defence. Biddle, who went to the left wing in the second spell l , tried hard but had few opportunities.

Of the Te Puke forwards only two appeared to be afraid to ruck. The remainder worked hard. Reid was impressive on the side of the scrum. In the backs Grey, a Maori five-eighth, was outstanding and may be counted unlucky if he is noc considered for Bay of Plenty honours. He showed a beautiful pair of hands and a quick eye for an opening. For Te Puke scorers were: 1 Reid, Patara (tries), one converted by Grey. For Whakatane Welch kicked a good penalty. Referee, Mr N. Craig. TWO WINS FOR GALATEA

Both Galatea rugby teams had a win over Rangitaiki in A and B senior games played at Te Teko on Saturday. In the A match Galatea 9 (unconverted try, two penalties) beat Rangitaiki 6 (two unconverted tries) while in the B game Galatea 6 beat Rangitaiki 3. Each team gained their points from penalty goals. In both games play was hard but the Galatea forwards carried the day. The A team’s pack shaded the Rangitaiki eight. The scores were a fair indication of the run of -play.