RUGBY FOOTBALL

Chronicle (Levin), 17 April 1946, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL

FRIENDLY GAMES AS PRELUDE TO SEASON With the curtain due to rise o'r. competition rugby on Saturday April 27, clubs of the Horowhenua distriet are now playing friendly matches in readiness for the-offlcial opening, and in yconsequence the. staridard of play in the initial games, should be good. The Horowhenua Rugby Union's management committee met last night in Levin to mahe further arrangements for the ceasor/s play. Manakau Bcat Otaki Manahau playcd Otaki on Saturday to win by 11 poinfcs to 3. F.ol-. iowing the kick-off play v/as o.f an even nature, passing up and down field in rapid succession. Then George Johnson opened up an interesting movement whicli brcke dowr through bad handling. A free kick ' to Manakau was taken by Staples. who ma.de no mistake with it Manakau 3, Otaki nil. Manakau eontinued the pressure and Landei sxorecl a good try, which Staple' eonverted. Manakau 8, Otaki nil. Wihie Johnson wa; prominent for Otaki when he gained possession | and dodged his way into Manakau , oratory. Manakau, however, were ino good on the def ensive and agair. 1 ,k piay into Olaki's dornain. Manakau set the ball in motion , for the second half and J. Winter,;urn wa.", the flrst to show out, making a good run. Up and down play . u a liveiy nature followed for twenty minutes, and then McCashin eored for Manakau to place them 11 point's in the lead. Otaki was i not to be denied and Tom Henrv 1 opened up a movement from which j vVhhe Johnson sccred an excellent ' try. It was not converted and the j ■•amo eiidrd with Ihe score Manakau .11, Otaki 3. i - Uncka played a fi.ne forward game | and had ab'le assistance firorn Tom j Henry and Toby Gray, two old . ririers who have not lost their darh With more traming, Otaki Mioulo deveiop into a team to be reckoned •vi h before the season is far dvaimed. The Manakau team ovy.yed a -good even combination. Tho Staples Eros., McCashin Tjp. vi, Lewis, the half-back, and bonder were the best of an even fiifteen. Games at Shannon On Saturday afterncon two rugb? r :.t he- nore played on the Shan1011 Domain. The ii ♦.•{>«», a junior match between v5ha-iiicn and Foxton, was won by the iafcter by 12 points to' nil. F«.u utcn, try.; were scored- by Hannam, Rced (£) and Wfi:on Th- . teams were as follows : —Foxton : Earratt, Lay, Poarnore, Richardson ft, Lea^h, Langley, Reed, Royle, Eeatty, Hannam, Wilson, Carter. Raupie and Witton. Shannon: Cole. Jamieson, Grey, - Thompson, Callesen, Ropahama, Burke, Hood. Ca iiKTCii, Siiupson, il^oo, «2pi'.'.nf' Simpson, Pallesen, Moynihan Je-I eries and Rolston. Mr. D. Ait,;hr:on was in charge of the game. Thu senior g.sme between Shannon and Athletic was quite intcr-e-ting and sonie good football wa:; played. The teams were: — Athletic: Skllton, Fletche-r, Hud"on. Stevens. Galloway, Bknkhorn, Bond. O'Donnoli, Morris, Bartholomew, Corbish-

ley, Denton, Lamos, D. O'Donnell and Carkeek. Shannon: Pedersen, Aitchison, Chester, Mortimer, Cole, Gaaiiby, Tawa, Rahilii, Eilison-; S. Chester, N. Callesen, Cowley Wood, Speranzo and Pratt. The game opened rather fast. wxtii Shannon on the offensive. Mortimer made a fine interception, oringing the piay well into the visijtors' twenty-flve. From a line-out i on the Athletic line, Shannon were | awarded a free kick, Colin Mortimer ; taking a shot at goal, but the (kick ifailed. Mortimer was kicking very jwell, but on that occas;on and' on ! another occasion a • few> -minutes J iater he seemed to under-estimate i jthe strength of the heavy' wind.j ! which was blowing in the early part 1 j oi rhc garne, and his -kicks were ! going outside the posts, but his j height was good. Things were look- ; ing serious for Shannon about halfway through the • first spell, when a passing rush brought the visitors ; almost to the Shannon line, but 'Pedersen, who played a good game as full-back, cleared with a fine j kick which found touch on the ' twenty-five yard line. A scrum iresulted from the line-out and an I infringernent gave Aitchison the oppurtunity to find the line inside Aihletic's twenty-five. Howevfer, j play did nit stay in Athletic's ground [ for long, a nne passing rush brought the visitors' play to the Shannon iine onee again, but unfortunately, v.hen things looked very good for Athletic, one of their boys was offside and Shannon cleared with a iine kick. Play again moved back on to Shannon soil and as a result ! of an enfringement by one of the Shannon pack, Athletic was awarded a free kick. Blenkhorn's kick struck the upright. Half time .;omid-°d soon after. I11 the second half, play was very even, the bail finding its way up j and down the field on a number cf I occasions. Once or twice when j things looked serious for Shannon,j Mortimer and Aitchison came to i light with splendid line kicks. The | visitors were successful in hooking | the ball from most of the set scrums I in the second half. When Shannon j got the ball there were': a few good I passing rushes, but the Athletic j boys, with fine tackling, saved the j day on^one or two occasions. From a dribbling rusli to the Shannon twenty-five yard line Rolston cleared, but Athletic, not being contented, came back with some fine play and .spent some time iji a pitched bat'tle 011 the Shannon line. Unfortunately, a visiting player was oriside and this gave Aitchison another chance to cleaf with one of his outstanding lirie kicks,. However, as time was ..almost -tocbe sounded, Athletic in no mood* to return homa with a drawn game on their hands, pressed to the Shannon line and after' a hard fight O'Donnell went across to score the only points in the match. Galloway failed tq convert, and so the game ended with Athletic 3, Shannon 0. Mr. Wilson ably controlied the game.