HANNON DEFEAT WANDERERS

Chronicle (Levin), 17 June 1946, Page 7

HANNON DEFEAT WANDERERS

On Saturday afternoon rugby enunusiasts witnessed what was unaouDtediy the best game played on the Shannon Domain this seaoOii, when tne Shannon seniors met ana defeated Wanderers by 14 points to three. In spite of a slippery ball and a heavy paddock, ootn sides played good fast, open lootbail. However, shannon should learn to piay to tne wnistie. On a nuinoer of occasions on Saturday, deiiberate infringements were iiouicea and the Shannon players stopped playing to wait for a whistle which never sounded, and iime after time lost good playing positions. The teams were as folicws: — wanderers: Wehipeihana, Wilfiams, Broughton, Tayior, Winiata, Hapeta, Donald, Hobson, Winiata, rrice, Meads, Hooper, Nepia, Morgan and Adams. Shannon : Pedersen, Aitchison, Rauhihi, S. Chester, Fuller, Higgett, Gadsoy, Cole,- E. Chester, Roiston, Cowley, Wood, Ellison, Callesen, Speranza and Campbell. The Game Following tne opening whistle play moved to Shannon territory , aird a free kick to Wanderers, orought the game to between Shan- I iion s twenty-five line and the goal; line. Pedersen, the Shannon full- 1 oack, handling a slippery ball, j missed his only catch of the day,, and the visitors, following up fast, i ailowed Tayior to go over the line: to draw the first points of the game , within five minutes of the start.j Williams fajled to converfi Follow-i ing the drop out play went into j Wanderers' ground and remained j there for some time, while a series1 of line-outs and scrums gave Fuller a chance to draw points for the j home side from a free kick. Ful- J ler, who was kicking rather well, ; failed with a -long chance. Wanderers forced and play hovered : around the half-way line until a , fine line kick by Pedersen brought the ball on to the visitors' line, compelling them to force again. An, infringement on the Wanderers' ; line gave them a free kick, which' brought the game to half-way, but' Chester, coming up fast. gave the; home side an opening which result- 1 ed in the visitors' line being crossed and they again forced. Play then , worked back to Shannon's territory and following a series of scrums and line-outs the ball went. to Shannon's line, but Pedersen clcared. A line-out on the visitors' twenty-five line and a aood run by' Higgett, paved the way for Aitchison to go over for a try in the corner. Fuller's kick was very good, but

just failed to pass through the uprights. Wanderers 3, Shannon 3. Pl'ay then moved to Shannon ground and following a knock-on, che ball was in touch on the home side's five yard line, but Pedersen cleared, finding touch on the cwenty-five yard line. From the iine-out E. Chester came through to oring play to half-way. Play hung at half-way until the home team found a weak spot in the visitors' defence and Rauhihi, with fine fine kick, found touch about ten yards from the visitors' goal line From the line-out the ball passed over Wanderers' line and they forced. Half time sounded socn ! after with the score unchanged ai. i ohree all. ; In the second half Shannon were j on the attack most of the time. Soon after the opening whistle, ' play went Into Wanderers' terrii oory and with the ball at their toes the Shannon forwards crossed the visitors' line, compelling them tc force down. From the drop out Higgett came through with a good run. but was beautifully taken in posses- j sion and the free kick which resulted from Higgett's pass off the ground gave the visitors a chancc ; io clear, finding touch on the haif- | way line. Play then moved to home ! ground, but after a number of j scrums and loose rucks, the homei pack pressed to the visitors' line, and Cole went across to add further I points to Shannon's total. Fuller's | kick failed. Shannon 6, Wanders 3. Wanderers were now on tne! attack and play went to Shannon ground. A free kick to the visitors ! looked dangerous, but Williams , with a good kick, just failed to leach the crossbar. Shannon forced. From the arop-out Shan- j non pressed to Wanderers' territory, and Aitchison paved the way for a good piece of play, but a knock-on resulted in a scrum going •down-, .on, , ,the , , , visitors!, „ twcfity-five yard line. The ball then went to the visitors' line, and an infringement about five yards short of the goal line gave the home side a free, kick, Fuller having no trouble in ' sending the ball over the crossbar. With the score 9 — 3 in Shannon's favour, play became interesting, but Shannon were still on the attack and pressed into the visitors', ground, where Fuller had another I kick at goal which failed. From tne j twenty-five drop-out the Wander- j ers' pack forced their way to thej Shannon line, but Cole saved what; looked like a certain try for the visitors, with a fine tackle on the home line. Then followed a spectacular piece of play by Aitchison, who came out of the ruck with the , ball at his toe and dribbled the| whole length of the field to score a magnificent try. Fuller added the extra two points. The final whistle i sounded with Shannon still on the. attack and the score at Shannon; 14, Wanderers 3. Mr. W. Williams was in charge of j he game. In the early match, College "A"! thirds, fielding a team which aver-i iged at least a stone heavier than ! the Shannon team- proved just too heavy for the Shannon thirds, who, in spite of a game battle, played a losing match. The final score was 15 — 0. Mr. Kingsbeer was the referee.