ATHLETIC DECISIVELY BEATEN BY RAHUI

Chronicle (Levin), 9 May 1949, Page 4

ATHLETIC DECISIVELY BEATEN BY RAHUI

Rahui showed considerable improvement at Otaki on Saturday md soundly Lrounced Athletic ight from the opening whistle to win by eight points to nil. Rahui's superiority on attack was faifly marke'd and their backs were sound in defence. Their tackling was (airly deadly and, with their pack vvinning 75 per eent of the serums, ' ,he visitors' backline had little chance of functioning as a combination. . . # Key men in Galloway and Ross (Continued Oh Page 7}

I (Continued from Page 4) Smith were wefi taken care of and Lind, seen but once during the game, was li.era ly starved. Galloway seldom ha'd room to work iji and was p.ainly unhappy, registering chagrin on more than one- occasion. W. Johnson outpaced and outgeneralled Smith, and never failed to bring him down. This player's efforts were a highlight; he has never given a better exhibi'iion. He would "go for" Smith and each time the latter shot out his arm to fend him off, Johnson was c'inging toe the arm like a leech. His try late in the first speli came from following up, and was well earned. Actually over keenness cost Rahui at least two certain tries in this speli, which they dominated, as they did most of the second also. Athletic kicked off into the wind and Casey, the Rahui full-back, found the line inside the Athletic 25 for Rahui to immediacely launch the flrst attack, with McLeod being run out in a burst for the line. Rahui forwards were pushing hard in the scrums and the half-back, A. Winterburn, shot the ball out to A. Hakaraia for Merwood, Waaka and "T. Smith to take part in a rush. A penalty brought reiief to Athletic, but back came Rahui with Merwood heading ihe rush. Keenness by Rahui near the line crought two penalties to Athletic, but with the Rahui backs booting the ball back io centre, .Merwood snapped up and five yards out had a clear run and iooked al. set to open the scoring. Waaka called and Merwood pas:;ed, for R. Smith to intercept. He was smothered and some dour scrummaging took place, but Galloway relieved with a beautiful liner.

After 15 minutes' play Athletic penetrated the Rahui 25, and Smith, Fletcher and Lind handied nicely in turn, but olfside piay brought Rahui their first penalty. A scrum in Athletic territory followed the kick, and A. Winterburn got Ihe ball out to A. Hakaraia, who put his head down and barged his way across for the opening score. He failed to add the major points. Gameron was dolng some nice so' o work for Athletic and gained some ground by selling the dummy, but again the Rahui backs were in possession. Shortly af^er a penalty to Athletic gave them little reiief and a scrum on the 25 yard line saw A. Winterburh again get the ball for Merwood to Ihrow a nice pass to T. Smith. His short kick bounced away from Parsons and W. Johnson outoaced his opponents in the scramble and scored a nice try. A. Hakaraia made no mistake this time and Rahui ^d 8 — 0. With 10 minutes to go Athletic rallied for a brief space. The second soell saw the Athletic forwards packing harder in an efforts to retrieve the situation, but Rahui never let up and feeling was a litvle high. Three penalties in quick succession to Ath'etic saw them unable to gain the ascendancy and A. Hakaraia soon after was again almost over. The next likely move saw Fletcher punt to centre for R. Smith to attempt a break, but Johnson fetched him down. Poor handling again by the

Athletic 'backs offset some more good work by Cameron. Rahui forwards were everywhere and, led by Ted Fox, A. Watts, J. Spiers and D. Smith, they grasped every opportunity. Lind was seen for the first time in the second speli when he raced up and on being tackied, let the ball out to Galloway, in pursuit, but A. Hakaraia again relieved. The Rahui fulli-back, Casey, at this stage was doing a good job also, and some spectacular fast moves followed. With 15 minutes to go, half a dozen Rahui forwards raced over, but were recalled and a scrum took place. In the last few minutes Athletic were back in the Rahui 25 and a likely move saw R. Smith away again, but W. Johnson was there and down he came. A succession of scrums followed on the blue line. but a free kick brought reiief and the game ended with no further score. Mr. McMillan controlled the game.