Rahui Gave Athletic Much To Think About On Saturday

Chronicle (Levin), 12 May 1949, Page 7

Rahui Gave Athletic Much To Think About On Saturday

Athletic foimcl the lighter Rahui team . quite a handf ul on Saturday when they were defeated by eight paiius to nil. Rahui played an excellent game. Their forwards were fit and worked like tigers, being . continually on the ball. They hunted as a pack and supported the backs in good style. The backs tackled arid h mitled in an excellent manner, continually keepimg Athletic on the defence, and the whole team showed the results of excellent cjaebung. Athletic were by no mer happy team. The forwards d huai as a pack and did noi to understand ihe first thing . paeking 'down in a scrum. The weight did not go in properly and they have yet to learn

that eounts* but the conceived elfort ao the right time ancLi-he secret^of paeking low at" all times. Fitnbss 'is also of prime imponanee. The backs played as well as they were ahowed and the insiae backs were not at all happy with the fast■breaking Rahui forwards continua.ly harassing them. Gafioway's kicking was very good. The Athletic backs should remember to keep their eyes on the ball and not on the man. Too many passes were missed because of this habit. Punahau Junior's Victory. -'unahau juniors beat Athletic ors by 16 to six in a game that mostly a hard forward tussle, ^ i a few good back movements. . ^ unahau fielded a heavy strong :pack of forwards that played hara rootball. The lighter Athxeac pack held them until ha f time, nut after the intervai the weight was too much for them and Punahau took charge. No Punahau forwards could be singled out. They carried no passengers. J. Kingi, J. Ngahona and Williams worked hard in the tight, Simeon, McDonood and J. WLson, showing up in Ihe laose rushes. The backs did not combine as well as the forwards, but nevertheless did some good work. R. Broughton, at full-back, had a field day, kicking three goals aifd scoring a try. He is a big asset to his team. Luke, at second five-eighths, played a sound game and scored after a tricky side-stepping run. Kora and ' Harris, the wmgs, had little to do on attack, but defended weu. Tamakaha pxayed well aL ha1 f -back and it was not his fault that the backs did not score %more tries. Cameron, playing at five-eighths for Athletic, and Ryan at half, were prominent and forwards Judd, Wilson, McMinn and Gwynn all played sound games. Third Grade At Shannon. Old Boys "and Shannon thir;ds met at Shannon a.nd with the home team having won their first two games by substantial margins, the ouucome of this match was looked upon with interest. Old Boys took the initiative from the outset when Juno broke through and made ground before • passing to Hossack, who ran strongly before passing to Campbe 1, who scored. Lambert made no mistake with the kick. Give and take play ensued, with Shannon forwards, ably led by Clough, playing a bustling game which Old Boys sought to counter. There.was no let-up, however, and from a series of loose rushes they took the ball to the Old Boys line where, from a scrum, Harris secured and dived over for a try. The kick failed. From the kick off Shannon were penaiised 10 yards outside their 25 and Lambert's kick was again successful. Play returned to Old Boys territory and from a penalty Jelfreys added three noints for Shannop. The ball was being thrown around in grand style by both teams and from a set scrum Old Boys secured, and- a nice run and dummy by v

Juno enabled Hossack to score 10 yards from the corner flag. An excellent kick by Lambert raised the score to 13 — 6. During the second half excellent rucking by both se..s of forwards kept p.ay at the ha.f way line unr Wells broke through with the fe£ : . at his toe and puv Shannon agaL on the defensive. Old Boys continued to storm the Shannon goal line, but determined defence brought relief. "A penalty to O d Boys gave Lambert another chance, but his well directed kick fell short. Oid Boys were in full command at this soage although their attempts to break through were nullified by spoiling tapticson ' the part of the Shannon forwards. , From a loose ruck Shannon took play to the Old Boys line, but a likely try was lost through overeagerness, the ball being kicked ,dead. The game thereon became uninteresting, Oid Boys fieing con- ; tent to hold their lead. The game ended with no score in the second half and a final score of 13—6. Out For Season. The Hui Mai five-eighths, F. Catley, was unfortunate in receiving a fractured leg in the senior game against; Shannon on Saturday. It is unlikely that he will be playing again this season.