ATHLETIC AND SHANNON FIGHT THREE-ALL DRAW.

Chronicle (Levin), 30 May 1949, Page 4

ATHLETIC AND SHANNON FIGHT THREE-ALL DRAW.

Atn etic fought Shannon to a ' three-all draw in the senior game ] on the Levin Park Domain. The. ^ two teams were evenly malched, ; with Ath etic winning-1 most of the j scrums and" lineouts, and no score went on the board in the first half. ■ Athletic appeared to be the stronger in the first half, for Shannon only went nast the 25 once and the half way line twice. The major ( portion of the game was played in ; Shannon's territory. - Some exce - . ient moves were seen by the large number of spectators, but there ; were also some poor features of the game. Particuiarly disappointing , was the penchant of the ' Athletic first five-eighths, W. Galloway, for dropping the ball to the toe, without perceivable design, after forwards had worked valiantly .to win scrums. In the1. first half* Ross Smith, who played centre for Athle ic, did not impress with his passing and in consequence the winger, T. Cameron, was starved of the ball. When he did manage to secure it, Cameron was outstanding. Lind, on the opposite wing, used his spee'd to advantage at times and he was prominbnt*. when Athletic almost secured a field goal in the first half. Of the forwards, Geoff Sciascia was the most hard working, while Powell used his weight to advantage. Fletcher at break-away was ofcen. seen coming through the scrum. For Shannon, Doug Fuller made a good showing, whfie "C. Mortimer at full-back gave his usual soli'd best. Poututu, on the' wing, proved his worth and showed that he was fully entitled to his p'ace in the Maori representative team. In the second half, there was' no evidence of the teams tiring. They kept up a constant a'ttack and counter-attack, and the resulting movements gave a very pleasing display. The first score came when A. Fletcher broke out of the scrum on the Shannon 10-yard line an'd kicked down the field to Mortimer, who sent back to the line. T. Cameron boot'ed deep infield and it was anyone's baU. In the melee in front of the nosts Galloway gathered in the ball, calmly looked about him an'd dropped a good field goal. He was standing about 30 yards back at the time. Athletic 3, Shannon 0. Shortly after this, Anderson. who had been doing some good work for the Shannon front row, was injured and L. Rolands rep'aced him. A T>enalty was awarded Shannon about ten yards off the 25-yard line. Doug Fuller had no trouble in evening the score. Although .play went on for some short time after the penalty kick, neither team anpeared to be particuiarly dangerous. The referee was Mr. C. E. Wiseley.