ATHLETIC SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 806, 2 May 1910, Page 5

ATHLETIC SPORTS.

FOOTBALL.

SENIOR RUGBY GAMES. POMEKE JUST BEAT ATHLETICS. COLLEGE ROMP OVER SOUTHERN. Poneke, 3 points, v. AthKrtlcs, nil. Victoria College, 26 points, v. southern, nil. Petone, 32 points, v. Hutt, nil. St. James, 20 points, v. Wellington, e points. Oriental, 16 points, v. Melrose, nil. Old Bo'yt, a bye. v Unusual interest continues to be in tho contests for , the tenior Rugby championship. On Saturday afternoon the weather did not ■ look too promising, but this ■ did not interfere with the attendance at Athletic Park which totalled over 3000, including a fair sprinkling of ladies. Fortunately, the 1 wind did not militate ogamaj-. good play amd t-ho ground was in capital order. Upon tho, play tbsere was not a great deal of difference between the teams in tie. "star" fixture, Athletics v. Poneke. Athletic forwards were oertainly superior in' the close work but lacked tho dash of the Poneke vanguard iii the loose. As regards the back play 'AiMetio sadly failed to strike combination, but their defence was creditable, whilst Poneke were patchy and did not display that vim and precision which made them noted on dry grounds last season! Taken all round play was efcrenuons—even willing at times —but it was much less brilliant than had been anticipated. A feature of the contest (it should be remarked) was tho kicking into toucii, and in this connection spectators were not sparse in their commendation. Elliott, Walsh, Mitchineon, and Tilyard of the backs, and Hunter and Gardiner, of the forwards, did wdl for Poneke, whilst Evenson and -Wilson were the best of the Athletic backs, and Murray, Bell, and Rapson of their vanguard. , Victoria College made a oricket score —26 points, to. nil—against Southern on' No. 2. ground at the park. Southern .could hold their own in regard to "tight" work;'but in the loose Victoria College .were "out on-their own." To see' the speedy College rearguard with or after the ball was quite a study. Much', interest was taken in the "efforts of Dux.can, who gained two tries from his own 20, and in addition two other scores. After their fine display against Oriental on the previous Saturday Southern's showing was very disappointing. ■ ';Playing at Karori, St. James had no difficulty in accounting for 'Wellington, the sco Tee being..2o points and' 9 points | respectively, . whilst at Lower Hutt Orientals''easily .beat Melrose by 15 points to nil. Petone notched 32 points against Hutt's 8. As. the : result of .'the' contests the positions of. the various teams are as follow:— '• % S4 VM- a 3 ' r ■ • £ <> c : . " | g 1 '§ 2- ■ 'ti eft in CinJ. •§■§"§ § 3 - s is w £ 0 Jr o o Jto S £ hi ft. Z4-0& St. James .3 . 3 ,-r ,60 17 6. Orientals 3 2 — 1 33 8 5 Poneke;", 2 2 ' 22 - 4. j petone ' 3 1 1 1" 44 14 ' 4 Vic. College 3 2 1 — 34 22 4 | Athletics 3 1 2 — 24 21 2 Old Boys 2 1 1 — 15 8 2 Southern 3 — 2 1 8 52 . 1 Melroso 2—2—3 21 — Hutt 3 — 3 — 0 60 —

PONEKE (3) V. ATHLETIC (0). Early in this contest the Athletic forwards worked play just into Poneke territory. . As a counter Poneke attempted ■ to ; open up the game, but good following-up by Murray and others spoiled their operations. When about ten minutes had elapsed Poneke barrackers found occasion for alarm,

but their anxiety was soon turned to •joy. In.the course of an Athletic passing rush Evenson looked dangerous, but upon his downfall Mitchinson kicked : through tho opposing' backs. Towards" the Athletic line swept a bunch of Poneke attackers, but Athletic saved the situation by forcing. For the succeeding quarter of an hour play was then mainly confined to the forwards,: the Poneke backs doing better than the Athletic -rear division in the matter of "nursing" their pack. Then Athletic were forced back, and for the . first time there was some real excitement. Walsh started a passing rush, and in due course Mitchinson transferred to Ryan, who got within a few yards of tho line. From a resultant scrum Tilyard initiated a rush on the open side this time, with the result that before .the spectators, could fully appreciate what had happened Elliott, with something to' spare, crossed the Athletic line near the other corner. Gardiner failed with the kick. 3—o. Rallying in fiiie style Athletic forwards, Rapson and Wilson being prominent, made a formidable rush, but Walsh gathered up' the ball and passed out to Elliott, who, as oil a number of previous occasions, kicked well up the line. Further efforts by Athletic were nullified by indifferent passing by their backs. Rapson got a mark later, but Ev'enson failed to turn it to account. As the spell progressed Poneke forwards with § the aid of their hacks again attacked steadily. Evenson cleverly interfered with a passing rush by beating Mitchinson for the ball and kicking down the field. When next Poneko did some passing Mitchinson potted, but the ball went outside the posts. _ From this out play mainly took place in neutral territory, and when half-time was sounded nothing further of an exceptional nature had happened. Poneke, 3; Athletic, nil. Upon the resumption of play, Poneke forwards showed to advantage for a time, but owing to their failure to rally round, luiei, Athletio got the upi.er hand, the upshot being'that Sim. Wilson had a pot at goal which failed. Then Evenson got right away on bis own, and after a brilliant run had the hard luck to be thrown into touch a few yards from the line. When, however. Athletic again attempted to handle the ball Poneke responded in 'capital-style. Breaking ahead of his colleagues Mitchinson outwitted half a dozen opponents, and was not collared til! he had reached the Athletic's twenty-five. This run by 'Mitchinson, together with that by Evenson, occasioned hearty applause. Immediately afterwards Poneke took a turn at attack. and Athletic were so hard pressed that Cunningham had to throw the fcall out of bounds in order to save. ■ Athletic now made a special point of imothering the -Poneke backs whenover possible, and these tjctics wore very • successful at times. From about halfway Evenson bad a shot at goal from a mark, but his effort was charged down, and Athletic were soon in trouble. Later in tho game a Poneke passing rush was spoiled through Mitchinson failing to accept a pass. In this respcct the '.vc.ll-kno'.vn centre had crrod ei previous occasions, due probably to the want of practice, as this was his initial . game this, season, At this

stage Prendevaile, who is a vastly im- . proved player, sustained a. minor injury to his kueo, and had to retire. With commendable generosity, which merited a hearty round of applause, Wilson agreed to Flannogan filling the gap, despite the fact that there was only ten minutes to go. Athletic made strenuous e(Torts .to get on level terms with Ponelte, who, however, not only staved off all attacks, but in tho last minute or two were pressing rigorously. The game thus ended: ' Poneke, ,3 points; Athletic, nil. Mr. Laws was the referee. \

ORIENTAL (15) V. MELROSE (0). This match was played on JEhitt No. 2 ground, with Mr. I). M'Kensie as referee. Very little interest was taken in it; both teams seemed somewhat afraid to disarrange their hair, or soil their clothes. Tho Orientals had the best of it by far, scoring when* they chose. Mathieson (2), Newton, M'Bain, and Chant scored for Oriental, and Scott, Murphy, and M'Enery were conspicuous for Melrose. Tho result was an easy win for Oriental by/15 points to nil. One remarkable feature of this match was that not one goal was kickcd, the. score being made up of five tries. Perhaps had,Melrose had one decent place-kick among them the score would havo been different. Moral to both. "Practise place-kicking."

PETONE (32) V. HUTT (8). From an onlooker's point of this was a very interesting match- The Hutt team was practically tho Bam© as last week, but the improvement in both back and forward play was a 1 con-

spicuous /feature. Petone team was strengthened somewhat by Hardham, who played, as he always did, solidly - and safely. Hutt kicked off against a slight northerly wind, and followed, up immediately. Jim Ryan, Parrant, and Joe Ryan then took their part in a neat passing rush down near the Hutt goal, where M. llyan just missed scoring for Petone. From a scrum on the goalline Petone got the'ball, and Joe Ryan, taking a pass from Corson, raced for tho lino some 20 yards ana drew first, blood. Petono 3, Hutt nil. The kick at goal was- unsuccessful. The Hutt now took up the attack, and Tannahill, I Judd, and Stannard sailed away with .a fine dribbling Tush, which was stopped by' Jim Ryan with a tricky screw-kick. Both teams were inclined to play somewhat off-side, with the result that freekicks were common. From line-out Routley got ithe ball and put in a fine run, but unfortunately none of tho Hutt team followed up, and when lie was brought down by Corson, Petone came along with a furious passing rush. Tho spectators were now thoroughly aroused, and when for Hutt sent tho ball with a well-directed kick into the enemy's 25, and Logan, Cudby, and Routley put in the best passing rush the Hutt team has ever displayed, and when . Higginbotham cro&ed Petone's line, the crowd became frantic. Judd converted. Hutt 5, Petone # 3. The Petone backs than tried some linekicking. Miller landed the ball near the Hutt goal, and from the line-out M. Ryan • scored, and M'Farlane converted. ketone 8, Hutt 5. "Anybody s same," the crowd screamed. Judd and Tannahill followed a free-kick, ana, beating Parrant, took chargc of the ball, and Judd Carried it over.—B .all. Play now remained even for some 15 minutes. PeWnt) had the best of tho scrums, and as in previous matches form and Combination told against the Hutt. Hardham then name to light fay securing the leather from a scrum, and scored a rather easv try,, which was also converted ,bv M'Farlane. Petone 13, Hutt B.' In the second spell Petone had the best of the game. . The Hutt team worked hard, but one conld see, by the amount of puffing and blowing they displayed, that the .strain was beginning t<) tell loh 'them. M'Gurk (Hutt) did good solid work, as did Tlekota right jip to the end; " but - the Blues scored, again and again, Dxuromond getting a very pretty- try, and Jim Ryan running through four opponents. "When the whistle-bounded nosido the score r as: Petone 32, Hutt 8. Mr. R. Fordyce was reforoe.

ST. JAMES (20) V. WELLINGTON (9). The scores in the Karori'match, St. James v.; Wellington, give a fair idea of the relative 1 strength of the opposing teams. Several of the Wellington team were absent through injuries re-

oeived, but the lower grade players whose services were enlisted for this match acquitted themselves well. A fairly stilt northerly was blowing during the early part of the game, and St. .James, shaving, 'won the toss, had considerable advantage in the first spell both from the breeze, and from the slight slope of the ground. Wellington were pressed down on their goal-line soon after the kick-off; they rallied,' but the ball went down the field again before 'the .forwards, and Hills scored, Crewes failing to goal. Play had only resumed a few moments when aji: attack by St. James culminated in King touching down at the corner, and Bradley,, favoured by the breeze, dropped the ball, nicely between the uprights. B—o. ' There was a trifle of rough play among' the forwards. St. James being awarded a penalty at fairly handy distance, Bradley again kicked unerringly. Now eleven points behind, Wellington, from the liick-out, went up-field in a determined move. Paul, by fast followingup, got.the ball into M'Kellar's hands, and the captain passed to Kirkwood, who transferred to Sellars. The backs were on the alert, and, when the time came Durie took the ball on, giving it to Hurle, who scored comfortably, with Lambert backing up. The latter just missed goal', and the spell ended: 11—3. Early in the second half,. TV ellington charged down, and added another three points! Kirkwood toed the bail from half-way, and Burns, following up, collared Baumgart smartly, with the result that the ball was kicked over the line, and Hurley touched down. Wellington backs were caught napping a few seconds later, and Harry Roberts had an easy run in from a scrum close to the line. 14— G. Bradley havimj kicked a clean penalty goal, Wellington roused themselves and registered their final score. It' was neatly done, operations commencing from a iine-out at the St. James twenty-five. Kirkwood the ball to Durie. who bounded clear, and passed to Sollars, the latter transferring to Lambert. With a leap over a couple of prostrato opponents, liam-, bert reached the line in a twinkling, and touched down botween the posts. He failed to convert, however. The only other try, scored by St. James, was due to smart work on the part of M'Grath. He intercepted a pass from Hurlo to Sollars, and sped away to the corner, passing all who challenged him. The game thus ended: St. James, 20; Wellington, 9. Mr. Connell was referee.

VICTORIA COLLECE (26) V. SOUTHERN (0). A good deal of interest was taken in this match in view of the fact that on the previous Saturday Coliogo had beaten Old Boys and Southern had played a drawn gamo with Oriental. By means of their forwards Southern quickly gained a lot of ground.' Coliogo replied with passing tactios, which quito disconcerted Southern. Quite early in the gamo Young made a great dash for tho Southern line, missing by about a couple of yards. Dnncnn, "the flyer," seemed very keen to handlo tho ball, and when his chance came a few minutes later ho romped homo from halfway. Ryan succeeded with the kick. 6—o. Again Southern, by dint of bard work, carried play well within College twenty-five, but all to no purpose.-Wil-son and Faire were soon out in the open country, and as a result of cross pass-

ing :md speedy running Faire got over. On this occasion llyan .missed with the luck. B—o. Nothing of moment happoned during tho balance of tho spell. Ton minutes aftor tho battlo had been renowed Southern wore doing fairly well in College twenty-fivo, whoro .thoy had got as a reisult of some passing. Beaten back, Southern, headed by Los. Campbell, returned to the attack. Duncan at this stage proved the value of his speed by racing right down tho field', and Booring practically without opposition. Ityan enhanced tho score. 13—0. Heroically again assumed tho aggressive, but College retorted by opening up the game. "He's off !" shouted the spectators, and all who heard the cry knew what was happening. Duncan had secured the oval, and was getting over in a ridiculously simple manner. No goal 'resulted. 16—0. Prior to the close of the game tries were added by Phillips and Duncan, and in both cases Ryan lacked successfully. ' Result of tho game: Colloge, 26 points; Southern, 0. Mr. Bell refereed.

JUNIOR. As a result of Saturday's matches, Wellington are now leading for the Junior Championship with three wins to their credit. On Saturday thoy defeated Old Boys by 12 points to nil. , Potone defeated Southern by 35 points to 3. For Petone Strickland (2), Whitley (2), E. Ryan (2), Ashton (1), Trice (1), Parrant (1) scored. Whitley and Ashton eaoh converted a try. Hutt defaulted to Athletic. Selwyn defeated Poneke by 17 points to nil. Mr. Meredith was referee. Victoria College and Oriental played a drawn game, each side scoring .6 points. Mr. L. Keys' was referee. THIRD GLASS. An attractive game of third-class football took placc, on Saturday afternoon, when St. Patrick's College 'defeated Wellington A by 28 points to ,nil. The scorers-were:—Blake (2), Burns (2), Casey, M'Carthy, and Kane. Two tries were converted, one by Box and one by Brennan. The College forwards showed up splendidly, Mahony, Brennan, and Hughes, being the most prominent. Tho passing rushes- of the backs ,were excellent. Blake, M'Carthy,' Kane, and Burns put in some really good runs. M'Carthy's try was the outcome of a fine run from near, halfway. At Wellington College grounds, Wellington College defeated Petone by 17 points to 8. Tries were scored for the winners by Robertson (2), Harris, Beard, and Stewart. Stewart converted one try. Poneke defeated Melrose by 6 to nil. A. Morris soored two tries for Poneke. Southern defeated Athletic by 18 to .nil. Collins (2), Wetherall, Barltrop, Taylor, and M'lnerney scored for the winners. ■ | FOURTH CLASS. J St. James, 14,. defeated Selwyn, nil. The scorors were Martin, Linklater, Bolton and Cain, Mangin converting one try. . - .. . .. : Old Boys, 6, defeated Athletic, 3. Athletic played two men short. For the winners, Bernard secured a try, and Nelson kicked a goal. Brown scored for Athletic. . .. . - . ' Poneke defeated St. John's by 10 points to nil. Lewis and H. Williams scorcd tries for Poneke, both of which were converted by Williams. Southern defeated Petone by 11 to 3. Edwards and F. Rutledge each soored a try for Southern, Capper placing a goal from one of the trios, while Morrison kicked a penalty goal. Melrose scorcd 14 points against 11 points scored by Hutt. i FIFTH GLASS. St. Patrick's College A defeated Poneke by 42 to nil. The scorers were Barry (3), Cauglilan (2), Connor (2), Buckley (2), and Sullivan (3). Three of the tries were converted by Brennan, Caiighlan, and Malone. Splendid passing was the feature of the winning team's play. Petone defeated St. Patrick's College B by: something like 40 points. .The referee (it is lost oonnt of the score., College A defeated College B by 27 to 9 on the Wellington College ground. Melrose beat Selwyn by 6 points to 3. Jones and Gray scorcd for Melrose. ! Athletic, 12 points, defeated Southern, 3 points. SCHOOLS' MATCHES. The Public Schools' matches played on Saturday morning resulted as under:— Senipr: Newtown, 6, defeated Te Aro, 3; l'horndon 15, Brooklyn 0; Clyde Quay 3, South Wellington 3; Terrace '22, Mount Cook nil. Junior: Terrace 6, Newtown 3. . ■ OTHER CENTRES. (By Telegraph.—Special ■ Correspondent.) Palnierston North, May 1. The junior championship competitions of the Manawatu Rugby Union were commenced yesterday, in beautiful weather. Kia Toa-. 11.- beat Colyton by 25 points to 8, and Linton was victorious over Old Boys II by 3 points to nil. In tho third-class competition the High School' completely overran Palmerston 111, winning by 54 points to nil. IBy Telegraph—Press Association.] Ciirlstchurch, May 1. The first-grade football matihes played this afternoon resulted:—Albion 11 v. Old Boys 3: Linwood 8 v. Sydenham 3; Christchurcu 24 v. Canterbury College 9; Merivale 4 v. Marist Bros. nil. Duncdin, May 1. The senior football matches commenced yesterday. Zingari-Richmond (9) boat Port Chalmers (5); Southern (9) beat Dunedin (3); Kaikorai (3) beat Union (nil); University (21) beat Pirates (14); Alhambra (13) beat Taieri Rovers (6).