SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1115, 1 May 1911, Page 7

SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

, STRUG RUGBY ATO WEAK.

LEADING TEAiS MEET THE LESSER LIGHTS. . SOME ONE-SIDED'ENCOUNTERS. SUMMARY OF RESULTS. Petone , 25 Wellington 3 Athletic 11 Old Boys 0 Poneko 14 Southern 3 St. James 16 Melrosc 0 Oriental '. 35 College 0

Caught by-the superior lure of the races, Wellington, folk abstained from football on Saturday ' with great numcrousness. At the Park about 250 eat.round one.'match," 300 round another, and someMn the grandstand. Some..£so was intercepted at tho turnstiles, which moans 1000 people, though it was hard to Bee them .on tho ground, for tho big clay bank on. the west, unmasked by the usual black blocks, of enthusiasts, smote the yision- all the time. Save for''Southern '(to 1 be" 1 mentioned later)-. ifc\ was not much ,of n bull-feast— those games at the Park. At the northern end-"a spotty performance was going on. ./Petone was tho gaudy spot, and Wellington.' tho grey. So groy, in fact, was their shoddy game that the.thing looked not.sqmuch like a football match ae-a prolonged and painful assassination. It -is an opeitquesfion whether such an illtrained lot as Wellington should ever .he on the-Park, or whether some rustic and remote- ground, away back of the Rimutakat would not -meet tho ends of justice. On r the other-.' ha<hd '. they, do say that, out at Petone, "tho' boys made a religion of training,"''This-is good news, und their- phiy gave : the statement an air of probability,-.-for the. loose boot-work of their-forwards ■ ran Wellington off their feet, and,' after, a heavy score had been run up, and the assassination had ended, the-"no-side-"-whistle .must hnve struck the losers ai a really pretty tune. The Petono passing was inclined to.bo clumsy for a while, but*it grew nippier and more deadly .is the plot thickened.Down at tho other.end, Poneko and Southern wero supposed .to play.sccorid fiddle to the chief match, but, even in , good orchestras, it sometimes- happens that tho second fiddle makes the better music, and it , was so here. The game had legs, it moved all the time, and, if one looked for any growing lino of stragglers tailing away behind tho ball, ho looked .in vain. T,he match was also interesting because, until, six minutes to time, Poneke wero never quite safe. Up till that time tho score stood B—3, and Poneke,had to 'oo up and doing to get their last six points. Their passing— and. their attack was. mostly passingwas pretty to watch, and at times brilliant.- There was little of the long, slow brand which marred their match with Molrcse. It was the swift three-yards article all the time, and, through the ever-recurring whirl, of hooped jersey?, one always caught sight-of the venerableheaded..W.alshe. . Jt irns a.stirring drama airthrdtlgh, and he was. protagonist iu it; And "Southern? "They played the game to'.'a man, and.the only thing which they li6w lack is the habit of winning. They had the goods to sell, and they believed that they could sell them to Poneke —in fact "some; of-.them said so before, ths match—and the only thing that; was wfbrig Wcfs'.not , the goods themselves, but th'e way in which they tried to hand them over tlie counter: After a strong opening they fell back too heavily on "finding the line." That is defensive play pure and simple, and. as tho day ■wore on,, they gradually.'allowed Ponek'o to.impose the situation on them so that, when. the. second spell was fairly in svfing, .their whole thought seemed to be not so much to assault Poneke, as to prevent Poneke from assaulting them. A passive defence can never win matches/ and, in the end," when tho plucky Southern backs could dp no more, their more experienced antagonists broke fairly through. . . ; Southern, it may be mentioned, cany round with, them n" cheerful little band of supporters. On Saturday these shouted volumes of advico from the line," and, though it was not possible to act on it, or perhaps even to hear it, it livened things very much, and helped ■ to keep a fast garao moving.. \ PONEKE-SOUTHERN. 'A MATCH FULL OF MOTION. Played-at'a-gallcp most- of the time, this match was" really football—it was IT. Almost, at once-the Southern backs ■were ,'swarming--i.il Poneke ground, and ■before tho situation was. fairly warm the Maroon men wero given a '.'shot," and Campbell-sent' the ball over. Poneko thus had three: points leeway, and tho game not ten-iriinutes eld. ■ Back came tlm ■Southern- attackers after the drop-out, and .the striped shirts had whole armfuls of tackling to undertake. ■ Engineered by ; Bradley,-, the Maroon backs wero particularly 1 .. troublesomc-V.thoy'ro little but thpy.'re .wise,. and .they're good 'mis for their size."" Poneko found them all that, but. luckily tor thcm.-elves they managed.to snatch a chance score almost from their-own-goal-line. There Bradley v.ns. in'full career with good backing, when in an attempt to cut in he lost the •ball.': Out- of tho chuos F,. Ryan slipped through with the ball at his feet, and dribbling very fast .got: to the other end before-lie-was. hurled into touch. Out canlo .the ball on tin line, and Gardiner, v.-ho was playing an- alert sort of game, snapped-it and- felt • across. Poneko fj, Southern,3. Heartened by this unexpected bit of good luck, the whole Poneke commando was soon at it again. Walshe I got the leather just outsdc tho twentyfivo, beat two men, and, looking as if he wero about to pass all the.way, deceived tho defence altogether, aiid slithered over at the posts. Morris goaled. Poneko 8, Southern'-3. Twenty , .minutes had now gone,, and the vest of the spoil, though capital to look at, .wa's much foo last and varying for detailed description. It ■was nearly all footwork and lino-kicking, ami the lialf-ti.ne. bell found the struggle raging at half-way, but on the whole Southern, had rather tho better of it.. But it was the other way about in tho second spell, and even Iho shade of critical Tom Ellison, had it been on the line, would have been pleased with Ponoke. They humped it and. bumpwl into their opponent's territory, and "hogged in" to a man. T'ley were getting a deal of the ball, too. from the scr.ums, and Tilyard fed his backs, up, sometimes with lightning passes. 'At one, stage len very fast bits of passing came off in less than (en minutes, and through all of these towered tho redoubtable Walshe, ".FTold 'em up, Southerns," came the continued roar from Hie bank, "flsn your boot?.—on to Walshe! Lii>e! Line! Hooray!" But it was hard work, and thirty minutes elaised before Southern (thinks .tii efforts by Mitchell and -'Xos" Campbell) got out of th'.'ir hvonty-fiv->. But Poneke worn still playing a" strong gamp, and they came un the field again as fresh as paint. Willi only a fev minutes left, tho sorely-tested ':hnin of tho Southern defence snapped twice, and both T'». Onlrinai and Mnrri.; (liirl/xl over, making tho totals—Poneke It, Southern 3. Mr. J. Condor was a very good referee. ATHLETIC-OLD SOYS.' j AT MIRAMAK-AND HARD FOUGIIT. I A fair crowd went out to Miramar to see tho match between Athletic and Old Boy.s. There wero two forecasts—a few prophesied a tough game; the many expected an easy win for Athletic. Tho former'were right. Old Boys, playing with iv large proportion of substitutes, fought thii- Blues creditably nnd, though it seemed obvious before half-time that Athlotio would eventually win, tho scores

which turned the scale were not obtained till'into in tho game. It was a gamo almost devoid of spectacular attractiveness, but the play was good of its kind. It was first-class football of the hard, clean mostly forward type. Athletic attacked from the start and the first incident was a good run into which L. M'Donald infused plenty ,ot pace. Athletic tried several, passing rushes, but got no nearer than forcing Old Boys. From tho kick-out C. Matthews, by fast following up, spoilt the return and as a result Athletics wero temporarily in danger. Further hard forward play was as much as Athletic could resist, biit play nt length 'drifted to the other end of the field, and a spell of strenuous fighting among the forwards lasted for some time, but the Blues could not penetrate Old Eoys' defence. Iho first bright passing rush of the spell was performed by Old Boys, but no score was effected. Dawson made a fine attempt to goal off a free kick; a poster was' the result. At half-time neither sido had scored. The second spell had -not been in progress a minute when K. M'Dounld kicked what was generally taken to be a potted goal. It transpired, however, that the ball had not crossed tho bar. M Vea made a good attempt to break Athletic s "duck," but' failed with' a try at goal. The ice was at length broken by J. Cunningham, who crossed tho lino and scored. The try was not converted. Athletic, 8; Old Boys, 0. S. Wilson scored the second try. and that, too, was unconverted.- Athletic. 6; Old Boys, 0. Old Boys had to withstand repeated attacks mid managed successfully for a while. When the pressure was relieved, Dawson shot away with tho ball, and appeared to 'hnve a fair chnnce of sce-rinpr. but ]'. M'Donald took him beautifully. Old Boys' attack was not sustained, and before the game ended Athletic added five points to their total. L. M'Donald sot a try and S. Wilson converted it. Tho result at the conclusion, therefore, was-: Athletic,- 11; Old Boys, 0. Mr. 11. Card was referee. ORIENTAL-COLLEGE. RUNAWAY GAME AT KARORI. Little cau be said about the OrientalVictoria College-match, played on No. 1 ground, Karori, except to record bow Oriental's 35 points wero scored. From start to finish the match was a runaway for Oriental. Only twice did tho College fifteen come within possible reach of'their opponrats' scoring-line, nnd, each- time, weak play on their part, rather than the defence 'which > they had, on those occasions to meet, lost them the scores. Once, as. the result of a. passingriisji, Poananga got to within a few feet of the line, and then passed wildly, insstead of himself crossing. On the second occasion, Qiiilliam brought the ball cleverly down the field from half-way, but lost it iii-touch a few feet from the line. College were over-weighted, their condition compared badly with the tiger-eager-ness of the Orientals, nnd in every department they wero outplayed. Oriental got the ball in the scrum and on the line with monotonous regularity, and then Roberts and his backs simply romped away. Soon after tho start of play, Poananga (College) centred, Mathieson (Oriental) rushing in, got possession, and scored ns the result of a fine run. 3—o. Next, Perry got over as the ontcome of a forward rush. Kinvig converted. B—o. Then Roberts landed a goal from a frcewick. 11-0. After the half-time spell Pyle,' wlio was playing a dashing game, followed up a kick, beat Berendsen badly for the ball, and crossed. Kinvi,-; again converted. 16—0. Murdock cut-in, and took allying pass, was collared, but gave possession to Tyrell, who touched down. Roberts converted. 21—0. Then the ball came out from- the loose in Uio College twonfi - - five. Roberts fent it on to M I.cod, and the leather went froni him to Kinvig, to Murdock, to Mathieson, who scored. Roberts f.iiled with the kick. 2f-0. Again, Roberts, Kinvig, M'l.eod, Slurdock, and Pyle raced the ball over. 27—0. Then a little while later. Keenan touched down after a loose rush. Kinvig converted. 32—0. Tho last try was obtained by Perry, who beat the College fullback in a race for the leather. "Carrad failed with I lie kick. 35-0. Oriental eased up a bit as their score mounted higher, and grew careless; otherwise the total would havn been greater. Mr. J. Mahoiiey was referee. PETONE-WELLINGTON. THE WEAK GO TO THE WALL. A determined attack on the grandstand goal v.T.5 l'etoiie's opening move. James ttyan got clean away, but the whistle brought him back. From a scrum Petone obtained possession, but the backs were prevented from doing damage by Hill and Gilbert. At length, from a ruck, W. 11. Hyan kicked to tho dead-ball line. Led by Mimi-o and Murray, Wellington pack put iu'somc effective rushes, and a miskick by a Petono back allowed a mark, which allowed Lambert to have a shot at goal, but the ball went wide. AVellington still pressed, and after a scrum M'Farlanc brake away aud brought play to nearly half-iray, where a brilliant save was brought off by Bridge. Another forward rush by Wellington was nipped in the bud by Nunn, who set his backs in motion, but off-side piny relieved Wellington. Aston headed Petone in a determined rush; James Ryan* picked up, and, attended by Corson, the pair raced along, taking pass for pass. Corson dropped the ball ab a critical moment, and play went into touch. At this stage the Petone backs wore not handling the leather at all well, uor wero Wellington. Dent initiated a passing rush by sending to Ramsden, to Corson, who ran, and then sent to M'Kenzie, who mitiied. James Kyan was handy, ami, gathering up smartly, sent to Daley, who ran to within a yaid of the line, where he wa; grassed, the ball going to Munro, who juggled with if. .lames Ryan dived in and scored. MTarlauo converted. Petone, 5; Wellington, 0. Wellington returned with greater vigour, and Leckie, Hill, Gilbert, and Lanibert, by means of a passing bout, pained ground. Lambert got clean away, but was overtaken by James Ryan. A series of forward rushes then took place, neither sido having much advantage, until the yellowbacks got moving again, and worked in. side their opponents' twenty-five, where a mark allowed Lambert to land u good goal. Petone, ,1; Wellington 3. Wellington "held their own in the tight forward play, but Petono outshone them in loose and back play. Dent started the Petono backs again, but faulty handling spoiled. With Petono pressing, aud Wellington weakly defending, Dempsev broke through, and a free-kick gave M'Farlanc a chance to increase. The attempt was good, but fell short. After patchy line-out play, Nunn started a dribbling rush, which was taken on by Aston. Then Price took up the running, and Hardham, dashing up, gathered tho ball in and scored, and M'Farlane again converted. Petone, 10; Wellington, 3. By means of loose rushes, Hardham, Aston, and William liyau forced Wellington's line. Bridge cleared, but again. Petono tried hack play, but their wild passing threw away a certain score. Several rushes ensued, and Ramsden whipped out to James Ryan, who 'scored almost in a walk. M'Farlane's kick failed. Petoue, 13; Wellington . 3.

It was apparent now that Wellington backs were disorganised, ami Telono did much as they liked. There was no other score in thi! first spoil. Thosecond spell was almost amusing. Tim way that Pclonc hacks feinted, fouled, ami fuddled their opponents, brought forth loud laughter from Iho banks. Nearly every forward on Petonc sido wanted to be. a back, and passing runs weriV very frequent. Twice in Hits li;ilf Wellington invaded Petone's line, but this was more due to the abnormal risks the lihies look than to the ciever play of the town team. James liyiin, from a lengthy passing run, scored Petone's fourth try, which was nut improved. Price, from a dribbling rush, scored tho fifth try, which M'Farlnno increased. Petone, 21 j Wellington, 3. Just on tho call of limo M'Kcnzic potted a goal, from about ten yards from the crossbar, and the match ended: Pelone, US; Wellington, 3. llr. F. laws, was the referee. ST. JAMES AND MELROSE. MELROSE PLUIaY IN DEFKAT. Played on Petone Recreation Ground, the game was dull in the opening spell. During tho first fifteen minutes' Mclrose now and then attempted aggressive tactics, but matte no headway, and were ([liickly thrown back on the defensive, fit. James played with the sun nt their backs and their forwards were the superior pack. Once, fighting against odds, I\lclroso crossed tho St. James goal-line, but they were recalled for a previous infringement. In the latter half of the spell St. James took charge of the game, and .scored twice in quick succession. The first man to cross was E. Roberts (half-back). Tho line-umpire's flag appeared to be up as tho try was scored, but he was merely waving it in excitement. The ball was taken over ten yards away from (he corner. Hope soon afterwards obtained a second try for St. James. In each case F. Planning added the major points. Both kicks werb difficult. St. James, Hl—o. Mel rose had to force before the spell closed, and once tho ball was grounded ou their line. St. James had a fruitless penalty-shot at close quarters just before half-time. '■ Neither side had any advantage of light in tho second spell. At opening St. James attacked briskly, but Melrosc were stubborn and fairly sound in defence. In. an early concerted rush the St. James backs cot well away. From E. Roberts, the ball passed to his brother, 11. Roberts, who made a clever feinting run and transferred to W. Crowes within striking distance of the line. The latter got safely over, but failed in attempting to convert his own try. St. James, 13-0. Another rush by the St. James backs was rolled back. Melroso came on with a loose rush in which both backs and forwards took a hand. After a momentary check at halfway Melrose pressed for the St. James goa'l, but when cleso in their vigour was evaporated. St. James came out with tho ball at toe, Wright in (he lead. Melrose defended with difficulty, at their own twenty-five. Towards tho end of the spell play was suspended for a couple of minutes.'Gilchrist having sustained what one of his comrades described as a "slight concussion of tho nose." Molrose fought desperately to avert opposition fcoring during the remaining play,' and showed up rather well. They battled bravely in a series of-scrums on their line, and now and then gained a littlo elbow-room. "They could no more-." Just before tho call of time E.. Roberts nipped up the ball in rear o£ a scramble at the Melroso line, and sent a quick pass to Yonnjr, who instantly dived over. Wright failed with the kick". St. James, IG-O'. Nothing else, of moment occurred. Mr. E. Trcgear was the referee. OTHER CITY CONTESTS. THE JUNIOR GRADE. Wellington defeated St. James by 22 points to S. For the winners tries wero obtained by Hurly, Miller, Hulbert, nud Smythe. Sheridan kicked four goals kr Wellington. For St. James's Club Kitto scored and Thompson converted, and also | kicked,, ii.-penalty-goal. ' The game St. John's v. Poneko resulted in a win for St. John's hy VI points to 3.' All the scoring for the winners was done by Enting, who scored and kicked three penalty goal.?. Can- kicked a penalty for tho losers. Mr. 11. Larway was referee. Oriental defeated Athletic by 2i points to 3. Mr. R. Evenson was referee. Sclwyn defeated Southern by 12 points to nil. Mr. C. Bell was referee. Petone easily defeated Mclrose by 36 points to nil. Tries wero obtained for the winners by Lindsay (3), Whitby (3), and Nankivell, Boyd, Walsh, and Martin. Whitley converted three of tho tries. Mr. W. Church was referee. Old Boys defaulted to Victoria College. THIRD-CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP. Wellington College had a runaway victory over Old Boys, the scoro being GG to nil. Porirua defeated St. Patrick's College by 3 (a penalty goal) to nil. Oriental (23) defeated Wellington (3). Moore (2), M'Combe, Brown, and Robertson scored tries for the winners, nnd Carniichacl kicked two penalty goals and converted ono try. Petono (11). defeated Waivretu (3). FOURTH-CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP. St. James defeated Southern by 15 points to nil. Bedingfield, Wilson, and Tullett scored tries, and Moffitt aud Mongin kicked the goals. Sclwyn' b'oat St. John's by 21 points to 3. For the winners, Arrowsmith, Easton, M'Cauley, Sullivan, Duncan, Heggarty, and Desmond scored tries. Smith kicked a penalty goal for St. John's. Athletic defaulted to Oriental "A." Pelone (33) defeated Waiwetu (0). Wallis, Hill, Burns, Humphries (2), Bale, M'Kwan, and ITickey scored tries, Bale, M'Kcchnie, and Hickcy converting ono try each. Fqsettc and M'lntosh scored for the losers. Tho difference in tho scores is accounted for by the good combination of Petone and the poor condition of Waiwetu. FIFTH-CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP. St. Patrick's College "A" defeated Wellington College "A" by 11 points to 3. The winners' score was made up of two tries, one converted, and a penalty goal. St. Patrick's College "B" defeated Oriental by 9 points (3 tries) to nil. Petone 32, Wellington 3. MATCHES ELSEWHERE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Christchurch, April 29. The opening games for the Canterbury Rugby Union grade divisions wero played to-day, when tho weather and the various grounds were in favourable condition for the winter pastime. The senior fixtures did not attract a targe number of patrons, the "gate" at Lancaster Park yielding £V ss. Chief interest centred in the Albion-Merivale fixture, the former claiming the advantage after a contest which was principally between the forwards by 5 points to 3. Old Boys, lasting better than Sydenham, registered their first success by 9 points to 7, and Christchurch showed to advantage in the second half, beating Canterbury Colics® by 1G points to 3. At the Showgrounds, Linwood defeated Jlarist Old Boys by 5 points to nil.