SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1444, 20 May 1912, Page 6

SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

1 TWO UNBEATEN FIFTEENS. ORIENTAL AND MELROSE AT THE PARK. GREAT GAME TO WATCH. SUMMARY OF RESULTS. « . Points. Pain*? Oriental 16 Melrose 8 St. James 20 College 3 A 'hletic 13 Southern 3

What is Finer Than Real Rugby?

It was football, real live football, footbull on the gallop all tho lime! And what, is finer than real Rugby? The day was wet and cheerless, but •1000 people turned out to see the players play; and tho play of the players rewarded the 4000 well. Neither Team Had Been Beatin, The sides opposing each other were the two unbeaten teams of the season, and, furthermore, the two teams highest on the championship ladder, the one renowned as an excellent fifteen, the other considered by its ardent admirers to be on the threshold of fame. The weighing of tho chances was made a very important part of the afternoon's sport. In fact, tho chances had been on the scales nil tho week. Melrose, who had been underneath for several (seasons, had this year been showing an inclination to keep their head above tho surface. They had played four games, and won them all. But what was the real standard of their play? No ono knew.- None of their vanquished opponents were firstclass teams. Hero was tho first chance of calculating their work. Henco tho great interest in the game. Could the team of unknown strength lower the colours of the team which so many Oriental supporters belieTe to bo invincible?

Newtown was very confident. Their | team was trained and fit, and determined to make the game a rushing, raci&g whirlwind'from the kick-off to 'no-side. Then tho enthusiasts introduced the elements of the wet day, the slippery ground, and the greasy ball; and the general result of those things being considered to be important was on advance in Melrose shares. The Whirlwind—A Pen Picture, _ Rut tho weighing of the chances, the tilings considered, tho things we forgot to reckon in, are soon as shadows of the past. The whistle! The game has began! Melrose are bundling Oriental down tho field—down, down! And the crowd, loused by the rare energy of the Newtown- boys, adds to the t excitement by vociferating its appreciation. The crowd is with Melrose for the time being. Oriental fight doggedly, but Melrose beat, them back with a fury that batters the defence of the ancients who hove long ago learnt tho art of being discreetly absent from tho place where tho boot is flying, and the battle is hot. How true it is that discretion is the better part of valour! How disastrous when several members of a Rugby team realise it at the one moment!

"First Blood" to Melrose. , By magnificent forward play Melreso have fought their way to the front of the Oriental goal-posts. They are on the doorstep, knocking hard. The ball streaks over the line; a chase, a dire, a wild, long cheer—lV. Gilchrist lia.s touched down for Melrose! W. Marshall's shot al the goal is successful; and Oriental, five points to tho bad, realise that they aro "up against it." Melrose renew their attacks with a vigour that is ail their own, but Oriental have awakened. Their big forwards surge over the Melrose, pack, and Roberts opens out for his backs. Thoy gallop in their best style, and, in emulation of tho Melrose forwards, they show a distinct tendency to refuse to be stopped. But the tackling of Melrose is brilliant—almost beyond description—and as each Oriental gets the ball an unerring pair of arms whisks his legs from under hiin and down ho thuds. Oriental Draw Ahead. However, tho defence is not impenetrable, and King makes his way across and scores. There is no goal, so Melroso lead still. A while later, tho burly Manning scores, ICinvig converts, and Oriental are ahead. Tho second spell is Melrose's on the play, but it i 3 the scores which decido tli® battlo. and Oriental got the scores. Well on in the game they are 16 to 5. I and Melrose's chances seem nil. But a score to Melrose, and persistent attack upon attack make it seem that all may not yet bo lost to the Newtown team. Melrose Finish Full of Battle. Melrose finished fighting more fiercely than ever. It was a young team against an older. It was the keen, vigorous, hardtrained. straightoiit footballers against the men with the reputation', the field tacticians, the players whose names arrayed together in the newspaper make the team look formidable, the men whose football days are drawing to a close. But weight has told its tale. The bigger men, while their pace and condition lasted, have made a score which Melrose now has not time to eclipse. Oriental has won. It was a splendid game, furiously fast far the forwards, absolutely clean, and not marred by a single knock-out. On No. 2 ground at the park St. James easily beat Victoria College. Athletic defeated Southern; Fetono had a bye; and the Wellington-Poneke fixture was postponed.

CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER,

,■< 1 « %?« 5 ; Isi\ 4 1 S £< & vJ O £ £ 6 Oriental 5 5 0 0 93 30 10 Athletic 5 4 0 1 65 20 <) Petone 5 4 0 1 57 15 •) jVelro.se 5 4 1 0 85 38 8 St. James 5 3 2 0 03 38 li Southern 5 1 4 0 39 56 2 AVollinpton 4 0 3 1 18 SB j Vic. College 5 0 4 1 20 B1 1 Poneks 4 0 4 0 17 52 0 ORIENTAL—MELROSE. THE GAME WHICH GALLOPED. Melrose interpreted the signal ( o bojrin as the signal lo attack, and, nithouf ado, sailed right in. Their forward rushes overwhelmed the Oriental vanguard, and carried them pell-mell into the Oriental twenty-five.. It was hot and exciting from the Start. Oriental broke awav and seemed likely to catty plav well up-field till-, a defer mark,, by Murphy s:inp"' ; , theth. . A fett moments Inter orieritaJ were penalised, and W. Marshall tried at- goal for Mcirose. Thirty yards out, nil awkivnrd alißle, and the ball wet— Marshall failed.

Back thundered the Melrose pack, hustling Orienl.il before them. A splendid attack was repelled l>y a kick, which W. Gilchrist returned high. Kim-fa called "Minn. 1 " but he Tailed tn hold the lnathev. Murray tn>d to save I'no -ituat.ion, but. ere he could pet a kick in, someone took him about the ankle:-. Th;; ball dropped. W". Gilchrist dnshc-d ur>, booted tfifl oval mnw the line, sud In the racs tliat enauei secured a eogjq Ist

a brilliant dive. W. Marshall converted. Morose, 5; Oriental, 0. Jlelrcfe continued the pressure awhile, but before long Oriental drove 11.em back. Roberts darted out from behind n serum, fi'uig the ball out, it rpachwl -Manning, who showed himself a difficult rnanto stop, but he was blocked 011 the side-line. "They're away again," cried the crowd, and down came the Melrose forwards, dashing as ever; but Kinvig snapped up the leather, and sought to turn (.cfence into attack. Ho passed out to lvoberts just as a superb tackle grassed mm. Roberts, .Manning, and Carimchael were grassed one after the other bv tackling which was simply perfect. Melrose forwards took charge onc9 more, and in one great rush removed play right to the Oriental twentr-five. Play remained a considerable time" hard upon the Oriental line, till free-kicks relieved the defenders. From a iiueout, F. Roberts went away with the ball at his feet. He made 110 attempt to pick up tho greasy thing, bat dribbled it through the Melro.w backs, and then shot it out to the wing, where it conveniently bounced, and King took it on the hop, and shot over at tile corner. Patmi did not convert. sfelro.se, 5; Oriental. 3. An attempt bv Roberts to get through on the blind side of a serum failed, alid then tho ball wc.nt to Kinvig, who centred. A Melrose back failed to field cleanly, and Manning dashed up and scored. Kinvig converted. Oriental, S; Melrose, 5.

A white Inter Roberts made off with the ball, drew Melrose after him, and then turned in the opposite direction, with the result that Oriental were Marly over again before they were cheeked. ■Melrose charged once more, How they surged and swarmed down the fold! How Oriental went down before them like nine-pins: An Oriental back held 011 to the ball to save a score, and a free-kick was givc-a against his loam. Murphy took the kick, and, in an endeavour to put the ball out near the corner, he sent it touch in goal. Halftime. Oriental, 8; Melrose, 5.

Melrose commenced the second spell, fresh and dashing as ever. Tlir-y attacked from the start, and Oriental were lucky at times to keep them out. A "speculator" down field bv Roberts put Oriental on the attack, and King had a chance of scoring the softest of tries, but he completely failed to get hold of the ball. Oriental continued to attack, and J. Skinner, coming away with the ball at his fop,_ took play right to the line, where ho picked ap and pessed to 'JVwnsend, who scored. Again Paton failed at goal. Oriental, 11; Melrose, 5.

While Oriental were onco more in an attacking position,. Roberts threw a ldgh pass to Ivinvig, who took it well, beat his man, and passed to Manuring. Thero was Manning and Patterson to beat the Melrose full-back. Marshall was obviously in a quandary/ He got Patterson, but by that time Patterson could not Ik*

prevented scoring. Roberts 'kicked a great goal. Oriental, 13; Melrose, 5. Play was hardly commenced when Melrose were attacking again, and, ai'tdr strenuous forward play, W. Sullivan crossed for them. The kick was beyond IV. .Marshall. Oriental, lfi; Melr.i.se, 8. Melrose attacked till the finish, but the score was unaltered. ST. JAMES-COLLEGE. HEAVY SCORE BUT DULL PLAT. Tli?.. outstanding feature of the' St. James—Victoria. College fixture was the number of stoppages to enable restorative treatment to be applied to wounded warriors in the St.' James's ranks Although the halts were many, only one casualty, and. that in the last few minutes, was serious enough to make it necessary for the man to leave the field. This was in the case of Young, a St James three-quarter, who received a severe bump on the head. As a display of football the match was not. a great success, and but for the efforts of Beard, a rattling good forward, and Ryan, amongst tho backs, the University team would have been infinitely worso off than they were.

At the- outset St.' James attacked in a half-hearted fashion and then their opponents Toplied, this process being'repeated time and again without anything particular happening. Bach side in ' turn essayed passing runs, but they almost invariably failed miserably, On one occasion Heard raised the hopes of tho 'Jiuvemity supporters by coming through with a_ nice dribble, but when he had only Utilui to beat, and appeared to liave tiiis defender cornered, tho St. James man usc-d his head and got out of She difficulty in the only way possible—throwing the ball into touch. A tier much skirmishing and wasted energy, St. James scored their first try, Young getting over after a ns'cs j dodgy run and Leggafc converted. A couple of minutes later the ball was kicked out to the right wing, and Young 1 , snapping it up, added another try. No goal resulted. Following sustained attack by St. James, Victoria College worked into their opponents', quarters, and Thomas stalled off a dangerous-looking rash. The University men kept at it, and a mark by Evan enabled Beard to kick a goal. This was the University's one and only score. Before half-time sounded St. James put on two more tries, neither of which was converted. The first was secured by Cook, who scored after a dodgy run, and. tho second fell to tho samo player, who was able to outpace the opposition after a clever opening had been made for him by Young. The spell end-' ed—St. James, 14; Victoria College, 3. With the exception of an occasional burst by University, tho second half was all in favour of St. James, who put on six more points. Plav had only been resumed about fivo minutes when Leggat picked un from a forward scramble in front of tlie posts and dived over the line. No goal resulted. Play meandered oil, an occasional bright individual flash lighioning the g>ioom, but no further score was recorded until near the end, when Cook kicked a penalty goal, which brought the St. James to! a! up to 20, as against their opponents' 3. Mr. Fordyce was referee.

ATHLETIC-SOUTHERN. | MAINLY A FORWARD HUSTLE. Though torrents of rain had fallen on tlie previous night, the Petone ground was in excellent condition for !iie match in which Athletic met Southern. The game was not remarkable for strategy. Most of the work was left to the forwards. A few individual backs acquitted themselves well, -but concerted rearguard movements were scarcely once attempted.

Southern started oif busily with a combined rush which drove Athletic to their line, but here pinlaTson threw away a good chance by kicking into touch-in-ro#l. The Blues rallied aggressively and Southern shortly had reason lo be thankful for some well-judged line-kicking by Bradley. It was duo mainly to this back, plus the efforts of the forwards, that Sim(hern had rather the better of il during 1 lie iir.-i. spell. Play moved rapidly up and down the held, but nearly half an hour puffed before any -con- ranio. Bradley repeatedly improved chances in si viking du-t.-nio by kkkin? to Ihe side-lint l , near the corner, but AtEletic ae often managed

scramble out. Twicn Southern expe'nd'fd their advantage in ineffectual ponaltv shots at goal. Tho first score' was tire result of a spectacular bit of play in which the odors wero Bradley and Cnmpbrtl l ho former took the ball on Iho fly as it was kicked out from the Athletic froal. CaniphcJl just failed to fcako a rapid pass, but recovered instantly, picked up the ban, and was over to a score heforo tin astonished Blues could guard their fianlSnutuern, 3; Athletic. 0. Soon afterwards rinlayson, for Southern, had a penalty shot nnd just -failed in a kick at a difTie.iiit angle. Kveii.son had better luck in getting a straight kick from a penalty, near inm-field, and equalised tho seores." Soon niter half-time Southern were rushon to their goal, but Capper Raved the situation by tailing a quick mark. He soon afterwards had occasion to repeat the performance, this time getting a knock in tho chest which laid him horizontal for a while. Athletic were now commencing to gain ground. Evenson picked i.p the ball in a mix near tho twonty-five and ran clean through the Southern 'fnck'cnV J !?, ? n J?P et L th(! effort by kicking a goal. Athletic, 8; southern, 3. "Ranii" •Vkson and a nouplp of comrades cot across almost unopposed soon afterwards but were recalled i'nr'off-side plav. The next event was a passing rush bv the Atlio, bacKs winch culminated in a forjvard dash. I lie ball passed from Murphy tj Wilson nnd thence to Luoni, who scored. I'.venson converted. Athletic, 13; Sou. thorn, Southern had iho worst of the Jfr. F. Laraway was referee. OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS. JUNIOR GRADE. Peiono defeated Athletic easily by "w points to ml. 1 * " The Selwyii-St, John's match resulted in a draw, each side Bccnring 5 points ConlerM re Pl° ! '| St ' Jolm ' S ' and F.TOtto comerted. U-apham scored for Selwvn M Pnee converting. Oriental defeated M«lrose bv G points to winnm. tt ° U ™ Third Glass. pofnfto h, 3. beat MariSt OMBoys* 22 Litt,s - s Oriental defeated Petono by 6 points to i 3' iF a c" 0 ' 5 ' 8 Colfcge beat Victoria ColfVl<>»* V to '• For the winners Cuilen and Honnessy scored tries. plT[o3 lUtt <I(,f ° ated Aihletic 6 Fourth Class. mone won by default from Oriental. Johnsonville defeated Old Bovs by Ailfrn. <!• ffin "WS Ciok 12). wJr , ' antl 111,1 SMr cd tries. by S 'K dCfMtcd by Woiwct u Fifth Class.

defeated Melrose by 3 pointa to School Championships, The third round of the school matches was played at the Athletic Park on Frifollow— 10 r ° of 0 £ ames are as Senior. i A l° hOOI - , tkf « al «l Clyde Quay Phvei ' ,V iP°" s - i to nil, Dalt °n. who trio, "i n' V good ? nmo . scored three Iras, and Owen scored one, which Spencer convcnod Mr. East was referee. f»;J a VT",? c wore deto V Win i F 1001 by 33 P Gints i , H o ™? m L hv l trics ntld onn*erted both, Sinley touched down twj.>o mil V ?' , M ' M : aiu 'V e° l a penalty , m was rofcrcH) ! n „„ rr / 1M 7 3 Scl1 ?? 1 ea ? ly d « fcat «i their op- 1 P points to nil. Son.h Wellington were victorious over Newtown by So points to nil. Mr. Arcu« was referee. u ' < Junior Grade. ' Quay llUgi:on Terrflce defeated Clyde Mount Cook beat Te Aro by 14 points to { South Wellington defeated Mitchclltown \ by nine points to ml. • J

MATCHES ELSEWHERE. TWO PLAYERS ORDERED OFF. (By Telegraph.—Presa Association.) „ . ~ , Auckland, May 19. I senior Rugby matches were continued yesterday in fair weather. City beat university by 13 points (three tries, two converted) to nil. Mnrist Bros. Old Boys beat 1 arnoll by 8 points (livo tries, ono converted) to nil. Two players, ono from each side, were ordered off in tho second spell. They were A. C. Wilson, captain ot Parnell, and Donnehy, two ex-Welling-ton forwards. College Rifles, who are playing in tho senior grade for- tho first time, beat Ponsonby by 13 points (three trios, two converted) to G (two tries). Christchurch, May 13. D.C.L, Shield results:—Merivalo 11 v. Sydenham 6; Christdnirch 9 v. Albion 8; Old Boys 19 v. Marists 3; Canterbury Collego 8 v. Liuwood 6. Dunedln, May 18. Splendid weather prevailed for the football matches to-day, University (5 points) beat Zingari-Richmond (nil); Southern (33) bent Pirates (nil); Duncdin (13) beat Alhambra (6); Jvaikarai (11) beat Port Chalmers (nil); Union (G) bent Taicri Borers dh Palmerston N., May IS. In tho senior Rugby grade Feilding (U) beat Western (6); Northern (12) beat Southern (9). In the junior grade Feilding (6) defeated Avalniri. (3).