ORIENTAL STILL ON TOP.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1450, 27 May 1912, Page 6

ORIENTAL STILL ON TOP.

SPIRITED MATCH AGAINST ATHLETIC. MELROSE BEAT ST. JAMES. SUMMARY OF RESULTS. . Pts. PisOriental 4 Athletic 0 Petone 44 Victoria College 0 Melrose ~.. 9 St. James 3 Wellington S Southern 3

Chilly weather made for fast work in the football field on Saturday, and the inspiration of the weather was not altogether thrown away, so far as the principal engagement at the Park was concerned. Close upon five thousand people assembled, presumably to see Athletic and Oriental, for the neighbouring game, ill which St. James were pitted against Melrose, did not attract much attention. The crowd was hardly ever silent during the progress of the big game, and at every exciting passage there was an ascending tumult of roars and shouts which was really a better .tribute than the game deserved. "Backs can never beat forwards," was a watchword upon which a good many Athletic supporters relied, and although hopes based upon the assertion were disappointed, its correctness was never really put to the test. Tho Athletic forwards engaged in a conlest with the opposing pack, in which neither side accomplished anything in particular. Oriental owed their victory to an isolated feat by an inindividual player. • While the forward battle-royal hung for a moment in suspense, Murray (Oriental centre threequarter) managed deftly . to pot a goal. This was tho solitary score, and for the rest the game was mainly a succession of interlocked forward scrambles. Backs on both sides played a minor part. Of combined back play there was hardly a trace, but both forward packs owed a great deal to the individual skill of a few backs who supported their efforts, and made tho weak places good. F. Roberts, Kinvig, and Murray, for Oriental, and E. .Roberts and Evenscn for Athletic, were conspicuous amongst the backs who spent a busy time in applying patches to forward play that very often needed the said patches badly. A feature of the Oriental play was ' the number of marks taken by tho backs, particularly in the opening spell. A gratifying matter was that although the play was by 110 means gentle, it was clean and quite free from the "brutal boot." Once, during the second spell, play was hung up for a few seconds when an Oriental man received a kick in the but no other incident of the kind occurred. I'or about twenty minutes in the first, spell Athletic played one man short. Evenson having failed to turn up. E. M'Donald filled the gap in the latter part, of the first spell, and after half-time Evenson took his place at five-eighths. Accidents deprived St. .lames of two men in the second spell of their match against Melrose. Poananga received a somewhatsevere kick on the head, and had to bo carried off. Later on Leggett, in attempting to stein an attack, was treated to such a strenuous time that he fainted, and, after remaining prone for the space _ot several minutes, had to be assisted oil in his turn. CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER. i $ t . . S £ j? a >> G 4-i Z , S <J q n ? 'Jj a £ £ 3 p £ t 5 Oriental G fi 0 0 W 30 12 Petone li S 0 1 101 13 11 Melrosfi G 5 I 0 !H 'It 10 Athletic t> t . I 1 05 2t 0 St. .Tames 6 3 3 0 GO 47 G Wellington 5 13 1 23 Till 3 Southern 6 1-10 42 01 2 Vic. College fi II 5 1 20 105 1 Poneke 5 1 ■'» 0 17 »2 2 In compiling the above table a bye lias in each case been credited to the team concerned as a win. This week Poneke had a bve. ORIENTAL-ATHLETIC. A NARROW-MARGIN VICTORY. Athletic followed tip the kick-off with a lively dash, but were checked in the corner by Kinvig and liol>erts. In ihe play that immediately followed a lot of ground was covercd at speed, but no incident of any great note occurred. Kicks from penalties and marks, at this stage, all went to relieve the side which happened to be in difficulties" at the moment. The Athletic forwards assaulted repeatedly, and at length came on in a desperate rush that looked like getting home, but i\ Roberts bored through the on-rushing pack in a masterly way, and enpped the effort by getting in a kick that sent play up-field again. "Rangi" Wilson was prominent in another Athletic rush that all but attained its objective. E. Roberts took a quick pass within yards of the line and carried the ball over at ihe corner, but he bad swung out of bounds en route and was recalled. Oriental had done little more than defend in the earlier play, but they adopted a more aggressive attitude as the spell wore on. Athletic were jammed in their own territory for about ten minutes, with no other result than a series of scrambles, but the eleventh minute brought the event of the day. Murray took the ball on the fly in front of the Athletic goal, and instead of marking, as many voices urged him to do. settled himself for a comfortable kick and neatly potted a goal. The thing was done in face of a rush, and deserved the roar of apnlanse that rewarded it. Oriental, 4: Athletic. 0. Plav slowed down somewhat during the remainder of tiie spell. Robert* and Hull did sni'lf brisk passing that brought Oriental into striking distance aeain. but •Millet''' 1 were never in =oriou« dUficullies. The Hlne= retaliated witb their simile f«re of forward rushes, and once or twice I heir backs hail a brief career. Kollv. Halt, and B. Roberts being particularly aelive, but the Oriental defenc" held good. Half-time nut a ston (o a slightly wearisome reuetiliou of futile attack anil counter-attack. Tn the second spell Oriental gave Athletic a rMaliatorv taste of their own (actios. The' Black and While forwards liriil hung back a litlle in the opening spell, but they now showed a more warlike' spirit and seemed inclined to make the pace. At the outset, however, they met « reverse. E. Roberts stonned ah Oriental passing rush ami ihe Athletic forwards ctrent down fi"ld with tSie hnll at foot. E. Roberts nicked mi smartly, and transferred to t,. M'Ponnhl. who was cdlarcd by Manning within a few feel of th" line. Tight forward scrambles, m various Paris of the field, were (lie order of the dav for a time, and a passing rush by Roberts. Manning, and Itnle came at. length as a welcome relief. Palon rebuffed (his aMempt by gras-ing Hale. peon afterwards (he llrjcnial forwards made a dashinir .-iltaek from a sonim adiirnnt in the Athleli'" lin«. but E. T!Mv . Arts iust niamsed to forcc doivn. A me-

mr-ntarv failure by Kinvig, who slipped in attempting to take the ball, gave -Athletic another opening, but 1". Roberts got through with a tricky run, and passed to Kinvig, who more tliau regained the ground lost by a capital line-kick. 'Catherine dusk made it difficult to distinguish details of the later play, but in the main Oriental had the best of it. Murray attempted to pot another goal, but. tills time (lid not succeed. The Athletic forwards made a big effort to scoto at the eleventh hour, but Murray kicked the ball np-field again, and the call o! time found the Blues labouring hard in defence. Mr. L. Simpson was the referee. MELROSE-ST, JAMES. MELROSE WEN A DULL GAME. Melrose and St. .Tames met on No. 2 ground at Athletic Park. The match was uninteresting. Ki"ht at the commencement St. James had "a couple of long shots at goal, but fhev gained nothing by the attempts. J lie Meiro=f> forwards tlir'li hustled then opponents back to St. James's twenty-live an J set up an attack which, except lor one or two brief bleaks, was to last all the spell. Over dashed the Newtown forwards, but' a force saved St. .Tames, the attack was renewed, but, presently, away galloped Cook. The speedy St. .Tames man evaded several of the Melrose backs, but 11. Marshall grassed him by a ■ determined tackle. St;. .Tames tried passing again, but'H. Marshall intercepted and centred, with the result that St. James were in serious trouble again. Murphy got over for -Melrose, but did not score •V few moments later, however, he potted a "oal verv cleverly. There was no other score in this spell, so at half time the score was: Melrose, 4; St. James, 0. St .Tames had considerably the better of tiie second spell, Melrose, seldom moving out. of their mvn twenty-five. However, St. .Tames found the Melrose defence difficult to penetrate, and only got through once. The scorer was Murray, and his trv was not converted. Melrose, 4 j St. .Tallies, 3. On one of Ihe rare occations on which Melrose out of nieii mvn territory, Murpliv broke through with the bail in front of him. Ho una passed all the St. .Tames backs, and wnli Cook 'St. James three-quarter), was cliasial' (ho ball, which had gone over tlie goal-line. Finding that Murphy was likolv to score Cook interfered with him. This' prevented Murphy ironi actually touching down in time to secure a try, but. the, referee awarded a lij on tli■■roiind that, it Cook had not illegally interfered. Murphy would have score". W Marshall converted. Melrose, he. James, 3. Thero was no other score. WELLINGTON-SOUTHERN. NARROW WIN FOR WELLINGTON. People watching certain stages of the senior game at Karon oil Snturuav niigh reasonably have wondered why Wellington did not register a big score aga™* Southern. At other stages it might wixU emial reason have been asiced eeita'ii of the Wellington backs bothered about playing if they were so intent oil watching the games on the adjoining grounds. Wellington certainly did win bv 5 points to 3—and '".p ll " , vicvorv this season—but if. the forward* had but realised how supemr they wove to their opponents, and it ine backs* mm concentrated mere attention on the game, Ihi'V must have won )>y a .substantial mafw. 31'Keussie played a sound game for Wellington at ccntie-three-c|narler, but the other Wellington backs were outshone by Bradley, Finlavson. and Gray of the Southern rearguard. On the other hai)U th« Wellington forwards were immeasurably superior to their opponents, though |h»' truth of this never seemed to daivu upon them. The game had advanced :i considerable sVape before the scoring opened. Wellington were attacking ltoar tlir. Southern line, and had lust hooked the ball from a scrum when J'otaka pa«ed to MacMahon. The latter's pa-s j o Lambert was cleverly intercepted by Finlaysou, who raced up-field, and thru, kicking over the heads of his opponents, followed up and scored. Bradley failed with the kick. Southern, 3, Wellington nil. This was how the score stood at half-time. Southern opened the second spoil with vigour, and nearlv scored in a forward rush. Later, a fine run by Finlnyson, who intercepted Potaka's pass, was followed bv clever passing anions; I'liilnyson. Bradley', and Mortensen, but scores did not result. Wellington backs then passed the ball with a little more precision, and on one occasion the ball went from Potaka So Bridge, to Lambert, and on to M'Kenzic, but the final pass to Schramm went a'trav. Eventually a Wellington forward' rush took play to within twenty yards of the Southern goal, where Miller gathered it up. tie n»ed his weight to such effect that half a dozen Southern men who stood in his way were simply pushed "back, as the hand pushes through a leaf." until Miller scored under the post. Tt was a capital try. Bridge converted. Wellington 5, Southern 3. So the scores remained until time was called. During the second spell MacMahon (Wellington) had his leg broken in stop.ping a rush. First aid was rendered by Nurse Everett, who was present, and Ihe natient was subsequently removed to Iho hosiiital. Mr. C. Atkinson had control of the game. PETONE-COLLEGE. EASY WIN FOR PETONE. On Petone ground, in the presence of about 300 spectators, the Pctoue-Vietoria College game was merely a practice for the former, although they were without the services of Keady_ and MFarlanc. College had seven juniors in their team, hut even their form was little better than a liiih-class display. As was expected Petone attacked nil through, with the except ion of about four times, when College crossed the good side of half-way, and even then they were aided by a mistake of al'elone man. The onlv' man on the College side who did anything at all approaching football was Kaire; and, amongst a poor lot of forwards, Devine and Paulson were the best. From every scrum Petone secured, and set the backs going—sometimes collectively and sometimes individually, but always "with a view to a score. Daley open' the score-book at. the . end of a L passing bout. Ash ton attempted Hie kick, but was stopped by the referee. Quickly toll-awing, Boyd and M'Keir/.ie went the whole field length, and finally .ludd pounced on the leather. !!-(). Jus. Ryan then got. over the corner, but the score was disallowed. When play resumed, linmsden gathered in, and rail clean through College, scoring under the nests. 9—o. linmsden ended a passing rush iusl after by touching down. 12-0. .tilft betnro half-time Nairn sent a long pass lo Daley, who raced over, Price rnii'vortiny. 't'-f. In Ihe second half Baauden 'got ilia third trr, which brought

dio score lo 20-0, and then Asliton ended a forward ru>h by iouching down. I'amsdeu' goaling. 25—0. Continuing Ihe procession, Daley got over, and \Y. liynn kicked a goal. !!ll—o. M'lienzie was Ihe next scorer, gelling the ball from Noun, he side-sleppi'd nicely, anil got over iu a good position. 11. Ash--Inu ended a forward rush by adding another three points. .'Ill—(I. Then .'as. Ilyau tenk a turn, 3!l—II, anil finally Ashton rushed over, Dnlev bringing up Ihe total to il—o. Petune were looking for an understudy for M'l:'arlum>, and every man in the team had a shot at Mr. Trego,'ir was roiereo. OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS. JUNIOR GIIADI-,. In the I'etone-Uriental match Iho former lea in defeated (heir opponents by 28 points lo nil. The name was a fact one and al limes ihe work of the retime backs was brilliant. JO. Hyan scored once and kicked a penally goal, while •!. livan and 1:\ Hyan added two and liiree more scores respectively. Oossan also scored twice, and Naulievillo once, whilst E. Ryan couverled twice. St. John's defeated Southern by 8 points to e. Soiwvii defeated Victoria College by 15 points to nil. I'dr the winners Cooper, liurkc, Casey, M'J'hee, and Jiuck secured tries. St. James beat Wellington by 0 points lo 3. . Melrose defeated Poncke by 9 points to 3. Tries were secured by Johnston, ],initio, and Parker. Watson kicked a penally goal for tho losers. Third Grado, Waiwe.tu defeated St. Patrick's Coil-ego by 111 poinls to nil. Wadeslowii (15) beat. SI. John's (3). Southern l>eat AthleSic by 11 points to nil. M'tiuiro (2) and Mollilt scored tries, Eillio converting one. Pel-olio 08) beat Victoria College (3). College gave up aller playing lor about twenty-fivo minutes. Exchange deflated Wellington J)" 11 points to nil. for the winners Noivson (2) and Baker (1) secured tries, while Davis converted one try. Wellington played ono man short. Fourth Grade, In the fourth grade game Wellington A v. Petone. Petone ran up their score with good back plav. Darker scored twice; Sniylie, Bale, Pi'iclior, and Mamford onco each, and IJennett converted three, of these. Pete ne won by 21 points to nil. Wellington B and Poneke defaulted to Oriental and Jolmsonville respoc. tively. . , , Old Boys beat Athletic by H points tn G. Jiopkirk, Staples, and Keeiie scored tries for the winners. Edmonds kicked a penalty goal and also converted one try. l'o'r Athletic, Wilson and Adamsscored a try apiece. fifth Grade. Petone defeated St. James by 23 points to nil. ■' Waiwetu were defeated by Atmctic by G points to 3, Sixth Grade. St. Patrick's Collego r A beat Southern bv 2G points to nil. Poneke were beaten by St. Patricks College B by 27 points to nil. Petone beat Athletic by 15 points to nil. A School Match. After ono of the finest forward games seen in school football for some time, Mount Cook defeated Mitchalltown by 3 points to nil. The game throughout was fast and exciting, the issue being in doubt right up to tho call of time. MATCHES ELSEWHERE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.! Auckland, May 20. The fourth series of senior Rugby matches were played yesterday in sunny weather. Tho two leading teams, City and Jlarist Bros. Old Boys, engaged in a strenuous game, play being chieliy amongst the forwards. City iron by 11 - points (a goal from a try, a try, and a goal from a mark), fo 3 (a try). Parnell heat Ponsonby by 15 points to !). College Ilifles drew with University, 3 points each. Cliristcliurch, May 20. The football competitions were continued to-day. Results.—First grade matches: Cliristcliurch, !); Old Boys, 0. Albion. 15; Linwoud, 8. Merivalf, 3!); Canterbury College, 0. Sydenham, 8; Marist Old Boys, (i. Dunedin, May 25. Following a'ro the results of the first grado matches played this afternoon:— Alhambra G, Southern nil: Dunedin 11, Union 3; University 32, Taieri Rover.' nil; Ivai Korai U, Pirates 5; Ziuguri Richmond li; Port Chalmers nil. Palmerston North, May 25. Rugby, senior: Eastern 10, Western 10; County 0, Southern G. Junior: Northern forfeited to Linton. WANGANUI REPRESENTATIVES. Wanganui, May 2(S. Tho following players have been selected to represent Wangamii against Taranaki on June 3 at Wanganui .-—Coutls (full-back), L. Mculi, Tilyard, Anderson, Cobber, 1:'. Meuli, Atkins, W. Dusun, Leahy, Cunningham, Takuraugi, T'wnsey, Bailey, Lynch, and Caldwell.