SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1492, 15 July 1912, Page 6

SATURDAY'S FIELD SPORTS.

INTER-ISLAND FOOTBALL. NORTH ISLAND FORWARDS CARRY THE DAY. THE CITY CLUB BATCHES. SUMMARY OF RESULTS. Points, Points. Oriental 6 Poneke 0 Petone 12 Wellington 0 Athletic 24 Southern 3 St. James 10 Victoria College 5 Mclrose A bye. ,

The Men Who Jeer. Saturday's Rugby was done under conditions that frowned. The grounds were heavy and slimy; the afternoon was wintry and grey; and there was no real "star" match to make ono forget these things. . , The. only outstanding feature in the proceedings at Athletic I'ark wus the behaviour of a section of the crowd on the north bank—somewhat thoughtless, maybe, but ill and unmanly for all that. Some partiality is excusable, and does not necessarily signify unsportsmanlike qualities; but undue partiality is, of course, a thing to be disowned. Some of the four thousand who turn out once a week to see what the Park has in store for them are unduly partial, and, in the words of the man on the bank himself, "they ought to bo told about it." Moreover, some of the partial ones took a step further on Saturday, and not at all an elegant step either. Do They Want a New Hero? The case of ''Fred." Roberts will serve as an illustration. Whenever he got a heavy tumble this section of the crowd roared its delight. When he was very severely handled and walked across tho side-line obviously in pain this curious section roared harder than before. And when an Oriental player was "knocked out" some gloated quite loudly: "Roberts is knocked out at last! Near tiiiio!" As it happened, it was'not Roberts, but the vevy audible gloat lost nothing of its undesirableness'on that account.: The impression given was that tViis little portion of the crowd were out in search of a new hero, and Roberts was, perhaps, too old a hero to fill the bill.' Roberts stood up to Saturday's work in very fine style, and ho received a. fair amount of knocking about. But there was no 'deliberate roughness by his opponents; it was simply that he came in for more than his share of the work in a game where the play was decidedly hard at times. The Chief Game. Tho Ponekc-Oriental match was a pretty dreary one. Poueke distinguished themselves' by holding the Black- and Whites so well that the latter only won by G points to nil. The ball was very sreasy, but this can scarcely be Oriental's excuse, for Poneke were much more at sea with the slippery oval than Oriental were. The fact i<? that any 'fairly good team which can keep play close can extend Oriental to tho utmost. Poneke had a little, tho better of the first spell, which ended without either Bide- having scored. Oriental ran up the winning points early in the second half, but they spent a fair portion of this spell defending hard. Nevertheless, their play was tho better, the more finished. At Pttone—Good Match to Watch. Lively and interesting football was seen in the Potone-Welliugton encounter, at Petone. The town fifteen had in the field a fast, heavy set of forwards, who more than held their own in the scrums, nnd often had the Petone backs hard put to it. Petone missed M'Kenzie, and, although Kamsden filled the place,, the absence of the connecting link in the chain was apparent during tho passing turns. Beady, who has been laid aside for some weeks, made his appearance again for Petone. Tho ground was in very good order, and play was fast and open'. The score of 12 points consisted of 3 penalty goals and a try, all secured by M'Far'lane. There were about 1000 spectators proBent, who apparently were somewhat eager to show dissent at some of the rulings of tho referee.

PETONE-WELLINGTON. C '.ALL THE SCORES BY ONE MAN. With tho sun against them, Petone were put immediately on the defensive. Several brilliant forward rushes by Wellington carried play to the Blues' twcnlynvo. A high kick by Jas. l(yan gained a little ground, but back came Wellington stronger than ever.' Drake initiated passing among tho Yellow backs, giving lam. Bert a good chance, but, at a critical moment, this player lost tho ball. Returning to the attack (through the good work of Merchant and Weir), tho Yellows compelled Petone to force. A little kickout was gathered up by M'Furlano, who passed to Ramsden, who ran- half tho distance of tho field and was just stopped by inches from getting across the line. Grace gathered, .and. after a good dash, sent on to Marchanf, and tho Yellow forwards, with a great rally, Drought trouble to Petone, which, however, Jas. Ryan staved off with a clover kick to touch. Ramsden and Jas. Ryan wore conspicuous in a hand-to-hand pass, and, just when a score seemed inevitable, a penalty saved \\ ellington. Taking advantage of a good lino-kick, tho Yellow forwards forced play down-field, Jas. Ryan saving, but, just atterirards, Coker secured, made a great run, backed tip by Cotter, and tho movement caused excitement, when Nunn interrupted, and saved. M'Farlano now broke away from the lino, supported by iaphn, and Petone were soon hot on tho attack. A penalty awarded against the loUows gave MTarlane a chance to open the scoring, and with a fine kick he put on the first goal. 3-t). From a scrum, &imn came away on the "blind side," and, making an opening for Dalev, tho luttor dived over with a couple on him. lue try was disallowed, the leferee rulin B that there wore two hands on tho ball Wellington recommenced plav with a pwerful attack, and Grace made a big effort to get over, but was hauled down a couple ot yards out. Play now became very fast, Wellington having all the advantage, and, after a series of scrums on the Petono line, tho Yellows'were awarded a penalty kick within easy range. Lambert was given the shot, but it went wide. Even play ensued for a space, both sides tackling with a will. A fine passing rush by Potono was followed by an equally good ono from Wellington. Petone were forced, and Ramsden, kicking out, tricked his opponents by finding an opening, oml following smartly, secured and punted high. 'Lite Petone forwards, swoopin> under, carried all before them, and finally MJ! arlanc touched down. G—o. Play maintained its attractiveness till halftime, Wellington having slightlv the better of things. Tho first incident after the interval was a nice passing rush by tho Yellows, which ended in Lambert' being just tackled in time. Nunn, Ramsdon, Jas. Byan, and Boyd were next seen in a passing bout, and then some very fast forward play ended in M'larlane getting a goal from nearly half-way. Petone, 9—o. On resuming, Millard and Wilks got in some fine individual work, which was carried on by lurkwood and Marchant. Petone Fcenting trouble, gathered round and dashed along, and, following on this, M'Parl.ino shot over another penalty, brin»in H ' the total to 12-0. Bridge played a sterling game for AVcllington at full-back. Mr.. Neilson was Tcferee.

CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER

"2 . . S & $t 'is. *•> « ■" 5 a fl-2 2d . ts q in F t* .' •* rj (", H o< p ,_) p p^^fH^oS Petone 12 11 0 1 204 38 23 Oriental ... 12 11 1 0 163 58 22 Atliletio ... 12 10 1 1 133 41 21 Melroso ... 11 9 3 0 131 71 18 St. James ... 12 5 fi 1 99 114 11 .Poneke 11 3 8 0 72 104 6 'Wellington 11 2 7 2 37 119 G Vic. College 12 2 9 1 74 122 .5 Southern ... 12 2 10 0 45 202 i Note—Every bye has been counted as a win to the team to which it was allotted. ORIENTAL V. PONEKE. ■ THE BLACK AND WHITES EXTENDED. The "big" game, Oriental r, Poneke, wws some time in progress before anything of interest happened. Poneke, with 14 men, . were quite holding. their own in the close play, but they frequently lost ground through being unable to cleanly handle the slippery ball. A flash of back piny by the Oriental rearguard brightened the game,' but gained little for the Black (uul Whites. Jlorris broke right through for Poneke, but the wkwtle recoiled him. Oriental drove their opponents into Po. neko'o twenty-five and away went the Oriental backs—Roberts, M'Leod, Murray, Kinyig. and Patterson—but the last, man was left without,room in which to run. Then a clever piece of passing and re-passing between Skinner and Paton down the side-line resulted in Paton getting over and touching down, but a try was not awarded, as Paton was off-side when he took the last pass. From then on, Poneke got the, bost of things for some time, and Oriental"vrere penalised in front of their own goal through Murray holding on to the hall to save- a score. Dingle failed to turn the kick to account, and he failed likewise with a kick a few minutes later.. Presently Oriental were hard on the attack. Roberts, realising, no doubt, that the ball was difficult to handle,

kicked along the ground. J'oneke mulled, and the Oriental forwards sot up a seige which was only raised after a strenuous battle. A while later the Oriental forwards were in command again, and tin's time their opportunity was spoiled through the ball being knocked touch in goal. At hiilf-timo neither side had scored, and Poneke had hold their own.

Poneke opened the -second spell with a very fine rush to Oriental's line. A fine piece of fielding nnd kicking by Morris I led up to the attack. Cnrrad, the Oriental full-back, was driven behind his line. He got a kick in, but Dingle took it in front of the goal, and was making oif on the warpath when the whistle went; the referee had awarded Dingle a' mark which he had not claimed. This mistake was costly to Poneke. Dingle's kick at , gpnl was charged down, mid Oriental car- ' vied play to Poneke's twenty-five. Oriental wore not long within striking distaace before passing between ll'Lood and Murray ended in Murr-av scoring. A few minntc-i later M'llwrflith scored from a forirnrd scramble. Skinner failed with both kicks. Oriental, G; Poneke, nil. A Poneke rush, a long, dreary buffeting amidships, another Poneke onslaught—that was nil tho public got for the greater portion of Hie remainder of the spell. Oriental withstood a final atlack from Poneke. and .the Esme concluded; without oltcra.tioa itt tlie «we; Onaiitai, 6; F.puslse, nil,

ATHLETIC-SOUTHERN

EASILY WON. Although tho Athletic team were without the services of their best forward (A. Wilson) and their best, back (E. Roberts) it was generally anticipated that Southern would have no show against them on Saturday. This proved to be tho cafe. The mutch was played at thoHutt JJecreation Ground, and though Athletic had only two tries on in the first spell, they added four more .in the second half, anil eventually won by 24 points . to three. Iho losers, however, wore dangerous on several occasions, but their play lacked the finish necessary to bring about a try. Southern, opened with a strong attack, but Athletic showed the necessary defence, and presently turned the play down field, where a combined movement among tho backs resulted in Evenscn scoring. His kick nt goal was n failure. Athletic, 3; Southern, 0. This rcverso seemed to rouso Southern, and for some time they quit© held their own. but tho Athletic forward rushes wero difficult to stop, and eventually- Osborne crossed the line and scored. Madden converted. Athletic, 8; Southern, 0. This was now the scores rend at half-time. Before tho second -spell was far advanced the superiority of ,the Athletic fifteen became more noticeable. J. Cunninghame early scored a try, which Madden converted. Athletic, 13; Southern, 0. Leviclc next touched down within fairly easy range, and Madden again added the major points. Athletic, 18; Southern, 0. At a later stage- Southern managed to preps back the attack, and a free-kick being awarded, enabled Campbell to open Southern's score with a capital goal. Athletic, 18; Southern. 3. From this onwards tho play was all in favour 'of Athletic. H. Roberts scored in a good position, but Madden failed with the kick at roal. Athletic, 21; Southern, 3. Finnlly, Power scored after a smart run. Paton failed with the kick, and tho game ended: Athletic. 24; Southern. 3. Mr. W. J. Meredith was referee. ST. JAMES-COLLEGE. MOSTLY RAGGED PLAY. St. James beat Victoria College,' at Athletic Park, in a game that was by no means remarkable for good play. College were defending by far the larger part of, the time, but St. James lacked the dash or skill to push home their advantage. Immediately after the kick-off Ryan tried a long shot at the. St. James goal, and then St. James fought their way up to the greens' line. Rush after rush threatened tho College line, but always something occurred to prevent a score. Once it was a speculator, once it was n dropped pass, once it was a mark in front of the charging ruck of forwards, but there was no permanent relief until College forced. St. .Tames did not renew the attack at once, and there was a long interlude of ranged play in line-outs and scrums, which moved slowly up and down the field. Presently a couple of penalties to College, and a pood kick by Faire gave College an attacking position, but they were driven back Their first try was scored by Poanansra, after a break made from n line-out in College's twentyfive, which rush was very badly met bv the Red and White. Ryan kicked a goaf. St. James busied themselves to wipe off the deficit of five, and they were promptly on tho attack. College were penalised dangerously nenr their Roal, but the shot went amiss. Then Young secured the bull about mid-field, mid scored after i< really magnificent run in which ho had to p.iss prncticaly every buck in the Col-Ir'-'p loam. llobson added the exh-u points, and the spell ended with the score? five all.

St. .Tames were on the attack at once. at. the beginning of the second spell, and they remained on (he attack for practically the rest of the game. First Young n.nd then IJiiku wort? stopped very nenr Hie CWlejr line, nnrl >™o little while later Cook \iu pushed Into toufh. at 11$.

corner. St. .Tamos had lots of chances, but loose pastes or somo other mistakes spoiled thorn all. The College defence was desperate, siiuo particularly fine work being done by Ryan. The Greens were able in the end to drive back the persistent attack, and once they had a clianco of getting a winning position when Ryan took a shot from a mark within range. The shot missed, and (here were no more chances (or College. St. .lames made the pare iißain, and their effort wns rewardedjust before the bell, when Brown scored. It must 1)0 admitted, however, Hint Iho try .was more due to the carelessness of a. College back than to any special effort by Drown. Hekela converted, and tho game ended: St. James, 10 points; Victoria College, 5. Mr. W. C. Chnrcli was referee. OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS. Junior Grade. Selwvn defeated Melrose by 5 points to nil. for tho winners, Lomas secured a try, which if'Pheo converted. Victoria College were defeated by Wellington by 29 points to nil. Third Class. Athletic defeated Exchange by 10 points to C. For Athletic, Pool scored a try, Adams potted a coal, and Robinson kicked a penalty goal. Petone won by default from St. John's. Oriental (tho leading team) defeated Upper Hutt by G points to 3. Benton and Averv scored tries for the winners. Routley kicked a penalty goal for Upper Hutt. Fourth Class. Petono were defeated by Athletic by 5 points to nil. Waiwctn defeated Johnsonvillo by 5 points to nil, Barnett secured a try, which Young converted. Fifth Class. Petono defeated Athletic by 15 points to 8. Sixth Class. Petono A defeated Southern easily by 22 points to nil. The Wellington Collegc-Petono B match was postponed.