ORIENTAL DEFEATED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1522, 19 August 1912, Page 5

ORIENTAL DEFEATED.

PETONE AND.ATHLETIC TO FIGHT THE FINAL

AUCKLAND RETAINS THE SHIELD.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS. Points. Points, Auckland 6 Taranaki 5 Otago 12 West 6oast 3 Wannanui ; 20 Manawatu 17 Athletic 6 Oriental 3 Petone 29 Victoria College 9 St. James ....'. 20 Wellington »••• 17 Melrose versus Southern abandoned. Poneke a bye. ' ' ' «

blocked, so he threw the oval infield, and there it was snapped up by E. Roberts, s who dashed across with characteristic l briskness, and was endeavouring to get t round behind tho posts, before any Orien- _ tal player got near enough to check his i progress. It was a great try by one who 1 had played brilliantly throughout. E. I Roberts failed with the attempt to con- ( vert, and a little later tho bell was rung, i Athletic", 6; Oriental, 3. , f Mr. T. H.- Jones was referee. 1 ST. JAMES-WELLINGTON. ( i ' HEAVY SCORING. ; When AVellington and St. James met in < the first round of the senior Rugby cham- 1 1 piouship the game ended in a draw. Five minutes from the call of time on Satur- ' day it looked.as if the second meeting be- j tween the teams would b© productive of ' another draw, but at tho last minute the < St. James team secured the necessary points to give, them a victory. The game was played on No. 2 ground at Athletic Park, and resulted in a whole chapter of minor accidents, duo apparently to the hard surface of the playing field. Early in the . game' Grace (AVellington fiveeighths) was injured, and had to play fullback for the remainder of the game. During tho first spell alp Millard (Wellington centre) had to retire with an injured knee, while at a later stago Bridgo was temporarily laid out. On the St. James' sido, Young who fell heavily on , the point of 1 his shoulder had to leave the field for ] some minutes -while Jloffltt and Cairns , were temporarily out of- action at different stages' of tho game. The AVellington team, which looked much the stronger 1 when the game commenced, was greatly * weakened by the retirement of Millard and the mishap to Grace, who was not of much service to his side at full-back. The , game was remarkablo for the heavy scor- i ing and the varying fortunes of the two j sides. Some of tho tries were the outcome of pretty efforts, but the tall scoring ' suggests weak defence rather- than brilliant attack,. and if, at stages, the play , seemed fast, it was due mostly to pooi 1 line-kicking. Of the goal-kicking the least said the better. St. James opened : tho attack, and Utiku, taking a clover : mark in the AVellington twenty-five, enabled Dobson to goal. St. James, 3; Wellington, nil. 'After sevenl AVellington passing rushes had failed, Grace gathered up a rolling ball and transferred to Millard, who feinted to pass, but cut in and scored behind the posts. Bridge missed an easy kick. AAellington, 3; St. James, 3. AVellington's next score came .- from a scrum on thej line, M'Nab (the' '• winger) dropping across. Lambert goaled. ( Wellington, 8;- St. James, 3. St. James then took a hand iri attacking. Olio of , M'Kenzie's kicks failed to find tho line, ' and Asher returned to tho corner, where Hills, following -up, . charged down M'Nab's return, and scored. Dobson failed with the kick. Wellington, 8; St. James, G. Just before half-time Moflitt led a St. James forward rush, over the line, and .scored, but failed to convert his own try. St. James, 9; AVellington, 8. Hills added a further try early in the second spoil, and Dobson goaled. St. James, lij AVellington, 8. Next Dobson scored after a short run,' but no goal resulted. St. James, 17; Wellington, 8. Lambert dropped out with a short kick, recovered " possession, and ran right through, to score an unconverted try. St. James, 17; AVellington, 11. .Almost immediately AVeir got over for AVellington. St. James, 17; AVellington. 14. Then, passing from Lambert, to M'Kcozie,- to Irons, and back to Lambort, enabled the latter to scoro again. St. James, 17; AVellington, 17. Hills scored behind the posts for St. James in the last couple' of minutes, but Mangin missed the posts. St. James, 20; AVellington, 17. A good place-kick on either side would have won the match. Mr. L. Simpson, who controlled the game, seemed to have but a poor idea of the "advantage principles." PETONE-VICTORIA COLLEGE. SUBURBAN TEAM'S" BIG SCORE. AVith their usual five, minutes' innings, College attacked Petone, and caused them to force just after the start. Petone did not treat their opponents' seriously, being" content to try all sorts of experiments with a view to (Mating Athletic. The ground was in excellent piaying order, but leyond an occasional burst of good play there was very little to entertain the couple of'hundred spectators present. After some uninteresting play Petone became aggressive, and G. Parker attempted to pot a goal: ..the ball hit the bar. Taplin got an easy try after a forward rush. Petone, 3 s College, nil. College made a rally, and O'Shea goaled from a free-kick. Petone, 3; College, 3. Play became haphazard, until M'Kenzie snapped up at the twenty-five, and, dodging through the whole of the Greens, touched down under the posts. M'Farlano converted. Petone, 8; College, 3. Eamsden, who.was playing a dashing ended a fine movement by passing to Price, who dropped over. Petone, 11; College, 3. The game then developed into a practice for Petone, who threw the Sail about in a wild maimer, and kicked anywhere. It was a common occurrence to see a Petone man give a pass to an opponent, or stand and loudly r.pplaud a movement on tho part of.College. Halftime sounded with tho score unaltered. On changing ends College put on a spurt, and after a clever passing rush O Shea dropped over at tho corner. Petone, 11; College, C. Petono retaliated with another'passing rush. M'Kenzie got to the line, but, instead of falling on the leather, he passed to Parrant, who : cored. . MTarlane converted. Petone, 16; College, G. Auother passing attack by Petono saw E. Ryan dash over. Petone, 19; College. o'.- Just after this score Qnillum (College) had a finger broken. He retired. The' College forwards got together and forced, their way to a good position, from which O'Shea goaled from a penalty. Petone, 19: College, 9. From, some straggling plav M'Kenzie got his «econd try, which M'Farlone converted. Petone, 24;. College, 9. Just on the call ,-f time E. Rvan made a good run, and, i-fter a 'iine bit of passing, Jl'Faiiano scored, and jacked o. great goal. Tho game ended: Petone, 29; College, 9. Air. Eveuson was referee. MELROSE-SOUTHERN. The Melrose-Southern match, which was lo have been played at Afiramar, was abandoned. FOURTH CLASS. ; I PETONE AVIN THE CUP. I Petono defeated Southern in the final of the fourth-class competition by 21 '. points to 6. Bale. Barnes, Bennett, Col- , quhoun, and Walsh -cored for the winners. Bennett converted three of tho i tries. For Southern, Nelson and AVlialer 1 scored. t AVaiwetu drew with Oriental. Each side scored .three points. Johnsonville defeated Old Boys bv 16 3 j points to 3, A, Cook. R. Ccok; R, M'Far.

Contrary to the announcement on the 1 Wellington .Rugby Union's posters, Satur 7 ' day's match between Athletic and Oriental J was not -championship final. Oriental r were beaten, and Athletic and Petone have t bo fight the contest to the bitter end. The I Rugby public will be pleased to see Ath- ' letio and Petone in the field again. -. ' Substitutes in the Teams. Nearly SCOO people assembled at Athletic Park to witnes* the contest between Oriental and Athletic. Oriental played without V. Roberts, Carrad, and Hale, whoso . places were filled by M'Crombie, Newton, and Oarmichael. Newton did not play up to-the necessary standard, and he let his t 6ide down badly by making mistakes which I even a romancer would hardly have t thought po £sible - In th ? Athletic team t Maddon filled S. Wilson's place at wing c three-quarter, and Hutchinson' played t first five-eighth. Hutchinson played a I fine game, but with all AVilson's faults he j would probably have been more effective r than Madden on the day. Madden had j opportunities of scoring which his lack of i evasiveness nullified. ' | A Rsjher Ordinary. Gamo. j The game, stripped of its importance, j .jvas'not above tho ordinary week-end' v match in interest. There were two fine t forward teams\in the field, the Oriental f backs were a poor lot, and the Athletic i backs made numerous ' costly mistakes. s Kinvig shouldered the thick of -the work , for Oriental, and his line-finding was tro-. { ■ mendous. Evenson's line-kicking was a t feature of Athletic's work. Tho first score , of the gome was obtained a few minutes after the commencement, and-was partly 8 the result of sudden tactics by- Athletic t and partly, tho penalty. Oriental paid" f through their backs being out of posi- ; tion. From then till more than half-way £ through the second spell the score was ( not altered. That was not because of E good play by Oriental; it was because ] of mistakes made by Athletic backs at ( critical moments. H. Paton's penalty \ goal from the side-line was a beautiful | kick, and was Oriental's only score. j The Star Artist's Winning Try. But the most sensational act in the I piece was E. Roberts's try. Although ] 1 it looked easy and simple,-there was real i merit in it. As it was the try which 1 won the match, small wonder that even t hardened. veterans like "Ranji" AVilson s spent considerable time in patting-Rob- i erts'on the back,-slinking his'hand,, and i otherwise expressing their admiration of \ the star-artist of the day. 1 Petone Qualify for the Final. 2 AVellington and St.'James provided, a ' fairly interesting game on No.. 2 i park ground. Scoring was frequent, and in the ; last few minutes the teams-were 17 points ' each. St.-James, however, ran out win- V 1 ners by 20 to 17. Petone .qualified for the { final by defeating A T ictoria College. Tho [ match, which wag played at Petone, re- • suited in an easy' win for Petone bv 27 J points to 9. O'Shea scored College's nine ■ . points, by kicking two goals an<f scoring J a try. The Southem-Melroso fixture .was E abandoned. Poneke had a bye. ' Representative Games: Auckland Beat > Taranaki. ! In Auckland, the Shield match between J v Taranaki and Auckland resulted in vie- ; tory for Auckland by G points to 5. In j Dunedin, Otago defeated AVest Coast by i 12 points to 3; and at Palmerston North , Wanganui beat -Manawatu by. 20 points ■ to 17. _ ' THE CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER. ' N •= d -j "S &i ' % o « P •* tl '3 g-2 —* '-L O 6 OK ttJO h f s P.-S "oS Petone 15 13 1 1 241 55 27 Athletic 15 13 1 1 IG2 55 27 Oriental ...... 15 12 3 0 162 69 24 Melrose 1-1 9 5 0 139 99 18 St. James " 15 8 G 1 131 134 17 Poneke 14 6-8 0 84 10-4 12 Wellington ... 14 i 8 2 67 148 10 Vic. College ... 15 2 12 1" 92176 5 Southern 14 2 12 0 48 202 4 ATHLETIC-ORIENTAL. A STUBBORN SEMI-FINAL. Athletic attacked from the jump, and •within three minutes they had scored. It happened thi3 way. Th.e ball went out among the Orientals, but* Murphy (Ath- . letic) smothered the man in possession, nnd tho oval rolled out towards the sideline, where Madden snapped it up and when tackled threw it in-field among the forwards. From the ruck E. Roberts obtained the ball, and passed out to Hutchinson from whom it went to Evensen and then- to M'Donald, who scored. It t.-ns evident that the Oriental backs, who "-•ere mostly out of. position, could not '« avo saved a score. M'Donald got.oyer, (hough he was tackled on the line, llvensen did not goal. Athletic, 3; Oriental, 0. ■ Athletic continued to -hold the upper hand for some .time. A feature of the" game nt this stage was the good lice-kicking of Evensen, for Athletic, and Kinvig for"Oriental. Oriental got out of trouble by a • splendid forward . rush which carried ploy well down "in front of the Athletic goal. Hutchinson saved tho situation .by gathc-rins in the oval from tbe tow of the rushing forwards. A little later Athletic cleared with a- free kick. The Orientol backs mode several efforts to, get going, .but none of their attempts were fruitful. Two chances to' get. over woja offered Madden, but on neither, occasion was he able to evade tho men y.ha tackled him nr.ir the side-line. Pi*peatediy tho,-Athletic backs had their opponents beaten, but always someone rnada a. haf-h of things—a pa=s which cculi not be taken, a good pa.;s mined, and 60 on. Cuniunghame twice made a nitiful farce of a passing altack. Although Oriental .we're lucky not to have had three more tries scored against them, the spell ended: Athletic, 3; Oriental 0. Trouble was in store for Oriental immediately tho game recommenced. E. Ifoberts made several attempts to open out, and at length got well away, and passed to H. Roberts, on the wing. A • try seemed a certainty, but H. Roberts' rnissadthe pass. After a while the lino play of the Oriental forwards removed I day to Athletic's quarters, and there a ong, hard battle was fought. Some fumbling by an Athletic back, a rush of Oriental forward.*—and a great mar went up from the bank. Oriental, Hie- bankers' sido, had scored. The referee ruled otherwise, and the bank expressed its opinion in hoots. The play hung within a. few yards of the Athletic goal for some time, and at length a breach of Hip rules by Athlntic gave H. Paton a shot at goal. Ha took the kick from near the sideline. . and succeeded—a wonderful kick, loudly hnplauded. Athletic. 3; Oriental. 3. Athletic attacked so vigorously when the game was resumed that, they carried the enemy before them, and set up a hot j,Uack. "Out went the leather to H. F-'-bfT-ts, who sprinted along tho side-line. Within tan yards of the goal-line he was

lane, and Atkins scored for Johnsonvillc. Atkins converted two of the tries. FIFTH CLASS. PETONE THE CHAMPIONS. Petone defeated Poncko by 7 points to 3, and by doing so won Urn championship. Wellington College defeated St. Patrick's College by 5 points to nil. St. James wcro defeated by Southern by 19 points to 15. Tries for St. .Tames were scored by Ballinger ' (2) and Sergeant. Donaldson converted all the tries. • . SIXTH CLASS. Petone A won by default from Southern. St. Patrick's College A defeated Poneke by 42 to 3. '' Southern defaulted to St. Patrick's Collego B team. JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TEAM. Tho following team has been selected to represent Wellington juniors in tho match against Horowhenua, on Athletic Park, next Saturday—M'Girr, J. Ryan, Hutchinson, Entmg, Eiliffe, Israel, _ MTay, Fawcett, Shardlow, Parker, Nankcvill, Lindsay, French, Burke, Spearman. Emergencies—Backs: Jl'Combie, Russell; forwards: W. AVntkins. Players if not available aro requested to notify the secretary of the Wellington Union. FIFTH-GRADE REPRESENTATIVES. The following two teams havo been selected to take part in tho fifth class trial match nest Saturday, at Kelburno Park, at 3 p.m.:— Colours—Davis (M.), M'lntyre (A), Senior'(Pt.), Burns (St. J.), Donnelly (Pt.), Mabiu (A.), Nicholls (Pt.), O'Brien (S.), Marchment (St. J.), Walters (M.), Hedges (Pke.), Parrant (Pt.). Chapman (0.), Palmer (M.), Ballam (Pke.). Emergencies: Smith (S.), Watson (M.), Andrews (Pke.), Keeiio (S.). Blacks—Christophosen (Pke.), Lockett (A.), "Walker (Pke.), Algar (PiTe.), Gray <M.), Tilyard (S.), M'Dougall (Wtn.), Hoare (M.), Miller "(Pt.), M'Callum (Pt.), Tattered (Pt.), Forsythe (A.), AVatson (A.), Shannon (St. J.), Atkinson (0.). Emergencies: Donaldson (St. J.), Johnston (M.), Lcrinihan (Pt.), Callaghan (St. J.). The team to travel to AVanganui will be selected immediately after the game. In the event of Kclburne Park being unfit, the match will be played at the Polo Ground (Sfiramar).