RUGBY RESUMES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1711, 31 March 1913, Page 6

RUGBY RESUMES.

GOOD PJi'AY AT THE PARK.

PONEKE defeats oriental,

STKa'^by ; footballer again occupied the areiia'-at" Athletic Park ou Saturday, and performecWin a way that Seemed'to jplease some two .thousand,' spectators. li'oiir sonior -teams took part in t.ljo informal games which were played, Oriental meeting i'ont'ke, and Melrose , pitting its, strength against J'otone. . The weather was good, and tile playing areas'were in fair condition. 'I'ho form shown, taking it all in all, wils much better than is .generally seen at the beginning of the .-ia=on. - Meirbsc and ['clone played tliirty.ttyb.niioute, spells, aiid in the other game fiirtj'-iive minute spells were played. PONEICIi AND ORIENTAL. ,

Oriental opened briskly against Poneko •witlra.driving attack which culminated in an immediate' score, Dingle crossing .the lins and converting his own try.' Ponekd retaliated. ;w:ith some. lively passing, and before' mauy minutes had gone by -Morris equalised the scores. Liko Dinglo li& converted his own try. Oriental lor a time did most ox tlio attacking, but in ono of the sorties that Poneko made, Morns kicked a penalty goal—Poncke 8, Oriental a.' wis though inspirited by their lead, ■'Poneko'''delivered one dashing assault after another, kicking with fine judgment, and gaining ground in spite oi all that Oriental could do. Attack titer attack was turned at tile last moment, but eventually Mon-is got over tho line again. On this occasion his kick at goal failed Poneko 11, -Oriental 5. For about a quarter of an hour .Oriental were in sore straits, and teemed'to lose all power of initiative and to have nothing better -tooppose to the attentions of Poneko than a stubborn, though patchy, defence. Ten •minutes before -the spell ended, however, the game took another aspect. Oriental swept down-field, and Poneko in their turn were penned up on the line. Just before half-time, the.v got clear, and play was in'tlio middle of tho field when the bell rang. ,ln the second spell the contest was more even, and a quarter of an hour or moro passed before J.' EllioL scored for Poneko. •Clio kick failed—Poneke 14, Oriental ft. Oriental now attacked.with vigour.- A penalty goal, kicked by Mulhatiey, Taised their score to 8 points. Morris, and Irvine I",were- prominent in stopping Oriental -rushes,-but'Shearer at length crossed over ■iiejir t'.llio.' Oriental 11 /points, I'oneko 14.' I'oneke presently demonstrated that they were not. done with, sweeping down-field with an irresistible rush. Klliot readily seized an opening, dashing in from the twenty-five and grounding tho ball behind tho posts. Morris converted—Poneko. 19 points, Oriental 11. Just before time was called, 'Shearer.' raised <tlie Oriental scote to 14 points' with a try which was not converted. Tho game ended:—Poneke 19 points, Oriental 11. ,- . . > 1 Mr.' W. J. Meredith was tho Tcferee.

MELROSE AND PETONE. > ' During a great part of tho first spell, Melrose had it all their own way in the game with Pet-one. Tho suburban, team seemed' at first to be hopelessly disorganised, but in the second spell it lecovercd its combination, and very completely turned the tables. Molrose opened with a pell-mell attack, and kept, it up with few .interinissions right through the spell. At an early stage '.Dee-scored from a scramble in, friii(l;; of ..line.. The kick at goal was a- failure. -Soon afterwards half a dozen men tumbled over the J.'elono line, and Gilchrist, one of the number, li/ul brought tlio ball with him. ,'l'lie scoro now stood:—Melrose 6 points, I'etonc 0, and at that it remained till half-lime was called..'.:!:. Jn tlm second spell Melrose, as com.pared' with.UieirMirst-spell play, faded uway, mid I'elono asserted themselves. Inside about ten-minutes they ha'd passed the Molroso score, and tho result of tho game was never afterwards in doubt. The first try for Petone was scored by Nankivillc, and M'Kenzio quickly added an-other.'"The'lattei-'s try was converted by E. Ilyan., M A.„third try was scored for Terbne liy Mu'rpliy, and it also was converted by 'E. Ryan. Melrose made a final spurt when the game had almost run its course, and H. Marshall scored. Capper failed with the kick. The gauio ended: — Petone, 13 points, Melrose 9. Mr. H. Card was referee.