RUGBY FOOTBALL –

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3174, 27 August 1917, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL -

WELLINGTON V. WAIRARAPA

BIG WIN FOR THE HOME TEAM

The first representative Rugby match in Wellington tinco the war broke out m Europe was played 011 the Athletic Park last Saturday afternoon, liy mutul consent, tho various Rugby unions 111 New Zealand agreed to suspend all liiterprovincial games while the freedom of the Km pile was at stake, and, aho, because practically all the representative players had signed on to take part m ihe bigger games on the Empires battlefields. This decision 011 tteir part caused the finances of tho various Rugby unions to get into a very parlous cci, ' l i ! " tion,. and a suggestion this year that games be played between players under military age in the various centres has been heartily taken up. The carrying out of the suggestion is likely to result in a revival of interest in N/»w Zealand s national game of Rugby football. Already matches have been played petween Auckland and Wellington and Wairarapa and Wellington (twice). Next Saturday week Auckland will meet Wellington at the Athletic Park, and tho Hawko's Bay representatives will travel to Masfei'tou to play Wairarapa. This by way of introuuetion to the match played at the Athletic Park 011 Saturday. Barring a keen breeze from l.he. iiorth, tho conditions were entirely favourable wlien the youths of Wairarapa and Wellington lined up to exchange the Customary cheers with one another shortly after three o'clock. The ground was in excellent playing condition, tlie sun was shilling brightly, and the concouise of spectators round tho ringsido was numerous enough to satisfy one (hat, given tho attraction, tho pulilic of WojlinKton are still keen on watching and Cheering 011 a game of Rugby football. The teams that opposed ono another were as follow:—

NVeliiugtoh(black).—Full-back, Morion; three-quarters, Corner, Jackson, and Aitken j five-eighths, Coles and Porter; half, Nicholh': wing-forward, Hislop; forwards, Soott', Polo (hookers), Bond, Caddick, Desmond (second row), Black and Baker (back row). Wairarapa (green).—Fnll-bac.k, Berrill; three-quarters, ll'Ewan, Grantham, and Henderson; five-eighths, B. B,ooth and l l '. Booth; half, R. Booth; wing-forward, J. Donald; forwards, Knowles, Pinfold (hookers), Hunger,' Raleigh, Sage (second row), Ivaison and Daysh (back row). Tf. 'Booth and Scott wero the respective captains, and tho former won the toss, eTioosing to play with the wind behind him and his team. Hislop set the ball going,- and it was not long before the Wellington backs swung into action. Nieholls. Coies, Porter, Jackson, and Aitkon all handled the ball in turn, and got within striking distance. , Then Nichoils went over tho lino with the ball, but ho was held up, and a scrummage ordered five yards 'out. From the play following this. Baker led the way across Wairarapa's challc-mark, scoring the firsttry in tho opening six minutes of tho game. Morton missed the kick. Wellington, 3; Wairarapa, 0. ' Dcspilo tho wind, Wellington were having all the best of the play, another forward rush, with Scott in the van, forcing Wairarapa. Tho Green forwards wero too slow in getting into action, a long kick to Morton (NYellington full-back) finding only one "Wairarapa man anyway near him when he got the ball. R. Booth and B. Booth in turn lacked nicely to touch, and the play got- down to (he local twenty-five. Donald broke away nicely from a scrununago in command of the ball, but the referee called him off-side. B. Booth put. in a slashing run through the opposition, and kicked to Aitken, who ran back over his own goal-line, and kicked the ball dead. Wellington carried tho resultant scrummage, and got out of trouble for the timo being. Raleigh, Daysh, and' Pinfold headed a forward rush into Black territory, bul Jackson marked just when they were, becoming dangerous. Tho Wairarapa lads wero now ill their stride, and directly I hey got into striking distance with tlio ball in touch. From tlio Jin-c----oat Pinfold dashed across. Raicigh made a fine effort to add the major points, but the ball went a bit wido. Wellington, 3; Wairarapa,':!. After tho kick-out Ihero was a lot of heavy scrummage work, with no advantago to cither side. An. attack by Booth and Henderson was well stopped by Nieholls, and a kick' by Coles was marked by Grantham. Raleigh essayed' the goal from the halfway line, but the kick, although well directed,was short. Hislop's return was caught by the wind, and went out near tlio line. Timo was passing,, and Wairarapa tried hard to get a few points on tho slale, but a welcomo force-down relieved the Blacks. Grantham marked tho bull twice in succession, but nothing of advantage happened from the Wairarapa standpoint. A fine rush of local forwards, with ' Soott and Black at tho head of it, was 'veil stopped by Berrill, tho opposing full-back. Wairarapa retaliated, with Donald in tho vail, and directly an amusing incident handled. A huge kick by Berrill went to Morion, off whom the ball rebounded. Henderson followed, up fast, and grounded tho ball as it camo back off Morton. He was a long way oll'-side, and nobudy was surprised when the referee declared it "no try." Raleigh had_ another Jong shot at goal Irani a penalty, but without result.. Tho Wellington backs then got going nicely in a passing rush, the ball passing right through, the chain, but it was man for man, and finished up with a scrummage. For oneo in a wTiile, ■Wairarapa got. tlio ball after tho forward division got their'heads down, and the back; started to throw tho ball about. And then a sensation happened. C'liles broke right through tho leading Wairarapa men, sent the ball on to Jackson, who in turn swung it to Aitken. 'The right wing-Sirec-quarier -finked iuiield, and threw a long pass into the centre. Here Baker snapped it up after a bit of manoeuvring, and scored his second try, although one of the. players who handled the ball before the Poneko forward appeared to knock it on. Morton had no difficulty in kicking tlio goal, and the tally read—Wellington, 8; Wairarapa, 3. The balance of the. first half was mainly spent in Wairarapa defending their base from attacks by the Wellington team, both back and forward. When ends were changed, the final result' of the match" .was never in doubt. Tjie Black fellows kept the ball in. the field as much as possible, taking full advantage of the wind, and gave.a spectacular display of Rugby. A few weeks ago practically (lie same two teams met in Oarierton, Wairarapa proving victorious. They did not look liko a winning team.at any singe of the gamo on Saturday, and tho further tho second spell went the more one wondered how they did win on the" former occasion. . A detailed description-of ■ tho incidents in tho second half would be uninteresting, therefore it will suffice to say that when the bell rang for "no-side" Wellington's score had mounted up to 39, Wairarapa's sum total bing 3. This result was achieved thus: .Some fine parsing amongst both backs and forwaids ending in Hislop scoring a try, which Morton converted; Nieholls, Coles, Porter, and Jackson acted in concert, tlio latter getting a try which Morton goaled. The other tries wero. scored h.v Scott, Jackson, Porter, Aitken, and Morton, the latter adding the goal onithreo. occasions. Now and again the Wairarapa representatives would break away, but it was very rarely that they got past the half-way flag, but when they did it did not take a great deal of effort to pu=h them back. Taking the match right, through it compares favourably with pre-war ' representative games. Tho lads on both'sides took the field determined to make the play open, regardless of which side won tho gamo, and they succeeded iu their 'desire. Although tho lads from the Wairarapa Valley met more than their match, the interest of. tho spectators was kept keen right up to the closing stages, and the general opinion was that it was worth while as an exhibition of how Rugby should be played. The Wellington team surprised even their frionds by tho merit of their play, and there is none whose display calls for condemnation. Rather the reverse. Nieholls (at half) passed'the ball with Hie precision of clockwork, and had the men ljeliind liini galloping all the time. Porter played brilliantly at five-eighth, and so also did Coles, in both attack and defence, although in the last twenty liiinutes lie lapsed a little. The lliree-quar-ter line was satisfactory, Jackson and Aitken being in tho limelight MQtst of

tlie timo, tho latter's cut in-field being the surprise feature of his play. • Tho bail raroly came Corner's way, but Morton, at lull-back, had a busy day, winding up by scoring the final try after kicking a lot of goals. The forwards were a fine, even set of clever, nuggcly luck, who all did their share. • Scott probabiy was tho best of the bunch, and tho more prominent of the others were Baker and Caddick.

Tho Wairarapa team was remarkable in that it had threo Booths in the back division—the half-back and tho two fiveeighths. Two of the trio wero brothers, tho other being a cousin of theirs, and the father of the brothers was a spectator in the grandstand. He was a Wairarapa representative himself in his younger days. These three lads did a. lot of . work during the afternoon, tho one pleasing most being the half-back. Berrill was too slow in-getting to the ball, and was found with the ball in his possession too. many times by the opposition. Grantham got some cloyer marks, but barring occasional flashes, neither he nor M'Ewan and Henderson, the other, three-quarters, satisfied. Raleigh and Donald (two old boys of Wellington College) wero the best of the visiting forwards, although Donald did not overmatch Hislop in any way on tho wing of tliti -scrummage. Daysh, an olongaled lad, built on very fine lines for a forward, «ime into view many times, and tho others had to confess themselves up against a stronger side. Mr. 11. Paton (Wellington, and South Island representative in his (lay) had charge of Iho whistle, but his duties were iu no way onerous. Both teams played the gamo in tho best of sporting spirits, with an entire absenco of talking and pointing. If this is a sample of tho new ora that is coming 'for Rugby football, a few similar ones will be pleasing both for the future of tho game and in its hold on tho sporting public. A CURTAIN-RAISER. As a curtain-raiser to the big game the , schoolboys of tho Wairarapa and Wellington public schools played their annual match. The town boys wou by .12 poinis (a fine potted goal by Bar.mber, a try by Wolff, after'a. run practically the whole length of the field, a t.Ty by Barker, a converted try by Maho'ney) to 3 fa try by Willoughby). The non-commissioned officers of tho Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Rem-. forcements also had a gallop alongside of the schoolboys, the Thirty-fifths winning by 6 points (two tries by Woodcock) to nil. I INTER-COLLEGE TOURNEY, ' CHRISTCHURCH BEAT. WELLINGTON. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, August 25. The annual inter-collegiate and intt«rschools football tourney was opened this afternoon in magnificent weather. Tho former was played on Christ's College grounds, and the latter at the Addington Showgrounds. Thore was a very big crowd at both grounds, and splendid football was witnessed. Christchurch College, thanks to a hoavier and more vigorous pack, defeated Wellington College by. twenty-five points to nine, after a fast game. Williams and Hargreavos (2), Tot-, hill, Bunion, Cowlishaw, end Strachan scored tries lor Christ's College, two being convi-rtcd. The Wellington scorers were Scott (2), and Sutherland. Tho Timaru and Southland High Schools also met, and a very fine open game resulted. Except in the closing stages the game was by no means onesided. Timaru played very fine football, and Southland also gave a taste of th'eir qualities in scoring the best try of tlio match. Timaru won by thirty points to three. Tries for Timaru wero scored b.v Cabot, Shackleton, Irwin, Faliey, Korthwell (2), Williams and Scott, three being converted. Halfway through the second half Southland rallied, commencing witll a passing vusli just inside the halfway. It was an exceptionally . pretty passing rush, in which the ball was beautifully handled by all iho backs, and ended in Morgan running round behind the posts. ■ In the game between • Otago "'En School and Christchurch High School, the visitors won easily. Otago made a forward game of it for tho njost part, though, when they found that the Christchurch boys' tackling was not very strong they opened up the play more. The Otago forwards came round scrums very quickly, too quickly, in fact, andthis prevented the home team from setting their speedy backs in action, utago won by sixteen points to live. Tries wcie scored for Otago by Trcahv and Kay (2), and Gray, two being converted. Melirtens scored for Christchurch. Tho games will be continued next week as follow:— Monday-Wellington College-v. Wauganui College. „ Wednesday—Christ's Collego v. AN anganni College. . , . Tuesday-Southland v. Christchurch High School, and Timaru v. Otago. ASSOCIATION GAMES. Several games wero played at Association Park on Saturday. Empire defeated St. Davids by one goal to nil. 'J'lic game was a fast one, but was considerably spoilt by the wind. Rubbitt was the scorer for Enipiro. Institute A mot. Marist, and were defeated bv three goals to ■ ne Colqmb (2) and 'Marshall ") made tho points for Marist, while Smith registered ono for institute. ' Third Cirade.-Boys' Institute Old Boys I (5) beat. Jolinslonville (2). 1 Fourth Grado.—Marist (3) beat Boys

Institute (1); Tlwradoii (8) beat South Wellington (3). Fifth A Grade-Boys' Institute (2) beat Marist (1); Thorndon (1) beat Y.M.C.A. COFifth B Cirade.-Boys' Institute A team (7)" beat Stars (0); Boys' Institute B team (1) beat Kilbirnio (1); St. Peter's (3) beat Boys' Institute C team (0). Sixth A Grade.—Marist (N) (3) beat Boys' Institute (0); Thorndon won by default from Kelburn.

Sixth B Grade—Boys' Institute A team (I!) beat Marist (E) (0); Boys' Institute B team (2) beat Marist C team (0); Boys' Institute D team (2) beat Marist .0 team (1). • ■