SATURDAY'S RUGBY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 198, 17 May 1920, Page 6

SATURDAY'S RUGBY

GOOD FOOTBALL WITNESSED

PONEKE TRIUMPH OVER

'VARSITY

' regrettable scene at the park

i . •iW'eather-which' found favour in the ; hearts-of-all liugby enthusiasts, _ both ' Dlayers and spectators, prevailed on Satur- !• ■ day afternoon. Two out of the four sen- ; lor contests wero productive of good lootball, the remaining two being marred by : their one-sided nature. At tlio Athletic Park, where'the star fixture was decided. ' Poneko 'defeated 'Varsity by. a margin of seventeen points. 'Varsity held their own I in tho. first half and. mado the . pace a i cracker.- In the sccorid half Ponekessii- : pcriority asserted itself in no uncertain S' manner. Oriental and Selwyn fought out ' a drawn game at Kilbirm^' while at ies tone tho houie team found Berliampore an j easy proposition. On tho Duppa. Street ' fround Atblctic .registered a cricket score ; against Wellington. ■. . i The week-end sport was marred, how- : 6ver. bv an untoward incluent- at Atliletio s?ark at the close of the l'oneke- Varsity f' came As the teams wore leaving tho Held , auction of the; crowd snrg# Ow ' irato and loualy counted out the retcrec. i l ,' Prior, to tills, -whilo tho, Baine waa in iiro ■ press some of tho crowd had baited tlie I referee on account of al j cscd f ™ is^ t e a a n c c ' his part. On one occasion, f or ll st , an f r ' ho failed to award a mark Eo : bv ono of the Poneko backs. His impar ' thllfv could not be questioned, and benr--1 w in mind the fact that a -referee canlot sco overything, Saturdays <lemon*tra- ' ' 'finn on the part of the crowd is little " short of deplorable. Even if the referee ; S In error, it is not a sportsmanlike action to "count" him o,ut At the best go purely* —y SMrr the i. right .time and at the right place.

( PONEKE (20) V. 'VARSITY (3) 'Thp clash between Poneke and Victoria College at the Athletic. Park left-noidonlit the minds of the big crowd if enthusiasts in attendance as to which was the bettor team. At the end of 'enpll tho scoro . was' 6 to 3 in iavoui 01 '"Poneke and the fate of tlie game was still fa tlio balance. 1 By tho call of time, however Poneke had added 14 points to tliur , miota while their opponents score had not been improved. Tho" c , ont^ r at was quite speotaoular, and never at' aiiy Ume, except in its dy.lng stages, could it ■Tin described as uninteresting. loneKe drew first blood quite early King gOaling from a mark by Alsar-a pretty piece of work. Varsity hjid not had time to get their bearings properly before Poneke.gdt in. a stinging, attack the first of many—tho ball -traversing the wholo line of backs until it reached M Arthur on the right wing. The fcety tlirec--1 quarter put tho finishing touches on the effort and scored in the Corner. Ohristopherson failed to add the major pointy • his direction being at f«.ult. 81 ' ort F,S fl ,? r . wards 'Varsity took a strong hand in. the came. Possessed of a fleet, lot of backo, they repeatedly swept the field in a aenes 'of spasmodic attacks, starting out brilaiantly only to fade into insignificance by the time they - wero strik ns distance.' Tho- trouble was that tho Varsity tacks—indeed'the whole ilfteen-sullered deplorably from a lack ofteara-ivork, a department- In which Poneke excelled. ■ Time and again 3iddells and Jackson and °tber of tie backs-broke away with remarkablo ibursts of ispeed,' but they received no supDort. Tracey, on the right wing—the fleetest player on tho field—also put in somo great' and lonsesoine sprints, but on tne . whole, through . lack of combination, he was practically starved. Nevertheless they made the pace very hot in the first spell, so muph' so,, that just Before the interval -Poneko were' showing slight signs of fatigue. When plart was recommenced it was evident that 'Varsity had done their 'dashV ahd Poneke, by dint of their greater reserve powofs, had no trouble in stem-ming'-ithe tide of attack, and Incidentally adding considerably, to their score. Varsity's onlv try was secured by Tracey— the initial work was done by Jacksontowards the end of the first half. It was not converted. A commendable feature of the game was the excellent tackling of the "Varsity players. Another point of interest waS'the fact that "the Poneke hookers invariably secured the ball in the scrum. K; Scott,.-tlie, 'Varsity'half, worked hard enough; but repeatedly committed tlio ■ error of..'l<icliitig the ball into the scrum lrisC®d"of handling It. On one occasion JickSon;"whcn" tackled, ■ jumped. over Ins opponent, a, practice fraught with grave danger, W Engby history could tell. The majority of the''Varsity backs were brilliant runners,and strong, but far to fitful. Poneko back? worked like clockwork, and In the second, spell, had tliev been more extended, tlicy would have shone to even greater advantage. Poneke's fries in the ' second', half wpre secured, b". Christopherion, 'Algar; and M'Arthur., King converted one, and,he also kicked a penalty goal. The..final score was 20 points to 3, If?. Nielso'n was the referee.

ORIENTAL! (3) v, SELWYN (3).. L- Many , spectators, were, attracted to tho Oriontai-tielwyn' fixture at TttlMmie Park, E find they were rewarded with a good af- (: " ternobii.V.footbal!; The inatch resulted in |s a draw, eacii side scoring three points, a r . try in each instance being v. responsible. ' . .priental had. some slight advantage ,«u ; -> weight in, the forward division, but there b ' Iwas no very, great margin of difference'in the backs of either side. Both Oriental and- Selwyn.-liave strong senior teams >n ■' (tfTb field" thisi season, and they are calwii, Sated to extend to their opponents some f: ■ Jtrefiuous "times:' On Saturday's play, tie}- ; wyn should.have won, and it was through < ;: ■' the sheerest hard luck that the referee had 'to.-declare.-against them on more itha.n: one occasion. For thirty minutes \ to so In'tlio' first spell they did the major ! -jrart of the' attacking, and it was not un-til-about ten.minutes before the interval i that Oriental made a serious invasion of their territory. This timo the Whites came • ■ ,vcry close to scoring. Tip to this point I' the eame had been principally a,battle I . foetween the forwards, but it was seldom i-'""-- 'without, interesting features. The 'tackling ion botlrsidea was very fair, and it was t., largely, due- to this fact that the rear di(visions hod'' few opportunities of getting into-action. 'Murphy and Capper, the re- • Bpectivc full-backs for Selwyn and Orien- ?.'• \ tal, each acquitted thenißelves well, several \iimeß saving their sides when hotly press•*'../'fed, with well-judged line kicks. Shortly 7'> Before the close of the first half, when Oriental were on the offensive, Heley/lost ' a good chance of scoring by minting the, L -; (ball instead 6f running on when he had ' practically a clear field aheal of him and - only a few yards to go to reach the goal !■ became, easier after, this, L- and the spell ended without any score been registered by either side. The'second half opened in very vigorous : fashion and .some nice flashes of back play were witnessed. Earle and Flack were ■ : doing ereat work for Selwyn, the former ' ■ getting the hall away to his backs in 5 . - good, clean style when the Selwyn hooki. ers got the best, of things in. the scrim- '■■■ mage. Flack worked vigorously, and was f always in the forefront when an attack > was in progress. Oriental were determin- • ed in this spell to leave nothing to chance, consequently tho play was hard. Molßtt ; was in good form, and his weight told f vfith -advantage''when tho forwards of tho i respective Bides eame to close quarters. Oriental wero tho first to draw blood/ ; their score being the result df smart work I on the part-of Holey. Selwyn were 'dcJ • fending an especially acgressive movement ; very well, when, by a mischance, Murphy overran the ball. -This enabled Heley to f Biiatch a quick advantage and. he rrathered up the leathcp - and cut across the line. <" Capper failed to convert. This reverse - , had tho effect of pnttin some sting.into. •r the Greens', play, and they livened up coneiderably. On : several successive occasions '■■■ they got within striking distance of their ! " opponents' line, nnil then luck would turn t . against thiin. 111-fortune wan their lot, indeed; Towards the end of the afternoon, however, their persistency was rewarded.

When In the Oriental twenty-flvc. IT. Linlev initiated a rush. and. although the i Whites resisted strongly they were unable to prevent Peart from scoring a wellmerited try. Murphy took the kick, but the effort was unsuccessful. Shnrtlv afterwards. Ihe game closed. Mr. L. Simpson was referee. PETOME (35) V. BERHBMPORE (8). Tho Pelone-Berhainpore fixture, played In tho presence of a fairly largo nuinbar of spectators at tho Pctone ground, though Boraewliat in the nature of a "walk-over" for Pctonc, was not devoid of its interest- . ing phases. Tho Bcrliaraporo team, contesting senior honours for tlio first time this season, gave a vory creditable accornt of themselves, but their more experienced opponents' skill in the liner • mointa of the gawo proved too great an obstacle for them to surmount. The l'etone back division outclassed the opposition on praoticttlly cvory occasion, the combination working as a man. Watson, Hayes, and Walters were the pick of tliu ®crlmmpore< rearguard. In tho forward divisions Pi-ice, Fitzaerald, and the brothers Parker did yeoman service for ieione, while for tho Berhamporo van btanden, Whitorod, and Halin were seldom found wanting. Tho scorers for Potono in- the first spell wore Corner, Love, Hamilton, W. Thomas, M. Nicholls converting ino of the tries. For Berhamporo Corden 'scored a try, which Morrison converted. iMorrisou also kicked a penalty goal. ••-Although Berhamporo livened up con- • jjlderably in tho early of the second half tho gamo developed into a more on& tided coutest than had bocu tho caso in tho first spell, when tbo Berhamporo \team

had shown occasional signs of giving the i local men trouble.' Numerous passing | bouts were Initiated among the, Petone j backs, and most of the tries secured were | obtained from tills quarter. Further I scorers for tbo-wlnners were Ginger Nich- | oils, M. Nicholls (2), Arthur Parker, Tlio- : mas. Corner converted one of the trie<= aim Byan kicked a goal from the field. Mr. O. H. Cleland waß referee. ATHLETIC (65) V. WELLINGTON (*)<- Playing at Duppa Street Athletic walked -right through' Wellington to the tunc of 65 points to 3. Wellington early went to pieces, being hopelessly outclassed In all departments, 'l'heir only score consisted of a penalty goal kicked by llislop. , Fifth Class. ' Petone defeated Banks College by 27 points to 8. Tries for Petone were scored by Clark (4 tries and 3 converted), Cairns, Wilson, and Bodger. For Hanks College Ohisholm scored n try which was converted by Love, who also kicked a penalty. Mr. C. P.' Brocklcbank was referee. Hutt defeated Ponokc by 23 to 3. Poneke played with nine men. Wiles scored for Poneke. . Fourth Class. Petone dcfcated'Hutt by 27 points to nil.] Tries for the winners were secured by/ Eiftc (2), Love, Bond, Ilunter, Clemens, Gardiner (one try and one converted), and / Nankivell converted one. Mr. 11. I'llcher was referee. Third Class B. Petone defeated Wellington by 13 points to 12. ' Si*th Class. The Potono v. Poneke sixth class game resulted in a win for tho former team by 14 points to nil. Tries for tho winners were scored by Usmar (2), Pnwson, and Smith, one try being convcrtcd e by Dickens. Mr; A. M'Baiu.was referee, i