WEEK-END RUGBY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 210, 31 May 1920, Page 6

WEEK-END RUGBY

A DAY OF CLOSE DECISIONS PEIONE BEAT THEIR ANCIENT ENEUY Athlotic, 6 s Orl'antal, 5. Petono, 8; Poneke, 3. Sclwvii. 15» 'Varsity, lit Brrhampore 14; Wclllnaton. '• Saturday's gale made c°n di ' io " s nI Jj Kugby B amcj. unpleasant for t o.eis parki where the field of play "ulg Athletic met Oriental, « ,,d . b n e „ a ( f ! p Ea le SSP.&'S3, £ MS t.'X' 1 «■ wyn The winning team s superiority Ui'tho forward division At I*|jj£ M Eerhamporc experienced little dulieuity in defS Vellington by a comfortable margin.

ATHLETIC, Si ORIENTAL, 5. Athlptlc beat Oriental at Athletic lain Uie MSfSnVth^ s;f ß^we^s a^tJ f S™ intc the first halt, only to throw, away chance after chance. battling in the teeth of the southerly, their opponents worked like clockwork, and■ au almost impenetrable defence. Alter ijio .■haniro of ends the position was reversed and it was Oriental, not Athletic, who frequently turned adversity to good account. a r..,,. i] le kick-oil, give-and-take play sued, with neither' side in tho a,-cendant until a brillla.lt sortie, drew first blood fnr Athlotic. Byrne the licet boulh. Ibland importation, set the backs in motion, MdfflU to M'Cabe. He then cut round to tho right wing, and again " ceivlng tho leather crossed the Luc utn great dash. E. liobcrts failed to.rdd the major points. Desirous ol equalling matters. Oriental frequently, swept the new of play, but their work lacked finish, and their backs displayed poor Even then they would havo undoubtedly scored oil more than one iccasnn had they kept the ball down. As it vas, towevor, tlicy indulged in far too r ucli and long-range punting, instead of either handling the ball or keeping it ot thur toe. Once they were within an .ce of starting a scoring account, ,vnen Avery essayed to goal from his own maik, but | the ball went wide, and Athletic forced. From the kick-out Blackmoro initiated a countor-attack, in which Roberts and hjine ligured to advantage. lhi>> gamed much ground, and presently Iloberts ttmshed oil a pretty piece of combined- work by soarins in tho corner. Adams took the kick, but tho wind proved too tricky, iho Oriental pack became Yery aggressive Main, and the expected- happened, Hansen scoring in a handy position irom a fcwimble near the line. It was a splendid pieco of work Hansen having, to wriggle hiß way through a seething mass of players in order to gain the line. Drown converted the try, making the score: Athletic, 6; Oriental, 6. This proved to be the last score in tho match. In the second halt, Oriental had tho wind against them, and seemed to thrive on it. Athletic, on the other hand, appeared to have tired on account of their gruelling defence in tho first half. They neglected to improve on eeveral trood openings, and they f »aQ au they could do to stave oil tho insistent attacks of the big Oriental pack, siuong whom lloffitt and Gilchrist were ever, to the fore. Oriental's chief stumblingblock in the "close-upß" was "ttangi nilson, who, while languid in the attack, was a demon on tho defeuce. A couple of penalty shots at goal wero indulged in by Athletic during the course of the second

half, one of which looked at one timo a good proposition. In the dying stages play was very loose and ragged. Jlr. Simpson was the referee. PETONE, 8; PONEKE, 3. The Potonc-l'oneke fixture, played at Totone, attracted a large number of specta tors. The ketone rearguard had been strengthened by tho inclusion of the veteran "Jimmy" Byan, who, playing ai fullback earned many pTauults for his une exhibition of line-kicking, In the oack division of tho l'onekc team King had replaced Oliristopherson, and the pack lound matters easier with tho aid of tne ftew Zealand representative "hooker," Hughes. The ketone bacKS outclassed their opponents on practically every occasion, tho showing of the l'onekc rear division being indeed a poor one. I'oueke's best backs were Jl'Arthur and Maliu, and of tho forwards none could be singled out for special mention, as tho pack .as a whole worked well. In the i'otone rearguard 'Ulnger" iuchoils was always prominent, and of tho forwards, who generally played well, trice, Fitzgerald, ana Ashtou wero the most prominent. The early stages of the game were interesting, but tne game was fairly well advanced before a scoro was registered, i'etone drew first blood, when from a lineo\it "Ginger" Nicliollß obtained possession, neatly fooled the opposition, and register ed a try. "Mark" Nicholls made no mis take with the kick.' I'etone, 5; l'oneke, U Atter Nicholls had kicked the goal it was found that lie was Buttering from an injury to his face—it is belioved that his cheek-bone is broken—which necessitated ills retirement, lie was replaced. by "Olem" Green the New Zealand representative half-back. Por some time tne play developed into a forward tussle, I'etone, if anything, being, in the ascendancy. Later the three brothers Tilyard and il'Artluir, supported by tho Hed van, carried all before them, and had hard luck m not scoring. Doth sides tried their hardest, but when half-time was called no further score had been registered.

Iu the second spell play was of a very ragged order. Half-way through "Gingov" Nicholls, picking'up from the loose in tho Itcd territory, dodged an opponent, and passed to Corner, from whom the leather .went to Kyan. With a niece little swerving ,run liyan crossed the line, and touched 'down. No goal resulted. I'etone, 8; i'oneke, 0. Shortly before the close of tho game l'oncke, who had made a slightly better showing in the secopd Bpell, were awarded a free kick. 'King essayed Q goal, about which there was some dispute. The referee awarded a goal. I'etone if; l'oncke, 3. After this I'etone had things all to their own liking, and on several occasions were unfortunato in not scoring. Time was called shortly afterwards with Potone attacking, and a rather uninteresting game ended: Petono, 8; Poneke, 3. Mr. A. C. lvitto carried tho whistle.

SELWYN, Is: 'VARSITY, 8. The Solwyn-'Varslty match at Kelhurn was spoilt by a cold wind sweeping- diagonally across the field. Selwyn, with tha advautage of the wind, speedily took tho offensive, their forwnrds being far superior to the 'Varsity pack, but the dilterent would not have been so great had the 'Varsity forwards packed more. Selwyn drew first blood, {. STiearer crossing from a forward rush, but S. Shearer failed to convert. Play was carried to tho other end of the field, and Murphy, tho Selwyn full-back, made several good saves ov judicious marks and splendid liuc-kicli?. Throughout the game Murphy played splendid football, and got, Selwyn out ol some awkward positions. Play went iuto 'Varsity's twenty-live, niul 11. Linley sot the ball from a faulty piece of back ulay, and potted a goal. Selwyn 7; 'Varsity, 0. 'Varsity attacked, and from loose forward play Day got over the line. Scott failed with tha kick. A few minutes later Earl scored for Selwyn, and Shearer converted. Selwyn, 12; 'Varsity, 3. Smith ('Varsity) left the field, and Dewd took his placo Tor the second spell, which was a dingdong battle between the forwards. Plas travelled from one end of the field to tint cither, but on tho whole Selwyn were press-, nig hardest. Had 'Varsity not hail the wind to help them Selwyn must have scored several times. At length De CUftoii from a scrum muddle, scored, but S. Shearer failed to convert. Up-and-down play followed, and then N. Nicol broke away, and C'omrle scored. Scott converted. Nicol, who was responsible for tho opening, when collared, came a nasty crash No more points were added, and the game ended; Selwyn, 15; 'Varsity 8. Both for ward teams played well, but the backs failed. either through hanging on to tho ball or through running across the field in stead of straight. Mr. T. H. Jones wan referee.

QESMAMPORE, 14; WELLINGTON. 0, The Berhamporo-'Wellinjton gamo was decided at Duppa Street. The coutost was played in four spells each of twenty minutes, and it was robbed of interest on account of its one-sidedness. At the end of forty minutes' playing Berhampore had u. lwul of 8 points, which by the call of time they had increased by six nolnte. ■Sir. Bailey wns the referee. Junior Championship- , I'etone defeated Eutt by 3 points to nil Dickens wus the try-getter for the winner?. Third Class B. Hutt (14) defeated T-M.O.A. (51. Fourth Class. Petono (11) aefoited Bernamporo (0). Firth Class. Sk.Patriclt'a College (3) v Athletic (31. l'etor.e defeated I'oneko by If points to J. For the winners Clark scored two tries and Bradley one. Clark converted one. I'otieke's try was seorcd by Davie. t»i. Patrii-k'N A (401 v. Soots Colleeo (0). fit. Patrick's Colleeo B won by default from Teohaieal School.