RUGBY SEASON OPENS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 173, 18 April 1921, Page 6

RUGBY SEASON OPENS

SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNAMENT

BERHAMPORE WIN FROM PETONE As a prelude to the opening of the inter-club championships this week-end, the annual seven-a-side tournament was held at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon, under the auspices of the Wellington Rugby Football Union. The weather conditions were perfect, and the attendance of nearly 4600 spectators constituted a record for the opening of the season. No fewer than 220 players took part in the tournament, which was confined to the senior and fifth-class grades. The public undoubtedly got their money’s worth, several spirited contests taking place, in which there were bright flashes of spectacular play. The honours in the senior divison were carried off by Berhampore, who decisively defeated Petone in the final. Petono A started out in great style in their opening game, which was against Wellington. Right from the kick-off the ball was snapped up by the suburban backs, and it swept across their whole line of attack, E. Ryan rounding off a brilliant concerted movement byfscoring. The ball had not touched the ground since the opening whistle was sounded. Potone won the match with a margin of 15 points, but they were hotly challenged by Oriental in the second round, and by Marist Bros, in the semi-final. Berhampore just managed to beat Petone B in the first round, but in the second round they soundly defeated Marist B, and in the semi-final they won from Poneke B by a narrow margin. Poneke B had just defeated Poneke A.

Petone were aggressive in the opening stages of the first spell of the final, but could not penetrate the. sound defence of Berhampore. Berhampore late assumed the aggressive, and just on half-time W. Malin scored a good try, which Gibson converted. Berhampore increased their lead to eight points by dint of a brilliant try by Hickling, and just on the call of time the same player put in a great sprint, only to be held up on the line. The game thus ended 8-6. The final was all the more interesting on account of the fact that next Saturday the same two teams will be matched on Athletic Park in the opening round for the club championship. Tho fifth-class tournament was won by St. Patrick’s College, who beat Petone by a force-down in the final. Appended are the results in detail:— SENIOR GRADE. First Round.

Berhampore, 3; Petone B, 0. Marist B, 3; Selwyn B, 0. Poneke A, 13; ’Varsity B, 0. Poneke B, 9; Selwyn A, 5. Petone A, 15; 'Wellington, 0. Oriental, 6; Hutt, 0. Marist A, 10; ’Varsity A, 3. Athletic, 8; Petone C, 0. Second Round.

Berhampore, 13; Marist B, 0. Howard scored 2 tries and Gibson 1. Gibson and Walters each converted one. Poneke B, 10; Poneke A, 8. Baker and Bookor scored for the winners, King converting' both. Tynan and Tunnington scored for Poneke B, F. Malin converting one. Petone A. 11; Oriental, 8. Wylie and M. Nicholls scored for Petone, the latter converting both tries. Riggs scored for Oriental and Binnie converted. Marist A, 3; Athletic, 9. Connop scored for Marist. Semi-Final. Berhampore, 6; Poneke B, 3. Mattheson and .Hickling scored for Berhampore and Booker for Poneke. Potone A, 9; Marist A, 5. W. Thomas and M. Nicholls scored for Petone. the latter converting one. Mahoney scored for Marist, and Murphy converted. Final. Berhampore, 8i Petone A, 0. W. Malin and Hickling scored for the winners and Gibsou converted one. Mr. Nielsen was tho referee. FIFTH CLASS. First Round. Poneke, 12; Athletic, 6. Selwyn won from Oriental by default. St. Patrick’s College, 5; Marist, 0. Hutt beat Berhampore on the toss after a drawn game. Petone, 5; Wellington College B, 3. Wellesley College, 8; Boys’ Institute, 0. Wellington College A, 9; Technical College, 0. Scots College, 11; Y.M.C.A., 0. Second Round. Poneke, 11; Selwyn, 0. St. Patrick's College, 4; Hutt, 0. Petone, 14; Wellesley College, 0. Wellington College A, 10; Scots Collose. 3 - . , Semi-Final. St. Patrick’s College, 6; Poneke, 0. Petone, 11; Wellington College A, 6. Finals. St. Patrick’s College, 1; Petone, 0. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES’ TOURNEY. Br Talaxraph.—Special Corrennondaat Masterton, April 16. Following are the results of the Wairarapa Friendly Societies’ soven-a-sido football tournament at Masterton to-day:— First round: Master ton Oddfellows’ No. I team, 3 points, beat Carterton Druids, nil; Mastertor Druids, 3, beat Hibernians, nil- Second round: Masterton Druids, 22 points, beat Masterton Oddfellows No. 2, nil. Final: Mastertou Druids, 6 points, beat Masterton Oddiellow's. nil. SOUTH AFRICAN TOURING TEAM (Rec. April 17, 5.5 p.m.) Caos Town, April 16. Tho following is the final selection of the South African football team to tour Australia- and New Zealand: Full-backs, G. Morkel and De Villiers; wing threequarters, Van Heerdon, S. Morkell, C. Meyer, and Zeller; centre three-quarters. Clarkson. Weepener, Sendim and Strauss; half-backs, Michau, De Kosh, Tindall, and Townsend; forwards, W. Morkel, Ellis Kruger. Van Rooy.-n, I. Michau, Duplessis, AValker, Siedle, Melliss, R. Morkel. H. Morkell, Mostert, Scholtz, Pienaar, and Olivier. —Aufl.-N.Z. Cable Assn.