SECOND ROUND COMMENCES

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 7, 9 July 1923, Page 10

SECOND ROUND COMMENCES

::petc>ne and athletic win •wellington extend ponbke. Petone 19 Ma-iist S Athletic 12 Berhampore ... 0 Pbneke .........". 11 -.."Wellington ...— 6 Oriental :.. Ivs '■ 'Varsity ......... -3 Sqlwyn .....:.,. '5 ' Hutt' '..:. ......... 0 OKI Boys; a bye.

;ffhe second round of the senior comwas commenced on Saturday afternoon under .weather .conditions.that "vvSi'e fairly^eo6d,"-thougn.:lhe' rain, of the--morning- and the previous days had made thY grtnnidirh'eayy. The prospect of exceedingly keen cbritestsvbetweeh -the sixleading teams did not eventuate as far ai;;;fcwo of ths principal games were'concerned. ;but Poneko encountered strong DjSposition^from Wellington at-Kilbirnie, th)e lowest x teanv in the first section making aj much sterner.'bid for 'victory than tlfey m^ the' .previous -match with Pp"ue£e. -ItPwaa-a Btre'nuous game tlfeuglwutrafia Toneke had to battle h^rd all the war• 'for ;~the- verdict. At Athletic Park,? Marist and Petono did noij provide tfi'e football that "was ex: pected of them. Jlarist, in particular, failed to repeat the. form shown by. them inh'.the previous match witli Petone;' but foS a great portion of the game they succeeded in keeping, on a fairly even footinp; with the championship 1 leaders. After a bout of even play'in the second Bjjgll Petone engaged in three vigorous aijiackjnii movements,.which proved too grgat W-rthe'-Marist^dcfeuce,'and as a resultiSstone's score.was lifted.to -the v eiferit" of thirteen points.. That placed tlfij issue beyond doubt, but Marist, in the closing stages, were able to register a^score. Mark and H. E. Nicholls distinguished ' themeelves in the efforts •whjch gave Petone the big victory. Athletic, with the assistance of E. Robert's, met Berhampore, who were weaker than nEual in the backs, at the Basin Eeserve, t>n-l the display of football was not of a ■very high order. • . Athletics. superiority infithe back division accounted for :'.tne' Blpi3-and-Blacks having a fairly conifortabla win. In the lower section of thf competition, Selwyn gained their second ;win^af.terjij:lose srame with Hutt. while Dri'ewET:ia¥Hm:**ihbwed their superiority' OTer 'Varsity. The junior championship tookranother• very' interesting-turn, as a. result of the. meeting of the two iinTieaten teams, Johnsonville and Marist. Tile town team was two points down on acco'irat of two drawn trames, but after a vejy keen tussle with Johnsonville they succeeding in making up the deficiency Tby a. well-earned victory, achieved near the end of the game.- Johnsonville and Marist aye now level. Senior championship points are as follow :—Petone 21, Poneke 19, Athletic 18, Marist .14,', Berhampore 12,- Wellington '9."Thei position of'the team's .in tha other section of the comnetition is as i follows: Oriental 11, Old Boys. 8, Selwyn 5, 'Varsity 2, Hutt 1. : .: Details of Saturday's games are as follow :— .

PETONE STJPEBIOR TO MARIST. The hopes of Marist 'Old Boys and iheir many .supporters of -.coming out more successfully in the second round of Jae" senior championship than they had done in the latter stages 'of the first found were doomed to an initial disappointment on Saturday, when the team met Petone on Athletic Park before a, goodly gate, all counter-attractions con-, sidered. - The_ suburban fifteen, leaders m the championship, were too good for their opponents, and won handsomely by 19 to 5. At half-time it might still' have been anybody's game, for the score was only' 6-0' in 1 favour of Petone, who had had the wind with them all the ppell. This advantage came to Marist frritli the change-over, but the Greens were right off their game, and did not indeed ■ score at all until the very last minute of the match. In the meantime Petone had increased their own total in a disastrous few minutes for Marist from 6 points to 19. This phase was theorily bright patch in a colourless game. The teams were: —

Petone.—G. Nicholls; .'-.Fitzgerald, f< Doe.", r -J§.ichjQlls;.-C.Cornaga'; .-Corner, M. NitiffiJJg';-'jJL;; :.E, J-Nichoils; ';■ Albert Parker/'m-iffen^E.-'Ryan; DickehsfLove,, HaddQckf'-Thomas, Ashton. „" -■■

Marist.—Murphy; O'Callaghan, Mali oney, Mullins"; O'Sullivan, M'Cleary, Biivnsell; Markhanr; Sullivan, Bryce, Troy, Devjne, Hopkins, ■ M'Rae. Connop. Football, in the first spell was generally poor.;•-; The feature of the opening ■was a series of shots at goal by Petone from marks or penalties. Mark Nicholls missed a couple of possible free kicks, and 11. E.- Nicholls had a chance from a mark. All failed. Following up fast after a free kick, Thomas', secured possession, aiid gave it. to H. E. Nieholls, who passodloAshton, and aii opportunist score -came, Ashton; touching down.. Mark Nicholls failed to convert.. Petone 3, Marist 0. ■ ; From ;now; on to half-timo. Petbne had the better of things, but passes failed the critical moment, and pots at goal by Mark and H. E. Nicholls and Fitzgerald all % went astray, though Mark's attempt was good. Murphy was not over safe at this stage and in the final defence, and Marist wero lucky to. get out of ««Q,..ar,,Aw.q..nasJ;y..mixed.rushes by forcing or kicking behind. The Greens frequently came away with mixed rushes, tout JLh ore was no cohesion among-the baii.s,;*and .the "attacks did not ' penetrate the defence. In the course of one of; the later Potone onslaughts, M'Cleary found himself offside in his own. 25, arid the referee gave a free kick, which Mark Nicholls made into a good goal. Petone 6, Marist 0. This was the score at half-time. ■■■■■-

. In tho interval Griffen went off with a :bad shoulder and Graham took the place of Fitzgerald, -who went forward. Petone's game showed a marked improvement, and a fine passing rush found Cornaga, from. a. pass by "Doc". Nichqlls, almost with a clear run-in. 6'Callaghan sprinted from the other wing and tackled him neatly in tlie hick of time. now attacked,: and. O'Callaglian tried a long pot at goal, without success. Petone wore penalised on their own 25, but' Murphy failed badly with the kick. O'Callaghan was conspicuous' in the play that, followed, wilh one or two very, fine bite of line-fhidiiig. But. Petone were having tho better of it, and soino clever handling of the ball by all tho backs out from H. E. Nicholls'found Cornaga with, only Murphy to beat and Comer in convoy. Cornaga ran into Murphy and was brought down, but beforn the Marist defence could recover " Doc." Kicholls centred, and in the fumbling of tho defence Corner picked up and ran in' to score in a good position. Mark Kicholls goaled. Potone 11, Marist 0. Petone were now in their stride, and a weak centre by O'Callaghan let the passing machine away again, and the ball travelled; from H. E. IS'ichoHs via the links to'.".J)oc," who had Cornaga to support him if necessary. It. was not necessary. " Doc." scored en his own, and Mark duly converted with a splen- ! did kick;. Pejone 16, Marist 0, Almost

immediately another score came. Cornaga piloted the ball neatly oufc into touch at the corner; and from resulting rucks Ashton came' through and scored. Mark Nicholls kicked'a poster. Petono 19, MaristO, '. ! ■ ;/' . The game was now nearly ■■ over, but Marist played up at the" finish better than at the start, and a series of attacks resulted finally, in O'Callaghan running round, and behind, to touch down in a. position from which' M. I\lurphy was enabled to land a good goal. The bell went immediately for time. Petone 19, Marist 5. . .

Mr. A. E. Nielson.was referee.

•ATHLETIC TOO GOOD FOE. BERHAMPOBE. Athletic and Berhampoi'C drew ti good crowd, at. the Basiri Reserve, where an interesting game was witnessed, though neither team gave exhibitions equal to some of their earlier games.. Athletic, with the assistance..of X Roberts, ■ had tho.best of'the .game until the'last ten minutes, when '■ Berhampore came to light, but too late to alter the-result of the game. The Blues had all the worst of'the luck, and tbeir goal-kicking- was extremely weak. Two easy kicks almost in front of the goal, and with the wind behind, were missed, and the passing among the backs was very faulty. Porter, playing wing-forward for Athletic. was frequently in the picture, and was' a, constant menace to the Berhampore backs, hampering their movements continually. With a stricter referee, ho would have been penalised on many occasions for his quickness round the scrum, but as it was ho got away with his spoiling tactics quite frequently. Berhampore were without the services of Friend, playing a junior in the position, and he was not altogether successful. W. Nicholls replaced Hickling, the lattar being absent owing to illness. The I teams were as follow :— i ■ I Athletic: • Brook, Malmanche, B. Gibson, Sutton; Svenson, G. Gibson; E.. Roberts; Porter; Swain, Osbarne, Duncan, :-M'Kaught/ M'Cauley, Hyan.. and Adams. ..■'-." Berhampore: Mason; W. Nicholls, Matheson, Chambers; Howard, Lang; Charles; Pope; M'Herron, Standen, Whilerod, Duncan, Brown,- Scott, and Watson

Athletic won pie toss, and Berhampore kicked off in the teeth of a strongsoutherly wind, which' considerably hampered their movements. The Blue ' and Blacks .were ■ quickly into ■ their stride, and in the first few minutes were knocking- at Berhampore's door. Time after time Roberts obtained the ball from behind the forwards and set his backs in motion, and Malmanche had several opportunities, which at the last moment were upset by the good defence of the Blues. Backed up by Svenson. who'was an excellent support to Roberts, Berhampore were driven back to their line, and on four occasions were compelled to force, and only jusfc in the nick of time. Athletic backs were slinging the ball about' in-good style, ™b it frequently went straight across the field without gaining much ground, iho first score came from a. quick move- ' ment initiated by Roberts,- who, though ■ closely marked, frequently eluded his ''■ opponents, set his backs going, 'and a ' determined attack ensued, with the ball flying about, the field. A short kick and fast following-up ended in Swain scoring. Porter's kick went just outside the posts. 3-0. Standen, Berhampore's old war-horse, trie yd to relieve the ten- ■ sion, but was not too well supported by his team-mates, and, in addition, was hampered by the strong wind.' In their anxiety, , the Blue forwards got offside, and 'Porter-landed a fine goal from the half-way line. 010.! The next score, which followed quickly, was the result of a pretty piece of work by, Roberts who worked the blind side, and rivin"a • characteristic dummy to' Charles and dodging Nicholls : and 'Mason," scored close to the posts, amidst loud applause from tiie spectators. Porter made a poor attempt at the kick. 9-0 Hilftime came without further score. When the second-spell:arrived, Athletics luck still held good, for the wind which previously had been a powerful factor in the game, now dropped ~to a mild breeze, and the sun. had also disappeared beyond the" ridge of hills. Ath™X P 6r? agf ? q,uickly into'their stride, and Porter led the forwards down towards the Berhampore goal, where the ball went out at the corner flag. From the ine-out Porter secured and dived for the line, scoring a well-deserved try He took his own kick, but fail-d'to im prove. 12-0. Athletic continued the pressure, but Berhampore were improv' fimiino- th SOnr SaVed .°? several occasions, finding the line with great judgment .Svenson led an attack- on the Blues' r goal-l,ne and some bright cross-passing ■renrfv if Sven ?°n. lle attempted to ieaeh the line, and when ' rmmintr to wards his right he suddenly chaZfd di and on several occasions. Lan^Howard' feue»sing, but they were unable to pkco any- score to their credit. Pope aid wi t'lfa 0!' SMtt^d Duncan, caX away wmi ,i. well-judged, kick to the line UM?i 1c P'wevo <;"Ui"r d U)e *<**' «"d c-sions W,M ™ ■ °'\ a Col'Ple of °<> Mi. 11. Leith-Mferoe-d; the game