LEAGUE FOOTBALL RUNANGA BEAT MERE FOR KNOCK-OUT CUP

Grey River Argus, 20 September 1948, Page 6

LEAGUE FOOTBALL RUNANGA BEAT MERE FOR KNOCK-OUT CUP

Weather conditions were glorious for the final of the West Coast Rugby League’s Knock-out Cup between .Runanga and Ngahere, and the large crowd at Wingham Park was treated to a good exhioition, Ruanga winning by 8 points to four. Altnough the promise shown in the early stages of the game, that it would prove to be one ot the season’s most memorable fixtures, aid .no,t fully mature, the play at no stage became stale, and, for so near the end of the season, both teams put up a good performance. A feature, which materially assisted in keeping the score down was the excessive kicking by the backs of both sides, but particularly of Ngahere, whose Kicks invariably landed in the safe keeping of J. Soster, the Runanga full-back. x lAoth packs played excellent football, but much of their work was undone by the back’s kicking. Ngahere who had a four point lead at one stage early in the game, were one point behind at half-time, and the solid tackling of both sides prevented scoring movements from being successful, after half-time. Ngahere, who have frequently caused competition upsets, had a bad run of luck during the game, and several good chances were not finished oft. Their forwards played splendidly as a pack, with F. Mulcare, McLennan and McVicar probably the best of them. Runanga, however, had a considerable weight advantage in the scrums, and the Ngahere hooker, M. Ord found J. Higson too strong for him. The Ngahere inside backs, Manson and J. Gibson did not give their threequarters a fair enough share of the ball and most movements broke down when they secured. Of the backs, A. Gibson defended well but neither of the wings, Reid and Richards proved over reliable. Bernard at centre was probably the best back, and had he been better supported, some of his efforts might have put Ngahere in front. , . Two Runanga players who gave magnificent displays were J. Forrest and J. Soster. Forrest on the wing revealed his top form, and in an elusive manner he cut the opposition to pieces time and again. Ngahere had to put up several men at a time to tackle him, so quick was he off the mark. Soster gave a faultless display of handling and kicking and enhanced his reputation by playing in with his backs and doing more than his share of the tackling. R. Forrest at centre was also at the peak of form, while L. Sweetman, at half, Played his usual solid game. M. Thomas did not have a great many opportunities, but G Menzies again shone as a player with a bright future. THE PLAY The teams were?— , Runanga: Soster, Curragh, R. Forrest, J. Forrest, M. Thomas, G. Menzies, L. Sweetman, L. Forrest, Giles, Stephens. A. McTaggart, J. Higson and F. Thompson. Ngahere: A. Gibson, Reid, Bernard, Richards, J. Gibson, Manson, McLaughlin, F. Mulcare, F. Gibson, J. McLaughlin, J. McLennan, M. Ord, D. McVicar. Runanga were penalised after play had been in progress for three minutes, and McLennan put*over a-good kick. From the scrum the ball came to Menzies who made a good opening and sent Soster away. The latter made a quick advance and sent J. Forrest over for a fine try near the corner. Soster missed the kick. Ngahere pressed solidly on Runanga’s line and from a penalty in front of the posts, McLennan goaled. Soster shone again when he gained a great deal of ground by cutting through the opposition’s deiences and sending out to J. Forrest, who was forced out near the corner. Runanga kept fighting hard in Ngahere • territory, J. Curragh leaving the opposition standing when he made a fine run to the centre. Ngahere were penalised for off-side play and Soster goaled from the centre of the field 30 yards out. When Mulcare made a good opening and gained a lot of ground, his pass to Manson went astray. However, he recovered the ball himself and made a further good effort until he was forced over the side-line. McLennan missed a penalty kick 40 yards out, and Ngahere pressed until a fine kick by Soster brought his side relief. it took five Ngahere men to stop J. Forrest who made an amazing run at top speed to take play from hallway to the corner flag where he was forced out. Runanga were pressing against a solid and sound defence wnen half-time came with the score, Runanga 5, Ngahere 4. The second spell opened with an immediate attack on Runanga’s line by the Ngahere forwards, and botn sides indulged in some bright play. R. Forrest made a fine run from the half-way line to send on to Menzies, who kicked through. However, Menzies was beaten in the run for the ball by A. Gibson who managed to force. Foster found touch with a fine kick half the length of the field, and Runanga tried unsucessfully to break the Ngahere defence. At this stage, both sets of backs seemed to have a marked preefernce for kicking and some long duals ensued. A magnificent effort by Mulcare who secured in the loose and just swerved past Soster on the line looked like a try, but a previous breach had occurred. Ngahere? in the closing stages tried desperately to overhaul their opponents’ score, and dour, hard play ensued a feature being the fine tackling df both sides which kept the scores down. There was a big measure of luck in Runanga's favour when several Ngahere players failed to handle in front of the posts. A series of good openings by Ngahere lacked finish and play was up and down the field in quick succession. The Runanga backs all handled in a cross-field movement when Curragh sent them away. He handed on to R. Forrest and the latter transferred the ball to J. Forrest who scored in the corner after riming round the_ Ngahere backs. Soster failed with the goal. McLennan narrowly missed a penalty when,' Runanga were penalised 30 yards out. Fine defensive work by Higson and Sweetman kept Ngahere out after most of the backs had handled in a good movement’ towards the line. Menzies made a thrilling dash from his own twenty-five and after passing A. Gibson looked like a certainty io score, but Bernard, who came across field at a fast pace, just managed to stop him on the side line. It was a brilliant effort on the part of both players, and marked the end of an interesting game, the final score being: Runanga 8, Ngahere 4. Mr L. Kinsella was referee.

Brunner Senior Reserves Lose to Marist

Football of a high standard was seen in the senior reserve knock-out final at Wingham Park yesterday when the season’s champions, Brunner, had to bow to Marist to the tune of 13 points to 8. Both teams played fine football and their performance attracted much attention.

Marist were on form to lead by 10 points to three at half-time but ' the loss through injury of P.- Costelloe in the second half, left them with only 12” men and Marist had a hard fight to hold Brunner.

Tries by A. Barlow and J. Knapp, the first converted by T., Dunn gave Marist the half-time lead. For Brunner, Dickson scored a try. In the second spell, J. Knapp again scored for Marist, while Gutberlet scored and Erskine converted for Brunner. Marist’s victory was all the more

meritorious, since last, week, Brunner defeated the Auckland senior reserve champions, Otahuhu at Carlaw Park. West Coast thirds defeated Otahuhu hu by 12 points to seven at Wjngham Park yesterday in a fine game, in which West Coast appeared to nave the edge on their opponents most of the game.

Fourth Grade Player Scored 106 Points

When Runanga fourths defeated Woolston by 36 points to 2 at Rapahoe yesterday, one of the Runanga players made history for his side by bringing his tally of points for the season to 106. He is A. Boote, who, in yesterday’s match scored 14 points for his: side. LOWER GRADES Fourth grade representative game: West Coast 11, defeated Otahuhu 5. Seventh grade, final knock-out competition: Marist A 19, defeated Brunner 0. Sixth grade, semi-final: Runanga 41 beat Hokitika 3.' MARIST v. ST JOSEPH’S In the annual match for the Rathbun Cup between Marist (Greymouth) and St. Joseph’s (Christchurch) played at Victoria Park on Saturday ended in a draw each side scoring thirteen points, after a fast and interesting game. The result .was in doubt until the final whistle sounded. Scorers for Marist were: Ward (2), I. King and G. Knapp, while J. Brown kicked a penalty. For St Joseph’s the scorers were A. Smith (try) and C. McGowan (four penalties and a try conversion). Mr W. Mundy was referee.

Australians Open Tour of England with a Failure

(Rec. 9.30) LONDON, Sept. 18 Huddersfield beat the Australian Rugby League touring team by 22 points to 3 after leading 2 to nil at half-time. A crowd of twenty-six thousand saw the Australians open the tour. . - The Australians failed in the scrums. They made frequent, handling mistakes.