THREE-POINT MARGIN

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 19 June 1933, Page 6

THREE-POINT MARGIN

KAPONGA BEAT PATEA. KEEN FORWARD STRUGGLE. By tii-res points (an unconverted try; to nil, Kaponga, playing at home, defeated Patea. in a game- characterised by hard forward play. Ihe black pcicK was m wonderful lorm and seldom let tip fhrougii-out the match. In the first spell, playing with the wind, Patea were in Ka-ponga territory a good deal, but- it- was due largely to clever kicking! and avaponga were light on the Pat-ea line on several occasions. In the second half the Kaponga pack, aided, by several good, but ineffective movement's by the backs, dominated the play and only rarely dul the speedj blue backs get tnrough, and . seldom very far. The Kaponga forwards played moiu together, and as one unit, than in any ■ Aceh this season. Frequently th-. whole eight would burst through and Patea. backs did well to keep the, score to one try. It was hard t-o individualise, but the Murphy brothers, Gardner and Free in the loose rushes and O’Sullivan in the line outs were per-, ha-ps most prominent. Walker and Ormiston at half and sec-oiid fiveeiighths respectively and at times C. Paterson at centre, were the -best of che black backs. The Pa-tea forwards toiled hard, but they were not equal to their opponents and this handicapped the backs. Gudgeon, at half, showed wonderful resource and opened out play on manyl occasions in. the first spell, only to see passes go astray and spoilt- movements. Patea. had the misfortune to Jose P. Bourke in the first- spell on account of an injury. The teams were-: Kaponga (Black). —Bickford, Wetton, C. Paterson, G. Cuff.. Overton, R. Cuff, Walker, Gardner, Thoumine, West, I). Murphy, O’Sullivan, Gargan, Free, P. Murphy. Patea (blue). —Malcolm, McLean. J . Crawford. I). Paterson. Bourke, Edwards, Gudgeon, C. Wills. Baldwin,

Richards, Taylor, Hamlin, Couch, Broughton, McTaggart. Patea taking advantage of a strong wind in their favour, kept Kaponga on the defence for some minutes until a black forward rush brought- relief and carried play to tlie blue’s sroat line. A five yards scrum ensued, /from which Edwards broke through and let Patea away again, and in a handy position the attackers were given a penalty, Bourke’s kick just failed, Kaponga forcing. Thoumino and Y\ est came through after the kick out and the plav went to Patna’s twenty-five. Bourke and Edwards relieved with, good kicking and play centred. The Patea backs swung into action as the result of a movement started by Gudgeon, the ball going across the. chain of backs to McLean, who faded to take a pass and lost a good opening. C. Paterson and Wetton combined in a" breakaway and the ball went out at the corner. From the line-out the leather came out to G. Cuff and \\ aiker who, instead of passing out, tried to ’force their way through and lost great chances to score. Kaponga continued to keep the play in the forwards and the blues had to deiend sternlv till Wills—who went back m place ‘of Bourke, injured—kicked hard and the bad went out at half-way. Patea were awarded a free kick and Wilis nearly succeeded with & good kick. Patea at length got away m a series of loose rushes, C. V ids ana J. Crawford making effective runs but the defence was .sound. The black forwards again broke' through in close formation with Thoumme, Gardner and D Murphv in the van, and play was m midfield as half-time soundea. The second spell opened with a solid forward attack by the blacks and Free and Gardner nearly .got through. Ivaponga .kept up the pressure and u Murphv forced his way over for a try Paterson’s kick failed. —Kaponga 3, PiltOß' 0. * Patea" opened the play from the kick out. but Cuff repulsed the attack with a good kick and the forwards spoiling Malcolm’s return, nearly got over the line, A free kick gave Patea relief and tkev opened a series of thrusts that looked likely. Their passing however, broke down and ££coo kicking bv C. Paterson and Ormistoii spoilt 'their efforts. Patea- recovered and Edwards, Gudgeon and Crawford combined in an attack that went to the Kaponga twenty-five. -Ormist-on re pel Jed the rush with a eleven kick and were on the blue Jme .t’d Richards. Edwards and Gudgeon, in a concerted rush broke through. The attack looked dangerous to Kaponga when Gudgeon sent out a pass to -McLean, the latter setting out for tne line. He was collared, but once more Gudgeon secured and went through, pen in un a nice movement. Oiawferd failed to take the pass and the black forwards, headed by Most and Gardner, went through in a dribbling rush that almost reached the line. The Patea hacks tried to open up play, but thev could not handle surely, arm | several likely movements failed. -he Kaoonga forwards were on the bail all the time. Thev worked down to -he corner and kept Patea penned on their line and, despite their, utmost endeavours. the latter could not get clear. They were defending hard as the whistle blew for no side. _ Mr. A. E. Spratt was referee.