RUGBY FOOTBALL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 167, 2 August 1937, Page 11

RUGBY FOOTBALL

Our Own Correspondent)

P0SITI0NS IN CENTRAL H.B. UNCHANGED

(From

WAIPUKURAU, Last Night. Two lop-sided matches were played on Central Park, Waipukurau, on Saturday afternoon in the senior section of the Central Hawke's Bay Eugby Sub-Union 's competitions. Porangahau ran over 'Omakere to the tune of 22 — -0, and Waipukurau beat Old Boys 27 — 5. At Takapau, Takapau beat Te Aute, 6 — 3. TMs rneans that positions in the competition remain the same ae last week, Takapau and Waipukurau holding the best plaees with 23 points each. Takapau takes first place so far, having played one -match less than Waipukurau. With the distinction of havilig been the only team to down Takapau in the previous round of the competition, Old Boys were expected to put up sorne sort of a tussle against Waipukurau, but their shiowing was a disappointment. The • side proved lamentably weak, particularly in the back division, and could not hold off the attacks of the well-organised opposition. The teams were: — Waipukurau: J. McKay, Gibson, T. Ferguson, D. Ross, N. Ross, K. Higgins, Lovett, B. Pedersen, W. Benson, M. Lane, D. Johnstone, A. Chapman, M. Ferguson, N. Little, L. Dixon. Old Boys: W. Monteath, Morton, P. Monteith, N. Taylor, Galgy, O. Wilson, D. Jameson, Cook, Brain, Tansley, J. Ready, Robinson, Coles, A. Wilson, Algie. C. Wilson, much better known as a forward, laboured mightily in the Old Boys' rearguard, where he initiated many brigkt moves from the fiveeighth line. Jameson, the half, when the ball came his way, sent it out to Wilson, and generally co-operated as well as he oould belund a pack that failed to get a. f air share of the leather. W. Monteith, at fullback, was obviously not at home in his position and, on the day's showing, was not capable of taking the heavy responsibility of that post. Old Boys' only try was scored and converted by A. Wilson. Among the forwards, at any rate, there was noone who deserved the hionour more Hard tackling, forceful running, and the gift of sound leadership made him the outstanding forward in the team. The others did their best, but were outplayed from the start. Waipukurau ciapped on the pace right after the preliminary cheers, and had stacked up 10 points before the match was that many minutes old. Working behind a paok of forwards who dug in as though their lives were at stake, the backline had a wonderful opportunity to open up the game, which they did at every opportunity. On the dry ground, Tom Ferguson' s pace was invaluable, and the nimble three-quarter scored fonr of his team's six tries. Gibson, the winger, and B. Pedersen scored one try each. K. Higgins again convincingly demonstrated the scoring possibilities of his boot. converting three tries and kicking a penalty gbal. For honest hard work and a sound understanding of the type of play the circumstances demanded, B. Pedersen was the star of the Waipukurau side on the day. He played a game that would do him credit in almost any compaUy, despite the fact that he looked to be oue of the lightest forwards on the field. Waipukurau completely dominated the first spell, and at half-time the score stood at 13 — 0, which was a fair indication of the relative merita of the two teams thus far. Old Boys rallied a little after the interval, and scored five points to their opponents' 14, but at no stage of the match were thej really able to hold their own. Final score-: Waipukurau 27, Old Boys 5. Mr A. Woodward refereed. PORANGAH AU'S EASY WIN Playing clean, hard Rugby, Porangahau had an easy win over Omakere. Thirteen of their 22 points were scored in the second half of the match. Omakere were outplayed in all departments, and failed to regjster a point. The teams were: Porangahau: J. Bassett, A. Kuru, W. Scott, G. Kuru, Petuha, C. Moana, Tibble, J. Pahi, Sciascia, McDonald, Ropiha, Hokianga,Gollan, H. Cook. Omakere: J. Price, J. Worthington, B. Elgie, B, Pindar, L. Pifce, G. Eddie, Alloway, M. Hunter, T. Barnes, J. Ngatoro, A. Christiansen, F. Neilson, D. McGlashan, F. Brewster, T. Makutu. Avison went on as first five-eighths for Omakere, but took a bad knock in the first five ininutes of the game and had to be replaced by Worthington. Tliis necessitated some resliuffling of the backs, and -the side did not seem to settle down too well after the changes. The inside fei backs, Alloway (half), G. Edde and L. Price, combined better as the game went on., but the Porangahau forwards did not give them much of a cbance to get any scoring movements going. Although they were forcing the issue right from the start, Porangahau were only able to score nine points in the first half, chiefly on aecount of a lot of very careless handling among the backs. Also, tlie Omakere forwards, inspired all the time by the leadership of Makutu, were holding their end up fairlv well at tliis stage. However, the second spell told a very different taic- . The Omakere forwards lost a lot of their sting, being worn down by the persistent aftack of fheir better-trained opponents, while the Porangahau backs held the ball better and applied to their opponents a scoring technique that had, prior to this, been lacking in a number of cases. Both Kuru brothers did good work. Ross, at centre, was ahvays promiuent in the attaek, while 1 Bassett, the fullback, showed the crovvd

the most bpectacular try of the afternoon. Picking up a rolling ball well within his own twenty-five, Basset sped downfield and kicked it high over his opponents' heads. Following up fast, -he took the ball at his toe almost to the goal-iine, 1 where he gathered it in again and went over for a splendid try, after side-stepping a couple of defenders. All the Porangahau forwards worked well, and it would be hard to single any out, either for briekbats or bouquets. Joe Pahi, of the accurate boot, was again in form, scoring two penalty goals and two conversions. Tries for the winners were scored by Bassett, G. Kuru, Hogianga and Gollan. Final score: Porangahau 22, Omakere O. Mr T. B. Jackson refereed, MINOR GRADES Junioxs: Porangalia-u 11, beat Old Boys 9. 1 birds; Otane defaulted to Waipukurau.