CENTRAL H.B. RUGBY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 173, 9 August 1937, Page 9

CENTRAL H.B. RUGBY

m Onr Own Correspondent)

STAGE SET FOR CHAMPIONSHIP F1NAL

• (Froi

WAIPUKURAU, Last Night. Undefeated since they were beaten by Old Boys in the first round of the Cemtral Hawke's Bay Rugby Sub-Union's competitiqn, Takapau seniors lost to the same team for the second time this seaspn on Saturday. After their very feebl© showing against Waipukurau last week, the betting was heavily .against Old Boys on recent form, but they toqk a surprisingly strong • .team to Takapau and nosed home by five points to nil. Te Aute defaulted. to Porangahau, ■0 there xas.no competition gaine at Central . Park, Porangahau beating a "scratch" Waipukurau team by 14 to tliree in an impron\ptu match. At Ongaonga, Ongaonga senjora defaulted to Omakere. , ,The defeat of Takapau by Old Boys makes Takapau and Waipukurau the finalists in the competition, these teams wjw being level on points. Takapau Cbuldn't Hold It. . Old ' Boys fielded a light team, including, * number of juniors, but they all worked hard. to win a well-deserved victory. Takapau, on recent form, should have put up a better showing than they did, but the backs, with few exceptions, seemed: incapable of holding the ball. Bad handling spoiled many a promising movement. The teams were: — Old Boys: D. Jamieson, P. Monteith, I. Renner, T. Morton, E. Galgy, 0. Wilson, It. Holmes, C. Cook, Brain, M. Tansley, A. Wilsbn," R.' Robinson, Woods, S. Coles, D. Ready. Takapau: 11. Halliday, M. Wright, L. Coffan, L. Grierson, R. Thompson, R. Aldrich, D. Hepere, Harrison, L. Thompson, 0. Thomsen, Bell, Edgecombe, Johnstone, C. Marshall, . MSaka. The' only score of the match came fairly eariy in the game, when Old Boys were pressing their opponents hard in the teeth of a. bitterly cold wind. O. Wilson, who was the soul of the visiting backs, slipped through the ruck and sent Coles over for a good try. Wilson took the kick and raised the flags. Takapau rallied, the forwards, of whom Edgecombe, .Maaka, Bell and Harrison were the best on the day, feeding their backs well. Hepere, .the half, was playing good Rugby and . was well supporited by R,. Aldrich (first^ five^eighths, and 'Griersoh, ' on. the wing, but the rest of the back-line were handling very badly, except for the fullback (Halliday) and their attacks lack•d finish. The second half saw the Old Boys forwards breaking through consistently, with Brain and Coles always in the lead and the Wilson brothers playing the dual xole of forwardi and back, whichever the situation demanded. A splendid chance .to improve on their lead was lost when A. Wilson, taking a short pass from his brother, got well away up-field. With only one inan to p^ss, he stab-punted but misjudged the distante, and the ball went "dead". With -the visitors coming through time and again, Halliday did great work in defending Takapau' s goallirie, Lis hard tackling and accurate kicking bringing many a round of applanse from the stand. In the Old .Boys backs Holmes (the half-back) combined well with Wilson, and Monteith showed a handy turn of speed on-occaaions, but lacked good opportunities. i On the day, the visitors played mucb better i'ootball and.fully merited their win. •'*- jSJjt T. B. Jackson refereed. e JUHIOR GRA0E8 Juniors. — Porangahau 3, Deat Takapau nil. - Thirds.— Te Aute A defaulted to Old Boys. . . .W aipukurau defaulted to Te Aute B.