FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4408, 1 May 1922, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

' OPENING OF SEASON. komata beats suburbs. On Saturday the football season in the Paeroa Rugby Union district commenced, games being played at Paeroa, Hikutaia, and Nethertpn. The senior game played in t!he Domain, between Komata and Suburbs, was hardy and resulted in a win for the former by 18 points to 0. Frjom the kicki-off the game was hard and fast, and it was only in the last few minutes, that the players began to tire. In the-winning team •every man played well individually, and as a team showed promise of combination with practice. For Suburbs -Samson, Jones, and Cashmore showed out in the forwards, while A. Royal was the mainstay of the backs, with Cashmore playing a sound game wing. From the opening kick Suburbs attacked. and sent the leather out well inside Komata’s twenty-five line. The defenders started a. forward, rush from the throw-in which terminated in a try being scored by Schulze in the jcorner. Pitts failed with the kick. Komata 3, Suburbs 0. Immediately following the kick-out, Komata was penalised, but the for,wards returned the' ball to halfrway, where Patterson .picked up and., carried to Suburbs' • twenty-five. Patterson's, pass to Moore was faulty, and spoilt a good opportunity. Komata sustained the pressure, and gradually worked down to their opponents' line', but a penalty kick to Suburbs relieved the situation. A period of fast open play in midfield followed, A. Royal being conspicuous for* Suburbs. Komata backs (eventually got moving, but were stopped by C.ashmore, Who sent the ball out at the quarter-way flag. Another bout of loose play terminated with a passing rush by Komata’s back division, who carried play well into Suburbs’ territory. From a loose scrummage near the line L. Benney picked up and dived over . Moore failed to converts Komata 6i Suburbs 0. * In the second quarter Suburbs found the line at Korn,ata’s twentyfive. J. Benney obtained possession in the line-out and broke through, passing to G. Royal, who carried on to half-way. Suburbs again attacked, and a lengthy struggle between forwards ensued inside Komata’s twentyfiv?, Pitts finally clearing with a ma r k. After loose play in , neutral territory a forward rush against Komata which was stopped by Moore. Line_play was indulged in for a, time on the edge of Komata’s territory, Pennell eventually leading a forward rush to the other - twenty five line. In the second half Suburbs carried down <o the cornen from the kick-off, and Gin -centred. Komata forced. From the kick-’out Schulze, supported by J. Benney, took the ball at toe and shifted the scene of operations to the other end of the field, but was penalised just on the line. Suburbs sent back to half-way, with Morgan prominent. Moore picked up in the loose, and after making a good mn passed to O’Grady. The latter had a clear run, but Cashmore had too much pace and caught him before reaching the line. Hard pl,ay foil,owed, Samson doing good work for the defenders. A penalty kick was awarded to Komata, and Pitts addei three more points to the score. Komata 9, Suburbs o.'Suburbs remained on the defensive for a whild, loose play in midfield following. From a line-out J. Benney sent up to Suburbs' line, bnt ,the ball was punted back to half-way. Pi<ts picked up, and after-running up the line centred, the forwards n,aving a struggle near the posts. L. Benney picked up in theylpose and dived over between the The kick at goal again failed. Komata 12, Suburbs 0. Komata kept up the attack and Pitts quickly added another try to their total. Komata 15, Suburbs 0.

In the last quarter Suburbs livened up a bit), and after a period of open play in the neutral zone sent the ball acrosr- Komata’s line, bu£ a force resulted. Fast play followed, up and down the field. A loose rush by Komata reached their opponents’ line, Schulze scoring in the corner. Komata 18, Suburbs 0. For the remainder of the game the ball was kept ir neutral territory) no further points being added. Mr P. E. Brenan was referee. WEST 6, NETHERTON 5. .. The other senior match 1 , West ~v. Netherton, which was played at Netjis. ertop, resulted in "a close finish, the scores being 6 points to 5 in favour of the former. Farrelly and Bracken scored for West, and Potter for Nethertpir, B. Fisher converting Potter’s try. Mr R. B. Penlington was referee. JUNIORSEAST 28, NETHERTON 3. The junior game between East and Netherton, played at Paeroa, resulted in a win for East by 28 points tp 3. For the victors tries were scored by Ellis (2), Moyle, Douglas, Kingi. H. Thorp, and LrSqitli. Moyle kicked a penalty goal, and converted from a try, as also did King. L. Rice succeeded with a penalty kick for Netherton. Mr W. Moore was leferee. SUBURBS 14, KOMATA 3. The game at Hikutaia between Suburbs and Komata juniors, with Mr G. Collins refereeing, ended in a win for the home team by 14 points to 3, THIRD GRADE. ' WEST 30, EAST 0. The third grade match,. East v. West, resulted in a runaway victory for West, by 30 points to 0. The winining team was much heavier an;l more uniform in size . As regards the game, West was much superior, and played with combination among the backs. Tries were scored by D. Smith (5), S. Hamilton 1 , Cobb, and M Hamilton, the latter alsp converting three of the tries. There is one matter in connection with the third-grade match played on Saturday that should be mentioned, and that is the amount of talking indulged in by the players on the field. On Saturday at times the noise of thß players rivalled that pf the

supporters on the line. It may be stated for the benefit of players—i.i other grades, too—that tabling an! arguing on the field is a very serious breach, and in future the referees intend to be firm in dealfog with sucn doings. PLAINS SEASON OPENS! TURUA AND WAITAKARURU WIN. The club championships under the Hauraki Plains Rugby Union commenced on Saturday. The weather was fine and the grounds dry, though some of the grounds could have been in better condition. With five teams in each" grade, this season promises to be a good one on the Plains, especially considering that there were only three affiliated clubs last year. The senior matches were played between Ngatea and Waitakaruru on the grounds of the last mentioned, and between Turua and Kerepeehi, at Kerepeehi. At Waitakaruru the home team was victorious by 11 points to nil, while Turua had a mfrrpw win over Kerepeehi by five points to nil. NGATEA V. WAITAKARURU. Waitakaruru won the toss and made the game willing from the start.- After an exchange pfl kicks Waitakaruru pressed; but were pulled up for offside pla v Continuing to attack, Waitakaruru—ki<;d the bail over Ngatea’s goal line, a force resulting. At this stage play was temporarily suspended on account of J. Banks sustaining injuries. On resuming, play continued in the Ngatea twenty-five, and the defenders were again obliged to force. Waitakaruru again' maintained the offensive, but were hindered by offside play. In another determined rush Coxhead accepted a pass neap the goal line and got over. The try was not converted. Waitakaruru 3, Ngatea 0. In the second quarter there was more offside plays, Waitakaruru being the chief, offenders. Waitakaruru were playing with plenty of dash", and in a rush Clark secured and passed to Dalgety, who scored between the posts. Clark converted, making the scores Waitakaruru 8, Ngatea 0. After the spell play was fast and interesting, the ball travelling up and down the field until a spell was called to enable Nicholls to recover from a kick. Shortly atferwards Mil-, ingtor. received a kick on the head, and was carried off the field unconscious. His place was taken by Carr, After play had recommenced Lyet.’i who had been playing a sound game, received the ball bn the wing and rushed it across ■She.line. He failed to convert. Waitakaruru 11, Ngatea 0. In the last quarter both teams Showed -signs of tiring, but the pace was well maintained. The play was fairjy even towards -the finish, but Ngatea could not reduce the margin of points, and 'the game ended, Waitakaruru 11 Ngatea 0. Mr R. Price was referee. TURUA V. KEREPEEHI. Turua won the toss and elected to play with the wind and sun in their favour. At the outset both teams showed good form, and play was of, a fairly even nature.. Kerepeehi missed a good scoring opportunity, W. Barrett getting as far as the line, where he over ran' the ball. After the change over Turua had the better of the game, and showed better form than their opponents. However, Turua did not have the play all their own way, and half-time was called without any score being registered. After halfi-time play was of an interesting nature, and fairly even until Turua began to press hard and in vaded the opponents’ twenty-five. The defenders endeavoured to clear and kicked the ball across-field. L. James (Turua), seizing an opportunity, passed the 'leather to O. McMillan who transferred to H. Elvin, who sent to D. Fox. The last-named scored without opposition and J. Thrupp converted. Turua 5, Kerepeehi 0. The pace was maintained during the last quarter, and Turua’s better form told, though they were unable to score, McCollum saving the situation on more than one occasion. The game ended Turua 5 Kerepeehi 0. Mr D. G. McMillan was referee. THE JUNIOR MATCHES. Kerepeehi played Turua at Turua, the home team winning by 19 points to ,0. The scores were made up of five tries, two of which were converted. Ngatea .beat Waitakaruru at Ngatea by 20 points to 0. Ivan scored three tries, McKercher one, and Satchell one. Griffin converted one try and kicked a penalty goal. SCHOOLBOYS’ MATCHES. The Ngatea schoolboys journeyed to Turua and played the local team, which won a keenly contested game by 5’ points to 3. All tlhe scoring was done in the second half 1 . Mr R. E. Jamieson (headmaster of the Ngatea senool) was referee. The visiting boys were well treated and entertained at lunch. ~ PLAINS RUGBY UNION. MEETING OF EXECUTIVE. A meeting of the Hauraki Plains Rugby Union’s committee was held at Ngatea on Wednesday afternoon. There were present Messrs G., Porteous and G. Gray (Turua), D. Green and C. Smith (Ngatea), P. Aro (Kerepeehi), T. Cashen (Patetonga), H. Berney and C. Stretton (Waitakaruru), and D. A. Vincent, secretaiy. Mr Cashen was elected chairman of the committee; Apologies for absence were received from Messrs G. A. Avey (Kerepeehi) and R. McCollougn (Patetonga). Messrs Vincent, Poriebus, and Berney were elected delegates to attend the annual meeting of the Goldfields Union in Paeroa.

It was decided to issue a challenge for the Peace Cup. which is at. present held by Thames.

It was mentioned that last season the Putetonga dub paid £l2 for. fares on the- tramway. Not wishing to put the club to tfhe same expense this year, it was decided to endeavour to come to some arrangement with Mr E. Taylor, Lands Department resident engineer.