FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4563, 14 May 1923, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

« —— SATURDAY’S RESULTS SENIORS. Komata 12,. v. Suburbs 3. Netherton 8, v. West 0. Turua 6, v. Waitakaruru 0. Kerepeehi 9, v. Patetonga 5. JUNIORS. Karangahake 3, v. East 0. Netherton 14, v. Suburbs 11. Turua, 8, v. Waitakaruru 0. Patetonga 5. v. Kerepeehi 3, THIRD GRADE. Paeroa 10, v. Thames 0. PAEBOA BWBY UNION. The concluding marches of the first round of the Paeroa Rugby Union’s Senior Competition were played on Saturday. The weather, though threatening, was ideal for football, although previous rain had made the ground slippery,' thus making fast, open play practically impossible. KOMATA V. SUBURBS. The following were the teams in the senior game played on the Domain :— Suburbs.—T. Bennett, W. Paitai, E. Courtney, R. Samson, P. Timmins, AMorrison, M. Vowles, E. Samson, A. Bennett, D. Maloney, E. Alley, R. Welch, V. Young, A. K, Alley, E. Cashmore. Komata—Kerr. Killgour, Pitts, Mcnamara, Royal, ' Williams, Poland, Pennell, Killgour, McCormick, Watt, Berry, Patterson. Benney, Benjamin. Suburbs won the toss and decided t 0 defend the goal nearest, the gate. From the kick-off an exchange of kicks followed, eventually settling to loose forward play. Froip a Suburbs forward . r.ush Poland secured and kicked high into Suburbs’ twentyfive. Killgour followed up fast, gained possession of the ball, and scored. Pitts’ kick at goal failed. Komata 3, Suburbs 0. From the kick-out Suburbs took play into Komata’s ten itory, where off-side play by Komata gave Suburbs a, kick at goal. The kick failed, and play immediately returned to Suburbs’ twenty-five. Pennell, following up fast, kicked the ball over Suburbs’ line, the defenders forcing. From the kick-put Suburbs attacked strongly and carried play into Komata’s . territory, but Royal relieved with a long line kick. From the line-out Royal secured and passed ,f.p Benney, who carried play back and put Suburbs on the defence. A free kick relieved, and on the ball going out the bell rang to change over.

Young followed up the kick-off, but Killgour gained possession and returned with a long kick. Benny, following up fast, secured the ball and scored. The kick at goal failed. Komaf.a 6, Suburbs 0. The kick-out was returned to a scrum in mid-field, where McNamara secured and found the line. From the lineout Poland secured and passed to Williams, who made a splendid run and scored. The kick at goal failed. Komata 9, Suburbs o. Komata returned the kick-put with a long line kick. From ' the throw-in Samson led a forward rush into Komata’s territory, where off-side play by Komata gave Suburbs a kick at goal. Timmins. with a, good kick gave Suburbs their first score. Komata 9, Suburbs 3. The ball was returned to Poland from the kick-out, who, after a good run, again put Suburbs on .the -defence. Off-side play by Suburbs gave Komata a kick at goal. The ball passed over the bar, and with the scores Komata ,12, Suburbs 3, the bell rang for half-time. Poland . secured from the opening kick after half-time and passed to Royal, who failed to receive. Poland again secured and cross-kicked. From a scrum near mid-field Komata pressed, Suburbs forcing. Samson followed up fast from the kick-out and carried play into Komata’s twenty-five, where, from a line-out, Poland secured and passed to Royal, who with a wellplaced kick again put Suburbs on tho defence. From a line-out Welch" and Samson returned the ball to Komata’s territory, where Poland saved with a line kick. From the throw-in Royal secured, but off-side play gave Suburbs a. free kick. From a high kick in mid-field a scrum relieved the Suburbs’ rush. A breach in the scrum gave Suburbs a free kick. Poland marked, and his kick was marked by Suburbs. Good following up by Royal and Alley put Komata on the defence, but McNamara saved with a line kick. From the opening kick ’n the final round Timmins secured and returned to Williams, who led play over Suburbs’ line. Suburbs forced. From the kick-out Patterson marked, but the kick at goal failed, putting- Suburbs on the defence, but a scrum relieved. Royal secured from the scrum and kicked the ball over Suburbs,, line, the latter forcing. From the kick-out loose forward play led .te a free kick against Suburbs. McNamara’s kick failed, and Komata’s pressing led to Suburbs forcing. Play returned to mid-field, and Benney securing put Suburbs on the defence with a good line kick. Suburbs secured from the throw-in and Kerr marked. His kick at goal failed, and the bell announced the call of time, with the scores : Komata 12, Suburbs 3. Mr A. Eklund was referee.

THIRD GRADE MATCH. PAEROA V. THAMES. A curtain-raiser was played between a third grade t.eam from Thames and a combined Paeyoa third grade team, resulting in a win for Paeroa by 10 points tp 0. ‘ The Thames players were considerably heavier than the local members, but were not good enough to stop the home backs. The visitors lacked combination, and failed to stop Paeroa’s continued attacks. For the Paeroa team Swann as halfback opened up the game at. every opportunity, and Wells and Walls were continually putting Thames on the defence. Killgour and Nield in the forwards were the pick of the pack, although the whole pack were good, honest workers. -For Thames Laing, as centre threequarters, was very safe, while Henderson on' tjie wing and Edwards as

five-eighths made several attempts to | open up the game, but the other < backs failed to co-operate. In the forwards Darwell and Marshall were prominent in line-out work. Tries were scored by Nicld (con-, verted by Moore) and Moore (con • verted by Swann). Mr E. Moore was referee. PLAINS MATCHES. The fourth matches of the first round were played on Saturday. Heavy rain fell during Friday night and Saturday morning, so the playing fie’ds were somewhat slippery. The standard of football is improving materially, but, the results of Saturday’s games came as a surprise to many, and even up the points. Interest, »n the game is growing rapidly, and despite the threatening weather the attendances on Saturday were large' than previously. KEREPEEHI V. PATETONGA. Kerepeehi.—J. Adlum, W. Murphy, R. Hawera, C. Steedman, J. Masters, R. Carr, J. Connor, V, Dent, C. Alley, T. Oneroa, C. Fisher, T. Hawera, W. Tipa, Waiwai, T. Rapana. Patetonga.—A. Merriman, J. Mark,D. Tuhoe, G. Merriman, G. Garry,. G. Paton, R. Paton, J. Millington, J. ’Lyes, R, Benny, H. Henry, T. Foote, H. Morley' J. Bolton, J. Garry. Kerepeehi, winning the toss, commenced with the sun at their backs. It soon became evident that the teams were well matched, as both pressed hard and play became very fast, there being some good exhibitions of the game. Kerepeehi’s forwards were heavy and Patetonga forwards fast, and it was not long before the. pace became too hot for Kerepeehi s weight, but the good work of theHl backs saved the situation, as did the Pa'etonga backs against Kerepeehi s weight. Before the game had progressed very far Patetonga broks through and scored. The try was converted, ' making the scores Patetonga 5, Kerepeehi 0. This made the game even faster, and PatetongK, pressing hard, had Kerepeehi on the defensive. A penalty kick taken by Rapana cleared, and at half-time the scores were, Patetonga 5, Kerepeehi 3. The second half was very exciting, play going from one end of the field to the other, both sides nearly scolding time after time. From a mark Rapana again converted. Kerepeehi 6, Patetonga 5. Play at this stage found the touch line, Kerepeehi working up the field until a penalty against Patetonga gave Rapana another goal to his credit. Kerepeehi 9, Patetonga 5. The game ended with the scores unaltered. Mr G. T. Davidson was referee. During the match T. Rapana, of Kerepeehi, had his shoulder dislocated. ribs badly bruised, and his hand injured, but carried on with the gamo. Feeling was running high all through the game, and terminated in a disgraceful incident at the close cf the game, when the home team and the spectators hooted and boo-hooed the referee. Things were looking ugly, and but for the intervention of the police the consequences might have been serious. Followers of the sport should remember that the referee is a man judged fit and competent, and is placed in charge^ of a game by the unionShould a team consider that it has a complaint against the referee it has a remedy, but there 'is no excuse for such unseemly conduct as publicly voicing' a complaint. TURUA V. WAITAKARURU. The Turua team journeyed to Waitakaruru on Saturday, and after probably the most even and hard fought game of the season beat the home team by six to nil. Turua had the strongest team it could muster, but the combination of the home team was superior. Waitakaruru.—P. Clark, S. Kelly, C. Stretton, Buchanan, Dalgety, B. Wallis, H. McCollum, Laing, H. Coxhead, R. Slack, D. Dalgety, C. Clarke, L. Berney, W. O’Neil, G. Coxhead. Turua.—D. Fox, T. O’CarroU,. L Clotworthy, J. Martin, O. McMillan, R Fox, G. Russell, T. Ryan. J. Thrupp, R. Hutchinson. D. Hill, W. .Clarke, GElvin, H. Hill, L. Pentecost. Turua kicked off against, a slight breeze, and play went to Waitakaruru’s line, where Stretton forced. From ’ the drop-out Waitakaruru pressed and carried play to Turua’s quarter, where it remained, practically, until the call of time, Fox, the Turua back, saving the situation many times. During the quarter C. Clark received a nasty kick on the hip and had to retire. Iji the second and third quarters fast, even play ranged up and down the field, and at times both sides looked like scoring. There was little to choose between the two teams. Though Turua forced the ball several times the Waitakaruru backs were often hard pressed to defend their line. The play was; clean and very fast, but the home team tired, and iu the last quarter the Turua team slowly, but. surely, forced play again and again into Waitakarui’u’s quarter, and eventually, within about ten minutes of the call of time, crossed the line and scored. The kick failed. From the drop-out a Waitakaruru player secured' the ball and kicked. It bounced off Ryan, whp, together with Pentecost, took it over the line, Pentecost touching down. The kick failed. No further scores were registered, the scores being: Turua 6. Waitakaruru 0. Mr A. Reid was referee. JUNIOR GAMES. KEREPEEHI V. PATETONGA. The Kerepeehi and Patetonga juniors met at Patetonga on Saturday, and after a very evenly 'contested game Patetonga became victors by five points to three. Early in the first quarter L. Millington, after some spectacular play, scored a try, which J. Garry converted. In the first half of the game Kerepeehi defended, but later in the game played with better combination, and S. Rita managed to cross Patetonga’s line. The kick at goal by W. Ryan was unsuccessful. Mr R. Phelan was referee. i Kerepeehi has the making of a

team that will do very well once some of the finer arts of the code are put into practice as the result of continued training and confidence that comes with increased efficiency, while Patetonga, if the team remains together and practices hard, will Ife har|d to conquer. The Patetonga forwards all worked hard, and J. Garry and L. Millington were particularly energetic. Tinne, P. Harris, O’. Benny, and F. Costello were keen at all stages of the game. For Kerepeehi Nicholson, Alley, Ryan, Reta, and Wilton were, prominent. TURUA V. WAITAKARURU. This game was played up to halftime on the seniors’ ground, and proved alipost as even and hard fought as the senior game. The ground on which the second half was played was very rough, and no team should have been asked to play upon it. It, seriously interfered with the game, as players were reluctant to jjisk' their limbs. Scores were secured for Turin by G. McCowatt and A. Elvin, one of which was converted by E. Johnson. NGATEA V. WHAKATIWAT. The match between Ngatea and Whakatiwai had to be abandoned as, owing to a mishap to the launch, the visiting team did not arrive until 5 n.m. It, was then too late to play, so, after partaking of dinner, they returned home.