FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5292, 27 June 1928, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

THE BIRCH CUP MATCH. THAMES RETAINS TROPHY. Fine weather and favourable playing conditions prevailed; locally op Saturday .afternoon, when a record crowd of spectators for this season assembled at the Paeroa Domain to witness the Birch Cup match between the Paeoa and Thames representative teams. • The game, which ended in a victory for Thames by nine points to -nil, was good forward struggle, with open play at times; and some smart passing ru'shes, by the rearguard! of both sides. The visitors fielded by far the 'heavier team, and it was a case of the heavier pack wearing down the local lighter one, Spectators were treated to ,a dean exhibition, and the general opinion was that there were not nine point's; difference , in the relative play of the two teams, although the visitors htkd the advantage in the majority of the scrums and also showed the better combination. The teams lined out as follows Thames.— Full-back, A. 'Winder; L. White, B. Harrison, McNeil; five-eighths, K. Rockett, S. Gorbey ; half-back, W. Savage ; rover, M. Hayward ; forwards, C. Abraham, R. Smith, W. Brunton, T. Abraham, WPercy, G. Pollock, J. Strange. Paeroa—Full-back, R. Rare ; threequarters, A. McQuarters, Watene, C. McNeil; five-eigthths;, K. Rockett, E. Smart; half-back, L. Mcßae ; rover, F. Boyer ; forwards, A. Hamilton, G. Morrow, W. Southby, D. Fr'ost, F. Fitch, M. Poland, E. Johnson. Winder kicked off apd play went into Paeroa twenty-five, where a free kick relieved'. From a line-out a scrum was ordered, and Hayward was penalised. Mcßae’s kick found the line in Thames? twenty-five. Play swung back into Paerbajs; territory, where close play was relieved by Rare. In a . loose rush the home team gained ground, but Smart, was caught offside. In a nice movement Frost and Poland took play back to Thames' territory, but a throw forward lost the advantage. A little later Savage marked, his kick going to the half-way flag. In tight play in front of the, posts Percy was penalised and saved, the situation for Paeroa. A further bout of tight play followed a line-out, but Mcßae marked and cleared. Pollock returned the kick, and in tight pay Watene marked. Southby and Boyer followed on but Hayward blocked a kick and. cleared. In a loose rush a breach was committed by a Thames forward, but Mcßae’s kick was unsuccessful, a force resulting.

The second, spell .opened with. L. Abraham making good run, but. Watejie collared ■■well. His pass to Mcßae was forward. Windier failed with the penalty kick. In play Pq.eroa was again penalised, Winder’s kick being again unsuuccessftil. A .nice forward rush was started by Poland and Frost, the ball going back to McQuarters, wiho made a good run before transferring to Mcßa.e, to Hamilton. The* latter failed to take the pass, and Harrison kicked out at the half-way line. From the line.out Dufty sent Pollock away, and w’ha,t looked like a certain try was saved by McNeill running round and forcing. A line-out followed in neutral territory, until Brunton got .away, and sent out to Percy, to G. Pollock, who dropped the ball on reaching the li’ne, where a scrum was ordered. In tight play near the line Dufty and White were prominent, the latter sending out to Gorby, who scored near' the corner. Winder’s kick was blocked. Thames 3, Paeroa 0. From the kickout Johnson carried play into Thames twenty-five, and in tight play Watene diived, but was caught offside. A bout of loose play, followed, Savage finally clearing to half-way. •On resuming after half-time an exchange of kicks followed. Thames made several loose rushes., but the loca.l defence was equal to the occasion. A scrum near the half-way flag line resulted in Strange breaking away and carrying to the line, passing to Abraham, who .spoiled the movement by knocking on. A bout of tight play ensued inside. Paeroa’s twentyfive, Rare relieving; the pressure on several occasions. ; Following a lineout .a Paeroa forward was penalsed but Dufty’s kick jiKst missed. A further bout of tight play followed until Mcßae marked. Percy relieved the kick and' passed to* Gorby. In a loose scramble' Rare was compelled to force The local fbrwards followed the kick-, out, and Poland gained a lot of ground until Dufty cleared with a long kick. Rare received, .and in a loose rush Lockett was beaten for the ball, and Windier forced.

The, filial .quarter- opened up with Thames on the attack. From a scrum at the half-way flag Gorby got away and sent out to i.Savage, who beat the opposition, exoept Rare, who collared low. Fitch gathered in and sent to Poland. Several scrums followed in Paeroa’s twenty-five. From a line-out Hayward! made ,a nice opening and passing to Harrison, to White, the latter scoring a. good: try near the corner. Dufty failed with the kick. Thames 6, Paeroa 0. From the kick-out Moran was (caught offside in his owai twenty-five, but Sotithby failed, with the kick. Play livened up considerably at this stage, and Fitch and. Poland -were prominent in a loose rush which terminated near the line. Harrison received, and sent out to ■ Dufty who cleared? with a, powerful kick. Morrow returned play into the visitors’ twenty-five, tlie bail finally going to the line. Play travelled to. the other, side of the field, where Hayward marked, and! Wicked to Paieroa’s) twenty-five line. A. scrum followed inside the twenty-five, where a bout terminated in Smith scoring near the- corner. Savage failed with the kick. Thames 9, Paeroa 0. Shortly afterwards time was called, when play was in the Thames’ quarter. Mr H. G. Brownlee was referee. THE JUNIORS. EAST V. WEST. Tlie JtinUir competition was continued on ijie No. 2 ground, when

West was lucky in defeating East by nine points to four. The game was fast and open for the greater part. The East backs were superior, but the West forwards playedi with plenty of dash .and style, frequently smothering the work of their opponents. East won the toss, and Slyfield- kicked! off for West, the forwards taking, the ball into East’s twenty-five, where Mead cleared. The East forwards came down the field, where a scramble resulted in Tresidder drop-kicking a good gqaj from near the twenty-five line. East 4, West 0. The remainder of the spell was ,a willing go, even forward play predominating. From the kick-out in the second spell East were .awarded a free kick, but Jim Rackham failed to score. West attacked, and the forwards, headed by Slyfield, Taylor, and Carrick, took play into t'he danger zone, where Rackham saved by forcing. West came again, and in tight play near the line Niehl dived over. P. Poland’s kick failed. East 4, West 3. The East forwards followed up the kickout and took play to their opponents’ twenty.five, where Rackham had an unsuccessful penalty kick. On resuming after half-time East attacked. From a scrum the ball went to Vercae, who found the line. Clayton broke away in the line-out only to be collared by Wilkinson, who cleared. Denize and Tressider made a dash, but the latter kicked too hard and Gage forced. The last quarter opened with Taylor heading q loose rush into East’s territory which was stopped by Wilkinson marking. Loose play in midfield terminated in East being penalised, but Poland failed with the kick. A forward rush by West followed, Poland finishing off the movement with a good try. His kick was uhsu'c. ces'sful. West G, East 4. The kickout went to Slyfield, who short-punted, and with Taylor .and Pennell rushed to the line for- Taylor to score. Taylor failed to convert. West 9, East 4. The game ended soon afterwards, with play in East’s territory. Mr T. C. Arnold w,as referee. SUBURBS V. COLLEGE OLD BOYS. The Suburbs juniors played' "4 friendly match with the Thames College Old Boys tea,m at Hikutaia, and had a comfortable victory by 17 points to 6. Mr E. Turner was referee. THIRD-GRADE GAME. As a curtain-raiser to tihe senior ■match a local third-grade representative team played a friendly match with a Hauraki Plains representative team. A very fair exhibition of Rugby resulted in the home side winning by three points to nil, Chisholm kicking a penalty goal for Paeroa,. Mr J. Verran was referee. PRIMARY SCHOOL GAMES. During the mor.ning the primary school competition was continued. The match at the domain wajs: played between United .and Paeroa B, and resulted in a win for the former by nine points to three. For the winners tries were scored by Manders and Smith, and Williams kicked a penalty goal. CaJlagher scored a try for Paeroa B. Mr G. Sale was referee. The Paeroa A team journeyed to Hikutaia, where it wa= beaten by 22 to 0. Tries were scored by Robinson (3), Coxhead (2), and Robinson, while Coxhead converted two tries:. Mr E. Turner was referee.

PLAINS MATCHES* Tlie semi-final matches of the Hauraki Plains senior competition were played oil Saturday last in good weather. By defeating West ,at Patetonga the Turua team completed? (its games and made its championship points equal to Ngatea’s, which team has yet to meet Waitakaruru. Kerepeehi ami Waitakaruru drew, bringing their points to 7 and 6 resspectively. West has one championship point. AUCKLAND SUBURBS V. NGATEA. The Ngatea team had a bye and used it to. great profit by playing the Auckland Suburbs senior team at Ngatea, the game resulting in a win for the visitors 1 by 13 points to 12. This wa,s the first Auckland football team to play on the Plains, and was a return match. The game was the most interesting seen for a long time. From the beginning the ed itself into a struggle between the Ngatea forwards and the Auckland backs. Individually the visitors; showed out better, but they seemed to lack the team work shown by the Plains, and when the defence ,Wa s pierced shoring was easy. Kicking gave the visitors many points, .and the failure of the Ngatea team Jn this branch lost it the match.

Early in the first quarter the Ngatea forwards presssed from a scrum, broke through the defence, and .allowed Young to score. McPherson failed to convert. Shortly afterwards McPherson secured from a throw-in. anj sidestepped through the visiting backs to score another unconverted try. Ngatea just failed to score tw*o more tries before the change-over, and Suburbs failed with two penalty kicks. In the second round the visitors started a passing rush at halfway, and the backs and forwards combined to score a good try, which was converted. Open play followed, and the visitors increased their score to 8 with a free kick before half-time.

A rearranged Suburbs team failed to hold their opponents, and) play was mostly in the visitors’ territory. After a scrummage on the line Nicol scored a try which was not converted. In close forward play Suburbs worked UPflelfl and added five points with a converted try. The Suburbs backs did some good work, but lost the ball to the Ngatea forwards, who carried down to the line for S. Dalgety to score. The try was not converted, and the scores were, Suburbs 13, Ngatea 12. The play was fast and open, but no further pointts were added. Mr G. T. Davidson was referee, WAITAKARURU V. KEREPEEHI. In the Kerepeehi v. Waitakaruru match at Waitakaruru T. Rapana and .J. Adlum scored two tries each and R. Fisher kicked a penalty goal for the visitors/while D. Molesworth. (3), V. Hayward-, and J. Knox scored tries fo i ■ Wa. itaka ru r u.