FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5325, 12 September 1928, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

THAMES* VALLEY TRIAL MATCH. LAST SATURDAY’S GAME. On Saturday last .the trial match of players with possibilities of inclusion in the Thames Valley represent ta.tive team was played, at Te Aroha? Selected men, from the PiaKo and Hauraki Plains sub-unions- were opposed by a fifteen picked from the Paeroa, and Wai,hi sub-unions, the former team playing in; black and white anti 1 the latter in blue and gold. The game was rather disappointing, and, contrary to expectations, the team that was considered to be. tht weaker of the two easily held, the advantage. The Blue pack, chosen from Paeroa Wa.ihi, the leading teams, in the inter-union competition!, was outclassed by the White forwards, especially in thie. scrums. They were lazy, and most of the daslh came from the Piako-Plains side. After halftime the backs, with the exception of the half-backs, changed sides, the Blue rearguard playingbe t hfnd the. White pack and the White backs behind 'the Blue forwards. The teams lined out as follows : — Blues.—Rare, Saunders, Lockett, Swann, Dillimore., Mcßae, Garvey, Poland, Fitch, Craig. Rolleston, South.l) . Peacock, Radford, Walters. Whites.—G-ldsbury, Reid, TPiwers, McPher on, Munrq, Wright, Masters, Cleave, Mace. Dobbs, Kelk, Mulgrew, Courtney, O’Donoghue, Hutchinson. Sc-uthby kicked off and the ball was returnjed to Lockett, who punted out to Swann. From thei throw-in the Blue forwards rushed to> White’s twien.ty-five line and were awarded a penalty. Swann took the kick and landed' a. good goal from the twentyfive flag. Blues 3, Whites, 0. The White forwards immediately retaliated with a loose rush, and a weak kick by Mcßae allowed thqm to continue on for a force down, in) looise play about the Blue’s twenty-five line Goldsburv punted to Mcßae, who cleared to halfway. Passing between Saunders, Lockett and Mcßae gained ground, but the advantage: was lost through.a. breach. Several line-outs took place in Blue’s territory, and ■Munfr’c! failed- with a. penalty kick at goal. The Whites continued to pres», and from a scrum on the linjei O’Donoghue scored. Reid failed to convert. Blues 3, Whites 3. From a line-out at halfway Dillimore gained pos essi'on and made a good run, but his pass was intercepted. The Whites hooked the ball in a strum a.n|fl in a passing rush Blue’s territory, where play remained until the quarter ended. Immediately after commencing the second round Masters gained pQS(Se> sion in loose play and made a 'hie B run from halfway before centring. His forwards followed up well and with a loose rush carried over the line. O’Donoghue scoring between the posts. Reid failed with the kick. White. 6, Blues 3. Shojtly afterwards Dillimore dashed down the middle of the field and put the Blues on the attack. Masters cleared with a mark. The Blues returnjed in a passing rush, but Cleave, intercepted Lockett’s, pass an,d put in a great run to the other twenty-five. In loose play Cleave again got control and made: a dash down the c.ther line. but Rare was equal to a half-hearted dummy and brought him dow'p a yard or .tiwo from the line. A p'enalty relieved the pressure for the Blues, and after an inter-change of kicks Pola.njd, Fitch, Dillimore. and Lockett handled the ball in a mice parsing movement which gained a lot ■of ground. Swann took a penalty kick fr.ojn near the halfway line, but the ball landed under the bar. A kicking bou,t terminated the quarter.

Commencing the second half with the back divisions transposed, the Blue , set up a loose rush which was not stopped until they had) reached the line. Towers failed with a penalty kick. In open play Mcßae and Lctekett dasthed down, the field, but a forward pass pulled them up. Cleave, converted a penalty kick, whites 9. Blues 3. Play.was ragged for a, time, and then headed a loose rush for the White , but the leather was sent over the dead-ball line. Lockett put in another goop run, but in Ido .e play t'he Blues worked back agaiq and Walters crossed the line in the corner. Reid converted. Whites 9. Blue; 8. Shortly afterwards Mcßae initiated an attack with a good run dpwn the field, the forwards taking ever for Dobbs to score a good try. Mcßae failed wAth the kick. Whites 12, Blues 8.

The final round was Verjy ragged. After, loose play a scrum was formed near tihe Blue’s twenty-five line; The defending forwards broke away and cleared' well down the field, anjd after a, scramble McPherson scored in the corner. Southby failed with the KickWhites ,12. Blues 11. In open play Towers badly mulled the ball and was tackled by Rare, who ihad followed up his k'ck. This gave the advantage to t'he Whites, a nd in Iqp.se play Mulgrew crossed the line. The kick was charged down. !W'hites 15, Blue?, 11. Mr T. Turner was referee.

'rhe outstanding feature of the game was the work of the Pia.koPlaims forwards, in t'he scrums Mace and Dobbs invariably hoqked the ball, and also showed up in, loose play. O’Donoghue was the best forward on the ground, witli Kelk following him closely. Hutchinson, Mulgrew, and Courtney a,1.50 played well, and made up a pack which easily tqok the ihonours. Cleave, the rover, was pronrnent. Masters opened up the game well a ii(d showed to advantage behind a good pack. Munro played' a sound game, and the other backs were all responsible for good work at rimes but were more or le'.'s patchy. The Paeroa-Waihi forwards were disappointing. They had no dash, and none of them was outatandinfe. In the. backs Mcßae made a .n|U’mber of good runs, but did' not use them to the, best advantage. He endeavoured to do too much, and 'his; passes' were also weak. Dillimore, the other five-eighths, had plenty of dash, and wag probably t'he best individual back. Lockett . although lie did a lot of good work, was not lin.jhiis usua.l form. Saumters had

a lot to do on the wing, anjd did it well, excepting that his kicking was weak. Swann did net have much work on the other wing,, and. was lacking in confidence. Rare also was slightly below himself, and at times liis kicking was not of t'he best. PAEROA RUGBY UNION. MEETING OF COMMITTEE. The management committee of the Paeroa Rugby Union held its weekly meeting on Monday night, the chairman (Mr W. P. Pennell) presiding over Father. Taylor and Messrs Pinder, Fathers, Crosby, Shaw, Edwards, and Allen, (secretary). It was decided to .select a representative seniior team for a practice match at Paeroa. on Saturday next. VISIT OF PENROSE PLAYERS. The Penrose Football Club wrote accepting the invitation to play their third-grade open junior representatives. against the Paeroa juniorc at Paeroa. It wasi decided to . make the necessary arrangements to entertain t'he players, as they would be staying qver Saturday night. Dinner , would’ be provided on, Saturday. Mr Father; said that the benefit committee had* arranged for the: entertainment of the boys at a, dance at Karangahake on the Saturday night. Mr. Fathers wa.s appointed manager to look after the visit'orst POLAND CUP. The Waihi Rugby Union wrote stating .that tiheir gromud wcju'ld be available to play on September 29, a;nd i n the event of Paeroa travelling they would all<)w £2 15s expenses; and divide the remainder, of the gate-, less borough percentage and advertising expenses. The chairman said it wa.si unfortunate that the Paeroa Union was booked to pla.y Morrinsville on that date. Some other day would have to be fojund for the play-off. The motion of Mr. Pinder, that the matter be left in t'he hands of the chairman to. arrange as to time and date for the match, was carried. JUNIOR MATCH. A letter was received on behalf, of tlie T'ha.mes Union asking if it would be possible to arrange a junior representative match. On Mr Shaw’s motion, seconded by Mr Fathers, it was decided to in,Vit® the Thames junior, team to play at Paeroa on September 22. THE TAURANGA MATCH. The chairman said that the gate receipts last Saturday amounted to £l9 Us. After some discussion it was resolved to donate £l3 to help the Tauranga Uixion meet t'he expenses of the tour. Father Taylor reported that the arrangements .made had been carried through verj- satisfactorily. He was very pleased with the support that had been given. The referee of the junior match reported that the game was a keen one. and well conducted. 1 FIXTURES ARRANGED. Matches arranged so far are: — .. Paeroa v. 'Penrose, third-grade, at Paeroa, September 15; Paeroa v. Thames, juniors, a.t Paeroa, September 22; Paeroa v. Morrinsville (Peace Cup), at Alorrinsville, September 29. TEAMS FOR SATURDAY. The final selection of the Paeroa seniors te, play against Morrinsville. .for the Peace Cup on September 2? will be made frojn the following pllayers, who are: requested to go into training at once :— Rare, .MeQuarters, Lockett, Watene. Smart, Mcßae, Masters, Nield, Fitch. Brown, Southby, Frost, Carrick, Jqhnson, Poland, Taylor, Killgour, Burke, Neil, McKarvey, Morrow. Paeroa Juniors. —Harper, Wilkinson. Poland, Rare, Moo,re, Morrison, Mead, Taylor, Flatt, Ashcroft, Stewart, Carrick, Fyison, Robinson, Denize. Emergencies.: Backs, Masters, .McCqllum, Saunders ; forwards, Currie, Han'dley, Nield.