FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5329, 21 September 1928, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

TARANAKI V. THAMES VALLEY. WALKOVER FOR THE VISITORS. The Thames Valley represent,a.ti'e - suffered their second soupd defeat this season when they met. the Taranaki touring team at Tc Aroha on. Wednesday. About 1200 spectator attended the match, widen wtu plajftl under gepd weather conditions. Two spells of foity-tive minutes were played. Thames Valley having the advantage of a strong w.ntl, and thesun behind them, in. the first half. T.a.ranaki made use of the wind in the second half. Within a few minutes of the commencement it was apparent that the Taranaki backs were far superior to the home rearguard, and the final score. —38 to 3 —give an indication of hQw their combination told against individual effort. In close play the Valley forwards did "’ell, but. as soon as the game became in ;a.ny way open the Taranaki team practically did as it liked. The visiting backs all played well. Collina was handicapped by the strong sun in the Ar t half, ;a,nd on that account did not. show to the best advantage. The three-quarter l‘ne and fiveeighths worked like a machine, and Liley, behind the pack, was a treat to watch. Brown, th& centre three-quar-ter. was the controlling genius, and his brilliant, dashes and spund play made him an outstanding factor. The forwards also were on a. par, and hooked the ball in every scrum. Of the. Thames Valley team Masters and Thornton stood Out in the backs. There wa,s practically no combination, and .there was a serious weakness inside, Dillimore did not fit in a 3 a fiveeighths, and better results would have been gained had he played repjtre-three-quarter and Lockett gone up with Masters. Snodgrass also did not. play up to his reputation. Hume, made a good rover. .Walters and Mulgrew were prominent forwards in the loose, the other members of the pack doing the hard work in close plav. The teams were, a'- follows ; — Taranaki. — Collins, Crawford, Brown, Watson, Carter, Johnson, Liley. Guy, Robinson, Murphy, Ike, Woulfe, Wills, Smith, Bojid. Thames Valley.—Thornton, McQuarters, Lockett, Goldsbury, Masters, Dillimore, Snodgrass, Hume, Craig, Courtney, Kelli, Walters, Frost, Mulgrpw, O’Donoghue. Taranaki kicked off and immediately suffered a. penalty for holding on to the ball. Courtney broke away from a line-cut and Masters supported him into Taranaki’s twenty-live, where a, breach occurred. Gflldsbury received from the scrum and started the home team moving,, .the advantage terminating in a forces Masters intercepted and made, a solq effort, and then Johnson and Smith put Va,lley on the defensive; with a nice passing run. The Tarapaki backs tried themselves out for. the first time in a concerted movement, but they gained n|o ground. . It was pPt long before they warmed up, however, and another passing bout saw Watson pushed opt, a few yards from the corner flag. Crawford was the next to move, and with a fine dash reached the line before being, stopped. A penalty relieved' for Valley, and play went, to the other end. Bad handling by Collins gave the home team a great opportunity-four men against, ope;—but they were not equal t,c. the occasion and committed a breach, Taranaki was getting the ball in the scrums, and the. backs rushed back to midfield, where Thornton save 4 with a good mark. Liley sent his backs, away nicely, and Browni sold a beautiful dummy to Lockett and hardly noticed Thornton op his way to score a great try between the posts; Ike converted. Tarapaki 5, Thames Valley 0. After some loose play Frost broke away from a scrummage at. halfway and went, to Taranaki’s twenty-five line, where, he was stopped' through lack of support Thames; Valley pressed, and in a hard struggle on the line gained a penalty. Reid, who had replaced Gqldsbury, failed to score. Brown gained a lot of ground for the visitors with a great line kick, and Carter initiated another passing bout, which McQuarters upset by intercepting. The Taranaki backs came again, and another fine rush just failed when Watson, was held up in the corner. Mulgrew sent the visitors back to halfway, where in close, play Ike delivered the ball to Carter, ,t'o Brown, to Watson for a try in the corner. Ike’s kick hit the post. Taranaki 8, Thames Valley 0. Walters, Kqlk, and Ccprtney rushed play tq the Taranaki line, but the de-, fenders were equal to the occasion and Lockett was the. one to stop the r-usli. Liley was opening up the game for Taranaki on every possible occasion., and he sent Brown away on a swerving run which h,a,d great prospects:. until a slip brought him to the ground. Crawford was ready to fill the breach, and he went away like a flash, only to Share the same fate a? Brown. Mulgrew and Wa,lters cleared for Valley, and in loose play Reid sent over the line for a force ihi the cqrner. Then came the best piece.- of work during ,the game by Thames Valley. In loose play near his own, twenty-five Masters intercepted a pass and dashed down the field. Collins accounted for Masters, but Dillimore: had received the ball and was carrying on. Carter attempted to save the situation and go.t Dillimore with a solid tackle, but Walters rushed up to lend a hand and was in time to take the pass and score a gco.d try well out, Lockett’s kick went just outside, the post. Ta.raiiaki 8, Thames Valley 3. Although the Taranaki backs had already shown, to great advantage, it Was not until afer. half-time that they really stepped themselves out, and the second half saw Thames Valley ■defending most of the. time and the visitors running up scores at regular intervals. Five minutes after changing over, with Thames Valley attack-: ing, Watson snapped up in the loose an,d dashed down the line. He centred when he reached Thornton, and Brawn as a result of his anticipation scored an easy try. Tke failed with the kick.

Valley essayed a loose rush which Bond stopped, and then Brown zig* zagged h's way through the opposition to the; posts. After, a momentary check Carter sent out a long pass to Crawford for him to in, the corner. Colling’ kick went along the ground. Shortly afterwards Johnson put the visitors on the attapk by racing; down the field. Thornton with sqlid tackling checked the movement, but Taranaki was. n.ot to be denied and m bright passing all the backs handled the ball for Crawfor.d to run behind the posts after badly beating two opponents. Collins converted and mads Taranaki’s score 19. Taranaki worked for open play, and every man who handled the ball endeavoured to initiate a passing rush. Tlie Vaßey men also threw the ball abqut, but they had no chance against the visitors in. such tactics. In a loose rush Guy went qver the line for Taranaki. Collins’ kick was charged down by Snodgrass. McQuarters macle an opening for the home team with a nice dash and sent a pass to the open which Walters neatly gathered in. but he tried to go too far. and was stopped short of the line. Wills led tlie Taranaki forwards into neutral territory, and it was: only solid tackling by Mulgrew that stopped the rush. Improving every minute-, the Taranaki backs again gqt going ajid Collins, Brown, and Watson handled in turn for a.nqther try in the corner. There was no, let-up for Thames Valley. and after a couple of line-outs Watson again, went oyer, Collins this time making a good kick. This made; the scores Taranaki 30 1 , Thames Valley 3. Still applying the pressure, a spa.rkl'U(g piece of work by Brown, Johnson, and Cranford saw the latter go cjver. the line locked in the embrace of Lockett and McQuarters. Frqm the five-yards scrum the ball travelled across to the other corner, and in close play Robinson, dived over, Collins adding the extra points immediately afterwards Johnson, paralysed the opposition and handed the ball to Brown for him to register the final try a minute or two before time was called, the scores then being Taranaki 38. Thames Valley 3. Mr. A. W. Dunstan was referee. The teams were entertained' to dinner at the Grand Hotel, and afterwards were the. guests of the Piako Rugby Union at a dance.

TO-MORROW’S FIXTURES, LOCAL TEAMS SELECTED. The. football arar.ngements for tomorrow at Paeroa. include the final in the knock-out round for the Drysdale Cup, between, West, and Suburbs, and a match between the third-grade representatives and the local High ’ School team. Mr W. Jonas will control the senior game. Following are the teams selected.: — West.—P. Poland, G. Wells, F. Knight, J. Verran, L. Nield, M. Poland. D. Fraser, W. Taylor, N. Sweeney. H. McKee, G. Taylor, V. Carrick, L. Carrick, A. Hamilton, C. Snoiw. Emergencies: H. Handley, D. Currie, C. Bailey. Third-grade.— H. Voiwles, E. Verra'n, C. Chisholm, L. Vercoe, M. Rackham, '■ B. Alp, G. ’ Vercoe, P. Grant, 0. Williams, A. Power, F. Capill, G. Edwards, J. Morland, H. Nield, M. Campbell. Emergency, D. Hayes. SCHOOL TEAM TO VISIT TURUA A friendly match between, the Paeroa Primary School team and Turua has been arranged for 11 o’clock to-i morrow morning at Turua. The local team will be picked from the follow- - ing: J. Chamberlain, R. Campbell, M. Curtis 1 , w. Moses, L. Shand; F. Williams, W. Fulton, T. Bardsley, A. Lowry, M. Chamberlain, T. Catmpbell, R. Towers, J. Pihana, W- Parata, SShort, W. Dickson, L. Durham, A. Young, and K. McKee.

UNIVERSITY V. HAURAKI PLAINS. PLAINS TEAM FOR TO-MORROW. The following will represent the Hauraki Plains against the Auckland University team at Nga,tea to-morrow, commencing at 2 p.m. sharp :— Full-back, C. Blacklaws; threequarters, J. McPherson, H. Wright, c. Stretton ; five-eighths, L. Clotworthy, J. Catlin; half-back, A. Kilgour; rover, A. Courtney; forwards, J. Dobbs, W. Beasley, C. Abed (lock), R. Hutchinson, E. Gill, M. Martin, A. Fisher. Emergencies : Backs, P. Reti and A. Elvin; forwards, S. Dalgety and H. Kirkman,

THAMES VALLEY V. WAIKATO. LOCAL TEAM FOR SATURDAY. Following is tlie Thames Valley team to play Waikato at Hamiltqn temorrqw:— ’ Full-back, Rare (Paeroa). Three-quarters : McQuarters (Paeroa), Lockett (Paeroa), Saunders (Waihi). Five-eighths : Masters (Paeroa), Dillimore (Waihi). Half-back ; Snodgrass (Waihi). Rover : Hume (Waihi). Forwards: Craig (Waihi), Mace (Piako), Southby (Paeroa), Walters (Waihi), Relk Plains), Mulgrew (Plains), Erpst (Paeroa). Emergencies: Baeks, Tqwers (Piako) and Swann (Paeroa); forwards, Riddle (Piakq) and Cleave (Piako).