OTAMATEA (Yellow 12) V. KAIPARA (Blue3)

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 2 September 1920, Page 2

OTAMATEA (Yellow 12) V. KAIPARA (Blue 3)

Great interest was centered in the above match played on the local Show Grounds last Saturday afternoon. The Otamatea Union sent two teams to try conclusion with the Kaipara Union and were unfortunate in not taking double honours back to their district. The A. team won by <t fair margin, but if the ground had been dry there is no doubt a cricket score would have been put up by the Yellows. They ran all over the Blues up to half time, but the game slowed up from thereon, a heavy ihower of rain making the ground very greasy, and the ball practically impossible to handle. Colvinin the first five minutes crossed the Blue's line ; Hyland failed to convert. The combination of the Yellows was great; their fast following up was a pleasure to witness and reminded" one of an "All Black" combination. The visitors were particularly well trained and at no period of the game was their line endangered. The score by O. Bradly (Blue) was the iesult of a pretty piece of play arid Mouatt was responsible for the opening of the score. Certainly there was some fine work by the forwards on both sides, but the back play of Kaipara was very poor. The visiting backs indulged in a lot of passing and the Kaipara men played as bad as one could imagine. Even taking into consideration the fact that the ball was wet and difficut to'handle, and the playing field was in a treacherous state, the local backs should have given a much better display. There was simply no excuse for the atrocious handling of the ball and the lack of "'ginger" when they did get under way. For the Blues, Te Tuhijwaa the only man to play up to anything like Rep. form. He stopped rush after rush, in his very best style, and several times he left the defence standing with his straight dashes, only to find his other backs woefully slow in backing up. Mouatt, on the wing, made several useful dashes. His chief asset on defence was his lightning kicking and several times he got his side out of ugly corners. Baker, at full back, deserved his place in the team, his kicking and tackling being excellent. The star players for Kaipara in the back division were Baker, Mouatt, Mather, Te Tuhi, McLeod and Poland, and in the forwards, Montgomery, McBride, Gardiner and Gilland were the pick of a hard-working pack. For the visitors, Hargreaves and Finlayson Bros. were the pick of a fast lot of backs. AH the forwards played a hard, " heady " game. Scores were obtained for the visitors by Colvin, Hyland (2) and Bryce. Mr Logan McLeod refereed.