FOOTBALL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 246, 19 July 1928, Page 1

FOOTBALL.

Putaruru v. Pacific. In bitteny cold weather, with a strong wind blowing almost from end to end, Putaruru prevailed against Pacific on Saturday by 16 points to 3. The sides lined out as' follows: Putaruru (black). —Fullback, Addenbrooke; threequarters, Morton, Henderson, G. Brown; five-eighths, R. Dunlop, W. Dunlop; half, McKeon; rover, G. Brown; forwards, White, Dench, Martin, Ailwood, Schofield, Newton, Hobman. Pocific (blue). Fullback, Hana; threeqcarters, Tauirau, Sol, Hodge; five-e ghths, Nuku, Wharetine; half, Bellringer; rover, Barry; forwards, Wheatiey, Plana, Otene, Urlich, Shepherd, 1 uku, Kiri.

Referee: Mr. A. Ecklund. With the wind behind them the blacks immediately attacked and after a few minutes play F. Brown fielded a weak defensive kick and running straight served Morion, who got across far out. W. Dunlop failed with a good kick. A few minutes later R. Dunlop failed with a good kick from a free just inside the halfway mark. By means of three frees in succession the blues held their own somewhat, and kept play in midfield. Here McKeon served W. Dunlop, who beat Plodge and Barry badly and got the ball out to Morton, who shot down the touch line, but was overwhelmed by numbers. Desultory play followed and the spell ended: Putaru.u 3, Pacific 0.

The blues attacked with the wind, but Henderson intercepted a crosskick and ran from 25 to 25 where he was overhauled. Wharetine returned to halfway, where a free to the blacks held up a rush. P'rom the line out Schofield secured cleanly and beat several players. W. Dunlop fumbled a pass and let the blues away and the position was lost. Failure to field the rolling ball by the blue insides left an opening, and 'McKeon, Ailwood and G. Brown rushed the ball through and over the line near the posts, Allwood getting the touch down. Henderson converted. Just over the halfway mark G. Brown went high for Hodge, received a “ plonk ” and let the Maoris through. Tanirau received the ball and dashed for the flag, but F. Brown and Newton got him at the 25. A free to the blues saw Tanirau put a 50 yard kick under the bar. Hodge tried to short punt another free, but McKeon marked cleverly. In the Pacific 25 Schofield again broke away cleverly from the line out and wriggling past several tacklers made a likely* opening which he spoiled by hanging on too long. From a penalty E. Dunlop failed with a great effort against the wind and shortly afterwards Morton made a determined run up the left wing, but just failed to round the defence. Putaruru had as much of the play in this spell against the wind as Pacific had. Half-time: Putaruru 8, Pacific 0.

W. Dunlop played at fullback in the second spell, and was caught *in possession on the restart. McKeon picked up from the following scrum and from the penalty a feeble drop at goal was made. Henderson secured and using the wind to full advantage high punted. The ball was rushed the length of the field and a force resulted. Following the drop out, R. Dunlop shot through cleverly and served Henderson, who drew the defence for F. Brown. The latter, however, lost the pass and a try. Loose play followed and with four blue players hesitating around a rolling ball which had been cross-kicked, Hobman bobbed up from nowhere, gahered cleanly, and strolled over under the posts. Henderson again converted.

Wharetine endeavoured to rally his side, • and, beating several players with his “ hoppy ” run, looked dangerous, but lacked support when needed, and Martin downed him heavily. The blues attacked, but Morton checked the effort and using the wind kicked past halfway in centre field.

Reaching the ball before the fuilback his speed was taking him through when he was badly obstructed. Henderson failed to goal from the penalty but a minute later R. Dunlop goaied with a fine kick from well out. Threequarter time: Putaruru 16, Pacific 0. Putaruru seemed to ease up in the last quarter, and Pacific kept play t < their 25 for some time. From a ruck Wharetine received and shooting round to the blind side sent Mereto over for a fine try, a sudden change of movement which caught the defence napping. Tanirau’s effort to convert was to kick a fiat ball which Kodge had let drop. Putaruru rallied somewhat after this, but their work was more of an individual nature than collective, and never looxed dangerous. Time was called shortly afterwards with the score: Putaruru, 2 converted goals, 1 penalty goal, 1 try, 16 points; Pacific, 1 try, 3 points. Comments. Territorially, the Pacific team had more of play than the score would indicate, with perhaps the exception of the second quarter, when the clacks showed up finely against the wind. The blues, however, never looked really dangerous on attack, and failed badly to gather the bail on defence. They sadly missed Ballot, their captain, in this department of the game. Barry, Wharetine, Hodge and Tariirau were the outstanding players amongst the backs, while the forwards were outplayed in all departments of the game.

For Putaruru, Henderson was the best back on the fie.d, and did some sterling work. He seems to have secured a new lease of life, and little fault could be found with his play. He tan straight, never hung on too long, consistently used the high wind when kicking, and tackled low and soundly. Lack of condition and an inclination to miss the waist-line with some of l.is passes were his only faults. R. Dunlop showed up prominently at times, and displayed an eye for an opening, while McKeon at half improves with every game. All the forwards battled along in great style, The seven were all toilers to the end, but Newton would improve his play fifty per cent if he concentrated more on the ball than on the man—when the ball was not in his opponents’ possession. He has the height, speed and strength necessary for a good I layer, but will remain second-rate so long as he fails to concentrate on the game.

Schofield played his best game todate, and is rapidly becoming accustomed to New Zealand conditions. His two breakaways from the line were good efforts, but each time he failed to get a mental picture of the position of his supports. The ex-Sed-berg player displayed a well-judged left foot cross kick. Allwood and White followed well, but Martin, Dench and Hobman were little inferior. Martin brought off' one good tackle, and all the forwards would improve their play by consistently going low and bringing their man down.

WAIKATO V. KING COUNTRY. Waikato Wins by 11 to 9. After a 16-hours’ trip from Taranaki to Te Kuiti the Waikato team did not feel too fit for football on Saturday nor was their exhibition at all a brilliant one. In fact it has to be admitted that Waikato were lucky in winning- They had three tries scored against their two. The team was altered from that which played against Taranaki. Quin was unable to play, while Bonham, who had received an injury to his ear at Stratford, had to stand, down, and his fqllqw hooker, Brough, was not playe<k Ehgor and Holmes were played? in the front rank, D. Bourke lock, 'F- ~ Thomas and A. Cameron W. Bourke and Hayes in the back row. Kemp, and Kay, who was wing forward, scored, W. Bourke converting one try and kicking a penalty goal.

WAIKATO V. TARANAKI. Waikato Defeated by 24 to 11. Notes on the Game. (From Our Special Correspondent) Thoughi Taranaki beat Waikato by 24 points (.five tries, three converted, and a penalty goal) to 11 points (two tries, one converted, and a penalty goal) there was not a margin of 13 points on the day’s play between 'the two teams. Waikato had the disadvantage of a 12-hours’ motor trip to contend with and in addition the luck of the game went with Taranaki. There can be no question but that Taranaki deserved to win, as their heavy, fast and dashing forwards, easily the best that Waikato have met this season, earned them the victory, but not by so large a margin. Some of Taranaki’s tries were certainly opportunist tries, notably when the bounce of the ball favoured Brown, and again one try was the result of an obvious forward pass. Taranaki’s luck started when they won the toss and opened with the sun and wind behind them, and they made use of it to notch 16 points to Waikato’s 3. In the second spell Waikato had the wind but the sun had disappeared behind a cloud. Taranaki amassed another eight points, and it looked as if Waikato would be overwhelmed, but the Waikato backs, who showed more' initiative and threw the ball about better than their opponents, made things merry for about 20 minutes and added eight points. Taranaki tried hard to score in the closing stages but they found the defence sound. There was of course a lot of forward play. Taranaki predominated in the scrums, getting the ball three times to Waikato’s once, the regarding lifting not being so strictly observed as in the Waikato. In the loose and the line-outs Taranaki prevailed, though in 'some open work the Waikato forwards held their own. There was a lot of spectacular work, especially by the Waikato backs, who combined well and showed more speed than -Taranaki, whose tackling was weak. The Waikato backs, however, lacked thrust, and mistakes at critical times spoilt several scores. Their two tries were the result of good passing bouts which the speed of the wings finished off. The Waikato defence as a whole was very sound, though they were certainly caught napping when Owen slipped through the forwards on the blind to score. Looking back on the match it is hard to realise why there should have been such a margin, and it is safe to say that the tables may be turned when the teams meet in the Waikato during September. In Kivell, Walter, Baldwin and Ike Taranaki have a great quartette of forwards, with the others not far behind. With the exception of full-back Collins, whose tackling was deadly, and Brown, who was clever in attack at centre but was not too solid m defence, the Taranaki backs did not compare with "Waikato s. Tuck at half-back was m great form, sending the leather out beautifully and going down to the solid Tushes in fine style. _ Kemp was nippy but at times was jrork but occasionally a dropped pa

or a faulty transfer spoilt opportunities. The three-quarter line was very speedy, and, but for the Apposing forwards doing a lot of spoiling work, would have been very dangerous. As it was they had the public on the qui vive all the time.

Anderson was perhaps the pick. His speed astonished the crowd. He scored a great try and had hard luck in not scoring a couple more tries. In fact once he missed by inches. His pace also saved the situation when the home team attacked.

Vosper at centre mustered up a fine turn of speed and upended his men in fine style. Quin did his share.

S. Thomas at full-back went to Taranaki with a big reputation, which he upheld. Cool and collected, his defence was solid, his kicking against the wind being a treat. In the second spell he did not use the wind as much as he might. He has played better games. Of the forwards none played better than Holmes. He was always in the ! van and with a little more pace he , must have scored. Bonham and Brough, the front row men, were in the thick of the play all the time. F. Thomas went well but was unable to infuse that dash into his play that one is accustomed to see. He appeared to be feeling the effects of the trip. Cameron did useful work in the tight but Ensor was seldom sighted. D. Bourke, the lock, held the scrum well, but they were up against a better pack. He did his share in the loose. W. Bourke as rover was caught offside occasionally. His place-kicking is an asset to the team. The Waikato team got a great hearing from the public, who greatly admired their sporting game and the abandon with which they handled the ball, bringing off moves that only needed a little more finish to mean points. Though there was some ragged play there was plenty of incident, each side being quick to seize upon the other’s mistake and rush play to the other end of the field. MORRINSVILLE RESULTS. Seniors. Kereone 16, Terriers 3. United 21, Tatuanui 8. Juniors. j* Terriers 9, Kiwitahi 6. > j Springdale 14, Waitoa S. i ’ Tahuna 12, United 0. |l; Third Grade. Kereone 9, United 4. . j;;' MATAMATA RESULTS. Seniors. Matamata 3, Patetere 3. Walton 14, Hinuera 11. Junior Representatives. Boyce Cup. Cambridge 6, Matamata 3. Thirds. Wardville 14, Patetere 11. Matamata 6, City (Te Aroha) 3.