Surprise Win

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 255, 20 June 1932, Page 6

Surprise Win

" b'g surprise of the day was the -> 11; se of Whaka by Kahukura after hard forward struggle. The score food a 9-8 shortly after half -time, and was unaltered to the final whistle. Though there was only one point margin between the teams, it was a set back to the wearers of the red and black to suffer their first defeat of the season at the hands of a scratch fifteen which included five junio, players. Whaka's big mistake lay in attempting to work their back division with a tricky ball and on ? slippery ground. Time and time again efforts to start passing rushes resulted in the Kahukura pack breaking Ihrough with dribbling rushes th: kept the Whaka defence busy. Scott Parsons, Archer and Young were pv • minent in many exciting forward rushes, the latter being a trifle uulucky in not going over on one occasion. Brown, Steele and Duff weie the pick of the backs and their handling of the ball was better than that of the opposing rearguard, B. Kukume, Hamiora, Waerea and Co. Sutherland played one of his best games this season and stopped h=s man on several occasions. Morrison ! "cntre for Kahukura did not im-prc-ss; his kicking often brought Irouble to his side, and on one oeeas'on, when he failed to claim a nnu front of his own goal-posts, it look d as though Whaka would get nvj" High School Beaten In the junior eompetition, wins were registered by Old Boys A, Waikite, Whaka and Kahukura against timi \ arious opponentf. The game between Kahukura ar.c High School although staged early ir i!-:> afternoon, attracted a large numl.er spectatnrs each side having jilenty of harrackers. Jijflged jik an all-vound exliibition -• \ Ruggcr, it was Ihe best game seen ■ his season. Hard and fast forv.a L'H'r.-sporscd wHh good had: r.ut\ " uents. inarked the play from tbh.ry .-g{? h; tho rbial whisllo. Althougr

only three points were registered hy Kahukura, territorially ihe game wa: 75 per cent. in their favour. A feature of the game was the fine display given by Lillas, the Kahukura full-back, whose well-directed linokicking was responsible for divertim play to School's 25 on many occasions. His vis-a-vis, Hampson, pia a sound game, but his kicking was weak and gained little ground for h side. Playing an extra man in the backs assisted the winners in breaking through the School defence, while their tactics in playing on top of their opponents together with sound tackling bustled School's inside backs and gave them few opportunities to handle the ball. Kahukura were perhaps unlucky n n to register more points, for they com pelled School to force on four occa.ions in the second half. An unusual incident in the game lost Kahukura a try. The referee (Mr W. Penno) was struck by the cornei flag on School's line and was temporarily knocked-out. Kahukura went over, but the referee not seeing the try scored could only award a fiv yards' scrum. Backs Go Well With no score registered at halftime, it was expected that School's condition and the wind in their favour would tell against Kahukura iv the second half, but on resuming they pushed to School's line where hard play ensued and Lodge eventually g' • over from a scrum alongside the post---. Both sets of backs participated ir many sparkling rushes, but School's movements continually broke down rd Matthews who was dropping his passes, although he somewhat radeemed himself in the latter stages of ti game by making some fine openings. Dawson, behind the School pack, played a solid game and used judgment in kicking when he reeeived the ball from the line-out. Park played hk usual sound game, but was well mar ed and had few opportunities. His v tcmpt to kick a goal from a free kicl' was a very fine effort. Steele was responsible for some good dashes but was a little slow in getting away However, he was always a dangerout jt.'ayer near the line. Beale and Kuiand were prominent, the latter 's dcI'mce being particularly sound ; -topped many opposing rushes. The School pack all worked well and reeeived their share of the ball from ihe scrums and line-outs. Kahukura were best served in the backs by Thompson, Lillas, Martin and Bennett. Duff was easily the best back on the field and showed resource in changing his tactics which often i>ui,zled School's defence. In the vanguard, there was little to pick . and choose from all doing their share in the scrums, with Haycock and Bell prominent in the loose. A noteworthy feature was the cle'ar. game played by both sides and th; was refiected hy the absence of penalties, jyh-e.W. Peniio controlled the game y. ****/»' ***• . mtr