RUGBY FOOTBALL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 543, 29 May 1933, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

INTERESTING PLAY j, i WAIARIKI AND WHAKA SECURE NARROW WINS THREE ORDERED OFF Though the Rugby provided for spectators on Arawa Park on Saturday was not flawless yet it was interesting and open enough. Nevertheless lost opportunities, mostly through overeagerness and frequent hold-ups for infringements from the same cause rather detracted from the t games as a true exposition of the code. In the Waiariki v. Waikite j match on No. 1 ground, the referee sent three men to the sideline, two from Waiariki and one from Waikite. The game was fairly willing. Waiariki 6, beat Waikite 0. I At the end of the Waiariki v. Wai•'kite game, one side, Waiariki, had 13 ( men and the other fourteen, the former managing to hold off attacks till ■ the whistle.

Desultory play in midfield opened the ball until a series of free kicks set the greens (Waiariki) on attack. Play swung back and forward both sides missing opportunities through dropped passes and the balance swung to the yellows, a mark from a good position being missed. A free kick to green for offside, saw the. kick fielded and a back movement by the yellow three-quarter line saw a most peculiar incident. The ball went right along the chain of backs for M. Morrison to cross the line and canter rourid behind the posts where he lost possession and greens' forced. It was bad luck for Waikite, but they deserved to lose the points. This stroke of luck heartened Waiariki and their forwards edged play upfield where three determined runs by the green backs all but succeeded; once the wing three-quarter was pushed out on the flag, once a melee resu ted in a scrum on the line and the third time a five-yards scrum developed. Despite strenuous efforts by the green pack, the yellows shoved them back and T. Morrison finally relieved with a liner at halfway. For a while play was drab owing to the number of infringements and knockons and from a penalty for offside, tho yellow backs secured and swept !downfield only to lose the ball on the line and see greens force. Give and take play followed with varying fortunes. Twice Mana Thomas extricated the yellows from dangerous positions by cool kicking and on one ■oceasion he nipped up from the feet of the green pack, ran his backs into position in a movement which ended in the yellows crossing the line with -the ball at toe only to lose it in touch-in-goal. Thei^ the greens took a turn 'in attack and had yellows penned on the defensive for a full ten minutes until after a few hectic moments Tom Wairau got across for greens. The kick went wide and halftime came with the score

Waiariki 3, Waikite 0. Scrambles in midfield characterised the opening of the second half which ended in a penalty against greens for obstruction, but the kick was wi.le. Yellows kept up the. pressure until overeagerness saw their forwards penalised for waiting offside, and the resulting kick took the leathcr back to halfway. Then the green ba-Jks took up the offensive and only cool work by Thomas saved Waikite fri m a very hot position, the fullback lirr.ng well down. Greens came again bu'; the yellow pack, in wedge formation, drove them back to halfway. Mitre some rucks and scrummages ended in a free to yellow and a green player (Waiariki) was ordered off. Failure to find the line by the grven fullback saw Thomas again mrster of the situation and he lined at the green corner flag. Yellow st uggled hard to get over and on one ocv asion appeared to have scored, but as there was a struggling mass on the ball, a scrum was ordered from wl hh greens hooked and cleared. A ; ain yellow had an open line, but :ov. reagerness saw them kick over the 'd :d ball line and a certain try went begging. Things began to get willing again ■ wiih the result that J. Ross (Waiariki) and B. Rogers (Waikite) took a sl.oll to the sideline at the referee's rcruest. An exchange of kicks saw M. McI ro nearly over for yellow, having s apped up and dummied three of F-o greens, but he. was pulled down 1 j the green fullback short of the 1 to and from the resultant scrum, [ ^ens cleared and turned defence. ' i 1 > attack, Thomas again saving his t de when a score looked inevitable. i penalty to yellow was fielded by the. green second five-eighth and he 'set sail for the line, beating two def enders and sending out to the wing, Waiariki crossing. The kick failed. Waiariki 6, Waikite 0. Though two men short to their opponents' one, Waiariki set up a stern defence to several yellow attacks for by this time the yellow pack had practically ceased to function. Time came with the scores in Waiariki's favour. Waiariki 6, Waikite 0. It was a game in which Waikite was unlucky, principally due to lack of polish and attempted gallery play and a game in which superior thrustfulness by the Waiariki backs earned its reward. Mr. R. G. Webb was the referee. Whaka 11, Rotoiti 8 ; Play was open and clean in thA ' Whaka-Rotoiti clash and the score is | r. fair indication of the merits of the. ■ l'cr.pective sides. Whaka was the first to break the ice when Archer forced his way over near the posts, ' H oper adding the major points.- It was not long before Rotoiti got their Lacks going and after a passing rush R. Cooper went over, Hickey evening tho score. Another score to Rotoiti came from Grey, but the kick failed and the halftime totals were Rotoiti 8, Whaka 5. Both sides slung the ball about in /the second half and Whaka soon eoualled their opponents, a hefty forward getting over. No goal resulted. Just on the whistle -Thompson again lcrossed for Whaka and the game ended ' ' Whaka 11, Rotoiti 8. i Mr. A. Wallace was referee. JUNIOR GAME Kahukura 12,. High School 0. I Expected to show good fo'otball,

the Kahukura-High School game was disappointing, the traditional secondary school open game being absent 'due largely to lack of knowledge of 'positional play. Kahukura, on the ' other hand, also failed to grasp many 'opportunities of overwhelming a ■lighter pack and- in fact were regu- ' larly beaten for the ball in the scrums .and the loose for the first half of the game. School made it a forward /game while their condition lasted, l their backs being too deep and being smothered by the fast-breaking Kahukura pack when they did gain possession. School set up the first attack, gaining the Kahukura territory by bust- ! ling tactics. They were awarded two [ penalties both within the area, but /both "sitters" were missed. S'chool \ still kept up the pressure and it was ten minutes before Kahukura got past halfway. It was then Kahukura's turn for, from a ruck, Johnston fed his 'backs and they looked dangerous un1 til the movement broke down at Mar-l-tin. Twice Kahukura were on their opponents' line, but could not finish | off the movement and School fullback j 'finally cleared. School took-- a turn l/on attack, but faulty passing saw the bout break down. A period of loose Yushes by both sets of forwards ensued and play was quiet until from a set scrum, Kahukura heeled for all the backs to handle and the. side opened its scdre. Kahukura 3, School 0. Hinton had a chance to even the scores with a penalty kick right in front of the posts, but was wide and a moment later they were unlucky when all but the Kahukura fullback were beaten from an intercepted pass and the school's stab ki'ck bounced in favour of the Kahukura fullback wh? cleared. Kahukura took play up- • field and from a scrum on the. line, they heeled for Johnston to fling himself across. Martin goaled. Kahukura 8, School 0. There was no further score to halftime, and after the interval, School started to fling it about, narrowly !■ missing on three occasions, but bad | passing saw the attempts fail. Kahu- | kura them came to light with a back i movement. This was held up and from the ruck the ball came out to j' Duff who coolly potted a perfect field j goal. Kahukura 12, School 0. There was not much further incident in the game. School tried to !keep the game open, but the defence was too strong for them and there was no further score. Mr. E. Riggs was referee.