SATURDAY’S TRIAL GAME.

Shannon News, 28 September 1926, Page 3

SATURDAY’S TRIAL GAME.

PROBABLES 28 v. POSSIBLES 12. AN- INTERESTING CONTEST. On Saturday, what was practically a Horowhenua representative fifteen, was pitted against a team selected from the rest of those players available in the district, and after some bright rugby, and also some of the ragged variety, was. witnessed, the Probables ran out easy winners by ■2B points to 12. Until the second spell had been under way for some time, the Possibles put up a creditable fight and kept their opponents busy, but then the' combination, and the superior, fitness of the Reps, was manifest, and towards the finish they scored frequently. Mr L. Dixon refereed. The teams lined out as follows:

PROBABLES (Red and Blue). Backs. —Ryder, Roberts, lluni, M. McDonald, Warren, Winiata, T. Me-. Donald. Forwards.—St. Clair, Greig, Tana, Moynihan, Gleeson, Bond, Ward and Jacob (captain). POSSIBLES (Green and White). Backs.—Walls, Bryant, Graham i (captain), Wallace, Hakaraia, Fuller, I W. Parata. i , Forwards—H. McDonald, Edgin-to-n, McKinnon, Dunn, C. McDonald, ] Tohu, McLeavey and Gardiner. < THE GAME. £ Graham beat Jacob for the toss, ; and took advantage of the wind, de- , fending the Western goal. ; The Green forwards set off at a rat- t tling pace and were quickly on the ( attack, but the Red forwards, bunch- , ing well, held them in check at the 1 twenty-five. . , < Following a scrum in this vicinity, f Hunt, M. McDonald and Jacob be- 1 came associated in some excellent in-and-out passing that removed the , venue of play on to the Possibles’ -, 1 Line. A hot melee among the for- ' wards, proved fatal for the Greens,, 1 as they were penalised during an 1 effort to clear the danger, and Jacob .1 put the Probables in file lead by t landing a good goal. ' Probables 3, Possibles 0. \ Foolish off-side play by Greig, saw ; \ Graham miss with a fairly easy at-: c tempt at goal, and when a movement s started .by Roberts collapsed, the . \ Possibles” assumed the ascendancy, q and for some minutes the Probables t line was in' imminent danger. Ful- c lesr and H. McDonald were prominent in a movement that nearly spelt dis- t aster for the Reds, and then Graham { just missed a ‘pot” by inches. , The Probables removed play upfield, but a' neat blind side move- j ment 'between W. Parata and Bryant sent them back on defence, and, they were eventually compelled to force. ' The Possibles were soon hammering 1 away again and some excellent pass- * ing among their backs saw Ryder < just down Bryant, in the nick of 1 time. The opposing packs then took a ■ hand, and from the ensuing scram- i ble C. McDonald dived .over for a i well-earned try. The kick failed. Probables 3, Possibles 3. It was not long before the Greens j had notched another try. A pretty , cut in by* Hakaraia, had the Red backs in trouble, and from a lineout Gardiner sent Tohu facing down to the line. He was tackled and lost possession, but regained almost immediately, and worked his way across. j He failed to convert his own try, making the score six to three in the Possibles’ favour when play re-start-

■ed the Probables’ backs asserted oh onus elves, and indulged in several nice 'passing bouts and from one of these, M. McDonald broke clear, and raced for the corner “but Graham overhauled him and saved an almost ••certain try. • The Reds, making it very open, were soon rewarded for their persistency, and s6me great passing, m which both forwards and backs participated, ended with Warren crossing wide out. Jacob’s kick failed. Probables 6, Possibles 6. Kick and follow-up tactics by the 'Greens enabled them to regain the upper hand, and play had not been long in motion, before they had again taken the lead. It McDonald shot away from a line-out in Reds’ territory, and when near tfoo Utig, passed out to C. Donald. That player failed to gather in but Dunn who was lying handy snapped up and scored wide out Tohu just missed with an excellent attempt, and half-time Bounded with the Possibles still attacking. Probables 6, possibles 9. Several scrums characterised the opening of the second spell, and although the Possibles were hooking vtbe ball, they were, not packing proprly and the advantage was of little use to them. From one of these scrums on tne Possibles’ side of half-way, Wimaite came into possession and slipping around on the blind side, diew Wjt 1 lace, and sent M. McDonald over foi a neat try. Jacob just hissed. Probables 9, Possibles 9. PROBABLES TAKE THE LEAR The Greens spurted ate this re verse, but their efforts wwenrt sustained, and the hall arog with abandon, the Probables s’v P tne length of the ground. T. MeDonald Sinning in unto pCtet6 ' hrit n forward pass was ruled ftowowr from the scrum right irn.lsraass:.* ated a bout of P ass^f es a “ f ° c risp Red backs, and o vyumtransfers was finished off by Wini ata. Jacob converted. Probables 17, Possibles 9. A good run bv Wallace wßjy-KS'Si-’Mn 6trUC r^ e a«• prom now on the combination and

fitness of the Probables became very evident, and they swarmed all over the opposition, enabling McDoald to~finish off a passing scoring wide out. Jacob converted with a great kick. Probables 22, possibles j* 2. The same player ran round under the posts for his third toy a few moments later, the outcome of some moe combined work initiated by T. mc Donald, but Jacob missed a simple Probables 25, Possibles 12. Then came the final try of tho „,p a auick throw-in m me Greens’ territory, saw Gleeson dummTSs way past the asfenoe, and time was called without further mcident' Probables 28, Possibles 12.