RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Shannon News, 26 April 1927, Page 3

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

1927 SEASON OPENS. CLOSE GAMES AND INTERESTING PLAY. * ——— Rugby football hell! sway 'throughout Horowhenua on Saturday, wnen a commencement® was made with; the new seasonV:games in all grades. Th,e absence of ; .sun and wind made playingconditions ideal, and despite the earl.ness of 'the season, the standard of play was comparatively high. Three senior games were staged in the various centres. At Shannon, after a fast.even game, Wanderers and Shannon finished ub with honours even, a try apiece. Weraroa registered a narrow but n ell deserved win against iivvahou at Leym. whilst at Otaki, County sated local men by the comfortable ,naigm of twenty points. WERAROA START WELL PLAY BRIGHT BUT SPASMODIC. By defeating*’ Awaliou l>y three points, a penalty goal by Phillips, t-J nil, Weraroa have made a good start, and incidentally the win by the Black and Whites should afford encourage jnent to a team of young and eager players. Roth: sets of forwards played well, but Weraroa, despite their lac.< of -.weight,\were,.the better. However, neither pack were in any way assisted by the men behind them, whose play, ' for the most part, was ragged and unenterprising. ■ . , The teams,.lined out .as follows: Weraroa —-(Black and White)—Br.li, Lambert, Haig, J. StRon Broughton and Vincent. Forwards Rangi Broughton, Kilsby, Nahoma, Cole, Henderhon, R. St. .Clair, Horn and Roach. . _ Awahou (Red and Black; B a '|" Robinson, Huff,.Renata, Taylor, Fulhr, Westwood aiid - Hakaraia. Forwards: Harrison Krivshanks, O'Reilly, Teawa, C. MacDonald, Stretch, Eparaima and T. McDonald.

THE PLAY. When the teams took the field, it was noticed that Awahou were much the heavier, and appeared to have an advantage of about a stone m weight all round. Awahou were the first to show prominence, for Fuller ajid. Harrison were associated in a movement down the left wing.that penetrated well into W-braroa’s territory. ■ . The first serum was to the White_ advantage, and Phillips relieved, to half way, where a penalty to. Weraroa enabled Rangi Broughton to place his side on the offensiv,e/with an .excellent kick ’ that found touch a few yards from Awahou’s line. Superiority in the scrumsallowed .the Black and Whites to maintain the pressure, but their'backhii'failed to grasp several ‘ opportumt-.cs that were offering, the forwards being compelled to jump into the breach, ur til Cole' marred things somewhat b;> booting too hard and Awahou forced Both sides were incurring frequent penalties for infringements in the scrums ana from one of these, fast following uj by the Red forwards saw Awahou dan' eerous for the first tima. .■ ■ • Hakaiaii’sent his backs away, the ball travelling through- the hands of Fuller,. Westwod, Renata to Taylor, who was smothered in the corner, \but from the ensuing scramble-Henderson n and Nahona dribbled back to half-way. Phillip* further improved with a neat kick, but ( i from a scrum, Hakaraia, in. con junction with Taylor, neatly worked the blind side, and the latter player, with a strong run down the wing, placed Weraroa on the defensive. The Whites were hard put to it defending their citadel, uutil obstruction by Huff enabled then, to work clear, and their forwards swept, downfield, only to see Henderson, win/ had .charged Taylor’s relieving kiddown,'beaten in a dive for the bal> that had crossed Awahou’s line, by Fm]er. Weraroa were now in the ascendancy their forwards playing really well, and they narrowly missed scoring on a con pie of occasions. Once. Rangi Broughton from a Jine-out just fell short, and. was caught playing the ball on tm ground in an effort to get it. across th-)i Phillips narrowly missed with a penal ty. Mistakes by the White backs ai forded 'Awahou felifef, and they gradually worked their, way back to mid-fieu. as half-time was called. _ A period of uninteresting forward play marked the beginning of the sec ohd spell, and for ten’ minutes or sc • the spectators saw little to enthuse over. Then an interchange of kicks by the opposing backs, saw the bounce of the ball beat Bull, and with Fuller.. Westwood and Taylor on the spot « • score appeared imminent, but Tayloi ’ got offside at the critical moment. Smart following up by Rangi Broughton. was the means of bustling Robinson, the Awahou full-back, and attack was turned into defence in quick time. The Weraroa forwards gave their backs possession of the ball from the resultant scramble, but to no avail for they were hopelessly out of position, and m "\no way did they appear dangerous. Awahou’s weight forward now began to tell its tale, and with concentrated rushes they gradually changed the scene of activities, Bull, being called upon to make several good clearances in quick succession. . Not to be defied, the Red forwards came through again with the ball at their feet, but Bull, equally determined. went forward to stay their progress, and although successful, was laid out in the process, and had to be assisted from the field, being replaced by Graham. Time was now drawing ff near, both sides asserting themselves in .an effort to decided the issue, there being more excitement packed in the last minutes of the game than at any stage previously. It now developed into a question of the survival of the fittest, *nd in this respect it became apparent, as Awahou were the first to give ground, that the advantage lay with Weraroa and play settled down in the Reds’ territory. Closer still did the whites work towards their objective, and then came their chance. A scrum was formed close to the line. Hakaraia, in his eagerness to relieve was caught picking'the leather out, . and Phillips made no mistake with the kick, piloting the ball safely' between the posts from a . difficult position, giving his side a well-. earned yietory. Time was -called aihVA * d f i *' i ~,

most immediately afterwards. Mr. H. Kidson proved an efficient referee. SHANNON 3 v. WANDERERS 3. The first, of the senior cup fixtures for the 1927 season to be played at Shannon took place on Saturday afternoon when the Shannon senior fifteen met their old opponents, the Levin Wanderers.. It was generally believed on the day : that the local boys would come out-' on top, as it was reported the ••anlcs of the visiting team had boon depleted of a number of well known plavers of last year,, and as the present team had npt played together befori, it was thought they would be at a disadvantage. However, this was not so, the game producing a very even contest and the result—a draw —was a true indication of the game. The visiting forwards were the heavier and excelled in the loose work, but the Shannon back division handled the ball better than their opponents, while on tiie defensive their tackling left no room for complaint. Both teams at times madj efforts'to open up the game, but these were often spoilt by faulty passing and off-side play. Wanderers playing against the sun set •play in motion. Early it the game, Jacob, receiving the ball from the serum, set his backs in motion, but the movement was short lived. From a scrum Lenihan with a short, kick and following up dribbled the ball into the visitors’ territory, Where the Reds were penalised, and Tatapa by a good kick returned play well down the field, Huiit soon after by. a splendid kick finding the' line inside the Wanderers’ 25. Several loose rushes by the visitors followed, but good line kicking and intercepting of. the leather enabled tl-.e local team to hold them. Shannon now took a turn at attack and worked play near their opponents’ line. Getting the ball from the scrum a score looked possible but a hard kick near the line saw the .Wanderers force. They earae again, K. Dalzell securing a mark in a good 1 positiqn, his kick at goal- being spoilt by the opposing forces rushing the ball. The Reds then, tried to open their scoring account by passing rushes, in which Hunt, Roberts, Lenihan, Sath-’ erley and Symonds showed up well, but cn, eaeh occasion these were frustrated, very little ground being gained. Afterwards the ball travelled up and down the field per’ medium of high kicking, which ended in Shannon making a fine dribbling rush, which looked like, a score, but the visitors’ full back'Ryder who was playing a splendid: defensive game, saved by kicking it over the tobch. line. Soon after from a free kick Hunt had a shot at goal but miss : ed. From the kick put Wanderers worked the play back,. Hunt intercepting by snapping up the leather and sending it on to Lenihan who aftfer a short run passed forward to L. Dalzell. Play- at this point was stopped owing to Symonds being knocked out . On resuming,’ Jacob with a long kick and following up, returned play well down ;he fkld, but it was only momentarily as Roberts, picking up smartly, raced down the field, eventually passing to Lonil\&n who reached his opponents’ 25 before being stopped., From a scramble che Wanderers forwards brplce away and dribbled the ball over halfway line, where Jacob by a good kick put the ball out at the corner flag Following the line out Shannon’s position was relieved by they being awarded a free kick. The whistle went for half time with play aroound the half t wav line, neither side having scored. On changing sides Shannon were early on the attack, but any progress was spoilt Dy off-side play.. In this respect both were at fault. The spell had not been in progress long when L. Dalzell ( securing possession of the ball sent it on to P. Satherley,/who made a dash for the line,' but when within an ace of scoring Ryder pushed him out. Following,a scramble from the line out, Marsh dived across the line, thus giving Shannon the lead with a try. Roberts took the kick but failed to add any extra points. Thus encouraged Shannon were handling the ball much better and from a passing bout among the backs, Roberts sent it on to Robbie on the wing, who made a fine sprint down the line before being collared. Another onslaught by the Reds’ was brought to a close by Ryder marking The Wanderers rushed play up the field, but Shannon retaliated and Hunt, getting possession, sent it to Roberts and he on to Satherley who put in a good run. Shannon ivere awarded a free kick for a man collaring Hunt when he did not have the ball. The ball went just outside the post. Shannon kept tip the attack eventually being forced. Wanderers now took a turn at attack, the outcome of which saw Jacobs pul his backs in motion, which ended in Udy scoring at the eorner. Jacobis kick failed to increase the.score. This reverse appeared to sharpen the Shannon team up and for a time they made desperate efforts by passing bouts to get in the ascendancy, but it was not to be, although on two occasions they went dangerously close to scoring. It was during one of these bouts that Roberts received a nasty cut on the head. These efforts evidently took the steam out of Shannon for during the last ten minutes of the game Wanderers had the best of it, but Shannon’s sound defence prevented them from increasing their score. The game endeci in a draw three all. Mr. Kingi controlled the game.