BEBBINGTON SHIELD MATCH.

Shannon News, 16 August 1927, Page 3

BEBBINGTON SHIELD MATCH.

. .HOROWHENUA AGAIN SUCCESSFUL. SOME HEAVY SCORING. Horowhenua successfully disposed of this 5 season’s l|nal challenge for the above trophy on" Saturday at Levin, by defeating Oroua, who were the challengers on this occasion, by the wide margin' of 47 points to 21. With the exception of several fine passing rushes by the Horowheiiua back division, the play at no stage was of a very high order, the forward play particularly being well below the standard expected in a representative fixture. Probably the one-sidedness of the contest was largely the cause of this, for most of the. time, with the exception of the scrum work, Horowhenua’s superiority Was well established in the actual play arid it was only during a brief period iri the second spell when, with the scores reading 44 to 8 the home team appeared to. ease up and this allowed the visitors to be seen in an aggressive mood.. Despite their advantage from the scrums, the Oroua backs handed the ball very indifferently when opportunities came their way, and frequent mistakes in this direction enabled Horowheiiua to adopt offensive methods after losing control of the ball.

The weather was fine, but the previous night’s heavy rain left the ground in such a state that, at times, the players, found it extremely difficult to maintain an upright position. Oroua won the toss and accepted the advantage of the sun and wind, the teams filing out as follow:

HOROWHENUA. (Red and Blue). Ryder Roberts Hunt J. McDonald Warren T. Parata W.. Parata Jacob (capt.) D. McDonald Hakaraia Bond Gleeson L. Dalzell Payne Tatana OROUA. (Blue and Black). Hartley Johnson Shannon (capt.) McNae Spence Elliott Buckman Parsons Peek Kitchen Jensen Osborne Miles Guylee Clare Referee: Mr D. Calcinai, Wellington. THE GAME. The Blues mulled the kick-off and the Horowhenua forwards, gaining control, swept to the attack until J. McDonald, through over-eagerness, incurred a penalty which enabled Oroua to relieve a difficult* situation.

The respite was only temporary however, for some neat passing from J. McDonald on to Gleeson, to T. Parata and "Warren to Hunt and Roberts, saw the last-named just forced into touch a yard from the line. 1 HOROWHENUA PILE UP A SCORE. The visiting forwards cleared in fine style from the line-out that followed, and some smart following up was the means of the home full-back becoming hustled as his kick wms charged down and Horowhenua were faced with a dangerous situation as Parsons broke clear, but the referee ruled a knockon and play Settled at half-way. The visitors early proved themselves fairly efficient obstructionists, which, if nothing else, prevented Horowhenua from settling into their stride and a very ragged period eventuated between the 25 lines. Overcoming the difficulty, the Reds gradually gained the upper hand and some clever play down the left wing in which Warren became prominent, compelled Oroua to defend desperate- . ly in an effort to keep their line intact. They were successful to a certain degree and repulsed the invaders, shifting play back to midfield until W. Parata quickly put the seal on their fate. Taking the ball from the toes of the Blue forwards this player cleverly dodged through half the opposition, raced down the centre and at the right moment transferred to Dalzell. who in turn passed infield to R. McDonald, who had raced up in support enabling him tc dive over under the posts for a pretty try. Jacob converted easily. Horowhenua 5, Oroua 0.

This signalised the beginning of a period of rapid scoring on Horowhenua J s part and for some considerable time they simply ran all over the opposition and appeared to be able to do just as they liked. Play had not been in motion many moments when Roberts with a dodgy run, initiated a loose rush that veered from one side of the field to the other and culminated as Warren gained the ball, lost control temporarily, only to use his feet -well and beat a couple of defenders to score after having dribbled the ball over the line. Hunt narrowly missed with the kick. Horowhenua 8, Oroua 0.

The Reds maintained their aggressiveness and within the space of a few moments another spectacular movement allowed them to improve their score again. J. McDonald fielded the oval at the half-way line and fooling a bunch of visitors by verging towards the centre instead of keeping to the sideline, sent a perfect pass on to T. Parata. Trouble appeared imminent as the Home backs swung into line, and snappy passing saw the ball travel along from Parata, to Warren, to Hipit, to Roberts. The winger was up-ended by Johnson, but Warren who was handy, took the ball along at his toes and gathering up a few yards from the line, passed infield to Hunt, who battled over wide out in the arms of a couple of defenders. The angle was too great for Jacob. Horowhenua 11, Oroua 0.

Good work by the Oroua forwards in the serums enabled them, to penetrate into Horowhenua’s 25 for the first time so far during the game, but their play lacked the necessary dash and they fail-

ed to make the most of the opportunities offering, Jacob, Dalzell and Co., having no trouble in removing activities to a more safe area. p , Another clever run by W. Paiata forced the challengers back on defence and then, receiving from a scrum neai the line the Horowhenua halt sent his backs careering away on another successful excursion that meant points, as J.‘McDonald raced over in the corner after the ball had accurately travelled through the hands of T. Parata Warren and Hunt. The last-named added the major points with an excellent kick, making the scores—l G—o. It was all Horowhenua at tins stage and the regularity of the scores although of an entertaining nature, were becoming rather monotonous m then simplicity, the visitors being strongly urged by a section of the onlookers to “shake it up a bit.” . The succeeding play emphasised this. The ball from the kick-off landed out on the full. From the scrum back W. Parata sent on to his five-eighths, who got the ball out to Hunt, who in turn transferred to J. McDonald for the County winger to side-step past Hartley and run round to touch down neai the’posts. The visitors had not placed a hand on t-he ball since it had been pet in motion. Hunt had no difficulty with the luck. 21—0. OROUA SCORE. The Blues now improved somewhat and for the first time made it apparent that they were really going to do something in the way of retaliation. From a scrum in midfield they hooked the ball smartly and their backs indulged in their initial passing rush. Buckman, Elliott, Spence, Shannon and Johnson banded in a movement that carried play to within a few yards of the home line. , Tlie invaders were awarded a penalty ! rom the ensuing play, but could do nothing with it and Hunt eased the position by finding touch at his own 25. Nothing daunted the Oroua forwards pushed their way on to Horowhenua s line, where, after they had made several valiant attempts to open their account, Peek dived out of the ruck to ground the ball over the line near the uprights. Shannon failed to improve. Horowhenua 21, Oroua 3.

After the kick-out the Homesteis, adopting their effective loose style of play once more, returned to the attack and just before half-time, reverse passing between T. Parata, Warren, Hunt, and J. McDonald, saw the latter cross unopposed. Hunt missed, making the scores at the interval 24 —3 in Horowlienua’s favour. THE SCORES MOUNT UP. When the teams returned to the fray it was noticed that T. Parata was missing through an injury to his leg. Jacob cook up his position as five-eightlis, T. Gardiner going into the scrum, while Gleeson went wing-forward. , The visitors were the srst to show up and took up the running in Horowhenua’s 25. Frequent infringements by tlie defenders kept play in this vicinity for iome time, but the visitors evidently did not possess a reliable place-kick itnong their ranks that may have meant a few points, and after a fairly lengthy period of ragged play at this end, the rlorowhenua forwards took command md swept the length of the ground in i concerted rush that ended as Tatana the corner flag down. ' A SPECTACULAR TRY.

Roberts accepted the drop-out and indead of kicking, threw a long pass in.ield to Jacob. Tlie last-named ran vVarren into position and some pretty day saw that player cut in nicely between Spence and Shannon to return lie leather to Jacob, who was present'd with a clear run in under the posts, .le converted his own try. Horowhenua 29, Oroua 3.

This was a forerunner of a procession ,f tries by Horowhenua, and scoring at .nore than the rate of a point a minute, .hey quickly ran up a lead of 41 points. First Hunt scored a clever try after ill the backs had handled, then Jacob, irofiting by the mistake of bad handling by Elliott, snapped up in midfield, >eat several opponents to touch down, lien followed another combined movenent initiated by Gleeson among the iome backs that was brought to a successful conclusion by Roberts, who, ike the other two grounded the ball aider the posts, Jacob converting all ,hre tries, bringing the score to 44—3. The Reds then appeared to rest on heir laurels, in any case they easc-d up >orccptibly, and the visitors were pracically presented with a couple of tries v-ithin the space of a few moments. Garsons, the Oroua wing-forward, who .vas doing the work of two men and vas standing out head and shoulders imong the challengers, was responsible .'or some good play that was the means if sending Shannon over in a handy position. He repeated the dose almost mmediately, this tiihe enabling Spence o improve the score, Johnson convert.ng both tries and bringing the scores ro 44—13.

Spurred on by their success, Oroua kept plugging away and after a spell of forward play near Horowhenua's line Peek battled over for his second try. Johnson was again successful with his kick 44—18.

Time was now obviously close at hand, but with only a few minutes to go, both sides added still another try to their totals.

Horowhenua’s came first, the outcome of a bout of passing among the rearguard that gave Warren a try after having handled the leather twice during the movement. Jacob missed a sifter. Then indecisive play by Roberts in midfield after the bell had sounded, saw the Blues gain control and with the defence at sixes and sevens, carry play on to the line, the movement being brought to a successful conclusion as Johnson crossed wide out. His kick missed and the game ended with the final scores reading — Horowhenua 47, Oroua 21.