RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Shannon News, 8 May 1928, Page 3

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

SATURDAY'S MATCHES.

SENIOE. Wanderers 19 v. Weraroa 6. Shannon 15 v. Foxton 3. JUNIOKS, Shannon 18 v. Foxton 0. Weraroa 15 v. Paraparaumu 3. Hui Mai 3 v. Maungatuku 3. THIRDS. • Shannon 14 v. Wanderers 10. • Weraroa 24 v. Tokomaru °- . v H au t.ere won from Hui Mai by default. WANDERERS v. WERAROA. The clash between the two local senior teams followed upon keen expectation the part of the public and the attendance was die largest since the season opened. The two sides, however, were not so well matched as had been anticipated, the contest showing that, although Weraroa &id most of the-attacking, the tackling was much too good for them, while their " own back division was apt to be taken by surprise, ■ enabling individual sprinters to cross the line with little need for supports. The teams took the field as follows: Wanderers (black)— Full back, Ropata: three-quarters, Williams, Graham, Kuiti;; five-eighths, T. Parata, J. Parata; half, W. Parata;,' forwards, McDonnell (wing), E. McDonald, and Heremaia (hookers), Bond (lock), Tatana (captain), Sinclair, Knox and Ward. Weraroa (black and white)—Full - back, Graham; three-quarters, J,.* I Broughton, Warren, Grey; five-eighths R. Broughton, Smith; half, Vincent; forwards, Bdliii, Nahona, Cole, Kilsby, Skilton, McLennan, Palmer and Greig. Weraroa kicked off agaiiut a strong

westerly, and play was fairly even m the early part of the spell, both sides taking turns at attacking and giving the opposing rearguards a good tryout. Owing to a knock-on a scru'm was ordered in front of Weraroa's goal, and a scramble ensued ; n which the ball was worked between the posts, but another scrum resulted. The line being again threatened, Warren relieved by means of a timely mark. The blacks continued /the pressure, and half-way through the spe'l •'the tally was opened by their halfback, W. Parata, capturing the ball from the rear of a melee, cutting through the opposition with a sweeping run and ground ing in a fair position. The wind ( was gusty at the time, and McLennan's kick missed the goal. Wanderers 3, Weraroa 6. Black-and-whites became aggressive after this and instituted a dribbling rush, which ended in a kick to neutral territory via the , ctorncr., Beveral scrum's were fought,out in Wanderers' terr-itdry/ and, that side, being penalised, Warren took a shot at goal from, about 20 yards, but the ball fell jus! short of its objective. The Weraro;: backs got into action, and showed several* heat passing movements, which however, were cut short by solid tackling. The attacks were renewed, and Grey, obtaining "possession at the 25, made a brilliant dash and scored practically without opposition. Warren 'k kick'was unsuccessful. Weraroa 3, Wanderers 3.

xne offensive was again taken up by Weraroa, who were at length repulsed by well judged footwork and put on the defensive. Wanderers' three-quar-ters were associated in a nice bit of

passing, which erided just short oi tb,eir opponents' line. Loose play followed in Weraroa's end, and at this stage, one of their men, Nahona, had to retire through an injury to the back, Home replacing him. An incursion was made by the black-and-whites, from which J. Broughton scored. No goal resulted, and % soon afterwards the spell ended. Weraroa 6, Wanderers 3. In the second b.alf, Sinclair, a Wan-

derers' forward,/ who had injured a knee, was replaced by "Chappie" McDonald. The spell opened with alternate invasions;, and in a little while, from a line-out in a handy position, a movement was initiated among the Wanderers' -backs which culminated in a scramble over the line, from which Knox secured a try. E. McDonald added the goal; Wanderers 8, Weraroa 6. Some creditable displays of passing were given by Wanderers, and their half-back punted to sonic purpose. The Marking on both sides showed an improvement in form with the advancement of the season, and the handling of the ball was generally satisfactory, though knocks-on were not uncommon. Weraroa made repeated attacks by the up and under method, and rf almost obtained a score, Wanderers jtfst forcing in time. A combined rush by the blacks took them to their qppouents' corner, where play was of the tight

order for some time. Weraroa were penalised for offside play, giving Wanderers the kick from a promising an-

gle, but no goal came of it. Play liv j ened up thereafter, with plenty of long punting by both sides. During a follow-up act, Wanderers secured a penalty against Wcraroa, and a goal was nicely kicked by Tatana. Wanderers 11, Weraroa 6. i . Shortly afterwards Weraroa were awarded a free k-ek just inside halfway, in line with the goal, but no score resulted.' T-iey attacked strong-

ly, and the blacks accepted a force. Returning the compliment Wanderers crossed the half-way lino, and E. Williams crowned a Icrig and fast run by scoring, having outstripped the opposing backs. The ball had been grounded well in, and Tatana made no mistake with the kick. Wanderers 16, Weraroa 6. , : ■• j The aggressive was taken up by the black-and-whites, but they were driven back to defend their line. After a scramble they put on a passing rush, initiated by J. Broughton, which took them back to the vantage ground. The blacks were relieved mainly through the' passing among their backs. An interval of play up and down the field

was followed by a combined blacks' attempt -to score, winch as consummated by Knox suddenly ducking over and touching down. Tatana took the kick, but without increasing the points, and shortly afterwards the game ended in Weraroa's territory, with the scores: Wanderers 19, Weraroa 6. Mr Parata was referee. SHANNON v. FOXTON. ! The above teams met on the BaceI course at Foxton on Saturday, under unpleasant weather conditions co fd wind blowing" »«°m the P!■£»* area, which made play difficult. Both teams were below full strength, several players be'ng away at camp. ± oxton were weak in the forwards, but had a strong back team, which showed plenty of combination, and had tne latter received more support from their forwards the final result would no doubt'have been closer. On the other hand Shannon forwards had best of it in all departments of the game, but the backs did not play as well as their opponents. Following were the Full back, J. Better; threequarters, N. Bobbie, Roberts, Whyte; five-eighths, McKenzie and Marsh; half, Wall; forwards, L. DalzelJ, *-• Dalzell, A. Williams, Satherley, Hirst, Walker, Robinson and Moody. Foxton: Full back, Taylor; threequarters, West wood, Procter, Robinson ; ■ five-eighths, Moses, Fuller; halt, Hirini; forwards, Pine, Procter, Boss, Coates, Eenata, Huff, Hcttei, Andrews, Shannon kicked off against the wind, a scrum followed immediately, and a little later Hirst, from a penalty had a shot at goal vrthout success. K. Dalzell opened up the game for Shannon from a line out, the forwards carrying on to Foxton's line, where Eenata cleared with a good kick'. Foxton, with a good dribbling rush, earned nla%' to the Shannon line, where Wall with a good kick cleared. The Shannon forwards carried play back to the Foxton 25 but the latter's backs returned it to the Shannon territory, the latter being penalised. Moses missed with the kick at goal. A good piece of work by the Foxton backs was spoilt by a knock-on. ' From loose work L. Dalzell passed to Walker, who scored the first try of the game. Hirst tailed to add the /extra points. Good work by Moody and Williams took play to the Foxton end,'but the latter's backs by good passing went right to. the Shannon line, Better being compelled to force. From the kick out Walls passed to Whyte, who made a good run down the line, being well collared by Tavlor, the full-back. The next thing of note was a good.jinky run oy Walker, which enabled him to score his second try. He took the kick himself, but failed. Shannon 6, Foxton nil. The Foxton backs carried play to Shannon s 25 and a dangerous movement was stopped by Eoberts saving what looked a certain' score. U Dalzell led a good dribbling rush, which was carried on by'Robinson and Williams, play travelling to the Foxton line, where Westwood by a long kick returned to Shannon 25. From the line out the ball went to f!. Procter, which enabled him to score a good tiy. Taylor failed to add the major jpoinfts. Uhpnnon o, Foxton 3. A little later Walls secured and passing to. McKenzie, the latter sent it on to Eoberts, who scored at the corner. Hirst failed again, with the kick. From the kick-off the Foxton backs took the ball to the Shannon line, Hirst returning to half way and the spell ended. The score being Shannon 9, Foxton 3. On resuming, play was up and down the field. Eoberts finally breaking through and, running to Taylor, Foxton's full-back passed to Whyte, who appeared to score at the corner, but for some reason the referee would not allow it. On the ball going into play K. Dalzell initiated a dribbling rush, a number of the forwards taking part, which was stopped by one of the opposing backs. A penalty to Whyte, was the next move, in which he failed to increase the score. The ball was then kicked to Bobbie on the wing, who made a nice tricky run, finally beating the wing and full-back, thus adding lanother try for Shannon. The kick at goal failed. Foxton then carried play to Shannon's line, but A. Williams,, by good footwork, returned play to Foxton's end, where Taylor saved. After the ball had traversed up and down the field for some time K. and L. Dalzell broke away with the ball in a passing bout and ran up to :he full back, when K. Dalzell in attempting to pass to' L. Dalzell, who had a clear run in, lost the ball. Foxton returned to the attack. Moses travelling a good part of the field, kicked over the Shannon line. A good race between Marsh and Taylor for the ball, saw the former reach it in time to force. The Shannon forwards started a good dribbling rush, when Walls secured and passed to McKenzie, who sent it on to Marsh and the latter to Whyte, the last named being well tackled by Taylor, Whyte getting a pass in to Eoberts, who took it off-side. From the free kick that followed each team then took a turn at attack. Hirst finally forced his way through in the last two minutes of the game, to score Shannon's fifth try. Boberts took the kick on this occasion, he elso failing to increase the score. Time was called with the score Shannon 15, Foxton 3. Mr E. Sands controlled the g^ne.

JUNIORS. SHANNON DEFEAT POXTON. This game was played on the Shannon Domain on SaturdayJ Both clubs were unable to put their best teams in the field, having to draw on ihe thirds. From all accounts Foxton were the greatest sufferers, no less than six of their leading players being in camp. Shannon won the toss and elected to play against the wind. From the kickoff Foxton quickly had the Eeds on the defensive by means of opening up play among their backs, who handled the ball in good style, but the defence put up by the local boys p vented them

scoring. For the first twenty minutes Foxton had the upper hand and everything pointed to them being the victors. The Eeds then got going and from a scrum 0. Johnson at half, sent the ball out, and Jude, Mason and Hibbell by a passing movement carried play into Foxton's 25. A free kick to Foxton enabled them to clear, but soon after Dalzell got possession and beating several men passed to Jamieson, who was pushed out near Foxton's line. On the ball being thrown in Shannon tried hard to cross, finally compelling Foxton to force. From the kick-out Foxton made an attacking movement, but the Eeds who were playing well in the loose, dribbled the ball to halfway. Shortly after Jamieson picked , up and running along the line was pushed out near the corner. Play was m Foxton's 25 at half time with no score by either side. In the second half - Shannon were easily the best side, registering 18 points to nil. The game had not been in progress long when Eeds by a dribbling rush had play near Foxton's line where from a scrambye M. Dalzell scored their first try. Warman's attempt to goal failed, but nevertheless it was a good one. Soon after Foxton were awarded a free kick. The attempt at goal was a difficult one and missed. Then Mason by a fine run through the field leached Foxton territory where he passed to Warman, who was collared before reaching the line. Shannon kept up the, attack and from another melee Pratt got possession and beating his men scored near the post. Mason converted. Shortly after Mason was stood on the line for a breach, while Findlay (Foxton), who suffered an injury to his shoulder, had to retire. On resuming Eeds kept up the attack and Warman scored two tries both of which he converted himself. The game ended Shannon 18, Foxton nil. Mr A. George controlled the game.

"PRAM." V. WERAROA JUNIORS

The above juniors met at Weraroa on Saturday in good weather but with a strong wind blowing down the field. '' Pram'' won the toss and played with the wind behind them. They immediately attacked and were unlucky in not scoring in the first few minutes. Weraroa, however, worked play to "Pram" territory and from a scramble they scored an unconverted, try. Weraroa 3, "Pram" nil. Play was very even for the next 20 minutes when Weraroa intercepted and weak tackling by "Pram" ended in a score under the post. An easy kick was again missed. Weraroa 6, "Pram", nil. Eobinson, beating a couple of men, scored hear the post. The try was unconverted. Weraroa 6, "Pram" 3. There was no further score at half time. The second spell commenced very evenly but eventually Weraroa worked play to the "Pram" line, where the latter cleared to halw way, with a splendid rush, but offside pulled them up. The kick, however, went too far and "Pram" forced. From the kick out Weraroa secured and returned play to "Pram" 25's where mulling by the "Pram" backs enabled Weraroa to score ' under the posts. Once again an easy kick was missed. Weraroa 9, "Pram" 3. From the kick out "Pram" forced play to Weraroa end of field and the latter were compelled to force down. Even play followed, Weraroa gradually working play to "Pram" territory where Weraroa secured from a serum and good passing to the wing saw a good try scored and unconverted. Weraroa 12, "Pram" 3. Play was very even, being up and down the field, till near the end when Weraroa worked play to "Pram" 25's, where a mark was secured by Weraroa in front of the goal and this time the kick was successful. The game ended shortly afterwards with the score, unaltered. The game was more even and interesting than the scores indicate, but the v Weraroa forwards carried too many guns for the lighter "Pram-ites."

An exchange says:—"Shannon will have to improve a lot on their present form if they intend to try. and win the championship. The forwards are a good heavy pack and the Foxton pack were run over, but the three-quarter line leaves a lot to be desired. The sooner some players realise that putting one over the referee doesn't pay, the better. '[