MANAWHENUA DEFEATED BY TARANAKI TOURISTS.

Shannon News, 13 September 1929, Page 1

MANAWHENUA DEFEATED BY TARANAKI TOURISTS.

A RAGGED GAME BY HOME SIDE. In the sixth game of its representa tive . programme, Manawlienua wai Wednesday defeated by 15—3 by the Taranaki touring team. From the point of view of the Manawlienua supporters, the game presented a painful contrast to last Wednesday'; match in which the combined team de i'cated Southland by 35 —19 in a yen attractive exhibition.

. -Yesterday's game, however, failed tc hold the crowd at any stage and was a dieary -succession of dropped passes, missed opportunities, and generally •slovenly methods.

Taranaki deserved its win, but wane! particularly impressive. Both teams were disorganised by the absence of. a- number of regular players.

The ground was dry and-inclined tr be dusfy, while a cold wind blowing across field required consideration. Tluattendance was about 3000. The teams lined out: —

.Maiiawhemia (red, white and blue): Wasley, . .Strange, Fletcher, Walker Riddcll, Akuira, Bull, M. Waldin, Rum nicrsj Crawford Miles, Galpin, Conrad, Satherley, Dalzell. Taranaki (yellow and black): Collins, Crawford, Hunt, Hammond, Owcp, Grant, Hohaia, Guy, Gargon, Murphy, Clark, Walter, McLean, Wolfe, Baldwin. The Game. Manawlienua kicked off into a crosswind but the kick went out and a scrum was sent down at half-way. Then followed a period of loose forward play with both sides endeavouring, withou' success, to open up. Taranaki was holding a slight territorial advantage and used this advantage to take the offensive during the early stages. Two good clearances by Waldin-re-lieved twice for Mauawhcnua, bu' Grant broke through with a .swerving run thajt took Taranaki back into homo territory. An exchange of long range kicks saw Walker secure possession and cut • across field to gain ground, bul yellows swept back, and play settled down again in neutral ground. Eventually play loosened up, and Walker repeated his previous ' exploi'.

by sprinting through the press to tho Taranaki twenty-five, where Fletcher chased the leather out of touch. Here tho referee had "some trouble with tk" scrum, but when the packs finally got set, the ball was hooked so hard by Taranaki that it completely beat Hohaia and Manawhenua swarmed right to the line. A series.of vigorous scrummages developed here, as the homesters strove to force their waj across until an infringement by Tara naki in the scrum, gave them a free kick. Fletcher was entrusted with tin-

work, but could not get the distance and a good kick cleared for Taranaki. In a moment the visitors were sweep ing through the home defence and Was ley narrowly saved in the teeth of a forward-rush. Away swung the Tara naki backs, in full career for the linr but Walker intercepted and the bal wont out at the corner. Taranaki wa' ; striving hard to penetrate, but blue; raised the seige when Fletcher lucked clear for Collins to mark. In a following melee Strange was injured and had to go off. N. Bramwcll replaced him.

Visitors Open. Taranaki continued to press, a series of solid forward assaults testing tlr defence until Conrad took an off-side pass and Collins made an unsuccessfu 1 attempt to turn a penalty to-account. The game was not particularly interesting at this stage, although Taranaki continued to attack spasmodically Then an unsuccessful attempt by He - liaia to kick a penalty saw Murphv follow fast and snap out a pass which was missed by McLean two yards fror.-. the line. Play swung back in front of l-lio posts, when suddenly from the midst of a inelec. Hunt dropped a field goal to put the visitors four points up. Taranaki 4, Manawhenua 0. Manawhenua counter-attacked in reply when Waldin broke through with the ball at his toe to chase it across the Taranaki line. Blues held the advantage, however, and took a turn at attack that seemed likely to bear fruit when Bull took a mark in a handy position He could not raise the flags, however,"and the Taranaki forwards swept play back to half-way. Here, off. s?{lo play cost Taranaki a penalty and Fletcher made a meritorious but unsuccessful attempt to land a difficult kick Snappy short passing among tho visitors' forwards had Manawhenua in tioublc a moment later as they earned the attack into homo territory. The backs carried on in a dash for the corner, but Crawford missed.his transfer at "the critical moment and in the resulting melee, Murphy was injured and had to be replaced by Mercer.

Ragged Play. K period cf loose, ragged play followed in which Taranaki's attacking

movements were marred by slovenly ' handling. The try which followed was -' in the same vein. Grant fallowed through a kick and' struck back Bidder's clearance with his hands to go - .over and score. Collins, missed the kick. ' —Taranaki 7, Mauawhcnua nil. Eight on the call of half-time, after ' a period of desultory play, a Taranaki player was penalised for playing the man after he had got rid of the ball. ' ■ Fletcher went very close to landing a penalty. His direction was a shade astray, however, and the half ended ' , with Taranaki holding its 7—nil advantage. Second Spell. Immediately on resumption, Taranaki went to the 'attack again when Owen sold a dummy from a scrum and kicked through to the Manawlienua line, where Walker ran behind to save. Bad tack- . ling on the part of Manawlienua let Owen away a moment later and an- v other hot attack was only stemmed by Wasley going down on the ball. Crawford left the home pack to clear but missed passes and generally sluggish methods lost Manawlienua ground once again.when Owen repeated his previous • - performance and broke through. With the visitors attacking, Summers and , Conrad took play back to neutral terri- ■ tory with a good break. Here play continued ragged and loose with for- ' wards and backs speculating freely and accomplishing very little. Then Taranaki reorganised sufficiently to sweep Manawhenua back and Crawford, Owen r Walter and Guy, with some attractive short passing had sent Wolfe almost across when an infringeme~nt saved the,. home side. Taranaki were in attacking vein, however, and from neutral territory Hohaia shot the ball out to Owen, who cut through and gave McLean a transfer for Hunt to complete by scoring beside the posts. McLean added the extra points.—Taranaki 12, Manawlienua nil.

The visitors continued to be aggressive and Mercer gave them the advantage again w r hen he broke through to boot the leather well up-field. A sweeping Taranaki attack was nearly across, but Wasley just succeeded in forcing, in the teeth of the attack. At this stage Manawhenua lost Summers who was replaced by Boldt. Again play went back into the rut, until Manawhenua worked. down : fielcl and Akuira gave Walter a transfer which saw the winger make a deter mined bid to cross in the corner before being hauled down. J Last-Minute Scoring. In neutral ground, Manawhenua secured possession from a scrum but Akuira missed his pass from Bull and in a moment Walter had snapped up and broken through. The home tackling was weak and fending off Wasley for the last 15 yards, he went OA'er to score from half-way. Collins missed the kick. —Taranaki 15, Manawhenua nil.

From the half-way kick, ' Manawhenua had a brief respite from defending when Fletcher chased the leather down the line and almost across in the corner. The bounce beat him at the critical moment and the ball went out of touch.

Just on time the crowd was stirred from its lethargy when Walker raced half the length "of the field to go right through to Collins. The Taranaki fullback was safe, however, and got his man, but Walker threw a pass infield to Biddell, who was in support. A try seemed imminent but the pass was missed and Hammond kicked well upfield to clear. Guy was injured in a melee when Manawhenua swept back, and went off. When play was resumed Walker took a good mark in a handy position, and opened the home side's account with a good kick. —Taranaki 15, Manawhenua 3, Time was sounded immediately afterwards.