RUGBY OPENS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 33, 2 May 1927, Page 10

RUGBY OPENS

PONSONBY ON TOP FINISH IN TWILIGHT COLLEGE RIFLES TROUNCED One swallow does not make a summer, nor do three AM Blacks made a football team. Hence the downfall of College Rifles, overcome by a much superior Ponsonby team at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon.

A glorious opportunity to open the season under ideal conditions was marred when the officials permitted the first match on the main ground to run more than 30 minutes beyond time. College Rifles and Ponsonby did not take the field until just on 3.45 p.m., instead of three o’clock dead, and the match was finished in the gathering twilight. The usual crop of minor casualties helped to prolong both games, but a closer grip should have been held. The late finish was irksome. ALL BLACK BACKS Stiffened by two players who have recently won All Black colours, the College Rifles backs looked a formidable set. But if Saturday could be taken as a criterion, then the classification of Sheen and Johnstone as All Blacks should have seen the Cam-mick-Lucas-Tonkin trio elevated to even higher ranking. With Sheen, Johnston and Fogarty (a 1921 All Black) College Rifles possessed three men who have won internatonal recognition. Ponsonby possessed one, Lucas, as well as the Maori fullback, Pelham, who displayed exceptional soundness. Haupapa, the native forward, who led the hakas for the Maori team on Its recent tour, and who was rumoured to be a Ponsonby recruit, failed to materialise, while Barclay, the Maori team’s captain, who may join College Rifles, was among the onlookers. The balance of three All Blacks to one failed to swing the scale in Rifles’ favour. More telling were the spectacular snaps with which Ponsonby made their movements sparkle,' and the eagerness of the Ponsonby forwards, who relentlessly hounded the opposition backs. RIFLES OPEN SCORING Rarely during the play did College Rifles achieve a pretence of superiority. Their opening gratified their supporters, who applauded when Teape followed a dribbling rush to score an earned try, nicely converted by Gillespie. The crowd was expectantly awaiting fireworks from Johnston and Sheen, and sat up hopefully when Kirk sent them away. Johnston has built his reputation as an orthodox first five-eighth, a clean-handling and determined back, content generally to send the ball on and wait for openings to appear. Faithful to his reputation he fired the ball on to Sheen, who sent It on to Wilson; a powerfully-built centre, not long from Christ’s College, who juggled with his pass—and dropped It. That happened twice. It was not surprising when Wilson was sent back to fullback, Gillespie coming up. Gillespie proved to be much more reliable, and his enterprise saw him often leading sorties. Lack of fleetness kept him from scoring after he had twice backed up Teape cleverly. Both he and Teape gave satisfying displays. While College Rifles, having opened the scoring, wore threafter permitted only spasmodic sallies, Ponsonby were playing fine football. FINE FORWARDS Led by Fleet, Fdgars. Palmer and Short the Ponsonby forwards, swarmed nil over the College Rifles pack, outscrummaged them, and beat them in the line-out; and, having mastered the opposing forwards, they raked the harassed rearguard. Johnston and Sheen were marked men, who knew' no pence, and Kirk, behind the; beaten Rifles scrum, wilted under the sustained attack. At half-time Ponsonby, with tries by Woods and Lucas and conversions by Short, led 10—5. Behind the effective screen formed by excellent forw*ards the Ponsonby backs staged fireworks. Berridge, first five-eighth, was at first not a good link in the chain, and the first try came to Woods, a last-minute selection at left wing, rather by virtue of opportune individual resource than of combination among the insides. In the third stanza the Ponsonby backs were seen at their best. Tonkin followed a long kick by Lucas, who evaded several College Rifles tacklers, to score after a great gallop, and then Oammick sailed through the opposing backs to run Tonkin into position for another fine try. Fleet added another and Lucas ar other as play proceeded, and with Short kicking accurately—though many of the tries came in hollow’ fashion, close to the posts—the Ponsonby score mounted steadily to 28, while the Rifles tally stayed at 5 CHAMPIONS TAKE HONOURS Territorially, Ponsonby might not have had that much the belter of the game; but as far as finesse,, fitness, speed and resource were concerned, then their margin was fairly earned. Lucas siood out as a high light among the players. He has lost none of his alertness, none of his nimbleness, may, indeed, be more elusive than ever. Handling well, and leading his team shrewdly, he was an inspiration to the other Ponsonby backs. Rising to their skipper’s plane, Cammick and Tonkin played fine Rugby. An overhead pass by Cammick to Lucas allowed an attack to continue when Cammick. at full cry, was apparently bored in among opponents, and was an instance of commendable quick thinking. At fullback the immaculate Pelham was never ruffled and never seriously at fault, while behind the scrum McManus was a faithful donkeyman. occasionally showing up brightly at the heels of his forwards as they hunted in the open. Some of the College Rifles forw’ards began in great style, but they were blowing hard before the last w'histle sounded. Fogarty, at the start, was in the thick of everything, but in the last quarter he was just trudging round the field. Lawrence, Lawn and Cummings were three capital forwards. Cummings was going strongly at the finish when some of his colleagues were spent. At rover Pilling was opposed by a good man in Whitburn. Both played well. SEVERELY TESTED Johnston, Sheen and Gillespie carried the College Rifles rearguard along. Kven so the All Black five-eighths were guilty of lapses in defence. They occasionally let the opposition through. Whitburn once beat Johnston, who not often fails to get his man, and Sheen missed Cammick. Towards the end Sheen and Johnpton changed places, but the rear-

rangement was ineffective. Though speedy and sound, the pair were handicapped by the failure of their forw’ards, and the harassing eagerness of the opposition. Teape was the better of the wingers, Spencely being colourless, while Wilson might employ his sinews better in the forwards than among the backs, where safe hands are essential. The procession of minor accidents, which held up this and the earlier game, fortunately involved no serious hurts. Their principal effect was to mar the game as a spectacular contest. But against last year’s champions, who made an impressive opening, no complaint of slackness could be made. GRAMMAR’S FIRST WIN Fast and spectacular football at the very commencement of the season is hardly to be expected, and for that reason those who attended early at Ed?n Park on Saturday would not be unduly disappoi.netd at the exhibition provided in the Grammar Old Boys-Training College fixture. With the exception of one or two incidents, notably a good try by Hook early in the game, and a bright movement initiated by Matheson, the Training College centre, in which forwards and backs ind:' rcriminately participated, the game provided few thrills. Minor in juries on both sides were numerous, and this was a fair indication of the condition of both fifteens. If anything, Old Boys were the better prepared side, and this, coupled with more enterprising tactics, enabled them to defeat the College team somewhat easily by 11 to 3. For Old Boys, Hook was easily the most outstanding back. At second five-eighths he was responsible for most of the attacking movements. His try just after the commencement of the game was the result of a very pretty run from outside the 25 line. Turei, the ex-Te Aute College player, although at the start inclined to fumble against the sun, improved as the game proceeded and finished up by giving a good all-round exhibition. In the forward division Batty and Knight were the most conspicuous. The latter, in addition to notching one try, was also responsible for the final try scored by Williams, fast following enabling him to catch the Training College custodian in possession and afford his rear division an opportunity of opening up almost on the line. On very few occasions did the Training College backs attempt any organised attack. When they did the movements generally emanated from Gardiner, a centre possessing a very safe pair of hands and a nice turn of speed. In the pack Cochran and Cook were always conspicuous and got through a fair amount of work. MARIST V. NORTH SHORE There v r as a good attendance of spectators to witness the match between Murist and North Shore at Devonport on Saturday. Conditions pointed to a fast, open game, but contrary to expectations it was chiefly a tussle between the forwards for the first half, with one or two spectacular solo efforts by the backs. The Marist backs put up the best showing in the first half, but after the interval there was not much to pick between them and North Shore’s set:. North Shore forwards made the pace willing but the visitors defended well in critical situations. Loft and Stoupe stood out in the Marist backs and were responsible for some good work. Holmes, for North Shore, used his speed to advantage on several occasions, and was instrumental in securing a try for his team. Johnson played well for the North Shore backs and saved his team repeatedly. The visiting forwards lacked go in the first half, but brightened up in the second half and defended well against the heavier set of North Shore forwards. The final scores, Marist 14, and North Shore 12, gave the visitors a deserving two-point win. Mr. G. Paul made a capable referee. VARSITY SCRAPES HOME Spasmodic play was the chief feature at the Showgrounds on Saturday in the game between University and Grafton. The score, Varsity 11, Grafton, 8, indicates fairly accurately the merits of the two teams. Early in the game Grafton attacked in a very determined manner, but the students’ defence, although far from being good, held them, and on more than one occasion Varsity was lucky to clear an awkward position. That Grafton was heavier in the pack left no doubt. In the scrum and loose they were infinitely superior to the students’ pack. It was the Varsity five-eighth. Jenkin, who w r as responsible for his team’s victory. He kept his threequarters well supplied w’ith the ball, and many a fine passing bout almost resulted in a try. It is hard to say -whether Varsity deserved their victory, and it is almost safe to say that, had the Grafton threequarters played a slightly better game, they would have had almost a walkover. Grafton’s defeat can be put dow r n to faulty passing and mis-taking good passes. If the Grafton tlireequarter line can improve, then they w r ill be a formidable team to meet. SENIOR B GRADE VIRILE CITY FORWARDS In a ragged but by no means uninteresting game, the newly-formed City Club marked its first appearance by defeating University B by 18 points to 8. As -was only to be expected in a new side, combination was almost entirely lacking. This was compensated for to some extent, however, by a virile set of forwards who infused a considerable amount of vigour and dash into their work. That a considerable amount of it could have been applied to better advantage was fairly obvious, over-eagerness losing them points on several occasions. However, there are w’orse faults than this, and once unity is obtained, City will possess a very useful pack. Cohesion between the two units was also lack-

ing, but with a few more games this should be easily rectified. The Varsity backs were rather disappointing. Although their opposing backs were frequently out of position, very little advantage was taken of it, and it was not until near the end of the game that any concerted action was seen. To a very large extent this was due to the spoiling tactics indulged in by the City forwards, who very effectively nipped several promising movements in the bud. Lamb was not only the best Varsity back, but also the most outstanding back on the field. With more support accorded him better results would probably have been forthcoming. Although there is nothing new in the reverse pass, it always seems to be effective. This was particularly noticeable! once or twice in the Grammar Old Boys-Training College game. It seems to be second nature with many palyers to expect the ball to continually travel outwards. TRAMWAYS BEATEN BY TECHNICAL The first few minutes of the senior B game at Victoria Park on Saturday between Technical and Tramways saw the odds in favour of the latter team, but Technical thereafter adopted aggressive tactics and the game finished with in their favour by 1G points to 3. There were occasional flashes of brilliance, but both teams showed the want of combination. The Technical backs played a solid game and gave the opposition plenty to think about. R. Harris and Keane were most prominent for the winners, while Ryan and Smith worked hard for Tramways. The game was willing

and fast from the start and the ball was thrown about in great style. There was a noted absence of the whistle, and both teams gave a most creditable exposition for the first game of the season. The last half saw Technical with the whole advantage, and here it was that McMiken proved himself. He broke through the Tramway defence on two occasions and registered two great scores. McMiken is a speedy player who will give a good account of himself before the season wanes. There were one or two incidents in the latter spell that rather spoilt the game, and hot-headed players who want to fight everyone should be excluded from the teams. Mr. "Wakefield made a capable referee. MANUKAU’S BIG WIN Combination and a better knowledge of the finer points of the game allowed Manukau to score a win of 19 to nil over Newton at Onehunga on Saturday. The match was keenly contested, but Newton, though having the advantage of weight, could not break through their opponents’ defence. Manukau had a fullback of no mean mejyt in Amautanga, who time after time eased the. pressure in the 25 just at a critical moment. Bell and Rata also showed to advantage for the home team. Slathery, Brimble and Houstan were prominent for Newton. The scorers were: Denize 2. Alban 2, Rata 1. Tascombe converted twice.

RIFLE SHOOTING The Akarana Rifle Club’s season was concluded on Saturday, when competitions were held at the 800yds and 900yds ranges for trophies presented by Messrs. A. R. Shove and A. W. Powell. The winners were:—Riflemen D. Calder and T. Elliott, jun., respectively. Silver spoons were won by Riflemen D. Calder and F. Ellett.

PIGEON FLYING The Ellerslie Homing Pigeon Club held a thiee-bird-clock-in-two race from Te Kuiti on Saturday. Following are the results:—Mr. Coster’s Black Arrow and Emperor, l,o4Bydfe, 1; Mr. Cohin’s Valencia and Red Moon, 1,407yd5, 2; Mr. Shiel’s Lady Splash and Red Splash, 1,399yd5, 3. Also flew: Mr. Porter 1,398yd5, Mr. Chapman 1,398yd5, Mr. Young, 1,385yd5, Mr. Wallace, 1,367yd5.