FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 299, 12 May 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL

FIRST GRADE. j THE SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. TUKAPA (11) v. ELTHAM (0). | There was glorious weather yesterday for the Eltham-Tukapa scuiior match at Western Park, and the ground was in capital order. Tlje Tukapa team contained many of last year's seniors, but was very much minus the services of H. Mynott, for many years its captain and •five-eighths. C. Brown and W. I Whitakcr, formerly of the Star seniors, I played half and five-eighths, the Stars,' having, withdrawn from the Thursday] series. The Eltham fifteen had about' ten or twlevc new men, many of them promoted from last year's juniors. Two new men r Sullivan (five-eighths) and Franklin (wing three-quarter) were*expected to stiffen the backs, but their in- 1 fluence was not very apparent. The outstanding feature of the game was the solid performance of the two halves, | C. Brown and L. Brown. With a less capable half, the Eltham team would probably have, gone down by a clear twenty points, perhaps more. Both teams showed' fair condition for the opening game but there was no very apparent combination. On the whole, Eltham had the better of the. scrums, but the men behind were unable to make use of Brown's passes, sometimes because the Blue wing-forward was round too smartly, frequently infringing the off-side rule, by the way, but more often from faulty catching. Mr. W. Roch was referee. j After a vigorous onslaught by Ei-' tham, Tukapa set up an attack, and for the next fifteen minutes or so the bull, was well on the Eltham side of halfway. The forwards had not "got to business" as quickly as Ward, Jones, and Co., and the backs were, handling badly, Glentworth, at full, being a serious offender.' A poor return from the Magpies' three-quarter line gave Stohr a chance, and he placed the ball well up in the Eltham end, where C. Brown se-'

cured from a scrum and passed out to I Stohr, who passed in good time to Webster, and the ball was grounded over the line near the posts. Stohr failing with the kick. Tukapa 3, Eltham 0. With the ball at the toe the visitors came strongly, and, the Blue backs mulling, 1 Tukapa forced. Tn quick retaliation, Jon6s and Loveridge dribbled right upfield, and narrowly missed a score, the ball going to the dead-ball line. Then Tukapa was forced, as the result of a long kick bv Stohr falling short of the side-line. Ward, Loveridge and Jones were now. getting in some dashing work I in the Tukapa vanguard, but the little half seamed to be always "there" and spoiled many of their chances. C.! Browrj got through time and again, but lost the tall. Passing to Whitaker was! risky, for he was sending back shocking' passes to the three-quarters, when fair passes might have resulted in scores.; Eltham missed a couple of good chances by Franklin kicking too hard in his op-1 ponent'g 25. Tukapa's second score was the result of a sensational end-to-end run by §tohr, who outstripped the field! and then passed the full-back without any bother. His kick at goal went wide. Tukapa 0, Eltham 0. The next score came early in the second spell, Whitaker making a fine opening and passing out to Stohr, who,

wiMi vv custer auiiyuiuug wen, scored] at the corner, and then kicked a goal,! making the score 11—0. From this on- 1 wards the result was never in doubt. | The Tukapas for the most part held their opponents safe, and although the Magpies came with sonic good rushes and two or three times got into good scoring positions there were too many, mistakes. With ordinary luck, Poticr should have registered two penalty goals. For the winners, Ward, .Tones, F. Loveridge, and Charteris, and in the, hacks Brown, Stohr, McGiven, and Webster seemed to be the most prominent, I the last-named showing good judgment j in his work. But the backs all shaped; well. Eltham had one good back, L.' Brown, at half. Sullivan at five-eighths was fair, hut the rest were not up to senior form. One or two of the forwards were not "fit," but of the I others Narbey, Osborne, and Clover did good useful work. i CLIFTON (3) v. STRATFORD (0). This match was played at Waitara yesterday on a dry ground and in perfect weather. There was a good attendance as keen interest was taken in this match, and a good game was expected. The game was a close one, and the score about.represents the difference between the teams, but from a spectacular point of view the plat, wa,s disappointing. Very little open plfiy.. was witnessed, the game being practically confined to the forwards. Stratford backs occasionally attempted passing rushes, but erratic handling spoilt them.' Clifton had practically the same team as played against Tukapa last week. | Stratford . played five of last year's thirds, and one of these (Cameron) also played in the previous match that after-, noon. I

Cameron captained Stratford, and Colman led Clifton. The former won the toss and played with sun at their backs. From the kick-off, Clifton invaded Stratford territory, but Cameron returned neatly to centre. Several scrums ensued, Stratford gaining slight advantage, but play remained in neutral territory until a long kick, well followed j up by Goodwin, culminated in the latter. being taken by Anderson near the line, I and from the resultant scrum Stratford j forced. Open play by Colman, the two ! Tates and George, carried the ball into' Stratford territory, where it remained until a neat passing rush by Bonner, I Woods, Cameron and Jones transferred play to the other end of the field, where Goodwin secured and put the leather into touch near half-way. From tile, throw-in Clifton forwards attacked l strongly, but on several occasions when within striking distance scores were lost through breaches of rules or kicking too hard, and the ball returned to centre. Anderson and Cameron (jun.) at full-back were doing a lot of work.' Melville, Boon, and Ilarkness headed a ' rush that carried play into Clifton's half, where Stratford backs commenced passing, only to be stopped by Kyle collaring Jones, and play travelled back to ' Stratford's half, where Goodwin, with a well-judged kick, put the ball out alongside the corner (lag. From the throw-in , (\ Tate secured and whipped the ball | across to Goodwin, who galloped for the I line, henting several Stratford backs, | and grounded the ball close to the side-line, many in fact thinking that he I actually we.nt out of bounds. The touch ! judge, however, thought otherwise, and I a try was-awarded. S. George failed to' convert. The spell ended with play in I neutral ;territorv.

On resuming, , Stratford forwards pressed,.and'a' scrum ensued under Clifton's goal. Burgess, however, in his eagerness to score, kicked the ball out of the scrum and Colmnn had a free kick, but as he. did not kick over his mark, a scrum was given. Soon after, Cameron made a good shot at goal from a mark and a force resulted. Eggleston, with a nice dribble, took play out of the danger zone. Clifton backs next essayed a passing rush, which Anderson intercepted. A little later Hicks secured the ball and passed nicely to C.

Tate, who was collared by the full-back when .1 score for Clifton seemed certain, j Touch-in-goal resulted. Clifton was now . attacking strongly, and a nice pass by Colman to C. Tate to Crowley should have ended in a score, but the latter was smothered. Ilarkness about this time was ordered off for alleged tripping. Stratford now assumed the advantage, I and carried play to Clifton's 25, where ' Cameron had a shot at goal in a fine position. He made a poor attempt, and a fme chance to equalise scores was lost. From this onwards neither side had much advantage, and there was no further score. Mr. F. Spurdle was the referee, j SECOND GRADE, j ELTHAM (25) v. TUKAPA (0). These teams met at Eltham. Tukapa, playing with eleven men, was outclassed, Eltham winning by 25 to nil. , Mr. De Launay was referee. CLIFTON (13) v. STRATFORD (3). This match was played at Stratford, the home team taking the field three men short. Clifton, kicking off, rushed play into Stratford's 25. From the lineout Stratford's half-back returned play to half-way. Then Clifton forwards got going, and carried play down the field, and Fitzsinnnons, following up fast, crossed the line with the ball at his toe and scored the first try of the day. Sampson failed with the kick. From a scrum in Stratford's 25 the ball came out to Sampson, who beat the Stratford backs and scored a good try, which he converted. From a forward rush Elliot scored again for Clifton, Sampson converting with a good kick. Half-time was called with Clifton 13 points in the lead. In the second spell, play was confined to the forwards, the Clifton backs playing to the line. From a scrum the ball came out to a Stratford ba.ck, who kicked hard over the line and, following up fast, scored their only try. Mr. B. Petty was referee.

INGLEWOOD (11) v. STAR (9)

The above match was played at Inglewood on Thursday afternoon, and resulted in a win for the home team by 11 points to !). Inglewood won the toss , and elected to play with the wind at their backs. Star, getting going right from the kick-off, notched, a try, which was unconverted. They followed up this success by scoring again in a short space of time, but the kick at goal failed. Inglewood then began to take a . hand in the game, and before the first spell was ended scored three tries, one I try being converted. When the second spell opened Star were pressing hard and , scores were narrowly averted on several 1 occasions. The local backs were playing t a sound defensive game, R. Nicholls and | Allen being particularly prominert, while Miles got in some useful line kicking. From a high centre kick Allen ■ was collared before he could get his kick i in, and this enabled the Star forwards j to notch another try. The kick at goal, although at an easy angle, failed. From this out Star pressed continuously, but failed to add to their sjcoire, niul the game ended in favor, of Inglewood by 11 points to B. Mr. Johnson controlled* the game. THIRD GRADE. | STRATFORD (0) v. CLIFTON (3). I At Waitara Clifton was defeated by Stratford by fi points to 3. For the, winners tries were scored by Sheehan and Collins, while Spurdle scored for the losers. Mr. D. George was referee. i STAR (11) v. INGLEWOOD (3).

Star deleated Inglewood at the racecourse by 11 points to 3. Mr. T. Petty was referee. TUKAI'A FORFEIT TO ELTHAM. Tukapa thirds, being unable to raise a team, forfeited to Eltham. SATURDAY COMPETITION Okato will be represented by the following in their match against Star at Okato to-morrow: —Putt, Martin, Sullivan, Rua, Kupi, Malone, Andrews, Power, Grecmvay. Stuart, Carey, RoSve, Eustace Julian. Emergencies: Andrews, Sutton, Kerry and Shaw.

The following will represent United against Hovers to-morrow: —Touliy, Skipper. Tito. Martin. Kisby, Skipper, Charteris, Coker. Goss, Bacon, Maxwell, Marcusscn Gnnson Rendle and Crombic. Emergencies: Molloy. Jennings, Blanchard. Warren. Arden, and O'Grady. Players are reminded that they must play in club colors (light blue) for the. supply of which the secretary has arranged. The following will represent Rovers against United on the Recreation Sports Ground on Saturday at 3 p.m.:—Fullback. G. F. Pott; three-quarters, A. Grant. T. P. Grant. W. T). Webster; five-eighth, A. (.'. Thompson; half-back, R. Laing; wing forwards. A. N. Baker and L Reid; forwards, C. Evetts, C. Coker, T. J. Ellis, R. 1). Coker. W. Monk. A. ilenniiiiis. D. O'Neill. Emergencies: Clarke, Mnlloy, Quilliani.