FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 298, 9 May 1913, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

SENIORS. j SEASON OPENED. TUKAPA (12) v. CLIFTON (8). Yesterday saw the opening of the football season in North Taranaki. Playing at Waitara, Tukapa defeated Clifton by two unconverted tries and two penalty goals to a converted try and one penalty. Natur.ally neither fifteen were up to form, but Tukapa were considerably fitter than their opponents, both in respect to condition and combination. The game was by no means a brilliant exposition of Rugby, but nevertheless, considering it was the opening match of the season, it was not to be cavilled at. Tukapa put a good crow in the field, the full-back (Piullot), largely on account of his diminutive size, being practically the only weak link in the chain. Stohr was in fine form with his place and linekicking, and Lovcridgo with his linekicking, and, in fact, all the team were more or less gluttons for work, although obviously suffering from want of practice. Cade, a new player, showed fine promise, especially on the defence, but is inclined to kick too much. Morshead and McAllum led the forwards. As regards Clifton, C. Tate, Crowley and Goodwin, were the life and soul of the backs, and Howitson (a recent acquisition) was also seen to advantage. Of the forwards, V. Tate was invariably in the van, and he was well supported by his confreres, particularly Bernsten; , Hicks and Cain. The teams were: Tukapa: Bullot, Loveridge, Stohr, L. Whittaker, Cade, Brown, W. Whittaker, McAllum, Smith, Ward, Harvey, St.eele, Carlson, Morshead and* Davidson. Clifton: Waka, Howitson, C. Tate, Goodwin. Kupe, C. Crowley, Elliot, V. Tate, Cainj Bernsten, Hicks, McDonald, Runa, Lash and P. Jones. ' From the opening kick the ball hung amidfield. After an exchange of line-' kicks L. Whitaker marked, but nothing was gained by the kick, and the ball see-sawed from one side of the field to the other, until a high punt by Cade saw Clifton just force in time. Tukapa followed this up with a passing rush, instituted by Brown. It ceased, however, when the leather reached Cade, who failed to get the ball away in time. Bullot mulling shortly afterwards, nearly let Clifton into the visitors' twenty-five, and Loveridge also failed to >mark on one occasion. A good line-kick by C, Tate put Clifton in a fairly handy position, and Goodwin,. who secured the return, gained more ground. The Clifton pack came down with a rush, but Tukapa were relieved by off-side play. A scrum ensued, but the Blue and White forwards effectively smothered the opposing backs. Neither team was putting much dash into their work, being obviously out of condition. A "speculator" put the ball at Stohr's feet, but fortu- ' nately for Clifton the star three-quarter mulled. Several free-kicks came the way of Clifton, and the. visitors retaliated! with a mark by W. Whittaker, just'l about on the half-way line. Stohr took I the kick, and a beautiful piece of foot- > work saw a goal narrowly missed. The f Tukapa pack began several concentrated { attacks on the opposing line, before which Clifton began to crack up. The backs also indulged in several rather wild passing rushes, and a movement by > Whittaker, McAllum and Ward, nearly let them in at the corner. A forward rush ensued, in which McAllum and Mor-' shead were prominent, and then the inevitable happened, Cade scoring.in the corner. Stohr failed with,the kick. Tukapa 3 Clifton 0 Clifton retaliated by a series of looserushes, and for a time Tirkapa were hard pressed, though never in great danger. | Kupe, seizing an opening, stepped into the breach, but the ball was lost while in Goodwin's possession. A promising rush by the Tate Bros, was nipped in j the bud, and immediately afterwards j Clifton nearly opened a scoring account by means of Goodwin's attempt at goaling from a free-kick. There were several scrums in Clifton's territory, but Tukapa invariably lost the advantage through their opponents hooking the ball. | Cade- was several times prominent, but \ he nullified his .efforts by repeatedly ■kicking into the full back's arms. Clifton were penalised through off-side play on the part of Cain, and Stohr, who was in finS form with his boot, landed a beautiful goal .from about half-way. Tukapa 1' Clifton 0 ..Clifton tried hard to work the left wing in the extreme corner, but L. Whit- j taker proved too stubborn a nut to crack. Crowley was getting the. ball from the scrum in fine style, but his confreres lacked combination. Loveridge essayed a fruitless pot at goal, but it wouldljiave paid him better to have found the time to comer. Brown pushed his way through the pack, and got -well away, twice in succession, but was recalled once for a, knock-on. and on another occasion he. passed to McAllum, who failed to make good. Loveridge cured, and after dodging several Yellows, passed to Stohr, who made the mistake of running blindly into the pack. Cade spoilt another opportunity by punting instead of passing. The closing incident of the first half was a good goal by Stohr from a free-kick. Tukapa » Clifton 0 On resuming, McAllum, who was waiting off-side, marked. A free kick came the way of Clifton. Goodwin took the shot, and a goal resulted, the leather striking the inside of the post and just, glancing over the bar. Tukapa 9 Clifton 3 Heartened by this success, the local men became more venturesome, and Stohr relieved with several hefty linekicks. On the other side of the field, Loveridge was likewise responsible for much good work. Following up a danoerous forward rush, Tukapa were, rewarded with p. free-kick, but Stohr's judgment w.-.s r.t fault. V. Tate led a counter-rush and crossed the Tukapa line with the ball at his toe, and just failed to get home. A long interval of dull plav was relieved by a r.ippy passing ,-;„!, betwc-n Cade. Stohr and L. Wlnt-t-ikry. winch ended in the latter gelling over i,he I'm-' in the corner. Stohr made ~ good but unsuccessful attempt to couClil'to'n * Tukair continued, mainly by virtue oi their condition, lo have ths ~„„. |, 1U1( !, n„. attacks of tlu-ir opponents lucking concent ration. Once or twice thev went near to scoring, notably when <!oodwin ploughed his way Ihrougn the opposing pack and was held up on the line \ free-kick followed, but i.oodwin was unsuccessful. With ton minutes to "o Tukapa. being content to rest on the?r laurels, let their opponents do all the attacking, and in consequence often stood a big risk of lamenting their Indiscretion. " Just on the call of time, P. Jones and Hicks initiated a very determined attack. V. Cliff carried it on in fine style, but lost the ball when over the line. His brother, following up well, dashed in and scored under the posts. Goodwin had no difficulty in converting. I Tnkapa 12 ' Clifton .....;.....; 3

I Electrified by this reverse, Tukapa j swe])t down the held and nearly got in j at the corner. Clifton retaliated, but the score was not improved upon. Mr. Koch was referee. STRATFORD (23) ELTHAM (0). The Stratford senior fifteen journeyed to Eltham yesterday to play the lirst match in the cup fixtures. They wire late in arriving at the convincing ground, which was just as well, for the Eltlmm team was selected on the ground, and at the time of the visitors' arrival the fifteen had not been found. Mr. Nuttall busied himself somewhat, and eventually Eltliam sent in a full team to do battle for her. Manifestly out of practice, tin; scratch team was some time in finding its feet. Fortunately for its members, the Stratford team had undergone changes, and some of the men were playing in new positions, which militated against a good game. Eveu for the first game of the season the opening stages were tame. The Eltham men had no combination, and the backs were very weak. But as the game wore on, Onglej', Willy, Na-rbey, McDonald and Osborne found one another, and these forwards put in some fine work. Backed by a reasonably sound set of backs they would have made Stratford more careful, for the visitors gave any amount ol opportunities to smart opposing backs. The Stratford forwards were not as good as they ought to have been, as they will need to be; but the back division did some clever work. Spratt, owing to his injured hand, had to play a kicking game at half, but he made the best of it. Oliver was slow in coming to light, but in the second spell he worked well. Dobson and, Brown were probably the best of the set of backs, the former particularly doing a tig share of the work which brought the scores about. R. Woods was inclined to use the boot rather much. B. Fearon and Boon, the old-timers, were the most consistent backs, but Dewar was also prominent throughout. In the first spell the scrums were very ragged, and the Eltham wing booted the ball from the side right down to Kivell (Stratford full back) who generally got out of the. corner all right. The home team had the weight in the scrums, but were beaten on the line-out owing to faulty marking. The winning team did not really deserve their 23 points lead, for much of their work was careless, but it , must be said that Stratford has a very fine back team. The scores show that there is no Stohr amongst them, only one goal being kicked. Stratford kicked off, the return failingl to find the line. A scrum, a free to Eltham, and Bonner marked at half way, Dobson's kick finding touch. Four Stratford backs handled in a neat passing rush, but Brown passed forward,to R. Woods, who was in a handy place for scoring. The forwards had it on ' their own for a while, till Glentworth passed to Anderson (Eltham), and from the resultant rush Spratt was given little time to pass to Dobson, who missed, and Kivell had to kick behind. Eltham came again, but B. Fearon re- - turned the ball to midfield. Dewar secured from the line-out, but Brown kicked instead of keeping the ball and passing, and G. Glentworth marked at full. Stratford now attacked, but from the goal line Loveridge cut away and kicked to Kivell, who, although he had a good open field when he took the ball, punted into the thick of it in the corner. Stewart marked, and Dobson goaled. . • Stratford .....:...3 Eltham 0 ■. A lot of scrappy play took place, Stratford having rather the best of it, but there was too great a tendency on the part of the backs to get rid of the ball as soon as they got it. The Eltham forwards were doing well in the loose, following the lead of Ongley, Will}', Narbey and Osborne, while Dewar and Fearon- Were the pick of .the visiting pack. The Stratford backs were handling the hall, but passes were often forward, spoiling many a likely scoring chance. Then a mistake by some Stratfordite let Loveridge through, till Tocker gathered up and returned to touch—a good kick. Attacking, Dobson passed to Oliver, who threw the ball away, but retrieved his reputation just later by improving .upon a good dodgy run ofTocker's, and Eltham was penned on the line. Dobson's attempt at a goal from a mark just fell short. But Oliver was following up, and he scored, Dobson adding the major points. Stratford 8 Eltliam :...; 0 ■ - A loose rush put Stratford on the defence, and Eltham was given a free in the visitors' 2o right away. fi. Glentworth's kick just going wide. R. Woods i:-.fli - ricd. the ball back ,again, Fearon with him. Brown, Dobson, and Oliver handled . in a nice passing run, but Tocker missed his pass. Eltham was not equal to requirements, and Sullivan pushed over. Mo goal. Stratford 11 Eltham ~0 SECOND SPELL. • • Opening the second spell, Willy headed a rush which ended near the Stratford line, the.forwards losing the ball. An infringement enabled Kivell to return to half way, and the tables were turned. The Eltiiam forwards were playing with a good deal of "devil," but Dobson, Brown and Co. were nipping about with the ball. From a rather strenuous Eltham kick Brown made a good run and scored. Stratford '..14 j Eltham 0 Tocker was the next to score for Stratford, the result of the' visitors' superiority in the line-out and the failure of the Eltham backs to collar sensibly. No goal. Stratford 17 Eltham 0 ! Loveridge changed the venue with a fine single-handed rush, but before his supports arrived the Stratford backs had the ball again. Oliver made a nice opening for Brown, who sprinted in good stvle', and Woods rut in at the nick of time, scoring behind the posts. Stratford 20 Eltham 0 A minute later, Brown crossed under the po-ds. but was culled back for an infriiWpwont. The visitors were not to be denied, however, and soon he scored A: in. ho goal resulting. The game ended Stratford 23 Mil ham 0 JUNIORS. i TUKAPA ('.)) v. ■(-I.il-TON (3). A well-contested game between tbe. .nbove teams was nlayed in (be Western Park yesterday afternoon. West scored one try and kicked two penalty goals for Tukapn., while Clifton score one try. Mr. B. Petty was referee. ELTIIAM V. STRATFORD. Stratford, Mav S. Eltham sent a weak junior team to Stratford, several being but schoolboys. The match resulted in a hollow victory for Stratford by 33 to nil or thereabouts. An Eltham enthusiast states that it is unlikely this team will go on with the fixtures. Inglewood forfeited to Star. ,_ [

Rovers will play Okato, at Okato, tomorrow, with the following team: -~. Stewart, K. Stohr, Webster, E. Grant, Thompson, lioid, F. Loveridge, Ellis, Newell, Brown, Lu.sk, Drake, Little, Jennings and Oago. Cars will leave West's Stables at 1,45 p.m. sharp.