FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1920, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

THE RUGBY GAME. TARANAKI CHAMPIONSHIP. | ANOTHER DRAWN GAME. I As wag generally anticipated, the second [match between Hawera and Clifton, which was j played at Waitara on Saturday, to attempt to | decide the provincial championship, proved a closo and keen contest, resulting in a draw, ! each side scoring an unconverted try. i On the day, Clifton had the better of the j n atch, attacking during the greater >art of , the first spell, and throughout about hair the second With a little more 8u;:v, In the rear division they should have pf.'ured on three or four occasions, while they were also , unlucky in not converting some of about fifI teen shots they had at goal. Though awdsd ino charge on two occasions, no soals resulted, George striking the post on one occasion. Tho majority were good kicks, bn 1 just failed to assist tho score. The d-ty was a perfect one, and the match drew a L«r/re crowd Though the sun pr-.r/M j detrimental, particularly to Clifton In tho first ; spell, the game itself proved full cf er.ciie-1 ment. Play was very fast, the pace 'ln the! early stages being "a cracker." It tew also fairly open, though neither teem m®<!e »£! much use of thtm* backs a* f the. public w*uid \ havo liked. This was due, In tho cise of | Hawera, to inability to secure tho ball from the scrum, and on the occasions when they did, Robertson was apt to go too much on his own and noglect his speedy wings. Of the forwards, West and Taylor (Clifton) were the /nest prominent. Clifton, who opened with a strong sun in their faces, attached hotly from the start, and failure by Wii!n to take the ball let thera through, arid within a .minute Hawera were forced Clifton, however, came swarming down again, and smart opening bv Colman saw first Pennirrt!, and then Goodwin, on the other wing, nearly over. The latter also essayed a pot, which went wide, and the ball was forced. Hunt was then responsible for Hawcra. getting to half-way, being winded |in the effort. Hawera now took a hand, and 1 a free kick smartly followed up, saw thorn in a nice position, but Taylor saved by ! marking. Fast play continued Patterson, obtaining possession transferred to Spratt, who shot the ball across to Whittington, the latJer.being taken by Goodwin. A high kick by McDavitt had Clifton again attacking and a penalty gave George a shot, which just missed, .the ball being forced. Clifton forwards still had the upper hand. ;>nd their backs started throwing tho ball about, but lacked finish, and West was able to head his forwards to haif-way, receiving a knock in the effort Colman lined at the twentyflve where Hawera infringed and charging too soon, George again had a shot, which just fell short, and was forced. Free kicks to Hawera and Clifton in turn saw the latter charge down after the ball, but Wills lined cleverly. A bout of passing by Clifton failed throjgh Penniall gotting in front o? Column. Features of the nest few imomenis were line kicks by Robertson and Colman, and a fine dash by the former, who smothered George. Cameron nest stopped a dangerous Clifton . rush, but almost immediately George had another shot in front of tbo goal, which was deflected in its flight by a Ilflwera forward. Robertson found the line at half-way. A Pttle later, however, Robertson was collared in beating the opposing forward;}, and frorfi an infringements Ceorro had a shot which , struck the post, and was forced. Soffe , marked the kick off, and Colman had \i , resultless shot, another forco ensuing. Then . Goodwin beat two or three men and lined \ at tho corner, but tho visiting pad: resisted well, and Wilkinson, witli a characteristic j dash, got to half-way before collared bv Good- 1 win. Then Patterson shot the ball out, , and George and Sheahan being smothered, ; Jlawera were attacking, and their backs mov- j ing nicely in unison, a force resulted. Wills , failed to take a high kick, but Cameron . came In nicely and passed to Wilkinson, i whose kick was marked by S. George. A ] little later, Sheahan. attempting to beat too , many men, was smothered. Play, which had 5 been easing up, now became very fast again. < Goodwin (making a dash and being collared, \ whilst a kick by George being charged down, ] put Hawera again iu a good attacking posl- , tion, where, from a scrum Cameron took tho j hall and handed it to .Spratt, who streaked across. Robertson's shot fell short. j Hawera 3 Clifton 0 Hawera were now making a better showing, and Robertson marking, Cameron had a shot which fell short, and was forced. Clifton forwards then carried play past half-way. an infringement by the Southerners assisting, but a nice line kick by Robertson cleared, and the Hawera backs gave a taste of their quality, using both wings, Whittington and Wilkinson, each streaking and being collared when dangerous Then came a beautiful bout of passing, Patterson, Cameron, Ryan, Robertson and Whittington handling perfectly, and the latter streaking for the line was collared by Goodwin and thrown out of play about a yard from the line. Half-time then sounded. I Failure by George to take the bail let Hawera to the twenty-five, but .T. Taylor headed a great Clifton rush to past halfway, where Wills was penalised for hanging on and George liad a shot at goal, which West charged, down. After a series of interchanges, Whittington failed to take a high kick and the bail went out near- the twenty-five, whero Clifton were awarded a free kick, and G. Taylor being awarded 110 charge, had two shots each of which failed. Then Ryan marked, and Robertson lined at half-way, where play hung for a while, until Cain led a forward rush, which Whittington checked, but J. Taylor started a movement that ended in a force, A clever opening by Patterson was nullified by off-side' play, and then Colman tried to get his men moving, but the pass went wide Repeated infringements by Hawera kept piny on their side of half-way. until a rush headed by Fuller, compelled Wilkinson to hurriedly line. Goodwin then put in an electric dash, and got close to tho line before he was collared by Ryan. Then from the scrum, Sheahan passed {0 Penniall. who knocked on badly, and Clifton attacked hotly, but their passing lacked precision Then from an infringement, George had another resultless shot, which was forced. A great rush by West carried play past half-way, and Cameron lining at the twenty-five, play was in Clifton's territory until another free kick let them back. Fuller. Hicks, and MeDavitt were dangerous until checked by Cameron lining. Spratt and West were prominent in the resultant play, and Coutts f:tiiinp to stem, the Hawera backs shook things up for a while Coutts, however, intercepted a pass, and cut down the field with his team behind him, but he lined, and a good chance went. From a scrum, Taylor and Soffe broke away, but Cameron wa« there. Coutts was very prominent w'th a heady kick ,that had his team close to Hawera's line, where after Goodwin had nearly got over, Clifton secured from the scrum, and the ball passed via George, Colman, Coutts, and Sheahan to Penniall, who put the finish to a fine bout by forcing his way across, amidst great applause, just as he was collared. G. Taylor failed to goal, Clifton 3 Hawera 3 With fifteen minutes to go, play became very fast, but Hawera forwards gradually carried play to half-way, where George dummied and cut through, but was well tackled. A free kick gave Clifton the advantage. Colman then cut in, but was tackled, and Goodwin also streaked, but was upended by Whittington, and then ovcreagorness gave a couple of infringements, but Penniall, taking the . ball well, drove it to touch close to the corner. Hu-vera, however, came again, Wilkinson kicking high to George, who was rot given time to kick, putting Hawera in a fine position. They set up a passing bout which Penniall intercepted and he streaked down the line with Coutts in attendance and only Wii's to pass. Ho hung on, however, and was well taken by the full-back. Goodwin, and again Coutts, roused the hopes of their supporters, but the tackling was solid, and Ryan obtaining lined at half-way. Taylor and Co. kept moving, and from another Infringement George had another resultlc-ss shot, also failing from a mark by Fuller. Hawera appeared tf» be tiring, and Clifton forwards came with a great rush to Ihe corner, Taylor in the ran, but Hawera wore ! able to save. Then Cohnan made a dash 1 but was held up. and in the resultant play j a force ensued. Shenhnn marked the kick-off, and CoLnian attempted to drop kick a goal, just missing. Then Clifton made a greit dash, but Wills marked and lined, time being called with the scores:— Hawera 3 Clifton ;< AMENDING THE RULES. Rugby delegates from all over New Zea- * land met in Wellington on Friday and discussed matters of the greatest importance to the futuro of the game. The meeting was held in private, but it is understood tho delegates decided in favor of amending the rules on lines which practically mean the adoption of the rules as played in Auckland,

TARANAKI v, AUCKLAND. THE TARANAKI TEAM. The following team has been chosen by fhe selectors (Messrs. D. J. Maloue and J. S, McKay) to represent Tarannkl against Auckland in the final representative match of the reason, which is to bo played at Netv Plymouth on Thursday:— Full-back: Andersen (Waimate). Threc-fju^crs: Wilkinson (Hawera). ;tol>orts (Okahuva), Hickey (Wnimate). Five-eighths: Robertson (Hawcra), Cameron (Hawera). Half: Brown (Tukapa). Raver: Colman (Clifton). Forwards: Fogarty (Hawera), Sirchall (Waimats). King (Stratford), West (Hawera). Masters (Stratford). Thoumine (Okaiawa), Cain (Clifton). Emergencies—Bac»:: Lynskey (Kaponga); forward: Malono (Kaponga). The toam is a good one, though Robertson at flvQ-etghtlr, does not pass readily enough for that positon, being essentially a. wing three-quarter, and a good one. On Saturday's play, Taylor should be worth a trial in the forwards. Colman played a great game, and his inclusion is quite justified. WELLINGTON BEAT AUCKLAND. A DECISIVE VICTORY. WELLINGTON'S FINE FORWARDS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Sept. 4. In the presonco rtf 15,000 spectators, Wellington decisively defeated Auckland as challengers for the Ranfurly Shield by 20 points to y. Tho weather conditions were Ideal, i.nd the turf was in splendid order. Auckland played with a gentle breeze behiud them iu the first spell, and in face of a glorious sun, and they showed up fairly well till half-time. They secured the opening try of the afternoon through the agency cf Campbell, and. Badeley failed to add the points. Weiiington followed by notching two tries, one of which was converted, and at. half-time the odds seemed fairly even, with the score eight to three in favor of the home team. Auckland were aggressive in the opening stages of C:o second half, but they quickly faded away before the slashing attacks of I the Wellington forwards. Neither team of 1 backs rendered much service at any stage of. the game, and before very long 'the challengers were a badly beaten team. The play, although largely confined to the forwards, was fast and open, the Wellington pack bunching well and playing with better com- , bination and generalship than the Aucklanders. O'Brien, as full-back, stood up to his task gamely, fielding the ball iu good style, but the rest of the Auckland backs fought shy of getting down on the ball In rlcse ups. The result was that the Wellington forwards added two unconverted' tries to their taily, while Auckland seldom crossed the half-way line In the dying stages of the contest, .1. THyard touched down from a (.lever pass by M'. Nicholls, and the latter converted. _ Shortly ' afterwards, - Roberts deftly potted a goal from nearly half-way, and the curtain was rung down on what hfld developed into a very tnmie exhibition. On the whole it was a field day for the forwards. Wellington Invariable got the ball from the scrum, but Singe, who was the pick of* the visiting forwards, frequently smothered the leather before the home backs could obtain possession. E. Roberts was in. great form, displaying brilliant dash and initiative, and M. Nicholls, Wellington's youthful second five-eighths, was another back of outstanding ability. The two full-backs excepted (and they both played well), the remainder of tho backs lacked brilliancy. Standen, of Wellington, seconded Singe as the most prominent forward 011 the field, and hard on his heels came Arnold, Hnvwurd, and Moore of Auckland, and J. Shearer, Moffltt and Caicinian ,of Wellington. Mr. E. M. McKenzie, of Wairarapa, was referee.

OTAGO BEAT WANGANUI. - AN EASY VICTORY. Dunedin, Sept. 4. Olago defeated Wanganui to-day by 34 points to 9. Tho game was largely a forward one, but was bright and interesting throughout, although necessarily somewhat one-sided iu nature. Tho Otago forwards gave a fine exhibition, especially in loofe work, and the majority of the openings from which tries were obtained wero the result of their efforts. The score at half-timo was XT points to 3 in favor of Otaao. For the winners, tries were obtained by Crowes (3), Paterson, Knox, Ward, McCleary, Bain, Turnbull, and MrDougall, and Crowes converted two tries. Tor the visitors, Dillon , and Collier scored, and Belliss kicked a penaty goal UNIVERSITY TEST MATCH. j NEW ZEALAND BEAT SYDNEY. , Christchurch. Sept. (. j The first test match between New Zealand and Sydney Universities was played to-day.. The game was fast and interesting, par- , licularly in the second half. New Zealand won by seventeen points to nine. It w/is a hard game, and there were several injuries, ] New Zenland losing the services of two men. J McKenzie in the first spell, and Phillips j near the end of the game. 1 j ASSOCIATION GAME. j WELLINGTON BEAT WANGANUI. Wellington, Sept. 4. Weiiington (holders) defeated Wanganui (challengers) by 3 goals to one in an Association match for tho Brown Shield toduy. The exhibition was not inspiring, AUCKLAND BEAT WELLINGTON, Auckland, Last Night. Auckland defeated Wellington in an interprovincial ''soccer'' match by three goals to nil. This was not ,a Shield match.