FOOTBALL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9540, 12 July 1909, Page 5

FOOTBALL.

WAIRARAPA RUGBY UNION. SATURDAY'S MATCHES. The Wairarapa Rugby Union's fixtures were continued on Saturday last, under fairly favourable conditions. The rain on Friday and on Saturday morning had made most of the grounds somewhat heavy; the weather in the afternoon kept fine. The defeat of Gladstone by Ked Star, and the beating inflicted by Greytown on Lower Valley, has left the winner of the senior championship still an open question. SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. RED STAR v. GLADSTONE. The Red Scar and Gladstone seniors met at Gladstone, and a fast and exciting game was witnessed. The home team, winning the toss, had the wind behind them and played with great vigour, but the defence of tne visitors' backs was too sound, and the spell ended without any score. The Red Stars asserted themselves in the second spell, and had Gladstone practically all the time on the defence, on several occasions being within an ace of scoring. The determined onslaughts of the Star forwards were at last rewarded, Collett scoring a try, which, however, was not converted. There was no further score,the visitors thus winning by three points to nil. The Red Star forwards played dashing game all through, while the backs showed better form than they had done previously this season. Collett stood out as the best forward on the ground, and he was ably assisted by the rest of the Star pack, Miller and McKenzie in particular being conspicuous. The Star backs all played a sound game, Darvill and Ball being prominent all through the match. Momo, S. Mason, and Tori were the pick of the home backs, while of the forwards McLaren, Cadwallader, F. Johnston and G. Sexton put in splendid work. Mr E. McKenzie made an excellent referee, being most impartial in his decisions. GREYTOWN v. LOWER VALLEY. The match between Grey town and Lower Valley, played at Martinbor- : ough, was an excellent one to watch. It was very fast and keenly contested, but throughout Greytown showed a superiority which eventually led them to victory. In the firat spell Rogers and Skeet scored, and the latter converted one try. Both tries were initiated by Beard from behind the scrum. The "long fellow," who loaks somewhat incongruous behind a scrum, nevertheless knows what to do, and started. some good passing rushes. His height also enabled him to take about half a dozen markß from the line out, which to a half back of ordinary stature would be impossible. There was j no score during the second spell, alt ough Greyt.)<vn had the upper hand, and narrowly missed scoring several times. The game was won by the fine work of the Greytown forwards, who worked the ball to the vicinity of the goal time after time, leaving the backs to do the rest. On two occasions the latter succeeded, and in one or two others were tackled on the line.

.Rogers, Beard, Jury, and the Skeet brothers were very safe in defence, the two last quite excelling themselves. The try scored by Rogers was a "Percy Rogers try"—a result of dash plus weight of avoirdupois. Both J. Adams and W. Adams did excellent work for Martinborough, but Greytown forwards, although lighter than their opponents!, more than held their own and got the ball from the scrum on all but'a few occasions. Greytown were penalised no less than eight times for irregularity in putting the ball in the scrum, several times when attacking hotly, but they soon settled down and got the ball just as easily when the ball went straight in. The half also, on some three occasions, found the habit of picking the ball out of the scrum rather expensive. There was a large crowd of spectators, about as many Greytown as Martinborough, each lustily urging their favourites, but the game was fought out in excellent spirit. Peter Cowan and J A lex. Millar found themselves kept busy stemming the rushes of the Greytown forwards, but lost no credit in the doing. The Greytown forwards are particularly even, and it were invidious to attempt to pick out the best, put one could always see the head of Allen to the fore in all the rushes. Mr A. B. Charters ably controlled the game. Mr Hugh Mackay took up a colleci tion on the ground for the funds of the Union, and this kindly act brought in £3 12s gro-s. To say that the people of Martinborough were disappointed at the result probably expresses the case feebly; the average one, however, was willing to admit that their favourites had met a team which, on the play, was superior, although many of the local public had, prior to the match, expressed themselves in unmistakable terms re the superiority of Lower Valley. JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. RED STAR v. CARTERTON. A weak Red Star junior team, including a number of third-class players, defeated Carterton juniors, at Carterton, by seventeen points to For the winnpra L. Welch, 'gton, Colder, Mclla Li 3, and

Clarke scored tries, one of which Clarke converted. Thompson and Crawley scored tries for Carterton Crawley converting one. THIRD CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP. MASTERTON v. CARTERTON. Masterton thirds beat Carterton thirds, at Carterton, by six points to three. For Masterton, Johns scored a try, and Fitsher kicked a penalty goal. Nix scored a try for Carterton. WAIRARAPA RUGBY UNION. A meeting of the Management Committeee of the Wairarapa Rugby Union was held at Carterton on Saturday evening, when there were present,—Messrs A. B. Charters (chairman), E. McKenzie, C. Reid, W. Hart, H. McKenzie, and J. M. Nicholls. The New Zealand Rugby Union wrote to the effect that the penalty inflicted on Smith of Dalefield was too light, and it was decided to increase it until the end of the seaso". One insurance claim was disallowed,owing to noncompliance with Rule sof Accident Insurance Rules, ard Henderson, of Carterton, was placed on the insurance list. The Union expressed itself agreeable to meet the Fox ton sub-Union at Masterton, and the Rotorua Union at Carterton, on dates to be arranged. Three transfers were granted from seniors to juniors—Foreman, of Gladstone (Carterton), and Saunders and Ruhurau, of Lower Valley. The treasurer reported that the finances of the Union were now assuming the stage of having a credit balance, and that the balance of last year's accounts can now be paid.

Donations were received from Messrs W. C. Buchanan, three guineas; W. M. HalJey, two guineas: and J. McMaster, one guinea; to whom the Union wishes to tender its thanks. The following fixtures were then drawn: — SENIOR. July 24th.—Carterton v. Greytown, at Carterton; referee, Mr E. McKenzie. Gladstone v. ' Lower Valley, at Greytown,3. referee, Mr A. B. Charters. July 31st. —Carterton v. Red Star, , at Carterton; referee, Mr E. Mo Kenzie. Gladstone v. Grey town, at Greytown; referee, Mr A. B. Charters. August 7th—Red Star v. Lower Valley, at Greytown; referee, Mr A. B. Charters. Gladstone v. Carterton, at Carterton; referee, Mr E. McKenzie. August 14th.—Red Star v. Gladstone, at Masterton; referee, MrE. McKenzie. Lower Valley v. Greytown, at Greytown; referee, Mr A. B. Charters. August 21st.—Red Star v, Greytown, at Masterton; referee, Mr A. B. Charters. Carterton v. Lower Valley, at Carterton; referee, Mr E. McKenzie. JUNIOR. July 17th. —Liberal v. Dalefield, at Dalefield; referee, Mr L. Armstrong. Red Star v. Greytown, at Greytown; referee, Mr J, M. Nicholls. July 24th.— Lower Valley v. Red Star, at Carterton; referee, Mr J. M. Nicholls. Liberal v. Carterton, at Carterton; referee, Mr F. Roydhouse. July 31st. —Dalefield v. Lower Valley, at Martinborough; referee, Mr J. M. Nicholls. Liberal v. Red Star, at Carterton; referee, Mr J. McKenzie. (Two dates had to be transposed to allow of fitting in of grounds). THIRD CLASS. July 17th.—Carterton v. Red Star, at Carterton; referee, Mr F. Roydhouse. July 24th;—Dalefield v. Carterton,' at Dalefield; referee, Mr L. Armstrong. The following are the positions of the teams in the various competitions : SENIOR. d 5 HJ 4-1 .S .5 '« 'o O M P. C aj m r-- ZS c a g S co m .5 es 5 o ij o o jo £ j -Q 0-t P* O Carterton 3 1 3 49 39 9 j Red Star 3 22 52 33 8 i Greytown 3 22 50 36 8 Lower Valley 3 3 1 43 47 7 Gladstone 1 5 2 17 56 4 THIRD CLASS. Masterton 7 0 0 150 9 14 Red Star 6 10 108 14 12 Carterton 4 3 0 93 24 8 Dalefield 3 5 0 64 68 6 Hikurar.gi 1 7 0 11 171 2 Te Ork Ore 0 5 0 5 145 * *Disqaulified. The Masterton School team defeated the Greytown School team at Greytown, on Saturday morning last by 17 points to nil. Ewington (2),. Hoar, Ah Lop and Ibbetson scored tries, one of which Hoar converted. In the al'ternuon the Masterton School team defeated a South Wairarapa Schools team by 3 points (a try scord bylEwington) to nil. BROWN SHIELD CONTEST. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, July 11. In the Association football match for the Brown Shield Wellington defeated Taranaki by 5 goals to 2.