RUGBY FOOTBALL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1940, Page 9

RUGBY FOOTBALL

WAIRARAPA V. HAWKE’S BAY

HOME TEAM'S BRILLIANT WIN.

A LAST MINUTE VICTORY.

Rugby rivals since 1890, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa met for the fiftyseventh time at Masterton on Saturday when fielding the best combination in the past eight years Wairarapa registered its first win for that period by 14 points to 10. There was a gate of about 900 at Memorial Park to witness the match, which was played in wintry weather on a very heavy ground. Wairarapa attacked from the start and on the day was the better team. Despite the condition of the ground play was surprisingly open and proved highly en-

tertaining to the spectators. The teams were:—Hawke’s Bay: Dyer, Walford, Bligh, Lyttle, Reid, Thomas, Clothier, McKenzie, Peters. McDonald, R. McDonald, Fraser, Hardgraves, D. Dalton (captain), Keeble. Wairarapa: R. O’Callaghan, W. Peterson, G. Brown, E. Thompson, T. Wilton, F. Fitzgerald, T. Sugrue, J. Fitzpatrick, D. Smith, A. Mathieson, I. Percy, R. Howard (captain), H. Ewington, G. Humphries, T. Hood. Hawke’s Bay won the toss and elected to play with the sun at their backs. Wairarapa attacked fiercely and carried play well into Hawke's Bay territory, where from a scrum infringement Fitzgerald missed a penalty kick awarded Wairarapa. Play went up and down the field. Then Sugrue made a very accurate centre kick and from an incident under the Bay posts a penalty kick was awarded to Wairarapa and kicked by Fitzgerald. Wairarapa 3, Hawke’s Bay 0. Many Bay onslaughts were stemmed by O’Callaghan, who cleared brilliantly. A series of penalties for scrum infringements and off-side saw play carried well down into Bay’s territory where Fitzgerald made a good opening for T. Hood to cross the Bay line and score well out. Fitzgerald’s kick, from 40 yards out hit the upright. Wairarapa 6, Hawke’s Bay 0. A few minutes before the end of the first spell Lyttle started a splendid Bay

movement, passing to Bligh, who made a good run and sent the leather back to ■ Lyttle to beat the opposition and score in a handy position. Thomas’s kick was successful, making the half time score. Wairarapa 6, Hawke’s Bay 5. Shortly after the resumption of the second spell Sugrue (Wairarapa) who had been giving his backs plenty of the ball retired injured, being replaced by G. Colquhoun. Wairarapa's forwards were exploiting loose rushes and swarmed down on the Bay backs time after time. Bay retaliated when McKenzie secured for Clothier to pass on to Reid, who ran a good third of the length of the field to crash through Wairarapa’s defence and score a few yards out from the posts. Thomas converted, making the score Hawke’s Bay 10, Wairarapa 6. Wairarapa rallied and attacked fiercely, to carry play on to the Bay goal line, where Duncan Smith went over to score in a handy position. Fitzgerald missed the kick from an easy position, leaving the score Hawke's Bay 10, Wairarapa 9. The Bay was penalised time after time, and play travelled from end to end without any addition to the scores. With two minutes to go it appeared as if Wairarapa would be beaten, but W. Peterson secured the ball and made a bright run around several Bay men. He passed on to Fitzgerald, who had only the full-back to beat, with Peterson . and Brown to support him. Fitzgerald elected to go on his own. and with a short stab-punt he beat the full-back to score the winning try amidst scenes of great enthusiasm. The crowd was keyed up to a high pitch of excitement when O’Callaghan converted with a good kick, leaving the score, Wairarapa 14, Hawke’s Bay 10. Hawke’s Bay put all possible effort into the last minute or so of play and struggled tc pull the game out of the fire, but Wairarapa’s defence was sound. Mr E. Grantham was an efficient referee.

With conditions of play which suited him admirably Fitzgerald was the star Wairarapa back, and besides scoring the winning try he figured largely in the others. He was sound on defence, and using the right tactics played a heady attacking game, R. O'Callaghan was given plenty of work at full-back, and proved worthy of the position. He repeatedly cleared from dangerous positions and his line kicking was very sure. The rest of the Wairarapa backs saw little of the ball, but Peterson made the most of what came his way. The whole Wairarapa team functioned well, and in the forward pack J. Fitzpatrick, R. Howard. Duncan Smith and G. Humphrey worked like trojans. Opposed to D. Dalton (exAll Black), H. Ewington hooked exceedingly well. In the Bay team Dyer, at full-back was safe, and Lyttle and Bligh were excellent on attack. Dalton, McKenzie and Kebble stood out in the forwards. PUKETOI v. OLD BOYS. In a senior curtain-raiser played before the Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa game Puketoi beat Old Boys by 9 points to 3. IN OTHER CENTRES Wellington.—Contested in raw. wintry weather on heavy grounds, Saturday’s senior Rugby matches in Wellington provided a number of surprises. Marist Bros. Old Boys holding Athletic to a draw, and St Patrick's College Old Boys putting a halt to Eastbourne’s winning sequence. Results:—Wellington 18. Johnsonville 9; Athletic 3, Marist Bros. Old Boys 3; Poneke 9, College Old Boys 9: St Pat's College 0.8. 13 Eastbourne 3; Petone 14. University 5: Hutt G. Oriental G. Auckland. —Suburbs IG. North Shore 8: Technical 23. Marist 9; Grafton 22. Grammar 5; Otahuhu 8. Papakura Artillery 3; Training College 13. Papakura Infantry 0. Christchurch. —Linwood 8. Air Force 3: Technical 18. Christchurch 11: New Brighton 15. Army 13; Albion 14. Merivale 0; Sunnyside 12. Southern G: University G, Athletic 0. Dunedin. —University A 24, Dunedin 6; Pirates 17. Kaikorai G: Union G. Taieri 0; Southern 18, University B 5: Zingari 14, Alhambra G. Wanganui.—Superior combination and back play were the dominating features enabling Taranaki A to beat Wanganui A by 21 points to nil on Spriggens Park on Saturday. The half-time score favoured Taranaki 5nil. Invercargill.—Fielding a magnificentpack of forwards which more than held its own against the heavier Southland pack, the Burnham army

team put up an excellent performance in a patriotic Rugby match on Saturday, which was won by Southland by 13 points to eight. Westport.—The first Rugby match of the season between West Coast and Buller for the Rundle Cup .was played on Saturday, the former winning by 18 points to 6.