FOOTBALL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2533, 21 June 1909, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

TOWN COMPACTION. The ' Saturday championship games were continued on Saturday afternoon on the Victoria Domain. The rain which had been threatening all morning fortunately held off, but the ground' was in rather a greasy condition, rendering the ball very hard to. hold. There was a fair attendance of spectators, considering the state of the weather. ' KAITI-CITY (6) v. UNITED (3). United’ kicked off, and play centred in midfield for a time. City forced their way down to the United twentyfive, where they were awarded .a. '.penalty. Kelly mulled badly from 1 ufiett b kick at goal, and a score was only averted by City being penalised ior off-side. City kept up the attack, and from a scrum on the line Lowe fell over and scored. Toeker’s kick at <*oal was charged' down. Play continued in United territory, and they were compelled to force. United torwards, headed by Bright, Paaka Turei,. and Gatland, carried the ball over the half-way line, but once, more they were sent back again, and Somervell was prominent in defence. A series or scrums took place in tko United twenty-five, where City were penalised. United forced again a moment after- : wards, andj Bright was conspicuous by a fine kick and follow up to midfield. United worked down the field, and E. Luttrell found tho line in City s twenty-five with a nico kick. The City forwards brought the ball back again, and a penalty was awarded t-o them in midfield. The game was principally confined to the forwards, the greasy ball preventing the backs from handling it with any degree of accuracy. Bright and Turei headed a rush of the United pack to City’s quarters but they wero sent back by Rowe and Tocker. United,- aided by Somervell, Bright, and Witty returned to the attack, but Hepburn saved in excellent fashion. The City backs indulged in a passing run, and E, Luttrell missed badly from Puflett’s kick, and allowed Nicolas to get clear away with the ball at his toes. He overran it, however, losing a certain score, and Somervell saved bv sending into touch. Loose play followed in midfield, City, if anything, having the better of it. A kick by Luttrell put his side on the attack, and an interchange of kicks took place, leaving play in City’s twenty-five, where United were- making strenuous efforts to score. Nicolas broke clean through the ruck, and with a fine individual run brought the ball to midfield, when the whistle sounded for half-time.- ■ After the interval, loose play iollowed, and E. Luttrell had a resultless attempt at goal from a penalty. United had tho best of the opening exchanges, but when looking like a score were sent back by a penalty for some infringement which neither side appeared to know the reason for. \Not to bo denied, United again attacked, and Rowe failing t-o hold the ball, Whitty followed up well, and carried the ball to the City line, where Hepburn fumbled. United were awarded a penalty just on City’s line, and Newton’s kick at goal just grazed over the bar, thus equalising the scores. Play now became fairly fast and interesting, the. ball travelling about quickly. Tocker was temporarily disabled owing to a knock on the face. At this stage Malloy was ordered off the' field, apparently for coming into violent collision with Tocker. A moment later Rowe, and Nicolas were prominent near the line, and the latter dashed over. Puflctt failed at goal, although making a good attempt. City attacked strongly, just missing a score by a knock on on the line. United rallied up, andi Newton, Gatland, and Paaka Turei headed a loose rush of the United forwards half the length of . the field. In his own twenty-five, Rowe broke clean away, but was poorly supported, and Bright saved well. United kept up the. attack, but wore unable to score, and' Rowe brought relief to his side by obtaining a good mark. United were now further handicapped by losing Somervell, who had to be carried off the field, and City worked their way down to; the United half, where they were further aided by a couple of penalties. Paaka Turei, Newton, and Winter transferred play to,. City’s territory, but Puflett sent them back with a nice line kick. Witty earned the applause of the spectators by a good run, and United looked like scoring, but their efforts were nullified by faulty passing. Tocker and Rowo put in some fine defensive work, but United were not to be denied, and came again, City being compelled to force. United were, at this stage, haying all the best of the play, but were unable to put a finishing touch on their efforts. Several penalties were awarded each sidq in turn, but no further scoring took place, and the game resulted as follows: Kaiti-Citv 6, United 3. Air. W. Hay was the referee.

JUNIORS. . Y.M.C.A.' (8) v. UNITED (3). This match was played on No. 2 ground, and resulted in a win for Y.M.C.A. by the margin of 5 points/ after a close and interesting game. In the. first spell the ball was forced by both sides, and play was of a very even character. The game was a forward one, the greasy ball keeping the backs from getting in any good play. As the result of good following up for Y.M.C.A., Muir scored and Crow converted in the first half, and the spell ended: Y.M.C.A. 5, United 0. mie second spell was very fast, Y.M.C.A., however, had. United hard pressed ior a great deal of the time. From a iiueout near Y.M.C.A. line, P. Wyllie managed to score, but the attempt at converting' was a failure. Y.M.C A. forwards then got to work again, end from a forward rush Perry scored. Craill. made a good but unsuccessful attempt to add the major points. Excitement after this got intense, and United looked like, scoring, but Cocker ill spoilt by holding on to th% ball too long. No further scores were registered, and the. game ended as above. Craill, Hutton, Graham,' Perry, and Mead played a good game for Y.M: C.A., and Davis, Cockerill, Pollock, and Brown worked well for United. Mr. M. Osborne controlled the game.

THIRD GRADE. Y.M.C.A. (11) v. HIGH SCHOOL (3). This was another good game, some, surprisingly good football being shown. The Y.M.C.A. boys'were much heavier than their opponents, and this enabled 'them to. win. School pressed hard on several occasions, but were unable to get over the Y.M.C.A. line. Brown, Quinn, and McMillan scored for the winners, one of the tries being converted by Paku. . High School’s points were gained ibyyMcLeod dropping a goal from a penalty.. , Mr. A. Pritchard hel<j the " bhtie.

PRACTICE MATCH. i A practice game between the junior teams of Malcauri and Kaiti-City was played on tho Domain, but both teams were very poorly represented, each playing only nine men. Victory restod with Kaiti-City juniors.. Messrs W. Hay and J.~ J. Martin refereed the. game. THE, PROPOSED TOUR. . The necessary arrangements for the proposed tour of the Poverty Bay representative fifteen are now completed, and the selected team is "due to leave for Auckland: on August 11th. The selectors will be appointed atthe meeting of delegates to the- Rugby Union, to be held to-niglit. \ . " “ ** COUNTRY COMPETITION. SENIORS. MAKAURI (3) v. TE KURA (0). The attendance at this game was poor, and the ground was heavy and slippery. The play, considering tho state of the ground, was fast throughout. The first spell ended with no scoro, although both sides were, on many occasions, within an ace of crossing* tho goal lines. Play in the second spell was of the same even nature,. Ryan, for Makauri, obtained possession from a line-out, and was successful in getting over. Lyons made a miserable attempt at converting. Te. Kura livened up, and triedv hard „to equalise matters, Tuhoe from a mark and freo kick making two close but unsuccessful attempts at goal. Marks and counter marks saw the end of tho game, with Makauri leading by 3 to nil. .. A noticeable feature about country football is the lack of finish to much of the play, by hesitating instead of diving for the line, and this nullifies all tho hard work a team puts in when on tho attack. Cole and Ryan were the. pick of the winners’ backs, and the forwards, headed by Lyons, all worked well. For the losers the forwards were of an even nature, but they should practice more legitimate scrum work. Twisting the ball when putting it in the scrum and scooping it back with tlicir hands when scrumming only gets them into difficulties. Of the backs, Tulioo was the. “star,” and perhaps played the best game on the field. Whare, the full back, deserves notice from the rop. selectors. His fielding and kicking were good, and being a strong runner, is a hard man to upset. The game was controlled by Air. Harold Carr.

OUTSIDE MATCHES. THE ALL BLACKS DEFEAT QUEENSLAND. TTnitet* Press . Association —copyright (Received June 20, 5 p.m.) BRISBANE, June. 20. The All Blacks defeated Queensland by 40 points to 25. The game was fast. The Blacks had all tho best of-the firstJialf, scoring 18 to their opponents’ 5. Queensland greatly improved in the second half, but the visitors always had something in hand. Sullivan (New Zealand) sustained a broken leg. AUCKLAND MATCHES. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 19. The Auckland Rugby Union district championship matches were played today in beautiful weather. In the senior grade. City beat Grafton by 29 points to- nil: Parnell beat Newton by 30 points to .3; and University teat North Shore by 16 points to 11. Two accidents occurred’ in s'n or football to-day. Bailey, of , the University team, had his nose broken, and Eaton, of the Grafton team, received a nastv kick over the eye. He was carried off the field unconscious, but after receiving surgical attention as able to proceed- Home.

CHRISTCHURCH MATCHES. CHRISTCHURCH, June 19. In the senior football, Old Boys (9) beat Linwood (0); Aferivalo (9) beat Albion (7); Sydenham (3) beat Canterbury College (0). DUNEDIN MATCHES. DUNEDIN, June 19. The Rugby football matches were continued to-day in fine weather. The grounds were in fairly good order. The following are the results: University (11) beat Union (3) ; Alhambra (11) beat Southern (3) ; Kaikorai . (3) Heat Dunedin (nil); Taieri Rovers (36) heat Pirates (6); Zingari-Richmond (3) and Port Chalmers (3)—a draw.