LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 178, 28 July 1913, Page 8

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

NOBTEEBN UJNUJW CUP. HAWKE'S BAY TJK'S'UCCESSFUL. AUCKLAND WINS BY 34 TO 7. CREDITABLE DISPLAY BY LOSERS. The second challenge match of the season for tie Northern. Union Cup, now held by Auckland, took, place at Victoria Park I in the presence of a crowd of fully 5000 people. Weather conditions were slightly moist, two or three showers falling during the game, but although the ground was somewhat soft it afforded tie players fairly sure foothold. The game was fast aud full of incident, and it was not until well on in the second spell (hat it became evident that the visitors would be unable to overhaul the advantage gained by Auckland when they had tie assistance of the heavy wind in the first spell. Despite this, however, the Aucklanders were kept fully extended right to the finish, and the individual play of some of tie Hawke's Bay men compared very favourably with the best that the Auckland men were able to put forward. The star of the match undoubtedly was Ifwerson, whose brilliant lonehanded efforts did probably more than anything else to break down the superior combination of the visiting backs, while his particularly effective swerving and sidestepping against most determined ladders was one of the finest features of the game. Auckland won by 34 to 7. THE GAME. Hawke's Bay opened against a stiff breeze, and Auckland got tie first advantage, as tie result of an infringement. Ifwerson having a kick at goal from tbe half-way mark, but the ball fell short, and G. Smith and .Manning, with a two-handed passing boat, removed the danger. A long kick by McArthy aud quick follow had Asher in trouble, but his forwards saved the situation. A screw-kick by Ifwerson got through to McArthy. and tie speedy centre was down in time to block the return. The visitors Infringed in the scrum, and Ifwerson had a shot from the twenty-five yard mark. It. went wide over the line, and Manning took a sporting chance by running instead of fore-. ing. lie put in a great dash before sending j on to W. Smith, who also made a nice run and sent back to Manning, who was tackled at half-way. Swain was responsible for sood work, which had MamsUl in trouble, but an Infringement lost tbe visitors their' chance, and Ifwerson nsed the sideline to[ get back to half-way. The Hawke's Bay | forwards were booking well and the backs ! threw the ball about with an abandon th?tl kept the game going at a great pace, lint; they were rather reckless, and the fast Auckland forwards were able to keep them in | check. At last Ifwerson put in a great' single-handed dash, but was downed almost' at the line by Morrison, and McArthy ?ot i in a nice save. A cross-kick by Asher went! ill favour of the visitors, but a speculator I went across ground to Cooke, wio pnt in a ! fast dash, but was canght at tho corner by | Crowley and bump.cd into touch-in-goal. A passing bout by the Smiths. Manning and N. I Morrison looked well for the visitors, hut, Crowley took an off-side pass, and the kick : sent them back. Auckland forwards got [ down to the visitors' quarters, where from a scrum the ball came out too fast for Webb, but was fielded by Ifwerson, who put in a ■ very fast swerving run, beating three men j before scoring behind the ' posts. Webb [ goaled. Auckland 5 ! Hawke's Bay o ] The locals now opened up some passing, work, and a run by Seagar, Asher and Webb saw Moaning throw the lastnamed ont at toin.-h-in-gonl. Another passing rush saw Kcke downed in (he visitors' twenty-five, and as the visitors were clearing Webb snapped a mark, from which Ifwerson's kick at goal went wide. Ifwerson had another shot from a free in a more favourable position, but again tie direction was bad. The Auckland forwards went away in a dribbling rush and carried the ball over the line, but M. Hay ware, just missed the touch. Momentarily the reds rallied, aud a boot by Banks. <». Smith and N. Morrison ended in the Auckland twenty-five. Passing by Webb. Oarinw and Asher put the Hawke's Bay line in dan- j gcr, but G. Smith from a scrum sent Manning away. 2nd the latter put In a long run before sending out to A. Morrison, who missed the pass and the chance, Ifwerson saving. Auckland's nest score came as the result of clever work by Iteke, who put In a line dodgy dash before passing to Asher, who dashed over. Ifwerson's kick went low. Auckland -,„„_ 8 Hawke's Bay „.—____ 0 The neitt score came quickly. Ifwerson put in an unexpectedly sudden dash, and got to (he Hue before sending a high pass out lo his supports, and Mitchell, taking tile ball at top, went over unopposed and scored behind the posts. Webb goaled. Auckland , 13 Hawke's Bay „„_*_„ 0 Auckland were soon back at the visitors' line, and G. Smith had just cleared by clever work when the whistle went. SECOND SPELL. Auckland, against the wind, opened well, hut a high kick with the wind by Manning had ManslQ in trouble, and G. Smith and Johnston bristled him. Johnston getting the ball, bnt being tackled on the line by Ifwerson. A free got Auckland ont of trouble, lint McArthy put in a nice dash and crosskicked when close to the line, Ifwerson getting there again Just in time to use tie fine to save. Auckland forwards were fighting cleaT, when A. Morrison snapped a mark and F. Smith placed a pretty goal from the 25yd mark. Auckland .... 13 Hawke's Bay .„ , o Ifwerson's side-stepping and speed were great assets to Auckland for the next five minutes, when G. Smith was showing the Aneklanders some points. A nice opening was made by Carlaw. who passed to Ifwer" son, to Cooke, and rhe winger set off for the line, but was acconnted for "try McArthy A well-placed kick by A. Morrison had Auckland again defending, and the locals had a warm time. Pretty passing by G. and W. Smith and Manning saw the latter stopped Just on tie line, and from tie scrum Auckland heeled and forced. Tie relief was only temporary, however, for a powerful loose rnsh by the visitors saw Johnston get the ball, cleverly reverse his direction and cut through his opponents and score between the posts. W. Smith goaled. Auckland . . 13 Hawke's Bay , 7 Auckland momentarily rallied, and a fine rally by Webb, Mitchell, and Walters saw the latter downed almost at the line. The visitors by quick following reversed the position, and for some minutes the Aucklanders were harried In their own quarters, Johnston doing great work. G. -Smith opened up a passing rush, but W. Smith failed to take tue pass and Asher got away. lie passed to Ifwerson, who had a clear run and outpaced everybody, scoring in a "ood posl'ion. He also kicked his first goal." Auckland jg Hawke's Bay "._[ "'* 7 Tie Hawke's Bay men. came back io tbe attack, putting more snap into their tuna Itng wort than the Aoeklaoders, and a hefty left-fioot punt by McArthy gave them a scoring position. Here Auckland were penalised, but W. Smith's kick was short, end Mitchell, Walters, PL Hayward, and Ifwerson figured in n passing bout that ended inside the Hawke's Bay 25. A da* from the sidte of tie srnrm by Walters haa Hawke's P.av back on their line, hat a free kick saved the .situation. Auckland, hojreTeT., came back, and Ifwerson got in a lone-handed score! He was tackled by A. Morrison, but wriggled free j,nd cnt through, tie deleave from the 35yd mark and scored iichind the-posts.. He- "ricked -the .goal. A-nek-la-nd. 1 ■ , ,„ 23 ,-r-iHr^'«gr*«a*^. < . li .« f Mj > , W M 1 ,,,.-- s -j.

Shortly afterwards, when the Auckland forward* had broken down the defence, a rally ended in Ifwerson passing to ""Circus" Hayward, to Waiters, who scored. Ifweri son's kick failed. Auckland 26 Uawke's Bay „ 7 Two or three minutes later, Ifwerson again scored a lone-handed effort. At the centre, in a passing rush, he dropped tie hall aud dribbled on, recovered the ball and once more ontsripped everyone and scored. Webb goaled. Ancklsai _ 31 Hawkf'9 Bay ._- 7 The stiffening was now completely out of the visitors, and the Auckland forwards came away again with one of the dribbling rushes with which tiey bad been -worrying tieir opponents al! day. This time they went right tarongh from near half-way, and taking tie ball at foot over the line, H* Hayward scored. Seager's kick failed. Auckland 34 Hawke's Bay 7 The whistle blew before the game had restarted. Mr Benson was referee. COMMENTS ON THE MATCH. PLUCKY RED AND WHITES. Although the points were heavily against them at "no .siae." lie caa-ieugeis put up a icaiiy piucky ligit, aud tie fact thai tiey :ii-e not returning home with the coveted cup i,; uo uis&raee to them. The Huwke's bdy League his only been fnruieu lor three years, and tiiricc tney have come in quest, ct the intei-provinciai rropny. 'Incir enterprise is commendable, and judging by the hearty cheering which greeted their scoring movements, the ream enjoys considerable popularity in Auckland.

There was a stiti sou-westerly wind blowing down lie playing area, and tne spin 01 Lho coin decreed that the red and wnites (ilawke s Hay) should piay against It. L'nier tne circumstances, they not only held Auckland well, but for about twenty inmates actually piayed the better game, so rar us combination was concecnea. 'lieu tne strenuousness of their eu'orts relaxed somewhat against the persistency of the blue and white attack hacked hy the wind. Three tries to Auckland, two 0,. t lie in convened, saw tne hail-Lime scores l.'s to nil.

The most spectacular stage- of the match —aud it was full of incident—followed immediately alter tne interval. Hawke's Bay came out greatly refreshed and imparted a pleasing aiuoam of vim to tue game, 'iuey were unfortunate in missing n score at the end of a pas.siug rush in the loose, but a few minutes later a rteid goal opened their

'lien, after more vigorous attacking, Johnsou raised the crowd to a high pitch of excitement by winning out from a dogged p:ece of open play, set going by himseLf, and scoring between the posts; cry converted to the accompaniment of further rheers. At thh, stage the challengers really looked dangerous, for they continued to pound away at the holders' citadel w!4n cogged piay by their forwards and effective combination by their backs for quite a wtiile. Then caioe a turn 01' the tide throurh the agency of the brilliant Auckland, tentre-three-qaarter Ifwerson, wio sco-e.a with assistance from Asher. From this cut ihe blue and whi.es set in witn 01 scoring movements, and the latter stages of the game belonged 10 rhem alniosl entirely, despite the persistent tackling of the challengers. Apart from the outstanding performance of Ifwerson the honours of the winning side belong most to the forwards. Mitchell, H. liiyward. and Walters were a remarkably siron; trio, the first-named ia particular being always on call to play hand-and-hand with the backs when tie play opened up. Hayw-.inl's following up and tackling was very fine. VVcb;., at half-back, was somewhat disappolutlng. more as the display given by the visiting Jcrnni half (Gender Smith) showed the resturc-e and nippicess wtiici were lacking in the New Zealand representative player's gime. Webb's work was altogether too sttrgestive of Rugby me.tnods.

The five-eighths were hardly convincing. Reke's hare-l!ke dashes were pretty, but tiey never took his site very ffir, and Carlaw failed to combine effectively with the three-quarier line. .'/I -the same, he was responsible for two n: three fine individual dashes.

Likewise the best m"orts of Cooke (wiagl were more on his owi account than in conJunctl'in wilh his fellow-backs Asher (wlagj Is su;i as spectacular as ever, but occasionally carries Us eccentricities too far to serve any purpose other than that of amusing the crowd. Mansil] (fnll-'oack) is an Improving player, and is perfecting his knack of extricating ids side from tight corners.

The best men 011 th° losing side were Manning nive-ejghtis), r.cnder (half), Johnson iforwardi, McArthy ii'ull-backi. ami W. Smith (fire-eighths). a fact which renders more pleasing the performance of the visitors is that' five members of the team who came from Gisborne have not had an opportunity of practising witi the representative combination. THE CURTAIN-RAISER. The Ponsonby and Otahuhu juniors provided the curtain-raiser. Playing against tile wind in the first spell Tonsonby scored eight points to nil. Otahuhn improved after lialf-tlme, but although they attacked frequently no scores came, the game ending with ronsonby holding an advantage o" eight points. Their first try was scored by Minchum, Schofield converting. Longbottoni crossed the line on the second occasion. SOUTHERN MATCHES. SYDENHAM THE CHAMPIONS. CBy Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHKISTCUUTiCH, Saturday. The matches resulted as follows:—Sydenham IG, bear Addlngton S; Llnwood 10, beat 6t. Albans (1. Sydeuham win championship.