RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 101, 30 April 1923, Page 10

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

j EXCTTDfG FIRST MATCHES. GRAFTON AND MARIiTS DRAW, j BIFLES WIN BY A POINT. Alter hi', ing suffered eclipse for a number vi years in Auckland, the • nat'aaai game of Rngby promises to -bine forth again in all it* glo-y in the reason whtcli was opened on Saturday in autumn sunshine. For one thing. the same has Listed on its roll this tear jus: over iW team.- of all •Trades and cla-se ; 7 of which 120 come I directly under the control of the Kngby i Union, and the remainder, as primary and secondary sctiooU and cadet team-, are affiliated with the controlling body.; And 200 "cams means :1000 players. In the actual jrrade competitions there were 89 team? engaged, including ID senior fifteens. '>i the latter seven teams are set and soiid combinations, six of which have reasonable championship chances. Two of the others, Kden and Suburbs, are young district teams who may be er.peered to faoH together and grow yearly stronger, while Newton still retain= the precarious, foothold on the grade which it has tenaciously clung to for several years. Ponsonby, College Rifles, Crammar Old Floys. Grafton. Marist Old Boys and University are ail very strong club teams from which tai; ent should be available for a fine provincial side to get a place in which three notable newcomers in Mark Niehollsi Wellington and All Blacks). B. Fogarty iTaranaki and All and MMalone (Taranakii. will need to be at the ton of .their form. Xichoiis is with Grafton, and the other two with College Hides. Chief attention was paid by the public on Saturday to the •"irafton-Mari-t Kjid College Rifles-Ponsonby games at Eden Park, where the attendance ran to about 5000. Buth these games were close and exciting throughout, and the play was hard and fast despite the warm conditions, indicating- that the players have given a fair amount of attention to training. In none of the matches was there a great deal of finished play, but the standard was good for first matches Grafton and Marist Old Boys had a great set-to. in which < irafton had the better ~f the first *p« !1 . an<l the ilarisU showed to advantage in the second. Grafton led 3-3 at half-time, but the Maris"-- evened the scores ljefcre the finish ami were unlucky nor, to have got a win. in the i oliege Ritles-Por.sonhy game the scores ,ec-sawed throughout, and Ponsonby was leading 3-fi til! five minutes before time, but » try at the last moment oav-; (oliege Rifles the win by T» points to S. Grammar Old Boys had a comfortable win against Newton by 21 points t» nil. At the North Shore the home team defeated Eden by IS points to nil. and at Avondale the home team. Snbtrrtm, made its debut against University and suffered defeat by :i.~> points to nil. GBAITOI V. MARIST OLD BOTS. F.orh teams were a considerable time in settling down, and play was marked ,n fh* lirst ten minutes by wild passing with the same swinging between th* tw<*nry-nves. Klrst advantage came to Grafton as the result of Cooke following fast wh~n a Marist rash broke down. and catching O'Connor in possession near his line, from rock play here wraftoa sot the ball away weil and It was sent nicely along the line of hacks for Huzhes to score a try that Nieholls failed to convert. Hard and fast forward play saw <;rafron show.ng to advantaee and after much fnmbling on botn sides a cross-kick save Johnson a scoring chance but he failed to hold the hall, and Marists forced. With play at midfield K. O'Connor fumbled badly, and the Grafton forwards sot away. Cooke Jo ln , in p, ln JJ> c chase to hustle Molloy on the ball at the line and fall on U near the post. Nieholls coaled. B—O. . The Marists showed some of their old-time form in a hard close forward drive that swept over the Grafton backs, for Culpan to score between the posts and Peters to convert the try. incitement ran high as first Grafton and then Marists broke away in heavy rushes. but half-time came without further score. In the early part of the second spell Grafton looked like giving trouble with loose forward rasnes. but they broke down without developing. The Marist forwards forced the game for a time, and Peters and Macdonald had shots at goal without effect. The pace of the game became faster as the Tykes, by kicking to make use of the sun worked down in front of the Grafton"goal, where Peters failed with an easy "hot and Grafton forced. After the drop-out McGinlay made a great dash through the ruck. but fell short of the line and Grafton cleared. A hot rally on the Grafton line saw the colours get clear by fast taekilns and so right up to Marist a line, where play was when the bell rang. Grafton failed to sustain an opening burst among the forwards, and the Marists. though two men short, worked in short forward dashes to the attack, but infringements lost them chances. E. O'Connor ran up to start a fine hamllinz dash, in which Molloy kicked across to 11. O'Connor but the big wtnzer failed to gather the ball in a* good portion, and Grafton c.eared Marists maintained the pressure, and Peters had another long shot at goal, hut failed, and the colours got to halfway. Thbettcr condition was being shown by the Marists. but both sides were tiring quickly. In hard close forward work the blues gDt ■ lose to the line, but were being sent back when Twoomey cut through th.- ruck, being stopped at the line. A scrum five yards back saw Grafton infringe, and Macdonald placed a goal, a—B. tirafton made a desperate rally to regain the lead, and carried through the defence to Marists' twenty-hve. where Molloy stoppe.-. th»m with a mark as the barks joined In. Marists cleared in kick exchanges, and the game was at the centre when the bell rang with the score : — Graf toil ft Marist Old Boys S Mr. A. G. Miller was referee. GRAMMAR V. NEWTON. \t the outset Grammar went to the ntt-iek and twice they narrowly raisseti scoring. Good line kicking and fast foot work then gave Newton their tarein attack Twice they got the ball acro.-s wirhont result, and gave the whites a warm five minutes, but a long Kick by > uwersen took play the length cf the field, and LintoU crossed near the posts. K. lf"- w=en converting. Grammar o. Newton n. Chanzing over" with the snn behind Newton opened with a msh that had Goodaere ; bustled, and a score was missed only by a lucky bounce. N. Ifwersen countered by galloping right along the line. lie was well grassed, but was after the ball again and got over near the posts, his brother adding the major points. Grammar 10, Newton 0. ' . . The white hacks began to show the first gtimpses of combination, but they were up against solid defence, and though they got ' three tries within striking distance they could not cross. Penalties c.eared for the reds, who came well downfield. bnt Burt, side-stepping cleverly, brought the game back, and only a brilliant save by Monoghan averted a score. There was a warm moment on the line, bnt Newton held up the attack. Badeley had a pot. and missed, forcing the reds, but Just on half-time K. Ifwerseu put the ball over the bar from a penalty. On resuming. Grammar-rushed play to the red line, but were over eager and were penalised twice. Newton backs broke away, but lacked any combination, and it was left to their forwards to carry play past the halfway. Then came the prettiest piece of handling of the day. the ball going right along the back lice to Williams, who sprinted round behind the posts. K. Ifwersen goaled. IS—O. The game held at the centre for some time in the final twenty. The whites worked eventually into a good attacking position, but glaring offs.de play by Wright enabled Newton to go fnll down field. Their rush was held within a yanl of the live. Grammar eased the pressure. Moi>e»lian went short with a -=not frn-t ■■■ penalty, and then a spasm of loose foottwit loiiowing a passrug rush. inieat>-ii oj Wright, enabled Goodaere to touch down, though there was some obvious offside play before the score. K. Ifwersen missed. 21—0. Mr. tv. J. Meredith controlled the game.