BIG LEAGUE GAME.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 214, 10 September 1925, Page 12

BIG LEAGUE GAME.

' ~ I QUEENSLAND V. AUCKLAND. EVENLY CONTESTED GAME. EIGHTEEN POINTS ALL. j I There was a fair attendance at Carlaw Park yesterday afternoon when the .Queensland :Rugby League footballers j played the second game of their Doini- ! nion tour. Their opponents were an all-Auckland team, but with four i exceptions the team was that which' j defeated the visitors on Saturday by one point— -25 to 24. Heavy showers fell at intervals throughout the day, and the playing | ground was very slippery. The attend- j ance numbered between five and six thousand. The teams: — Queensland (Maroon ). — Full-back, [Fraunfelder; three-quarters, Aynsley, [Crouch, Craig (capt.), Spencer; fivejeighths, Moores; half, Edwards; forI wards, O'Mara, Henderson, Bennett, Steinohrt, Purcell, Parcells. ! Auckland (white).—Full-back, Gre|g°y; r three-quarters, Littlewood, DeL Igroeso, Brown; five-eighths, Wetherill, |Kirwan; half, Webb; forward . O'Brien i (Marists Old Boys), St. George, O'Brien i (Devonport), Herring, Singe, Avery. ; Avery won the toss, and decided to 'play from the Stanley Street end, witli the wind and sun behind them. Immediately the reds invaded Auckland's twenty-five, where the ball came out to Aynsley, who was given little chance by > Littlewood. Auckland won the first scrura : Wetherill and Delgrosso handling the ball, but were pulled up for a knock-on. From the scrum Edwards whipped to Craig, who brought off a nice dummy and then passed to Aynsley, who w„ over like a flash. Craig failed with the kick. Queensland 3 Auckland 0 The visitors again attacked, but Purcell was offside and the penalty came in useful for Auckland. Getting possession of the ball the Queensland backs and forwards combined in brilliant passing and • Bennett crossed the Auckland line, but was pulled up for a forward pass. Fraunfelder tried to run up in a good position, but was well downed by Singe, and for a minute or two play hung about the centre. The white forwards hooked the ball, but Webb went too far and crowded his backs, giving them no room to work. Shepherding by O'Mara,-, saw Fraunfelder forced t. ,p_y.'fojf safety by finding ;the' line in his own . twenty-five.'", Moores made a dashy run before being downed by Kirwan, and Delgrosso relieved the pressure. Awarded a free well inside the halfway Delgrosso landed a great goal. Queensland 3 Auckland 2 Webb, O'Brien, and Avery looked like "bringing off a score, but Avery was off side and the good work went for nothing. Queensland were throwing the ball about here, there and everywhere, but they [ were making mistakes, until Aynsley suddenly got the ball at the half-way' line and almost ran through the field, being stopped by Kirwan a few yards, away from the line. Kirwan was the one^who [relieved the pressure; Moores,. Crduch and Spencer participated in some snappy passing, talcing the game"to -within a few yards of the whites' 'line, where the usual happening—a breach—brought j Auckland relief. The reds looked to have , Auckland beaten, but Moores -went too far -with the ball Y instead, of handing .it on to his supports* Herring off-side saw Craig have an unsuccessful, shot. [.As on Saturday, Queensland were being continually pulled up for breaches ana the locals were getting plenty of free kicks. Edwards, with a dodgy run, had Auckland beat, but on reaching Gregory . he tried to do the lot himself instead, of giving the ball to a companion to finish off. Moores. gave a stout pnnt which Fraunfelder, the Cult-back, followed up to kick over the line and. score. Craig goaled. Queensland ..... .i ......... 8 Auckland '.'.. 2 Delgrosso, Webb and Brown set up an attack, but Brown's in. pass'"found no takers. The red forwards generally, headed by Bennett, were holding their own with the local vanguard, while the backs were easily beating - Auckland's backs. The play was mostly confined to the centre backs, neither the wingers, Aynsley nor Spencer, getting many chances. Smart following up by O'Brien i put Auckland to within _ couple ofyards of the Queensland line, where -Singe just missed, gathering in the ball, which would have meant a score. Moores cleared with a short kick. Wetherill prevented Spencer from clearing and the play hovertd in the visitors' quarter. Play was fairly hard, and' the Tcferee found it necessary to caution two of the' players. Herring was later,given another I caution, which was' deserved.i O'Brien,' Herring and Singe, then tore aleng withl the ball at toe, and were only stopped! by Moores getting in a speculator. There! was great excitement when Brown ,andj Kirwan threatened to break the defence, I and -Webb whipping ,up the ball struggled over the line to score. Del- j grosso's shot went wide." l ' ! Queensland s ■ -Auckland .■ j.~.... $ .' i The crowd cheered when Littlewood brushed aside a pass sent to, Aynsley, ! and gathering in the ball streaked do*n j the line with Fraunfelder cominoacross the field to meet him. Avery 3 , I coming down the centre of the field was ■ there to take the long pass when ! (Littlewood reached the full-back, and ho went across to score. Delgrosso goaled. • , . Auckland ................ ]fl Queensland ....... .'_''_' Just on half-time, Edwards sent Aynsley away to be well grassed by: .Gregory. In this spell there Jiad been twenty-two free kicks against Queens-1 [land to seven against Auckland: i j Second Half. Within the first' minute Queensland ! had scored. Craig sent the. ball to Edwards, toMoores, to Crouch; and back to Moores, the latter finishing off abril-! liant movement. Craig added the extra points. Queensland 13 j Auckland i ■.-_'..'._•.. lo j Moores and; Spencer.handled to' *cc ' the latter. go down, the fields to reach Gregory before being stopped:■"•__._ next moment Brown raced- down the"' line, ; and when being crowded out Aynsley sent a high pass infield, was on hand, ' and takingithe ball scored'a great try. Delgrosso bailed to:conTer„ . Queensland-' •'. 13 j Auckland ...:,...:.. .._ . .V . - 13 Delgrosso was now playing half-back, : Webb going into the three-quarter line., The best try of the day came when I Craig beat a. couple of men before hand- l

ing to Moores, to Crouch, to Steinohrt, ] the last named scoring under the posts. ■Craig goaled. Queensland ~ IS Auckland 13 Delgrosso had a shot, the ball hitting | the upright and coming back into play. -There was no mistake about the pace. j each side playing at top speed. O'Mara, ; Bennett, Ste r inohrt and Purcell attacked, I the ball was' taken over the line where it was grounded by Spencer, but he was called back for a knock on. Craig, Steinohrt and Bennett handled the ball and had the defence beaten but Bennett's pass to Crouch was thrown forward. Handling by the reds saw CTaig send Steinohrt across but he was thrown into touch when over the line. Avery was noticed going down the side line and on reachi ing Fraunfelder he centred for j Wetherill to gather in the ball, but Spencer came from behind and downed the Aucklander. It was exciting football and Singe aud Avery were conspicuous.in some bustling work. A bad pass by Kirwan let the reds in, but Gregory proved safe and got in a useful line kick. A cross-kick by Wetherill was badly missed by Spencer, and O'Brien following up gathered in the ball to score. Delgrosso goaled. Auckland 18 Queensland 18 From this on the play was of an exciting nature, but there was no further score. Mr. Ripley was referee. NOTES ON THE GAME. "They'll beat us by twenty points next time," was a remark heard on all sides last Saturday after the New Zealand team had beaten Queensland by one point—2s to 24. On what grounds the opinion was based took some finding because on the run of the play the visitors were quite entitled to be defeated, and nobody could suggest that the New Zealanders did not dominate the game in the second half. Despite this there were plenty prepared to give seven points in and have their few "bob" on Queensland yesterday when the reds mat the Auckland thirteen, a team, with four exceptions, the same as represented New Zealand On Saturday, and considered to be just as strong. On Saturday the New Zealanders won by playing the old Rugby union game of the forwards keeping the ball on the ground and smashing their way through, the only way to- cope with brilliant backs on the opposing side. Yesterday the same method was adopted, but not so extensively, and each side endeavoured to feed the backs. The upshot was that the game was played at a dazzling pace, too fast in fact, and it was the pace that was responsible for inaccuracy in passing and handlingThey Beat Themselves. There can be no question about the Queensland backs being superior to ours, and on the run of the play yesterday their forwards were quite the equal of the local pack. The question arises, "Well, why didn't the visitors win?" The answer is simple —they beat themselves. Any team that will give away 49 penalty kicks in- one game and 36 in the next cannot possibly hope to win, and though the visitors are such good sports as not to take exception at being penalised so often, it is hard to understand," if they are the .fine footballers they have proved themselves, Why they consistently commit breaches of the rules. It is suicidal on their part and never was so forcibly demonstrated as yesterday, when the Queenslanders had- thirty-six penalty kicks awarded against them, the total charged against the Auckland team being fourteen. To show the effect of this it has only to be mentioned that only one goal was placed by Auckland from the 36 penalty kicks, which means that in nearly every case the kick was awarded in Auckland's half of the ground. Had it been otherwise more goals would have been placed. In other words on almost every occasion Queensland were attacking when they were penalised. Whether it is that they have a different interpretation of one or more of our rules or whether, to put it plainly, they "point" is .i matter of opinion, but when the managers of the team, Messrs. J. Doyle and H. Sunderland, were questioned they said neither they nor any members of the team had a complaint to make. They were all quite satisfied with the work of the referee and were convinced he was distinctly fair and did his work conscientiously. The Players. Both full-backs, Fraunfelder and Gregory gave sound displays, but as a set the Queensland backs were much superior to the local men. The wingers in both teams did not get many opportunities, and Littlewood, set to look after Aynsley, did well. Crouch and Moores were perhaps the best of the Queenslanders, but all were fast and I nippy and it was only mistakes, not always on their part, that stopped them from, scoring several times. Wetherill | was the best of the Auckland backs. i Both sets of forwards played solidly j and the visitors were every bit as jrood |as the locals. Parcells, and Bennett did a tremendous Amount of jwor kfor the reds, while foi- Auckland ! Avery, Singe and O'Brien Were ever prominent. One Aucklander was inclined to resort to tactics not in keeping with the best sporting spirit and he should have been sent off the field. The Second Test. On Saturday the visitors play the second test against New Zealand and another exciting struggle should be to field the strongest side possible, but if the visitors can only refrain from conceding so many penalties they should win comfortably.