THE LEAGUE CODE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 146, 22 June 1926, Page 14

THE LEAGUE CODE.

THE REP. TEAM

FIRST TRIAL MATCH

AGAINST SOUTH AUCKLAND

J There is no element of surprise in i the provisional choice of 20 players to ! train for the final selection, on Thursday, of the Auckland rep. team. As far as the forwards are concerned, several players, on this season's form, practically pick themselves, and in that category can be mentioned Singe, of Marist —the' best forward in Auckland at the moment —and Hutt. The choice of hookers is to rest between St. George, of Devonport, and Townsend, of City. That mean* that one will be dropped. For the remaining three places there is plenty of talent offering, and the selectors may find it difficult to sort them out. Avery, of Grafton, who has had a wide experience in big football, is in the provisional choice, and it will be interesting to see if he gets a place. This season his form has boen variable, but he is a heady player, who generally does well on a big occasion.

The selection of the backs presents more difficulty, for the reason that several of the players have been playing in different positions for their clubs during the season. For fullback the candidates are Gregory and Dufty, yet each can play a good game in the fiveeighths line. The concensus of opinion in League circles is that Gregory is the better fullback of the pair, although possibly,-as a compromise, Dufty may be selected for the position, with Gregory closer up to the the forwards.

Tf the experience of last year, when the Queensland team was across, is taken as .a guide, the selectors will regard pace as a qualification for the three-quarter line. The most brilliant scoring threequarter in the code to-day is undoubtedly L. Brown, the City flyer, but if he is selected it is essential that a player blessed with speed must be chosen as centre three-quarter. B. Davidson, of City, has this necessary qualification. and further, plays alongside Brown in clifb games. Littlewood is a suitable candidate for tho other wing. The selectors' real difficulty will be the arrangement of the five-eighths line, and it will be interesting to see how they will weigh the qualifications of Kirwan, Cole. Delsrosso and Wetherill. On form to date, Delerofso should be fairly sure of a place. The selection of a half-back should not present great difficulty, as Peckham could fcarcelv be left out.

The provisional '20 by no means exhausts the talent available for rep. fixtures, particularly in regard to backs. In this category mieht be mentioned Brisbane, of Marist, L. Scott, of North Shore, and Hyland, of Richmond. As far as some of the lesser known players who have been in good form this season are concerned,- it would be a wise move to give them a try out in an A and B fixture as early as possible. SHORE'S FIGHTING FINISH. A wonderful fighting finish was the outstanding feature of the game between Ponsonby and Devonport, and it was the western team's good fortune that in the end they had a three points margin. On the full run of the play the seasidere were not an inferior side, but they '.failed to seize the chances that the j?ods of fate gave them. For three parts of the gtfme Devonport were often in the ascendancy, but- the finishing touch was absent, and promising movements ; which . should have produced points proved abortive. On the other hand Ponsonby took practically every scoring chance that came their way. They snatched an opening five pointe in the first minutes of the game, and although Shore soon drew level, Ponsonby got another try and had a three points margin at the interval. In the second half when it was level pegging Riley added two sensational tries for Poneonby with brilliant solo efforts, which revealed the great gift of opportunism and made the Shore defence look curlQusly inept. On both occasions the Devonport rearguard was caught out of position. A conversion of one of the tries made the score at this stage: Ponsonby 10, Devonport 5. With but 20 minutes to go it appeared a hopeless outlook for Devonport. Some of the spectators expected something in the nature of a mild rout to develop, but the unexpected happened. Shore hit back, forwards and backs alike combining in some of the movements. - In whirlwind play the Ponsonby defence was shattered ttiree times. Laing converted one of the tries, arid Shore finally amassed 1G points. It wae a great recovery, and the big crowd of spectators, up to the time that the bell rang no side, had a succession of thrills. Devonport almost had pulled the game out of the fire after a stirring, uphill fight.

Forward, the teams were evenly matched. It was even going in the open, while in the eet scrums St. George aud Lowry about evenly divided the hooking honours. In the backs, Ponsonby had a slight advantage. They checkmated the t Shore attack by solid defence and close marking of opponents, while, when scoring chances came they were very quick to embrace them. The Ponies' backs showed variety in attack, while the Devonport method was stereotyped and lacking in subtlety and finesse "until the opening of the finale, when they 'played like men inspired. All the Ponsonby i backs played well. Delgrosso played a I very heady game, and Riieycame into the spotlight with brilliant individualism. Forward the western pack was very even, with Hutt a shade outstanding. The display of Laing at fullback for Shore was watched with interest. The veteran physically was not at his best, but he played skilfully, and on occasions ■ was quick to turn defence into attack by I running the backs into position. All that L, Scott asked for on the wing was a scoring chance, and he finished a couple of the Shore attacking efforts like" a champion, going for the line witb splendid determination. The Shore intermediate line was well balanced, and the combination was good, but they found the defence, except on one occasion wheii Seagar cleverly cut out three.opponents, practically impenetrable. The Shore spearhead stood up to their task well, and fought it out to the bitter end. Ruby and O'Brien were in the thick of everything, but they got good support from their colleagues.

MANGEKE , WIN AGAIN. Parnell were unrortunate in not havin<» 1 tbeir full team, but the third grade men whom they had playing did remarkably well, especially young Kerr, the fullback, who throughout the whole game proved himself to be as safe as a church Mangere had their complete team, and the bad luck which has dogged them in most of the , games this season was absent on this occasion. Running well up iv tbe competition, as they are at present, there.is every probability they with more training, will eventually come out on top, if proper attention is paid to team play among the backs.

i CITY'S SUPREMACY. j I City Kovers demonstrated their j superiority over Newton Kangers on' Saturday in a conclusive manner and carried the day by 34 points to 20, after a fast, exciting match. Late in the second spell Newton showed greatly improved form, and at one stage looked as if they would catch City by forceful play. The latter, however, were too good, and made the pace too solid for j Newton. The game was remarkable for the fast scoring, 14 points being run | up by the two teams in eight minutes. Better combination, more certain tackling, and nippy interchanges were mainly responsible for City's good showing. In these respects Newton lacked tilts combination. There were thre<> or four out- | standing players, but they wore not able to stay the lightning-like rushes of the opposition. Wade and Davidson, among t'lc backs, played a , consistently good game. The former scored on four occasions, Davidson each time giving his eluhinate the opening. Brown, fis I fullback, was well placed, and was responsible for great saves when tilings looked dangerous. Lewis. Wetherill and lA. Townsend were the pick of the forward division. Lewis Ireing especially j clever in the ruck. For Newton the triers were Mansill. Little. Herewini. j and Hargreavcs in the back quarter. A . little more attention to combination ! and these men would be a formidable j proposition. Poison was in great form, I and proved a nippy half who lacked enough support. Clark was the pick of the forwards, and more than once | set Ivs team going, to sive Hnrpreaves | or Mansill the chance to score. A j feature of the match wa.s the clean- j ness of the play, which provided the I crowd of supporters plenty of scope I° r their vocal powers. ATHLETICS NARROW WIN. The win registered by Athletics-Graf-ton on Saturday over the Richmond 1 thirteen was a narrow one. The winning team showed much better combination j than the maroon and blues, although as ; the scores, 11 to 10, indicated, there was little between the two teams on the full run of the play. Both teams gave a ! bright exposition of the League code. ' and threw the ball about freely. Dufty's fine goal kicking was really the deciding factor of the contest. One of his shots was a sensational one. From just outside half way Dufty gained a great : goal, the ball touching the post high up and bouncing over the cross-bar. Avery, Courtney and Herring performed great work among the Athletic forwards, ; while the backs were a well-balanced lot. Parkes (Richmond) has found his real position as wing three-quarter. He is a hard worker, and on Saturday he showed up magnificently along with Prentice, the latter being one of the ' smartest five-eighths playing League in ' Auckland to-day. His exhibition on Saturday was brilliant. A feature of : the whole game was the manner in which he opened the play up. Prentice has a good future in front of him, and sorely is worth a try out in one of the j rep. teams this season. j I PLAYING IN THE DARK. ! Saturday's match between Ellerslie > and Otahuim on the Domain was finished in darkness. The game did not commence till 3.20 p.m., and finished at S.JQ p.m." It was a good "go," both, sides playing their best. At times excitement was intense, and had Otahuliu been just | a bit lucky they must have scored on at least two occasions. Ellerslie, on the other hand, played a hard defensive game, and deserved their win, which keeps them at the top of the B championship table of points.