LEAGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 211, 6 September 1926, Page 13

LEAGUE.

TWO EXCITING GAMES. PONSONBY WIN ON TIME. CITY BEAT DEVON"POUT. Xo two games ever staged in club football provided more excitement than the matches between City and LVvonnort, and Ponsonby ami Marist Bros. on Saturday. For week- past followers of the code had been awaiting the CityDevonport content and the anticipation of a great game \va* realised to the full. Victory went to City i>y 14 points to !> after a contest which had the crowd at a hi"h pitch of excitement from lxdl to bell ° The attendance would be 7(H)0 or thereabouts, and maybe a majority would hold the opinion that Devonport were unlucky, hut anything that wont aeairst them was due to mistakes on their own part. The City forwards, con. trarv to expectations, |i,-ld then- own. and'if anything were going stronger at the end. "On Xo. '2 ground Ponsonby looked a beaten team, hut with time up and the timekeeper waiting tor the ball to go dead. Ponsonby notched the winning try. City and Pon>nnby are now the. lending trams for the championship, and with the other teams well beaten the chances are that the A.R.L. will shorten the season and play the final on Saturday next. NEWTON'S NARROW" WIN. Newton booted first and immediately set np' a strong attacking movement, the ball going out near Grafton's line. Rayner took r hand when Grafton were hard pressed nnd booted upfield, for Lucas to follow up. He made a fine opening and dashed through the centre, beinir finally tackled three yards from the red and whites' line. The Newton backs were putting m some fine work, particularly Little, who bustled through the Graftnn pack. Two or three scrums ensued, and Newton got possession again. Little picked up the leather, and cutting in towards the centre, gave to Clarke, who registered and also goaled. Newton 5, Grafton 0. In the play that followed Herewini. Newton's fullback, showed up in some brilliant work, and on many occasions set his side on the attack. His dashing runs were good to watch, «nd, thanks to the opposing forwards failing to take him low, he travelled far and always got in his kick. Pitman intercepted a pass and went right up to Newton's line, when he short-kicked. Tn the race for the hall over the line Herewini won. A minute later Jones very cleverly cut in and scored, Lucas converting and equalising the scores—,i all. Grafton attacked, but the forward movement was nullified. Little, by good play, took the ball well inside Grafton's quarter, giving to Clark, whn scored a good try which he failed to convert. Newton 8. Grafton 5. Herewini got away and made great progress, cutting out player after player— until he came to Cailaghnn. who took the Newton custodian low. Clark then got the ball and dived over. This time he goaled. Newton 13, Grafton 5. Just on lemon time Clark got off-side. From just inside halfway Rayner piloted the ball over the crossbar. In the second spell Grafton livened up considerably, and although fhey did not exhibit the same amount of combination as did the other side, they frequently had Newton defending solidly. Lucas was playing a great game, as was also Pitman and Heard. The game went from one end of the field to the other, and the swing of-the pendulum did not swing to the advantage of either side. The game was more even, with precious little passing among either the backs or forwards of both teams. It resolved itself into a hard contest. Heard made an excellent opening In midfield and Eent across a swift pass to Jones, who accepted and touched down. Lucas missed the shot. Following a Newton sally, Clarke and Henry found themselves on their own on Grafton's line. Henry touched down, but the referee ruled it no try. and awarded a free to Grafton for forward play. Grafton infused more dash Into their work, and It looked as if they might add a rouple nf tries, but Newton w-ere safe. However, Herewini got offside, and this gave Rayner a chance. From an acute angle he potted a beautiful goal. Two minutes later the game ended with the scores : Newton 13 Grafton 12 Mr. H. Taylor was referee. CITY V. DEVONPORT. This waß the star item at Carlaw Tark. and, as was expected, it proved to be one of the fastest games of the season. Devonport's supporters were very confident, hut It takes a pretty good team to beat City, and once again the Devonport men had this borne home to them. It was a delightfully fast game, both sides throwing the hall about at every opportunity, but in this respect the City forwards did not indulge in the same amount of passing as did the Devonport vanguard. It was the general opinion that the Devonport forwards would swamp their opponents, and it came as a surprise to see the City pack holding their own; in fact, in the dying stages they were doing best. In such a fast game the mistakes were many, and on both sides sceres were lost time and again through the ball being thrown about at random. In the early stages Devonport put on two tries, and their supporters were jubilant. However, at half-time City had assumed the lead, and k*u° 6 ' Pevonport again got In front, but the City men were not to be denied, and rattled seven more points on to their first Si? total ' everj tually running out victors J } to "■ City's scores were made up of tries by Mackle and Ghent, and' four foals by Wetherlll. For Devonport, Hemingway, Dixon, and K. Scott scored. OTAHUHU V. ELLERSLIE. Ellerslie made a hot pace from the start, nut Otahuhu made few mistakes, nnd a penalty gave Ellery a chance. He potted a nice goal. Desultory play followed until Eustace (Otahuhu) snapped up from the ruck at centre, and, beating the opposition, l? tt Eller y converted. A few minutes later Haggle broke nway to score an unconverted try. Following up after this, jtaierslie were awarded a penalty, and Bhand placed the ball over the posts. A 5w y thpn paTP °taliuhu another chance, and Eustace secured two more points. Kirkjand followed up the advantage and hashed ■way to score. He converted. Roxburgh **nt off at this stage and R. Johnston roofc his place. Shand took a penalty for *; erslie and added two more points. Ellerslie made the pace in the second spell, and Quintal rushed over to score an unconverted try. McClure started a rush, and Wogan, taking a long pass, scored an unconverted try. The game ended with the Mai scores : Otahuhu 17 Ellerslie io Mr. Rogers was refereo. NORTHCOTE V. KINGSLAND. ..4 s only a point separated the Northcote thai. eslan<l teams in the championship, ineir meeting created considerable interest. hall k al CODditi ons both sides threw the Im»i S nt ' and Solr,e snappy passing was 1.25 ged Inrr e nt from the outset. Kingsa M- r , e s lßtPrPd first wnPn Herring placed Son? ? Ity goal - hut tllp advantage was not Ini™ ■ g ' as Thompson, following up a {ong clearing kick, was favoured by the "ounce, and scored an easy try between the swvrfi £ Mrßap poaled. Then Carter wored after List had made an opening, and hnt i?S. foaling Kingsland led ngain 7 to 5, not,* i ore the sdpU ruded Speight had notched another try for Northcote. and £»„ soaling again the score at the fa™, T Was ten to SPVPn ln Northcote's n the nrst couple of minutes after wheTfi 5 Northcote increased their lead Sn*i„»,r o^ an scored a nice try, and when •Tvntf ba ' l ' 5 ' bpat McCoy and registered lort ,S r v *"hich Mcßae converted. Northcote nnt'i, }°. 7 ' The Kingsland forwards were „.i7' kl ° s wp " as « combination, the only Ir* l *?. rw »r<J being Flower, who was graft"s*ll the time. Most of the attacking thol , P hv Kingsland in this spell, but «nded C ° UOt p " 1 °" lJOints ' an,i tne B araP Northcote js Kingsland .....'...'.'.'.'.'.'.'.. 1 Mr. McCowatt referred.

PONSONBY V. MARISTS. Marist had the better of the opening stages of the play until 'PonsorJby launched au attack. Grey made a nicp opening and passed to Allen, who scored. Grey converted. Good play by Crewther put Marist in a scoring position, and a pass sent Moore over under the posts for Pickering to convert, riay was of the intermittent eortie. nnd retreat kind through the rest of the first half, but Grey, before half-time, put Ponsonby another two points up by conversion of a penalty. In the second half good passing by the Marist bncks sent Hanseu over to get a good try. The game was a desperate struggle from this point onwards. With five minutes to go, Ponsonby made desperate efforts to ipull the game out of the tire, but Marist met them wite splendid tackling. Time was actually up when a set scrum went down close to both the corner flag and the tmiehllne. It was a case of "now or never" for the westovn side. Lowry raked the ball, Peckhsm shot it to Littlewood, who had lined in as an oxtra live-eighths, and then the ball swiftly went through the hands of Grey and Riley who did not attempt to cut in. U-iher in turn handed it on to Goodley, and the wing .supplied the buret of speed necessary to finalise the movement. Hemmed in at the corner flag, (ioodley propped, shot in an iwpass to Riley, and the latter, with a flying dive, scored. Ponsonby 10 Marist s PARNELL WIN B* DEFAULT. On account of Mangere not keeping their engagement on the Domain on Saturday, Parnell won by default. THE JUNIOR REPS. TEAM FOR ROTORUA. The selectors. Messrs. Hopkinson. Davis and Short, have selected the following players to go to Rotorua, leaving on Friday night next, to represent the Auckland junior reps, against Rotorua seniors:— Fullback, Langley (Ponsonby); threequarters. R. Wilson (Ponsonby), Draffln (Grafton). Beatty (Devonport) : fiveeighths, K. Peckham (Ponsonby), Monoghan (Toint Chevalier), F. Ferral (City) ; halfback, O. Ferral (Ponsonby): forwards, Spearpoint (Point Chevalier), Bryer (Devonport), Lennie (Richmond). Ramm (Kingsland), Radgrove (Devonport), Dizon (Richmond), Kemp (City). Players must attend Carlaw Park on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7.15, when M. Wetberill. captain of the City senior team, will coach them. SECOND GRADE. Foint Chevalier 7, beat Ponnonbjr 0. FOURTH GRADE. The Ellerßlie-Richmond natch wae cancelled at half-time and awarded to Richmond, the referee ordering the Ellerelle team off the field. The score was then Ellerslie S, Richmond 5. GAMES AT ROTORUA. Botorua met the Richmond team from Auckland on Saturday, and played on the 'Government grounds in fine sunny 'weath«r. Richmond won by 18 to 15. GAMES IN THE SOUTH. CHRISTCHUROH. Hornby 29, beat Waiinairi -IT. Marist A 10, beat Sydenham 3. DUNE DIN*. Christian Bros. 30, beat Kalkoral « Pacific 8. beat Athletic 5.