LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 303, 22 December 1926, Page 12

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

LEAGUE TEAM IN ENGLAND. LEAN GATES AND lIX-LTTCK. INCIDENT OF THE GAMES. (By E- H. MAIU.) —■— i IIARROGATE. November 6. On November 3, we played our sixS the sign* of a wretched November were evident with the rain and fog. lowards the end of the game the lo invaded the ground, screening Review. conditions prevented the attendance from , beina satisfactory, and these days in Engfand when 1/6 is 1/6 with a vengeance to the worker-tie backbone oi Rugby League support—such things a, theSe" keeps them away from the games., whereas in normal times it would not. The takings at this match amounted to £230. or a grand total of £9806 lor It; matches—an average of £612. One thin" is certain, if the coal strike does not "finish within the next month the i position financially for the tour will bo anything but rosy. In recent matches i the gates have been much below that oi ''• the fast Australian tour, in some cases of the club games as much as £1000 more than we have received. Jack Kirwain was chosen by the selection committee to lead the side in the absence of Bert Avery. who was resting, having played in nearly every game. Gardiner and Mason were still suffering 1 from the effects of influenza, but played. It is a strange feature about these Y\ ednesday games that we have never been beaten on a Wednesday yet. and on these Wednesdays we have had four different captains—Davidson. Kirwan, Mouat and i Averv.

Wednesday Wins.

Kirwain, who was playing his first game sine* the York fixture owing to an injured muscle, won the toss. Within ten minutes from the commencement Diifty, whose line kicking was a feature of the game, landed a goal from a penalty. Brown was responsible for the next score. Receiving in his position, he sidled across the field and sent - to Kirwain, who dummied the opposition . inside backs prettily: streaking along,; the touch line, he ran posi- ] tion. for the latter to score a fine try. ; Dufty failed. The scores were unaltered ' at half-time—Xew Zealand 5 points to i nil. Delgrosso worked the scrum in ' the second half. Hall going to the first 11 five-eighth position. The All Blacks scored j; first in the second spell. Brown fielding i cleverly from among the opposition,; i sending to Gardiner, to Mason, to Del- i grosso. who finished off one of the best j j movements of the trip. Dufty goaled. I. Harry Thomas took part in two incidents at this stage—tackling tiie referee in ' mistake, and reprimanded by the linesman for telling him the ball not out. I i Ats in the previous game Thomas wa« ' I the best forward on the ground. Salford hit back immediately. Meek, who was playing a line game* for the Maroons, touched clown for his side. Burgess did the necessary with his attempt af goal. Gardiner scored the next try for Xew Zealand, after it had , been handled by Mason and Hall. George ; found strong defence on nearing the fine, but threw his ]6 stone at bis opponents and went over. Our forwards were playing well in this spell—quite a change from the first half—late packing down in the scrum and not following up. The score now stood at 13 to 5 in our favour, and it was left to Dufty to score the finest individual try of the tour. Delj grosso beat two opponents and passed to j Dufty who had sprinted up from hi« position. Fully forty yards separated him from the goal line, but after beating j two Salfordites. he approached the <*oa~i j line with two players closing in on him. J Both Dufty and the players threw them- ' solves at each other. To the surprise I joi everyone over went the two Salford : players on their back, with Duftv still I ion deck, and he touched down unopposed. ' jI he same player convene;!. I Salford then made their 'push to wipe I off tne arrears, and Gore forced his wav J over from a gathering on the Xew Zea- I l land line, for Southward to add the' I extras. Full time came with no alteration, leaving the Wednesday spell for ; , wins unbroken, making the tally 11 win, out of 16 matches. a remarkable ncr- • formance under the conditions with which the players have had to contend. . Another bleak day greeted our arrival j his morning at Hiuldersfield-the seven £ enth gwne-which is 33 miles f „ ! Harrogatc. The heavy rain last „Mv , a»<l up to mid-day to-day ruined fhl gate. The weather fined up too late to ; a eC re re nf/«-n Very "' ° f "J*****"™- *"" as . a result £3,0 was taken—one of the i worst Huddersfield has experienced ThU l.rought our total takings up to £10.170 P f-,Ofi ST D 2T matphe ' s - a " average of • tfb. Splendid weather prevailed " for the game, and it was our first experience P of witnessing the straw being used to i. protect th» ground from the frost et» - Several times during the game the large bundles of straw were sheets of anchor to several, players thrown hard over the touch-line.

Wilson-Hall's Injury

Parkcs improved his reputation against Salford as the best hooker we nave had on the tour, an-d he was wjselv persevered with, lie doing even better than previously. Gardiner was <-iven a spell, he not having properly recovered from his attack of the 'flu. ' The losing ol Halls services a-quarter of an hour froai the finish meant the game to Xcw Zealand. He was playing splendid football, and in the many attempt? the \II Blacks launched in the last ten minutes his absence was sorely felt, for Hudder*iield was not the better side on the day'< Play. At first it was thought Hall had nroken his arm. but on arrival at the Huddersfield Infirmary we found it was a dislocation. Unfortunately a motor accident at the same time at Hudders held, m which three young ladies floured necessitated Wilson* waiting his** turn until they had been attended to. It was some considerable time before his turn fame, and when it did it wa- neoessarv to put him under chloroform to put the j elbow right. An X-ray examination the next day fortunately proved no break, or chip, which the doctor—who wa? previously at ChrUtehureh. N>«- Zealandfeared.

111-luck at Huddersfield.

Averv Inst the toss, losing the value' of the streaking sun and cold wind, th>'! help of which the All Blacks were unfor-! tunate enough to lose in the second spell. ! The play#rs were rinding $the greasy ■ball hard to handle, and fumbles were numerous on both sides, spoiling many movements. The first try of the day was scored by Huddersrield under stran;w circumstances. Walker. HHclderstield's Postle. went down the wing, and after j .brushing aeide two attempts to stop him, [

continued on until he met Dufty, who let him run past, him without making the slightest attempt to touch Walker. thinking the latter had run out. fins try, winch should never have been scored. meant a presentation of five points to Huddersikld. and apart from playing a big part in the win. seemed to make all the difference to the Huddersfield team i in their play from then on. W almsley | converted from a kick under the posts. Shortly afterwards Watte scored in tne corner after he had outpaced Brown. The kick failed. At this, stage New Zealand were unfortunate in not scoring tliree times. Brown touched down after it had been handled by A very and ! Menzies. and in the next movement Hall j wao within a few yards of the posts and ! '■ could have scored, but considered it foot- i ! ball to pass to two comrades in position. ', but the pats went forward. From the resultant scrum, Hall went over, but a scrum was ordered. Not to be denieJ. i just on half-time, after Avery and ! Menzie* just failed to cross, Kirwan I snapped up the leather in the open and ! threw himself over a-t the corner. Dufty failing, made the interval scores 8 to 3 in favour of Huddersfield. Early in tiie second spell Dufty had a kick at goal, but the ball, unlike the kick later by Huddersrield, bounced back from the cross bar. A little later Dufty I found the centre of the uprights —8 plays ■ .>. Huddersfield th'en secured their tivei point lead again by Walmsley raising i the Hags from a penalty —10 to 5 against I New Zealand. One of the New ZealanJ I forwards was freed for off-side play, and I Walmsley's kick, like Dufty's. hit the i cross-bar, but bounced over. The j Blacks were now seven points in arrears. |and Herring, with a neat dribble, broke through an opening, and [ticking up. sent to Brown, who showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition to touch down ! under the posts, for Duftv to convert — 12 plays 10. Near the final whistle Xew Zealand j received a free kick just inside half-way. : i Du'ty's shot falling a yard short of it~ . j objective. Huddersfield thus won by 12 I points to 10.