RUGBY LEAGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 101, 2 May 1927, Page 14

RUGBY LEAGUE.

OPENING OF SEASON. AUCKLAND DEFEATS N.Z. EXCITING GAME AT CARLAW PARK. The Rugby League season was opened on Saturday in brilliant weather. A crowd of 14,000 gathered at Carlaw Park, where the attraction was Auckland v. New Zealand, the latter side being composed of Auckland players who recently toured England with the Dominion team. Auckland won a fast and exciting game by 24 points to 21. The teams were: — New Zealand (black). —Fullback, Gregory; three-quarters, Brown,' Davidson. Delgrosso; five-eighths, Cole and Kirwan; half, Webb; forwards, Avery, Dufty, Gardiner, Menzies, Parkes, Herring. Auckland (blue and white). —Fullback, Hanlon; three-quarters, Littlewood, List, Wade; five-eighths, Wetherill and Prentice; half, Peckham; forwards, Clark, Dixon, Hutt, O'Brien, St. George, Payne. Referee: Mr. L. Bull. THE PLAY. Little Miss Joan Endean officially kicked off, and the teams scrummed on the halfway line. A series of scrums were resultless, and the Auckland forwards brought the play back to midfield. Both sets of backs in turn tried passing tactics, but the handling was faulty. Wetherill made a nice straight break, but, on being tackled by Gregory, passed into space. Dixon took up the running, and was stopped right on the tourists' line. Play was fast and of a give and take kind. Davidson got away, sending to Brown, who gave an in-pass, but missed when the return came. Brown put in another dash for the corner, drew the defence, and then sent an in-pass, which Menzies gathered to race across and score wide out. The angle was too difficult for Dufty. New Zealand 3, Auckland 0. New Zealand got once more back on the attack, but Auckland broke away. Hutt, Payne and Clark were in a rush which threatened the All-Blacks' line, the tourists Baving with a force-down. Play swept up and down the line in lively fashion, and kept the crowd keyed up to a high pitch of excitement. List made a brilliant dash through the tourists , inside backs, sending to Prentice, thence to Littlewood. The latter crossed between the posts, but the ball was called back for a forward pass. Auckland, maintained the pressure. O'Brien sent a long pass to List, and the Kingsland centre racing on a diagonal line, got across with a couple of black backs hanging on to him. Clark converted with a beautiful kick. Auckland 5, New Zealand 3.

It was the tourists' turn next. In front of the Auckland goal, Herring passed to Parkes. The latter wriggled through a bunch of opponents, shook off a couple of high tackles, and then circled to score behind the posts. Dufty converted. New Zealand 8, Auckland 5. The Auckland backs were now coming more into the picture. While raiding in the Tourists' 25, the defenders were penalised, and Clark with a straight shot, wiped off two points of the deficit. Now Zealand 8, Auckland 7. Auckland launched another attack on the New Zealand line. The tables, how.■vrr. were swiftly turned. Gardiner made a short dash, and tiien sent to Avery, to Webb. At the half-way line, the latter sent to Brown, who was trailing in support, and the flying wing outpaced the opposition in hollow fashion as he liked. Dufty's shot hit the post. New Zealand 11, Auckland 7. The game was now see-sawing in remarkable fashion. Auckland came again. Passing by Clark to O'Brien to Clark to Hutt, and back to Clark—brilliant dovetail play that shattered the Tourists' defence—let Clark in to score with ease. New Zealand 11, Auckland 10. The ebb and flow of play kept the crowd at high tension. A long throw-in by Delgrosso sent Cole away. The ball went on to Davidson. The centre stabkicked obliquely, and Brown, fielding it on the bounce, gave another exhibition of pace and scored near the flag. New Zealand 14, Auckland 10. Just on the call of half-time, Gardiner burst through the Auckland backs, giving a short pass close to the line, and sent Brown across to add another try. Dufty with a nice kick raised the flags. New Zealand 19, Auckland 10. The second half opened in lively exchanges. Peckham made a glorious opening, but a final forward pass to Wade lost a certain score. Play was open, but scrappy. The forwards of both teams were well matched. The New Zealand backs, on the other hand, had a sharper thrust, and looked the more dangerous of the two rearguards on attack. From a set scrum near the left corner, Peckham whipped the ball to Prentice. The latter gave a sweet reverse pass, and Peckham streaked across to score unopposed. Clark's shot failed. New Zealand 19, Auckland 13. To the joy the crowd, Auckland hit back again. Close to the line, Peckham sent to Prentice, to Wetherill, and the City five-eighth cut in brilliantly and scored in a good position. He missed an easy chance to convert. New Zealand 19, Auckland 16. Both teams were playing fast open football, and kaleidoscopic changes in the play kept the crowds simmering with excitement. Auckland,- in quick succession, launched a number of attacks, which carried plenty of pace, but faulty handling caused several promising movements to peter out. Gardiner put in a straight run to finally fall when six of the home side tackled him. A free came to the tourists at short range, and Gardiner had only to lift the ball to put it across. New Zealand 21, Auckland 16.

Parkes ran through to Hanlon, his clubmate saving a score with a clean, low tackle. Wade retaliated with a speedy run, and his cross-kick saw New Zealand fighting hard to save their line. From a scrum in neutral territory, Peckham worked the blind side cleverly, and sent Wetherill away, the latter going down to a flying tackle by Kirwan. From hard ruck play oh the tourists' line, Peckham shot the ball out to Littlewood, and the wing finalised the movement by scoring wide out. Peckham goaled, and the scores were level: New Zealand 21, Auckland 21.

With eight minutes to go, it was anybody's game. A raid by the blacks saw Auckland desperately hard pushed, but Payne led a rush, which brought the game back to midway. With a minute to go, Clark buret through at the centre, and sent to Dixon. Davidson put in a low tackle; but Dixon paesed to Payne, and the latter, amid a tempest of cheering, raced across and put Auckland in the lead. Peckham's shot failed. Auckland 24 New Zealand 21 The blacks made one last rally, but the Auckland backs fanned out and revelled them.

THE CURTAIN RAISER. The curtain raiser was provided by the Akarana and City Sixth A Crade teams, and after a fast and open game victorsrested with the latter by fifteen points to five. Akarana made strenuous attempts in the dying stages to pull the game out of the fire, and lack of finish only kept them from penetrating the defence. IN OTHER CENTRES. WESTPORT. Inangahua 13, beat Duller 12. CHRISTCHURCH. Marist 13, best Woolston, 5. Hornsby 11, beat Addington, 8. Waimairi 21, beat Sydenham, 3. OTAGO CENTRE'S TROUBLES. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Sunday. A meeting of about 70 members of the Otago Rugby League was held last evening to give further consideration to the dispute which has arisen in the ranks of the local governing body, and to endeavour to reestablish harmony. A motion was passed expressing disagreement with the action of the chairman, Mr. J. T. Cooper, in not allowing a full discussion to take place at Thursday's meeting. A further resolution was adopted expressing no confidence in the present executive and asking the management committee to carry on the functions of the League. Mr. E. Longworth presided over the meeting, at which the proceedings were quite orderly.