GREAT RUGBY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 210, 6 September 1927, Page 12

GREAT RUGBY.

THE WAIRARAPA MATCH. AUCKLAND'S EIGHTH WIN IN A SOW. TACKLING AN OUTSTANDING FEATURE. Auckland's triumphant march goes on. YVairarapa, fielding their strongest side, came with confidence and a reputation. Their pack was one of the best that has been turned out from the province for many a year; their backs were led by the Rugby genius, A. E. Cookc. It was realised that in Wairarapa, Auckland had its most serious challengers for the 1927 season. Auckland realised, and Auckland conquered!

the home

side was .a great one— three tries and a penalty goal against a deserved obstruction try. In the end the elevernes*, resource, and speed of the Auckland. backs again won the day. It was the hardest and best match of the season. From first bell till final bell, thriUs abounded. There wa« never a dull moment The pace all through was faster than any match this season. While the forwards battled des perately for supremacy, the backs were engage*! in a frantic duel, both sets straining every nerve. One of the biggest features in the match was the tackling of both sides. Both backs and forwards went for their man, got him low, and grassed him soundly. It was seldom that a mau was missed. When there was tackling to be done, the Wairarapa backs shone. Had their ts«ktyng been faulty, Auckland would have clapped on more points. It was their consistently clever smothering and their deadly tackling that shackled and imuhcd the Auckland attack. There was not a passenger in either team. Every man, keyed to a high pitch, played the game with set

B «uw o»u net aeicrininauon. Although the game was the best of the representative series of the season to date, the splendid spoiling tactics of both packs discounted the play from the spectators' point of view. Nevertheless, it was a great match and a great win.

REVIEW OP THE TRIP. BAT OP PLENTY HAS GREAT MATERIAL. Returning last Sunday from a nin« day*' tour of the most scattered Rugby district of the Dominion, the members of the Auckland B representative team ■peak most highly of the hospitality extended to them in the Rotorua-Bav of Plenty area through which they travelled over 500 miles by rail, motor and 'boat, and played four hard-fought games—three of them in four da vs. The tour was intended as an educational one, and it was, as much perhaps to the visitors as to the visited. In the Rotorua game, which has already been reviewed, the Auckland side undoubtedly demonstrated tne effectiveness and attractiveness of sparkling back play. Spectators in the tourist town were thrilled by the fait flashes from defence to attack made by the visiting backs, and particularly by the brilliance of Cammiek. In the other three centres a repetition of this scintillating Rugby was expected, but, through various contributing circumstances, play never again rose to the Rotorua level.

Torrential rain and a flooded ground necessitated the postponement of the Opotiki match till Wednesday, when the teams took the field on beautiful -looking turf among which the water still lay a couple of inches deep. All prospects of a brilliant contest vanished, ret in some respects the Opotiki match wae the beat of the tour. The Auckland fifteen looked ridiculously diminutive alongside the magnificent set of players which the Opotiki-Apanui sub-union fielded, but the visitors had the advantage of knowing each other, and of appreciating the finer points of the game. Really, it was Bradanovitch's game, for in attack and defence the 'Varsity fiveeighths was at the top of his form. Unlike the other inside backs, and the three-quarters, he went down to everything that came his way, and frequently the hefty Opotiki forwards would send him slithering for yards along the greasy surface on his bade

They were a truly solid lot, this Opotiki pack, keen, clean, and fairly fast, and headed always by Clem Black, a forward worthy of any representative side. Jones, the rover, was never far behind him. Such a plentitude of weight was available that the local team played a 15st 81b man as five-eighths, and he was no sluggard either. It was amusing at times to see him ploughing and splashing- along, festooned with several of the small Auckland backs, but still* making headway. In this match the visiting pack, giving away about two stone in weight, appeared at its best, and deserve every credit for the manner in which It oustayed, and at times outplayed the tonnage against it. Fleet, Mathlas, Short, Keary, McNaughton, Stewart and Brimble worked like Trojans, and Potter was' streets ahead of his previous game.

BtflUaat Country Half. A dance, fifty miles of motoring, and on to the field again within two hours of arrival at Whakatane. Thee* told their tale in tha third match. The field waa dry bet rough and sandy for the third struggle against WhakataneRangataiki. Spectators expected much, but got little more than a deserved and substantial win for their own side. As as exposition of good football the clash was a decided disappointment. The Auckland backs played shockingly, and again it was l»ft to the light forward! to hold the fort, and to depend on BradanoTitch and the always reliable Jacob to atop whatever got past the first line,

Palmer, disinclined to get down as he did at Rotorua, was completely out* classed by the brilliant young Kuku, a 17 year old lad who comet of good football stock, and who baa a promising mrpr ftbeed of him if ho pU fa gooj

company. Quick, solid in defence, and heady, he is reminiscent of Jimmy Mill in the way he whipped the ball out. dummied, or worked the blind sido of tho scrum. Cammick and Tcape gave their worst displays. Rum was very disappointing, as was also Loft. Tho forwards struggled gamely till tbe final stages, when they began to show the effects of the previous day's battle For Whakatane Nuku was always in evidence, and was certainly the" best back met with on the tour. Hura, on the wing, showed both pace and determination, and both he and Hariwcra are players worthy of a good rear-giiard combination. Peebles and BerthcUcn were outstanding among the forwards, the former giving a rattling display of keen football.

Good Tauranga Side.

AUCKLAND TOURING TEAM.

There was but a day's spell. w " n *° miles of motoring, before the final game at Tauranpn, and here a fifteen from local and Tc Puke players inflicted tbe

second defeat upon the tourists. From the Bay point of view it was the best of the four matches. Tauranga fielded a side lighter than the others, but faster and with a better appreciation of the finer points of foot hall. Their baeka while they lacked the fines*e to which Aucklanders are accustomed, bandied well, ran straight and with determination, and were infinitely superior in tackling. The forwards, though tbev seldom secured from the alert Stewart and Bnroble in the scrums, played with fine dash in the loose. Tu Tangitn led them splendidly, and in the backs, Tauranga possesses a particularly fast and dangerous five-eighths in McKenzie, who w »' mainly responsible for the defeat of the visitors. Form of the Tourists. Briefly eumming up Auckland's performances, it may be said that what promised from the first game to bo a brilliant back team turned out in the end to be a more resourceful forward one. The pack stood up splendidly to the strenuous work of the last three games, and most of them had to play four times within the eight days. Stewart and Drunblc hare every reason to feel satisfied with their efforts in the front row. Lambert played well at Rotonia, but early in the Opotiki strugplo was out for good with a broken rib. Mathias. who took h>. pl.c. in the pack, was most consistent throughout, and on his three games, has a bfe claim to inclusion in the A reps, in the near future. Keary and Fleet were spelled at Rotorua, but rendered Teoman service at the other three centres, the latter player with a torn and bandaged ear Short hoed in through every match withsolid graft in the tight stuff, and his boot saved the day at Opotiki, while MeNaiißhton was up to hi* best Train, ing College form In his two appeaxto tho local referees, did quite good

Palmer had a hard task behind the scrum for four games, and though he did well on attack he did not get down to the heavy forwards as he should have done. Farmer's injured ankle caused mm to bo a passenger for most of the tour, and though he stood up to it in the first half at Taurangi; it was obvious that he was not fit to last the latter played his best at Rotorua, and decidedly his worst at WhakanUn* Except at Opotiki his defence was weak Cammick gave one really brilliant exhibition, and then failed to live up to Wβ first performance. Ho suffered from the same weakness as Teape, but his fine fielding got his side out of difficulties on several occasions.

Loft, who skippered the side, was the one dependable wing, thouph McLcod played surprisingly well, particularly in defence, at Opotiki, but injared hU shoulder there, and was thenceforth out of the picture. One has never seen Ruru more off his game than be was at Tanranga, where, compared with his Rotorua effort, he was a frank disanpointment. '

Jacob was the team's mainstay in defence, and no opposing player that came within his reach but went down solidly to bis deadly tackling, while his kicking was a treat to see. At times perhaps, he was inclined to attempt to do too much in running with the ball but it had to be rememberd that he was' attempting to open up the came for his backs.

As has been mentioned, Bradanovitch was the star back of the trip, and if he continues to play as he did last week he too must have a big claim upon A rep. honours.

The tour, though not of financial benefit to the Bay Union, waa in other ways a decided success. It showtd that within the far-flung boundaries of the Bay of Plenty district then is floe football material, both pack and back, that needs only association and coach' ing to produce a formidable fifteen. TMa fifteen may be seen on Eden Park next winter, and it will require more than a B side to hold it. The visitors cannot speak too highly of the hospitality that was everywhere extended to them, and In their general conduct on the tour they deserved the complimentary remarks that were made »bon\ them at various function*.