FORWARDS WIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 225, 23 September 1935, Page 13

FORWARDS WIN.

AUCKLAND VICTORY. WELLINGTON BEATEN. TRIBUTE TO F. D. KILBY. Possession is supposed to be nine points of the law, but it is everything in Rugby, and with the ball most of the day Auckland made Wellington look a hopelessly inferior side in the annual match at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon.

So variable has been the form of the Auckland representative side this season that the spectators on Saturday would not have been surprised to see the home team add another to its list of seasonal defeats, but Auckland played a game that was so full of life and virility that the match had not been going long in the second spell before the result was a certainty.

With an early scoring break Wellington went into the lead, but although the first half was fairly even, Auckland got vantage in. When the second half came Auckland played with a zest and certainty that swamped the visitors. Although outclassed they hung on gamely, and it was only resolute individual defence that kept the scores down to Auckland 28, Wellington 14.

The greatest disparity was forward, and in that respect Auckland had a day out, beating the Wellington forwards in every branch of forward play. Had the Auckland backs been able to turn to full account the constantly recurring advantages that came to them the score might easily have run toward the record 56 points which Auckland on one previous occasion at Eden Park hoisted against a representative Wellington team.

High Scoring. The fact that 42 points were scored in the game is suggestive of much defensive weakness, but it was largely a result of both teams electing to play a game of giving and taking chances in the hope that out of variety of movement it would lead to the promised land behind the goal line. When passing failed to make . progress, the kick and follow through was cheerfully exploited, and it was more the seizing of individual opportunity than true concerted play that got cither team anywhere iu the scoring line. One definite aspect of the game was the harder thrust • that the Auckland attack carried, and the facility of the Auckland forwards to team into action with short passing bursts of play. The Auckland forwards showed marked skill in that method at times. Seeing that both Auckland and Wellington have contributed tin largely to the present All Black team in England, it could scarcely bo expected that the standard of the game would be up to the standard of the past few seasons, but the absence of the All Blacks has given opportunity to other players to endeavour to achieve Rugby greatness, and on the Wellington side there was a younger generation who may go far with reasonable opportunity in big football. Kilby Subdued. The fact that Kilby is on the eve of retirement and was playing his last match in Auckland caused the collective eye of the crowd to be focused on him. They saw Kilby in a very subdued light, but not even a player of his talent can since without the ball. It was his misfortune to play behind a badly-beaten pack. On the rare occasions that the ball came to him from a set scrum he got it away in the polished manner that has always marked his play. He has lost the dash of his best years, but he is still the headiest half-back in the land, and one of the best that New Zealand has known. At the end he was carried shoulder high, just as Mark Nicholls was a couple of seasons ago when lie played his farewell game at Eden Park. Perhaps Saturday match will be best remembered as Kilby s retiring game, rather than for the easy way that Auckland won it.

As a combination the Wellington backs were very disappointing, and some ot the players did not, live up to the reputations, which preceded them. O'Connor, at lullback, came under' notice for superlative line kicking, but he was hurt at an early stage and went oil". The replacee was Plank, and Kilby brought him to fiveeighths and shifted Pollock to the final line As this arrangement dul not show signs of success the two exchanged places. For real effectiveness Bollock was the best of the Wellington backs, his deadly tackling and quick appreciation of the needs of positional play saving Wellington time and again. Baldwin coloured the picture at times and deserved credit for a clever blindside try, while of the others, McGreavey was the most impressive and made the most of the few real chances that came his way, one try at the end of a dribbling run being a remarkable solo eltort. Barry was the most prominent ot tlie Wellington forwards, with good support from McNiele, Wells and Fraser-Smith. The Auckland Backs. Right through the seasoa the Auckland backs have »o t been a snioothl)-\\oikiiip combination, and the selector has been 111 the difficult position of having to experiment and hope for the best. In IJdU Jamieson and Haslam were paired m .the Auckland intermediate line in the match against the British team at Men Park, when Auckland played in a devastating way to cclipse a national side. Un foaturday the Jamieson-Haslam combination went well all the day, but Jletcher, 111 the centre, did not link in a conspicuous way, and the wings did not get_ the chances that they should have had. Most of the opportunities went to Dick s wing, and the Grafton man showed himself in the light of a hard-running, determined three-quarter. , . , Frankham played a lively game behind the base of the scrum and got the ball away sharply with a beautiful delivery. Beyer, at full-back, had a few unhappy moments with ground fielding, but his work in the air had that dexterous touch which comes of tuition in the Australian game, and his line kicking carried botn length and direction. Once again he was in goal-kicking mood, and he was a potential danger to Wellington whenever there was a penalty shot within range of the g °Anderson was the star of the Auckland forwards, the brilliance of his loose play stamping him as one of the best.that Auckland had and occasioning some regrets %

that he is not at the moment with the national team in England. Iladley and Solomon, the latter purely in the role of wing-forward, and the hero of several desperate solo efforts to literally charge through the Wellington team single-handed when the play was on the Wellington line, were always prominent. And so the representative curtain ,-gocs down with Auckland the mystery team of the season, mediocre in some of their representative engagements, but at their best, as they were <ra Saturday, a team quite capable of victory, 110 matter what the opposition might be.