LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 152, 29 June 1936, Page 14

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

SATURDAY'S GAMES. j keek competition. 1 MOUNT ALBERT IN THE LEAD. , Further keen play was witnessed at ; Carlaw Park on Saturday when the Auckland Rugbv League's senior competition , was advanced a further stage. Another , ]ar<re crowd watched the teams battle i for championship points and was not (lis- | i appointed with the bright football served ] ] up. As a result of the days play Mount, i .\lbert moved to the head of the laddei : i with 12 points, one point ahead ot ±\ich-1 '"The surprise of the day was the defeat ; of Ponsonby by City by a slender margin j | -ifter a game of fluctuating fortunes, in { > the main game superior team work car-, . lied Richmond to victory over Manukau, | ( while in the other games Marist scraped liome against Newton, and Mount Albeit beat Devonport with two oomts to spate. Results of matches: — Richmond 27, beat Manuisau 11. Mount Albert 9, beat L>2Vonport I. Citv 18. beat Ponsonby 16. Marist 14, beat Newton 12, Competition ladder:— Points . C h. r. w. L. D. F._ A. l'ts. Mount Albert . 9 0 3 — 31j> jw jRiclimond .... ; o S_l L -10 SSL.-::::: . ;i«g » u -j 7 — 100 119 ± Newton - ' RICHMOND TOO GOOD. Playing with fine collaboration and giving their best display of the season, Richmond easily accounted for Manukau in , the principal game of the day by -1 IK " to 11. after leading by 14 points to 4 a hilf-time Last season s champions.up winners functioned as of old and gave every indication that they will again be serious contenders for prenuersh'p honour, Liberally fed by tlieir forwards, who won the big percentage of the serums, tmj made the game open at. eyW -he opportunity, and the crowd thrilled to .lie many fine passing. bouts wlucli the} un wound. Manukau were givenno quarter, and at practically no stage did thej look like the winning side. While their forwards battled grimly and raided with elan in the loose, their• backs could not settle down, and frequently upset promising movements by wild passing or erratichandling. The unorthodox play of the Maoris did not perturb Richmond, and so well did they defend, even in the face ot the most devastating rushes, that only once was their line crossed. Richmond have now worked up a back combination which is as fleet, resourceful and pretty to watch as any in the competition. Powell gave a sound display at half-back, whipping the ball out smartly, and usually being on hand when there was defensive work to do. Rickerton. the first five-eighth, was exceedingly nippy, while W. Tittleton teamed with

him splendidly and emerged wltll laurels thick upon him. He was, indeed, the best back on the ground. He kept Trevatlian busy from bell to bell, an'd frequently carvud a passage through the defence by hard, straight running. He was always up with the play, showed fine appreciation of positional play, and defended with a "will. Mincham, too, was in for.n at centre, and was a continual source of danger to the opposition. Both Wilkie and G. Tittleton made the most of their opportunities on the wings. Wilkie handled sweetly, and. fine bursts along touch brought him the first three of Richmond's tries. The Manukan custodian. Murray, defended soundly, and Broughton and Trevathan did well in the key bac-k positions with limited opportunities. The pair, however, were more subdued than they havr been in recent matches. Mason and Hoilis the wingers, were a pair of triers when the ball swept their way. Of the forwards those who consistently caught the eye for Mnnu kau were IMckrang. Gault, Whye. Kawt and Watene. YVatene played a particularly lieady game, and scored all of his side's points. The Richmond sextet were in fine form, and those who were always going great guna were Broadhead, Telford, Hndley and Metcalfe. For Richmond Wilkie (3), W. Tittleton. Telford. G. Tittleton and J. Satherley scored tries. Mincham converted two tries and G. Tittleton one. All Manukau's points were scored by Watene, who scored and converted a try and kicked three penalty goals. ANDERSON'S DAY. The Talue Qf having a match-winning ' player in a team was demonstrated bv Anderson. for Marist, who contributed 11 o£ the 14 points registered by his side. The Marist forward had quite a field day with a try arid four goals. He went very close to adding a fifth goal, a good shot which caused one linesman to raise his flag unhesitatingly, although the referee's decision was .ft poster.. Were the goal posts on No. 2 ground at Curia w Park higher there would be less doubt about goal kicking issues. Anderson has well earned inclusion in the provisional choice for the representative team, as his form throughout the season has been uniformly good. There was not much between the two teams on the day, and Marist can thank Glover, their full-back, for an effort- which decided the game. In the last minute of play Bright, the speedy Newton centre, made a great run that was full ,of deter- < mination, until Glover went in hard and low. It was a splendid tackle. Once again Glover gave a very tine exhibition at fullback, and was never at fault. The absence of Haslam weakened the Marist backs considerably, but there was compensation in the fact that Aro played his best game of the season, and the others played evenly, ' with Loader showing fine pace and resolution on the wing. Anderson was the greens' best forward, hut Breed and ICeene were always in the picture. The reappearance of E. Brimhle and Bright for Newton gave their backs a touch of distinction. W. Brimble gave his brother ample chances, but the covering defence made it hard for the Latter to get away. Bright rose to brilliant heights with a display of finesse at top speed that was very baffling to the opposition. He got one glorious try with a run that carried with it several changes of direction and pace. Dempsey was again the master plaver at full-back. The Newton, pack played a verv lively game, with Nathan, t.inders and Wall in everything that was going. CITY WIN AGAIN. After a bad start City have started to settle down as a team, and there was further noticeable improvement in their play on Saturday, when their victory over I'onsonby was full of merit. In contradistinction to some of the other tea ™' the Citv backs have not been chopped about, with the result that they ire now beginning to show good combination. Much of the effectiveness of the City attack rests on the Maori pair, Rata and lawhai, and. although quite brilliant in their individual way, they are not as yet a brilliant team pair. Although well down at halftime, City made up more than the leeway in the second half, when some of the attackiu- moves were delivered with a mixture of" combination, pace and unexpected changes of direction which were hard to counter. There was one stage in the game when I'onsonby, with brilliant attack, put Oil three tries in about as many minutes, but it was one of those highlight efforts | that was not sustained. It "was a bright

and open exposition of the code between two teams which went out to make it an open game, and the fortunes alternated just as much as the play did up and down the ground. The veteran Duft.v gave another sound exhibition at full-back for City, and his clever lino kicking was most helpful to his side, and the whole hack line jilajed up to form, with l'orteous giving a ver> tine service in attack from the base ot the scrum. Raymond, a new forward from the Bay of Plenty, made a promising debut, and Spiro, Johnson and Clark were always prominent, the latter's display being right up to representative standard. Soundness was the keynote of the work of the Ponsonby backs in both attack aim defence, with l'aton playing very ably at full-hack Ponsonby fielded a good pack that worked hard in the tight play and loose, although in the open phases of the game Morgan. Carter and Davis were possibly the most conspicuous. As the game went it took a very hard and sustained rally by City in the concluding stages to get flic lead, which came when l'orteous. in a race for the ball over the Ponsonby line, dived for possession and scored. In the following effort City missed another two points by "inches, a field goal effort by Will org hitting the cross-bar. FORMER DEFEAT AVENGED. Strange as it. may seem for two such teams, the early game on No. 1 ground between Mount Albert and Devonport was one of patchwork variety, lacking much in structural movements until the second spell, when the men from across the v\ aitemafa for a brief period threatened to take charge, only to wilt under the power and pace set by the Mount Albert forwards, and then, following a catch scoring effort, to fade out of the picture. Taking the play on the whole, however, it was never dull, by reason of the fact that Mount Albert backs made the most of possession. Neither side was up to full strength, and this, of course, would account for some loss of the usual snap in each case. Mount Albert led 6 —-2 at the interval and they were worth the margin, to finish with the honours 9—7, reversing the first round result s—lo. An easy shot after file try in the concluding stages was missed by Milicich, otherwise a draw would have been the result. Thompson was an erratic fullback for Shore, but improved as the game went on. Seagar did a. lot of effective spoiling at centre, but the ball did not go out much to the wingers. Hall and Crook. For a forward. Hunt did well at second five-eighths with Rhodes, and Cowan was fair behind a pack which, though not winning much of the ball from the scrums, performed creditably in the tight rucking. K. Scott was conspicuous for his great tackling—(lie model for Auckland —while Donald, Rogers and Sowter were hard toilers. Mount Albert scrum worked even better than usual, with George Campbell controlling as hooker, though he was caught getting too low to it at times. He seems very lit. Peterson was the best forward on the ground, and Herring gave him thorough support. Sliadliolt. Gunning and Constable hunted well together. Watkins served the rearguard properly, but was' unfortunate in the lack of sharpness betrayed by Pawson. who was too often caught in possession. Morrissey, Halsey and Stewart were the mainstays. Mount Alljeri will have to be at their best against Rich mond. AUCKLAND TEAM. MEN TO TRAIN* TO MEET ENGLISHMEN The Auckland selector, Mr. H. Avery, has announced "the players to go into special training to meet the. British team at Auckland on July 25. They are-— Forwards.—E. Scott, list lib (Devonport), H. Tfttley, 11.10, and ,T. Satlierley. 11.9 (Richmond), .1. Anderson, 13.2 (Marists), .1. Peterson, 11.12 (Mount Albert). E. Morgan, 12.13 (Ponsonby), J. Gault, 12.8, and F. Pickrang, 13.12 (Manukau). Backs. —It. Powell, 10.2. and W. TittlPton, 12.4 (Richmond), W. Stockle.v, 10.8, and A. Kay, 11.12 (Ponsonby), P. Haslain, 13.0 (Marists), Lou Brown, 11.7 (City), :R. Bright, 11.7 (Newton), J. Hemi, 12.2 j (Manukau). The players nominated are to meet at Carlaw Parle at 7.30 p.m. to-morrow, when subject to medically attested fitness, they will • undergo • a special course of training. The selector advised that he reserves the right to replace any of these players who may subsequently lose form, and, in addition the above, all other seniors will be considered for the North Island team. GRADE GAMES. SENIOR RESERVE. Marist 20, beat Newton 0. Mount Albert 23. beat Devonport 0. Richmond 35, bent Manukau 2. Ponsonby 13, beat City 5. SENIOR B GRADE. Papakura 12, beat Point Chevalier 2. SECOND GRADE. Glen Ora 6, beat Mount Albert 3. THIRD GRADE. Otaliuliu 16. beat Newton 2. Marist 25, beat Point Chevalier 2. Glen Ora 25, beat Norfhcote 14. Point Chevalier 14. beat Devonport 9. Ponsonby 5, beat Richmond 2. Ellerslie 4, bent Papakura 0. R.V. 15, beat Mount Albert 5. FOURTH GRADE. Mount Albert 18, beat Ponsonby 6. Northcote won by default from Glen Ora. Richmond 20, beat Devonport 4. City 34, beat Point Chevalier 0. FIFTH GRADE. Otahuhu 11. beat Papakura 0. Glen Ora 13, beat Richmond 2. Devonport 8, beat Newton 5. SIXTH GRADE. Richmond 16, beat Papakura 0. SEVENTH GRADE. Richmond 31, beat Marist 2. Northcote won by default from Glen Ora. PRIMARY SCHOOLS. SENIOR GRADE. Richmond 22, beat Ponsonby 0. INTERMEDIATE GRADE. Green Lane 15, beat Northcote 11. Newton 12. beat Ellerslie 3. Richmond 13, beat Otaliuhu 0. JUNIOR GRADE. Ellerslie 6, beat Green Lane 0. Devonport 3, beat Newton A 0. Mount Albert 3, beat Richmond B 0. GAMES IN THE PROVINCE. WIIANGAREL Kamo 7, beat Hikurangi 2. City 8. beat Kensington 3. Takalmvui bent Portland by default. Juniors. —City 0, drew with Kamo 0; One Tree Point beat Hikurangi by default. Fourth Grade.- —Hikurangi 11, beat Kamo 5; City 14, beat Portland 6. HUNTLY. Huntly 10, beat Pukemiro 7. Huntly South 11, beat Taupiri 8. . Juniors.—Huntly South beat Taupiri by default. Ngaruawaliia 16. beat City 9. Clive 21, beat Marama 0.