NINE LEFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 186, 7 August 1936, Page 12

NINE LEFT.

ENGLAND UNLUCKY.

CROP Or CASUAXTJEg

SOUTH AUCKLAND BEATEN

Misfortune has pursued the En V i Rugby League tc-am on its tour. Cas.Jr have severely strained the playing atr™Ja of the side, and the vein of mS® was extended at Huntly yesterday they defeated South Auckland by * points to six. Through injury e t i ' Ellerington and Beverley had to g0 3 and when Hodgson was ordered off tv Englishmen had a team of nine men Interest largely faded out of the mat i at that stage, but even short-handed they were the English players held ft upper hand, and on the day thev m„ distinctly the better side, although throwing was not up to internatS standard, and far below the form th showed in their opening matchAuckland. They played an open game, but off* the ball was passed in a haphazard w™ and there was much faulty handC Only rarely was the combinative good, but there was some brilliant M vidual work on occasions, and solo off i that was praiseworthy in" the extreiw The South Auckland players were f>„ j with a baffling problem all day it was good tackling alone that kept th visitors' score down to a reasonable m„ gin of pomte. Territorially, the Waihst men had the advantage in the first half but there was a lack of finish and unit standing about the attacking work of th backs, and many good chances thrown away. From that point EneC made the play as open as possible and tactically it proved a winning policy.' Dashing Wings. Brough exploited positional play clevwl. at full-back for England. Davies pS cleverly in the centre, and on the wim. Morley and Edwards showed speed J> resource and great dash. Before th* game was over Brogden, Hodgson ati Arkwright. had all had a turn at half-back and none of them was too happy in "that role.

Powell was too slow at full-back f« South Auckland, and the best of the backs were Taoho and E. Tukere the wing three-quarters, the latter standi™ out as a magnificent tackier who never missed his man p'Brien, Timms and McGreal were the pick of a forward line that made a remarkably good showing, The English managers did underrate the opposition at Huntly, but they were forced, with a view of keeping the best team for the Test match to-morrow to play men in strange places, Exley, a'for. ward, commencing as a three-quarter, and Ellerington, another forward, as stand-off half. It was the first occasion on which a visiting international team had played at Huntly and the Lower Waikato centre saw a big influx of visitors. Overnight the visitors stayed at Hamilton and on the way to Huntly they were the guests of Princess Te Puea at Ngaruawahia. A Maori party of men and women gave a typical native welcome to the English team on the ground before the match started, and King Koroki sent a message of greeting. General Disappointment. The match yesterday left mixed feelings in Huntly, there was general disappointment at the visitors' play and the feeling that the setting was there for a brighter exposition of the code than materialised. At the civic reception given to the Englishmen the manager Mr. R. L. Anderton, remarked that one of the greatest forwards they had in England was born and bred at Huntly. "His name," added Mr. Anderton, "is Mason." The president of the South Auckland Rugby League, Mr. R. T. Hill, referred to the poaching of leading League players by Auckland city clubs. He said that they intended to develop the game at Huntly and they might later offer sufficient inducement to get some of the leading players from Auckland. For England yesterday tries were scored by Edwards (2), Exley, Hodgson and Beverley. Hodgson and Brough each converted one, the latter also kicking a penalty goal. E. Tukere and Taoho scored tries for South Auckland.