MANUKAU ON TOP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 206, 31 August 1936, Page 12

MANUKAU ON TOP.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS. END OF COMPETITION. RICHMOND RUNNERS-UP. In their first year in the Rucby League's senior competition, at I-*,, has won the championship. Ato ".tie" ,oor begi,»i» S «' «-e .tot of the season the team, strengthened both back and forward by new^cru^drawn S Vl d thrills Rugby Sue crowds., on'of fh? Manukau Club was largely due, to the SfScftS the side Sthe^adder I triuSh" that is achieved by few football thirteens, and a tribute mond 6 finished m* with Manukau, but, as it; wasthey nut out of the running by narrowest of margins. The finish of the senior competition so early was unex nected and after the closeness ot the porters of the f® 6 : which iVr y been°studded'.with bright football, the usual grand finish to 4 e f f °Marist 13, beat Mount Albert 10. Richmond I°, beat City 2. , Manukau 26, beat Newton 6. Ponsonby 17, beat Devonport 11. TVIO nnsitions of the teams are.

c 1 Points Ch. P w L. D. F. A. Pts. i 14" 9 4 1 223 194# 19 Manukau -... t % % 199 136 18 Richmond ... 14 8 4 | IJJO 16 Devonport .■ ■ 14 » ? 152 14!) jg Mount Albert 13 ? _ 191 186 14 Ponsonby ... 13 7 & 4 _ 161 13 M" ist \\ % 8 1 16S 210 9 CitJ -.0 011 — 150 210 4 Newton i-o - 11

eclipse of manukau. Marist were expected to set a J^^f P the for Mount Albert in the (lay, but few supporters of the game w have studied the form of the season expected them to win their match. But win it thev did to the tune ot 13 points to JO after a close, fastandin terestmg game. On the rua of the play , deserved their win, but it must be conceded that ill-luck dogged the -opposition. B Schultz first of all did not take the field, and his place on the wing was filled bv the big forward, Peterson. That was the first thing which contributed to put Mount Albert out of their stride, but worse was to follow for in the first spell two of their best backs in L. Schultz _ » nd JSchultz were forced to retire injured The loss of the captain of the side was a particularly bitter blow, for Len Schultz s thrust might just bave turned the table in his side's favour. Both the Schultz brothers were going well when they had to go off. L. Evans, who hails from Christchurch, who filled one of the vacancies, fortunately proved a good substitute. J-ne newcomer impressed for speed off the mark, and, generally speaking, acquitted himself well on his introduction to Carlaw Park. Watkins, the Mount Albert half-back was one of the best backs on the ground. Receiving a fair share of the ball, he sent out well-timed and welldirected passes, and on the move he was a continual source of danger to the opposition. He varied his play nicely, and worked the blind witlMa fair measure of success, once to send Herring in for a try with a pass in-field. Halsey was the pick of the three-quarters, while Halliwell performed well without being brilliant at fullback.

Haslam was the particular shining light among the Marist backs. He defended soundly when defence was required, and made some beautiful openings for his wingers, of whom Loader gave the best exhibition. Haslam - lias never been in brighter mood. Chalmers was enterprising in the fivo-cightlis line, while Aro was in line form behind the scrum. He scored a great try when he darted through tlie opposition to score under the posts. His brilliant burst was well conceived and grandly executed. Tlie forwards of both sides were evenly matched, although Mount Albert had a shade the better or the exchanges in the tiglit and set scrums. In the loose Marist .fought with tireless energy, with Keane, Anderson, Breed and Finla.vson always in the van. For Mount Albert, Herring was constantly in the picture, and emerged .with honours thick upon him. He worried the opposition continually by his fast breaking from the back of scrum, and, as a result of always being up with the play, scored his side's two tries. He was also in kicking form and notched (he rest of Mount Albert's 10 points with his boot. His best support came from Campbell, Gunnin" and Constable.

COMBINATION TELLS. Better combination was the determining factor in tlic match between Devonport and Ponsonby, and the hitter's superiority on the day was beyond question. The Devonport team played their traditional hard 1 bustling game, their forwards carried a full share of the burden all the dav, but the Devonport backs had no deep" stratecvin attack, and all the way there was lack of penetration by their inside players. In winning the ball frequently from the set scrums the Devonport forwards succeeded admirably in an all-important phase of the play, but although it was got away well, the three-quarters rarely got a fair chance. Throughout the season the play of the Ponsmiby backs has been a bright feature. On Saturday they rearranged their backs, bringing Jones into the outer five-eighths berth, and playing Riley at wing threequarter. Jones made a good showing in a strange position, and in attack ran in praiseworthy straiglitness. Kav took the occasion to play brilliantly in the centre, and it enabled Riley to show up in the role of a dashiug wing three-quarter. McKinney, ii laranaki player, with limited chances, showed pace and enterprise on the other wing, while Rush showed enterprise, resource and a fine understanding of positional play at full-back. All through the piece the Ponsonby backs worked with line precision and smoothness, and their interplay was something that Devonport could not counter. Leatherbarrow, Blood and Morgan stood out in the Ponsonby forwards. Although they failed as a combination there was some good individual work amongst the Devonport backs. Kerr played iV sr £ at Same at full-back, and 011 form is the best full-back in Auckland. Sea gar played solidly in the centre, while L. Scott strove hard on the wing, and in one bold SJ" missed his customary try by inches. Hollows was the outstanding forward, and in the loose play was brilliant.

CITY DOWN TO RICHMOND. In the principal curtain-raiser Richmond Rovers were fully extended to defeat Citv by 10—2. The losers led 2—o at the interval, after which Richmond went to the front with a converted try. Bofh thirteens tlien played with rar more Ha sa and enterprise; the tackling being deadlv Just when it looked as though City were about to turn the scale, they lost their secoml live-eighths, Jack Itata, who had been displaying brilliant form. In a hard and tense game, this was an irreparable blow. The maroons staged some classic combined moves, and it says much for Lo u Brown and company that the margin was kept so close. As in the case of Mount Albert, the team lacked the advantage of a match through the postponements or th ß previous week following the long Engligi, visit intermission. As events have proved the management were well advised to niav the two postponed fixtures. Nevertheless Richmond are to be congratulated for their sturdy consistency which has enabled them to qualify as runners-up Tor the Fox Memorial Shield of which they -were 1935 winners. The regular full-back, Greenwood was shifted to the wing vice George Tittle! ton, who proved himself quite a resource ful second-row forward with Broadhead The change was brought about by the advent of the Otahuhu and representative full-back, A. Beyer, who did quite well for a recruit, while Greenwood, barring tendency to mishandle quick passes, shaned satisfactorily, though not as elusive as the other flankman, Wilkie. Mincham revealed touches of brilliance at centre, and was judiciously fed from the live-eighths line where W. Tittleton and Bickerton made the most of possessive action. Richmond (jjj not have all their own way in the set scrums, and Porteous compared favourably with Powell, the international half-back though the latter showed more variety in his methods. JDufty had his most gruelUmday since he made his come-back, a "few mistakes notwithstanding, his experience stood him in good stead. City's new centre from Lower Waikato, Cooper, found the pace a little beyond him, and went on the wing in the second spell. The pace and initiative of Lou Brown and McLaughlin as three-quarters was worth a good deal, and Wiberg was a steady and heady lirst five-eighths. The forwards had a rare duel. Davis was outstanding f o r Richmond, and his speed and fine support ing play enabled him to score two real good tries. Hadley and J. Satherley also were prominent, while for City, Raymond shone throughout. One of his swerving runs deserved a better reward. Spiro and Clarke always were in the picture. City has played an important role in the second stage or the premiership, and should b"e a strong contender for the silver bird trophy

MANUKAU'S DAY. It -was quite a happy day for Manukau on Saturday, a clear-cut win against New. ton, and at the end of the game the know, ledge that they were the League champions of 1936, the honour coming to them unex. pectedly in view of the defeat of Mounl Albert on the other ground. At the beginning of the season th« League officials had doubts whether a new senior team up to standard could be raised and the Manukau team was formed with a condition that other League teams should not be drawn upon for players, the sole exception being the transference o£ S Watene from City through a sportine action by the City Club. In the first match it was a case of Watene and twelve Rugby players to help him. But Manukau quickly developed a team spirit, and, under the guidance of J. Rukutai and others, they went from success to success and quickly became the big League attraction. As the season wore on, Manukau became embarrassed with players. A few. weeks ago there were ten offers from new players to turn out for them. And out of the ten only one was considered. That was Broderick, who was one of the outstanding forwards in the last Maori team that went to Australia. The strength of the side was evidenced on Saturday when Trevathan was hurt Mason, the young Wairarapa three-quarter, took his place and gave an outstanding display. Mason would scarcely be a reserve in any other Auckland team. Against Newton the Manukau team was slow to get going, but once on the move they did some of those care-free, unexpected things that made the play very enjoyable for the spectators. Hemi played cleverlv at five-eighth, with moves that often nonplussed the opposition, while on the wing, Gault ran with splendid determination The fact that Gault was in the backs was merely illustrative of the fact that they could not find a place for him in the forwards, where there was a great quartet in Pickrang, Broderick, Kawe and Watene Watene played a captain's game, just a$ he has all the season, and to his leadership much of the success that has come Manukau's way can be attributed.

GRADE GAMES. SENIOR RESERVE. Devonport 16, beat Ponsonby 7. Marist 0.8. 14, beat Mount Albert 6. ( SENIOR B GRADE. Point Chevalier 0, drew with Green Lane Papakura beat Waiuku by default. SECOND GRADE. Richmond 10, beat Glen Ora 5. Mount Albert IS, beat R.V. 8. THIRD GRADE. Richmond 16, beat City 13. R.V. 8, beat Point Chevalier 5. Otahuliu 16, beat Northcote 13. Newton 4, beat Point Chevalier B 3. FOURTH GRADE. Marist 3, beat Ponsonby 2. Ellerslie IS, beat Mount Albert 6. , FIFTH GRADE. Richmond 3, beat Glen Ona 2. Devonport won by default from Newton. Northcote 5, beat Papakura 0. SIXTH GRADE. Richmond won by default from Avondale. Green Lane 10, beat Papakura 6.

SEVENTH GRADE. Otahuliu 3, beat Point Chevalier 0. City -13, beat Northcote 0. Marist 14, beat Glen Ora 0. PRIMARY SCHOOLS. INTERMEDIATE. Mount Albert 11, beat Northcote 3. Marist 6, beat Newton 6. Richmond won by default from BalmoraL JUNIORS. Mount Albert 0, drew with Manukau 0. Balmoral won by default from Newton B. GAMES IN THE SOUTH. i CHRISTCHURCH. Hornby 29, beat Waimairi 5. Addington 24, beat Sydenham 10.