FORWARDS' DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 174, 26 July 1938, Page 17

FORWARDS' DAY.

PLAYING TO PLAN. MT. ALBERT TACTICS SUCCEED PROGRESS OP THE RUGBY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. I Considering the heavy state of Carlaw Park on Saturday the standard of League play was good, but, a« has been in evidence on former occasions, there are players who find themselves in difficulties whenever the foothold is insecure, and the ball more or less hard to handle. Playing much better wet weather football than their opponents, Mount Albert had the better of their match with Richmond, and at no stage did it seem likely that tile latter would get on top. Mount Albert took the field with clearcut instructions from Mr. E. Prentice, who told the forwards to keep the ball close, all to back up, and not to atte:nj)t passing unless there was a reasonable chance of finishing a movement off. \\ itli a buoyancy that was in marked i contrast with the Richmond play, Mount | Albeit moved off at once, and a try by Iristrani, anil a good field goal by Jlci Lachlau soon put them five pointa up. j Richmond opened the second half with i a snap try by Devine, but that was the only occasion that the Mount Albert line

wr.s cronned. Mount Albert owed their guccces to their forwards, who packed well and Haul, and hunted tireissstsiy m the loose play, hnadbolt played a line game, and mere was great support 110111 Leather barrow, irwtrani and Gunning. ilson has settled down to give Mount Albert good service at iiaii-back, and varies his play intelligently and well. As things went most ot the Mount Albert back play was of the individual kind. JJutni, 011 the wing, gave a very clever display, and got a try which revealed opportunism of a higli order, while at full-back McLachlan revelled in the lieavy going and played a great game. Shaded nearly all the way the Richmond forwards stuck to a hard task well, but there were only rare Hashes of the inter-play that the Richmond team is capable of. Only on a few occasions did their backs get into combined action, and when they did Mills, on the wing, ran strongly and gamely. Since the departure of i'urnell for Wellington, the full-back position has not been adequately filled. I'owell in that position was not too happy and does better closer to the scrum. The absence of W. Tittleton appeared to weigh -heavy with the maroons, and his all-round play and guidance was missed. Bran) ley again played well in the centre, and is one of the younger players who i* 1 making good.

Panapa Plays Well. With their players back from Australia, Manukau were able to put a much stronger team in the field than has been the case for several weeks, and they had much the better of their game with City, and won by a comfortable margin. Hemi, at full-back, showed some of the form which made him the outstanding back on the 'Australian tour, and his clearances and defensive play was a great feature of the game. The Chase brother# did well, but the back who was most prominent was Panapa, who was one of the few players able to handle a heavy ball

with accuracy and certainty. One of the best Manukau forwards waa Rjpinui, who ia gradually developing into one of the outstanding forwards of the code. City were without Banham. Porteous and Hutchinson did their best to give the City backs chances, and there were occasional flashes of good plsy by Rata in the centre. But. the difficulty to combine was always in evidence, and it was left to the City forwards to give their team the best service, where Stanaway and Wehner played good games. Minus four of their beat players in Kay, Riley, Petersen and Pickrang, Ponsonby had to go hard all the way to emerge with a two points' lead over North Shore at the end. In the heavy going the Ponsonby backs did well, the handling at timee being clean and effective. Young, in the Ponsonby five-eighth line, wa« the best pivotal back on the day, and varied his play cleverly and well, while Martin was very eound at full-back. One of the best displays in the match was given by J. Smith at full-back for North Shore, whose positional play had tbe hall-mark of real class. Clever kicking ior the gap caused Ponsonby endless trouble, and it was one of the best iphases o| tactical play for tbe occasion. — Jones' showed his ability as a utility player by assisting the backs for the occasion, and Zane showed up well in the Shore attack. Sowter and Hunt were good all the way in the Shore forwards. With a little luck the. game might have gone Shore's way, aa on the full run of the play there was very little between the two sides.

Anderson Shews Up. It was a good performance on the part of Papakura to hold Marist to an eight ¥oints' margin after a scoreless first half. NT the rest of the play Anderson, the Marist forward, got two tries and converted one of them. He got all the points scored in the match, and showed the good form which marked his play in Auckland before he. went on tour , with .the New Zetland team. . . The absence of Haslam" caused rearrangement of the Marist backs, but they Vent well all through the piece. Grotte 'naedthe exploiting kick well, and it was sound play for the occasion. Glover came ' through a hard day well at full-back, and I Murdoch was very sound in the fiveeighths line. - Two of the best Papakura backs were Coesey and Mclnnes, while their forwards revelled in the heavy going, with Fogarty, Evans and Herkt showing up well all the time. ' - * .On Saturday the Newton team, which had the (Hirvfces of Banham in their backs for the occasion, went to Christchurch, there, to play a drawn match with the Canterbury representatives. With nine teams in the senior competition and one team having a bye each Saturday, it would be advisable were more teams to tour. The indication is that several trips will be plannSA- It is likely that Manukau will make a trip to Taneatua to play a Bay of Plenty side, and Mount Albert are making arrangements to play at Rotorua.