M.T.P. LIKELY CHAMPION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 205, 31 August 1942, Page 5

M.T.P. LIKELY CHAMPION

By defeating Technical Old Boys in the principal Gallaher Shield match at Eden Park, M.T.P., the leading team, is practically assured of the Rugby honours for the season. M.T.P. won by a margin of ight points, after leading at the interval S—C.R.O. and Grafton-Ponsonby were evenly matched. There was no store in this game at half-time, and each side notched six points in the second spell. Another close match resulted in the meeting of A.S.C. and Manukau. victory going to the former by a bare point. Conditions were in favour of fast football and the standard generally was good. Results were:— M.T.P. Iti, beat Technical Old Boys 8. C.R.O. ti, drew with Grafton-Ponsonby <3. A.S.C. 11, beat Manukau 10. Technlcal's Failure. —Opposed by a more balanced and combined side in M.T.P.. Technical Old Boys nevertheless had enough opportunities to have turned the tide in its favour. The forwards were good ln the loose and were troublesome with toot rushes; while, except, for a few instances, the tackling of the losers was sound. A. D. Pike, the Technical hooker, Rave the backs a feast of the ball, but mishandling and runs across f.eld threw away all this advantage. When it came to thrust and passing M.T.P. was easily superior, and Technical adopted spoiling tactics throughout. Outstanding Player*.—W. Tittleton. at second five-eighth, played a good all-round game as has been hia wont throughout the season. Both on attack and defence he was a thorn in the side of the opposition, and is undoubtedly among the best backs in the competition and unlucky not to catch the selector's eye. Among the forwards Mitchell was again in fine form and Wolfsbauer was always lu the picture. For Technical Ryan played an outstanding same in the forwards. He was always in the lead, very often ln solo efforts in the loose, whiie also getting well into the tight play.

Bright and Entertaining.—The match between Army Battalion and Navy played as the curtainraiscr at Eden Park provided some thrilling and sparkling football. Both teams threw the ball about freely and were not afraid to open up the game from all angles. It was the type of play which was very much enjoyed by the spectators. Pormer representative players in ' Denny" Brady and M. W. Devine (Wellington Rugby and Auckland League representative) made their appearance for the Army. Brady proved a clever link in the first five-eighth berth, and was responsible for starting some fine reverse passing bouts. Devine was in form a* back-row forward, and he scored a neat try when he "dummied" his way over near the line. For Navy. Jack Barry (Marist) was prominent among the forwards. He seems to be retaining the form which gained him representative honours for Auckland three seasons ago. Sellars (centre) was quick to seize an opening. and scored a spectacular try when he made a solo effort from his own twenty-five, right through the defence, to touch down behind the posts. Webster played a good game at full-back for Navy, his handling, kicking and work in other departments being very impressive.

C.R.O. Held To a Draw.—For the greater part of the game, a hard forward tussle, with the Service side getting most of the ball from the scrums, and the other side excelling in the line-outs and loose rucking, the C.R.O. v. GraftonPonsonby engagement neverthelesu had occasional flashes of dashing back play. Though C.R.O. backs were admitted top-notchers. and their opponents were to some extent a scratch line-up reinforced by P. L. TetzlafT, L. W. Schubert and A. V. Wiles (the 1941 rep. centre) it was only late in the second spell that they were able to break through after several thrusts to find a weak spot. Grafton backs in the second spell brought off a brilliant bout of centre passing that promised some good wins yet for this combination. A good substitute for Hull in the Grafton forwards was the Waikato rep player Bowman, and this pack played with its traditional ruggedncss to put the Service rearguard off their game to a large extent. On the day the draw, six all, represented the respective merits of the play.

Wellington ▼. Auckland—The tide selected by 1005 All Black Alex McDonald to play for Wellington against Auckland at Athletic Park next Saturday is:—Full-back: Kingstone (Army). Threequarters: Hudson (Petone), Donovan (Army) S. Jaegar (Petone). Five-eighths: Hayes (PonekeOriental). Stott (A.S.C.). Half-back: Johns (Poneke-Oriental). Back row forwards: White (Petone). Middle row forwards: Murphy (University). Foley (Marist), Stanaway (Marist). Browrilie (A.A. Battery). Front row forwards: Harvey (A.A. Battery). Bills (Petone), Baumber (Eastbourne). Reserves: Backs. Patrick (University). H. Jaeger (Petone); forwards. Beard (W.C.0.8.) Haigh (Hutt), Ulingworth (Wellington).

Wanganol Beats Tank Brigade.—Scoring 16 points (two converted tries, one unconverted try and a penalty goal). Wanganui beat New Zealand Tank Brigade. 14 (one converted try. two unconverted tries and a penalty goal). For Wanganui tries were scored by McClenaghan and Firmin (two); Farley kicked a penalty and converted two tries. Rosenfeldt scored twice for Tank Brigade and Arnold once. Passmore converted a try and kicked a penalty goal.