WEEK-END SPORT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 145, 21 June 1943, Page 5

WEEK-END SPORT

TWO NAVY GAMES

A LIBERTY loan lead

Rain which fell in the later part of the afternoon on Saturday played a part in the results of the week-end field sport. In the Rugby Union and Soccer codes it was Navy Day, and in the former Army defeated Navy, 3—o; after that a number of chances by Navy to pull the game out of the fire were lost through unreliable place-kicking. In the Soccer game an Auckland team comfortably stalled off a Navy challenge for the Drummond Cup, winning by S to 1.

In the competition games Manukau went to the top of the Rugby Union ladder by defeating Marist, 14—8, while Garrison, one of the leaders, unexpectedly went down to Grafton-Ponsonby.

In the Rugby League games at Carlaw Park, the Manukau team went into the lead by defeating Mt. Albert, 26—12. A feature of the afternoon was the appearance of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, who expressed appreciation of the code's assistance to the Liberty Loan by leading the way by devoting proceeds of next Saturday's games to that fund, with a pound for pound subsidy by the New Zealand League. In the hockey championship Somerville maintained its lead.

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Playing its best game of the season, Manukau defeated Mount Albert at Carlaw Park on Saturday and took the lead In the Auckland Rugby League championship. In spite of a heavy ground the Manukau players handled the ball cleanly, and some of the interplay was of a very high standard. Results were: — Manukau 26, beat Mount Albert 12. Richmond 20, beat North Shore 5. Marist 31, beat Newton o. Otahuhu 17, beat Ponsonby 2. Kcmi Reappears.—The reappearance of J. Hemi greatly strengthened the Manukau team, and his play at first five-eighth was a feature of the game. His handling of a heavy ball was perfect, and he made great openings for his supports. Murray, at second flve-eightn, played with great dash, and in the centre Inglis gave a good display and was successful in making play for the wings. Heml had a hand in every Manukau effort that really counted, and his conversion of one try, right from the sideline, was an exceptional placekicking effort.

New Manukau Wing.—This season Manukau has tried, with success, a new wing in Taumata, a young player who has made a good impression. He handles well, and on the move travels fast, •with the use of a sharp swerve to beat an opponent. On Saturday Taumata got a reasonable' number of chances through the high standard of the Manukau back play, and his v/ork was decidedly impressive.

Richmond Backs.—After a fair amount of experimental work the Richmond team produced a set of backs against North Shore which worked smoothly and convincingly. McDonald got the ball away sharply, and Payne and Tittleton blended their play, in the five-eighth line. In the centre McGregor showed great speed. The Richmond wings, Kinney and Lowther, are also very speedy, and are playing up to the best club standard.

Marist Side Improves.—Judging by its display on Saturday against Newton, Marist is a greatly improved team, and the backs gave easily their best exhibition seen in the minor matches. Fine tries were scored with a greasy ball, and most of the movements came from fast inter-play. Newton Was not up to full strength, but it is doubtful if the result would have been altered much. The Marist forwards also showed improvement, and took part in fast sorties. McLeod, the captain, was always on the ball, and scored three tries. Knight, a United States player, showed good form among the forwards, and is fast picking up the finer points of the game. A feature of the victory, however, was the excellent combination of the five-eighths, McWilliams and Hughes. The former was outstanding and scored two good tries. Rangi, on the wing, revealed speed and initiative. Marist is likely to cause surprises in the second round.

Otahuhu Comes Back.—Otahuhu made amends for a couple of failures by easily beating Ponsonby, and the form of the backs was more like the flrst game against City. A lot of credit for the victory is due the Otahuhu forwards, who adapted the heavy ground conditions a little better than the Ponsonby set. After an absence of several weeks owing to injuries, V. Gordon played a good game at five-eighth. He made several good openings. Morris and Speedy, the other inside backs, moved fast on attack.

RUGBY UNION By defeating Marist, and through the defeat of Garrison at the hands of Grafton-Ponsonby, Manukau now leads for the senior Rugby championship honours. Manukau has an unbeaten record to date, although it has played two drawn matches. In spite of the fact that heavy rain fell for most of the first spell the standard all round was high, with plenty of thrilling forward and back play. Manukau was down two points at half time to Marist, but eventually ran out winners with a six-point advantage. Navy Day was celebrated at Eden Park by the meeting of Army and Navy in the chief match, the former being a'little fortunate to win by three points. Navy had some good chances from penalties, but lacked a place-kicker. GraftonPonsonby caused a surprise by downing Garrison, at North Shore, while Technical Old Boys had another win, this time at the expense of M.T.P.

The matches resulted; — Manukau 14, beat Marist 8. • Army 3, beat Navy 0. „ Grafton-Ponsonby 13, beat Garrison 8. Technical Old Boys 9, beat M.T.P. 5. Forwards Too Strong.—The Manukau forwards proved the deciding factor in the match against Marist. Especially in the «PeU ft! winner's pack inlused plenty of dash into its play in the loose, and was splendidly supported by the backs. Up to the stage when heavy rain fell the Marist backs were Playing quite well, but- later on found the conditions and the bustling tactics of the opposing pack too much of a problem. Two penalty goals from dose positions gave Manukau the . lead, after which it registered a couple of tries, one converted. Marist scored two tries, one converted. m the Manukau forwards, who all played well, Smith, Brown, Vazey and Young were perhaps, the most conspicuous. Fowler played a good allround game at second five-eighth, while Dunn, wine who scored two tries, and Sheehan, fullback,' also shone. Barchai'd, first five-eighth, Fox, wing and Sorenson were the most prominent of the Marist backs, while among the forwards Griffin, Taylor, Bailey, Dunbar and Carroll were well to the fore.

Loss for Garrison. —CJrafton-Ponsonby provided another upset in defeating Garrison at Devonport. The winners had an initial advantage, adapting themselves more quickly to the greasy conditions. Eight points had been scored for Grafton, a penalty and a converted try, before Gibbons landed a penalty goal for Garrison. Another converted try put Grafton 10 ahead, and although Garrison scored soon after and Gibbons added the extra points, they could not draw level. For the losers, Littlejohn played a cool game at full-back and in the final stages did his best to increase their chances by keeping the ball in field. Infringements were frequent among the forwards of both sides. Navy Unlucky.—A heavy shower of rain early in the first spell spoilt the Army-Navy match on the main ground. The game resolved Itself into a dour forward struggle. The Army forwards played well in the loose and the Navy were not afraid to throw the ball about among the backs. They made three desperate attempts just on time in order to equalise the try scored by the Army. Had the Navy a reliable place kick thev might have turned one of their many shots at goal to advantage, and thus made the score even That would have been a truer, indication of how. the game actually went.

SOCCER The results of the competition matches were:— Metro-College A 2, beat Eastern Suburbs 1. * „ , _ North Shore 5, beat Ponsonby 3. Air Force 5, beat Mt. Albert Grammar Olcl Boys A 4. _ Comrades 9, beat Mt. Albert Grammar Old Boys B 2. a Papakura 5, beat Training College 4. Garrison 6, beat Metro-College H 2. Shore's Deserving Win. —Shore, with a reconstructed team, downed Ponsonby after a fast and interesting game, coming out Winner by five goals to three. This was one of Shore s best Displays this season, the rearranged forward line providing thrust and pace. Mason and Roman were noticeable for good all-round play, but they had splendid support from their colleagues in the front line. Shore was we^ tho hacks bv Christie. Cameron and Hodgson. Gavan was in form in the Ponsonby goal, bringing off some splendid scores. Cashin, Dickie and Rouse were the best of the Ponsonby backs, but found the fast-moving Shore forwards a tough proposition. The Ponsonby forwards were well held by the Shore defence, but Dowler, Bury and Bell showed to advantage in the Ponsonby attacks. Drumraond Cup Sc*ccer.—Auckland hrad little difficulty in defeating the Navy XI. in the first of a series of three games for the Drumxnond Cup. The score of eight goals to one in Auckland's (the holders) favour was somewhat flattering, as the Navy put up a good flght in a fast game, but its vanpiard failed to make the most of its chances. The Auckland halves Danby, C. Ward and Garrett, were in fine form and had a big say in its sides win, whilst M. Speed and Holland were a safe pair of backs. M. Speed being particularly sound. Fleet Scores Four Goals. —The whole Auckland forward line played clever football and cop 1 * bined in excellent fashion for a line that has not played together before. Fleet played a great game and again proved himself a fine opportunist by scoring four goals. His second was a beautiful left-foot drive which he let go just as he was being "grassed" by a defender. Richards obtained two good goals and he and Roberts made a fast right wing. R. Welch led the line in masterly style and distributed the ball with good judgment He got his usual goal, which was again arf excellent "header"—whilst Webber showed a fine turn of speed on the left wing and sent some well-placed crosses. He scored Auckland's other goal, whilst he netted on another occasion, only to be ruled off-side.

Mainstay of Navy.—Rutherford was easily the star of the Navy side, and he played a superb rame at right-back, although his services were badly missed in the half-back line. His tackling was clean and effective, whilst lie was kicking with fine judgment and finding a great length considering the greasy state of the ball. He was ably supported by Harris, at left back, whilst Burrows, in goal, played a fine game—he had a very busy afternoon, but could not be blamed any of the goals scored against him and he made some excellent saves. Other Navy players to catch the eye were Beast, right-half, and prohl, Smith and Hancock, in the forward line. Prohl scored the Navy's goal. The game was controlled by Mr. F. Marino,

HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

High scoring was a feature of the games played in the seventh round of the Davis Cup hockey championship on Saturday. Wesley-United had an easy win over a greatly depleted Papakura tc-am (3—2) and Somerville, after a very even first spell against Mt. Eden, eventually piled on five goals in the second spell to run out winners by 7 goals to 2. University had too much guile Icr Grammar Old Boys (6 —2) in a match sparkling with frequent glimpses of clever passing movements by the winner's vanguard. Owal Rovers continued its winning way at the expense of A.S.C. (6—l), while at Walker Park, Training College accounted for Air Force by 5 goals to nil. In this game the scorera were A. Norris (3), I. Wyatt and W. McGillivray. • .... The competition is now at a very interesting stage, especially when byes and postponed matches are taken into consideration. Somerville. with only three matches to play, can gain a maximum of 18 points. Wesley-United, with four matches to go. could equal that provided it beat the other two prospective winners. University, by registering wins in its remaining five matches (the toughest of which should be the Wesley-United encounter), would be entitled to have Its name engraved on the Davis Cup for the season.

..Henry Cooper Devasiatlng.—The University for= wards' bustling type of play completely upset the Grammar Old Boys' defence, and Henry Cooper, who played a forceful game throughout, .scored no less than Ave of his side's tally of six, W. Smiler notching the other one. Experience told its tale against the younger team, which, unfortunately, was without the services of the versatile "flee." Lawry, and took the field one short. However, with such well-known players as C. Garlick and A. Moorhead in the full-back positions and the youthful but capable O. Jaine in goal, the University defence was certainly very solid. With "Peter" Crawley filling the centre-half position, the Grammar forwards found his positional play rather disconcerting, while his own vanguard was given many opportunities from his well-directed passes. Cooper was always well to the fore in all the 'Varsity movements and the thrust given by his dashing play, together with the support given by the rest of the line, repeatedly had the two Grammar backs, J. Buchan and K. B. Lawry, in a quandary. Grammar's half-line was its weakness, especially on attack, when its positional play was too deep to sustain the effort. i Team Work Prevails.—An evenly-contested first spell gave promise of a great game between Sr.merville and Mt. Eden, but the second half proved disappointing. It was then that the all-round team work of Somervllle prevailed, and Mt. Eden lost Its thrust. The stinging attacks of Somerville were launched from all directions, and, splendidly supported by the back division, they tied the Mt. Eden team down to hard defensive tactics. In their somewhat hopeless task of stopping the onslaughts, Aldridge, Horspool and Morgan were seen to advantage in clever atickwork and stopping. Stainton (Somftrville) was the outstanding full-back on the ground and his clearing hits were not only powerful but well directed Morgan, half-back, used his reach to advantage, and the flrst goal to his credit was the result of a strenuous effort. Archibald, left wing gave a moat convincing display, but was unfortunate in missing several scores. The shot he got Into the net was a beauty. Chester was outstanding In Mt. Eden's although he made some good advances down the flank, nullified his efforts through delay in centring.