ENGLAND WIN.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19399, 27 August 1928, Page 11

ENGLAND WIN.

SIX POINTS TO FIVE. DECIDING LEAGUE TEST. A GRIM STRUGGLE. Wcarer3 of the All White of England and the All Black and silver fern of New Zealand placed another milestone on the roadway of football history in the Dominion on Saturday, when the deciding Bugby League test match was. lost and won on English Park. It will mean a great deal for New Zealand next year on the Australian" tour that only a couple of points separated the Blacks from a triumph over the cream of England's League footballers. If the thousands of spectators, who, tier ; on tier, gave the stadium the appearance of a huge basin, expected the Englishmen, or the New Zealandors either for that matter, to throw the ball about with the abandon that delights for purposes of propaganda, they were never more greatly mistaken. The issues were too great.

As a spectacle the game seldom rose to great heights —Test matches wore ever thus—but it was an epic of dour struggle and griui tackling. The majority of the spectators must have been strangers.to League Eugby, but it was a refreshingly impartial crowd, quick to applaud and generous with its appreciation of clever football. No doubt this had its influence on the players. Whatever might have happened at Grey-mouth or at Dunediii on the previous Saturday, there was not an incident in the most important match of all to which the most'critical-spectators could take exception. The game rasas hard and as elean as Jonathan Parkin, England's captain, said it would- be. And when the teams left the field there were hearty cheers for them and the referee. *'l can't say' where' wo beat them," said Parkin. "New Zealand played a great game. They tackled better than I have ever seen a New Zealand team tackle before, and they played right on top of our men." He was right about the tackling, it was terrific. "They beat us, and perhaps that is all there is to say about it," said M. Wethenll, the New Zealand captain. Then he said it was round the scrum where England won the victory. The English managers were at no pains to conceal"their delight, and Mr E! Osborne, drew word pictures of the way the news would be received in Leeds, headquarters of the English League. . ■;. * The tour of. Australia and New Zealand bv the Englishmen has been easily the most successful financially the "League has ever undertaken, a net profit of about £23,000 having been realised, including nearly £3OOO from New Zealand. The New ; Zealand Eugby League should aiso come out of the nine matches played on. the .'right side of. the ledger. , Comprehensive arrangements had been made by the Canterbury League . for handling, the crowd, who came m a steady stream from before. 1 P- m - A queue which was never completely du»solvedformed out from-the. turnstile at this hour,, and by 1.30 the spectators for the curtain-raisers were over a thousand in"number. Extra seating■,< had been provided right round the ground and several rows of scaffolding planks on petrol cases accommodated many hundreds on the two "straights of the asphalt cycle track. . Estimator of the crowd varied to a great extent, t toi there were no means,, except by the nun*-, ber oi tickets sold, of. calculating, the attendance, but it was. officially given as 18 000 to 20,000. Whatever it was it,

would have been several thousands more ! had not the police, considering that the i ground was filled to the limit of safety, | forbidden the sale of any further tickets five minutes before the game was due to commence. Many had come from afar. The president and secretary of the Inangahua League, leaving home at 3 a.m., arrived with, no time to spare, and there were others from Westport, while Mr J. Gleeson, donor of the cup awarded to the country winning the majority of the Tests, came from Auckland for the match. Over 7CO people, leaving Grevmouth at 5.30 a.m., armed from the West Coast. They filled the fifteen carriages, which made the train a maximum load for the Otira tunnel, and overflowed into the guard s van. Hundreds of others were disappointed, remaining behind in Greymouth, Runanga, Blackball, and other West Coast towns. ' When M. O'Brien, of Nelson CreeK, scored the only try for New Zealand, there was a mighty cheer from the West Coast "block." There were one or two incidents illustrating the keenness of the spectators. Onee somebody found a gap in the fence round the outside of the cycle track, and people streamed through it until a policeman gave the matter his urgent attention. Another constable took a man's name, after a section of the crowd had surged through a hole someone cut in trie wire-netting round the cycle track iwtn a pair of wire-clippers. The writer has seen several Engiisn League teams play in New Zealand, but has never seen any drop ■ more passes in a whole game than did the Whites in the first quarter of an hour on Saturday. They seemed to be nervous, or perhaps the brand new ball needed the trickiness kicked out 01 « by those mighty punts of Sullivan and Duftv. After a while they settled down and "thereafter, made few Neither back nor forward did the new Zealanders handle with absolute accuracy, but in the backs Dufty was the only man who ever had much space to vork in. The Englishmen seemed to burst into the inside of the New Zealand team, and force the wings out on to the narrowest of fringes. When the New Zealand forwards got a chance which was not often, as the play was nearly all among the backs,, they .showed to in typical New Zealand loose rushes, XeSe opposing six, better hand , were anxious mainly to pack and give their own backchances to develop the artistry ol those side stepping, swerving, and cutWJ jt tacks, punctuated by in-and-out pass n B , vS have demoralised so many sides. It speaks volumes for the wo k of the New Zealand forwards, not less .for; the fiendish tackling of the Jhrf Parkin and his men were able to u wind these attacks only once or twice ni the -sr^^rss^fSsh E SrS;MrA.Harlock, came from South Auckland to officiate, * never relaxed for a second in his gup on the game: He missed nothing and forgave nothing. English League teams always practise some tactics which it is hard for a New Zealand crowd to understand. If they consider they can "get away with the most glaring offside, they exploit the opportunity. These tactics were of no use with Mr Harlock. Thus New Zealand gained the majority ot-tne free-kicks, ■ and- the Englishmen ..were often in trouble at serums. Of these, there were about 60, and honours were very evenly divided. The sun was a source of great worry to the Blacks in the first spell, but it was veiled by light clouds when Whites faced it after the interval. Territorially the game was remarkably even, New Zealand hayr ing a slight advantage in the. second spell, which seems to discount the--asr-sertion that the 'home forwards. • tired towards the finish. The matter of territorial advantage in this game, however, did not bulk so largely when the defence of either side held the attack of their opponents so safely. • Prom the time when the teams took the'field, to impartial cheering, until the final whistle,, there was one aspect of the game which overshadowed .all others. It was the mighty, duel between 'the giant full-backs, Sullivan and Dufty. "He could land the ball on a sixpence was a remark heard when Dufty dropped one huge punt inches from the lino for the ball to bounce out—a gain of 60 yards for New Zealand. But Sulk- j van was his equal and was never really j bustled, while he was called on to'tackle very rarely. Dufty was in tighter.corners once or twice, and was a trifle slower in gathering in the ball than his .famous rival. Then Sullivan placed his, kicks'better for positional play, and burst into line with his three-quarters to open up passing rushes oftener than did, Dufty. The latter seemed to have a good understanding with Peckham on one occasion, and they travelled a good way along touch together, passing and re-passing. It speaks volumes for the three-quar-ters of both sides that the full-backs hardly ever had to tackle. The New Zealand trio had really very few chances, Brisbane in particular having a verv hard day. England . bottled up Scott, the flying winger, and- the whole line were never'allowed to seizo the initiative. There was something paralysing about 1 the way- the Whites never' gave New Zealand a chance to develop a real thrust. The five-eighths, Prentice and Wetherill, both as. game as pebblos and as clever footballers as are found in the game, were peculiarly impotent against Kecs and Parkin. The play of the mercurial Peckham, New Zealand's midget half-back, was a delight to watch. Nobody has anything to teach him about spotting gaps, straight running when it is needed, and swerving and side-step-P«!g.

.It is difficult to particularise among the forwards, all of whom rose to great heights. Eekhoff's tackling was 100 per cent, effective, while Goodall and O'Brien were at the head of every New Zealand rush, with Goodall 5 s handling rather defective. Then it would only be fair to mention the excellent raking of Townsend, and the robust spoiling work of Hutt and Hall. The evergreen Parkin, captain of England on three successive tours, with Billo Eees, a real box-of- tricks, was the genius of attack. Jonathan is not quite as speedy as of yore, but hc_ is the true footballer, and captain, with a plan.of campaign for every match and every situation. Hailed as a genius of half-back play, Rees came up to reputation. He was the worst "thorn in the side of the Blaeks. A clever quartet, the three-quarters demonstrated a perfect understanding of one another's play, and when tjiey settled down handled delightfully, kicking only on the rarest occasions. England's "terrible six" forwards, aggregating S3 stone 81b in weight, were the exponents of a style of football which, "in spite of 20 years of experience in League Rugby has never been truly developed. Their great aim and purpose was always to give the backs their chance, and there was never any suggestion of their being anything but part and parcel of passing attacks. In New Zealand back and forward play are still .departmcntalised to some extent. The referee wore a red, white, and blue sweater. From the first second it was evident that New Zealand were as keen as mustard on winning the Ashes, and the scrums were mightily contested. There was no "winging" or breaking away there.. One of the early incidents which gave the crowd the cue. ;;s to the style of game they were to witness was the fiery tackle of Gwynne by

Prentice, when England was looking a bit likely. Then, just before Dufty landed his great goal, Peckham made a swift thrust on his own, Horton downing him. New Zealand unwound a pretty passing rush, and after a scrum Brisbane made a valiant attempt to pierce from a handy spot. When Sullivan took his kick from outside halfway a hush fell on the crowd, but the attempt fell a little short. An outburst of cheering broke out when Hardgraves sped along touch from a short pass; and Scott was heartily applauded when he held up a dangerous rush by Gwynne and Fairelough. People in the seats stood up when Rees beat three men by clever dodging and sent on to Frodsham, who passed out badly, however. A minute or two later came Fairclough'a try, after Gwynne had given three opponents the slip. Elusive as an eel, Peckham raced by man after man, with nobody in attendance and got as far as the White twenty-five. Once Scott and Hutt were prominent, but the former kicked too hard aud England foreed. Wetherilland Dufty were responsible for some weak defensive work, and New Zealand were lucky to get out of a tight corner. Then Sullivan had. an attempt from 60 yards out, the ball going far enough, but dropping just outside. For once Parkin missed a pass, from Askin, and the crowd laughed at a very obvious offside by Fildes. Peckham downed Parkin, who broke away from a scrum, and Goodall lost a chance when he declined a pass from Wethcrill close up. There was more laughter when Peckham tackled hard rolled out of it like an indiarubber ball and on to his feet again. A few feet from the White line Bowman ran up. and kicked hard over the dead-ball line, making a five-yards scrum, and some of the crowd hooted, but for what reason nobody seemed to know. Peckham was emulating Aster,, hurdling his opponents, and presently he-short-kicked from a serum gaining M yards. The play was wonderfully fast in view of the previous day's ram. Dufty cross-kicked and the ball went from Wwynne to Askin, to -Rees, but the final pass was offside. The teams were loudly applauded at half-time, and all the players stayed on the.ground. The second spell was more spectacular than the first, but the tacklers never relaxed their stranglehold, and many a promising movement by either sido was nipped in the bud. The big English, men were paying special attention to Peckham, and when Thompson swung him off the .ground, it was to the accompaniment of a roar of laughter Once Prentice was well smothered, and Eekhoff stopped an English rush which meant danger by going down on the ball. A cross-kick was. marked cleverly by Gwynne, but an even finer dividual effort was that of Hardgraves wh,finding he could not field the ball in a straight.catch, juggled..it into position, and then took it cleanly. The crowd did. not have long to wait for the "ostthrf-. ling incident in the game. Parkin sent •his backs' off in a beautiful passing movement, which was finished off b} Askin running straight in from hallway. Enthusiasm was now at a nign pitch. Perhaps the hardest tacklo. in the game occurred when Prentide; dumped Parkin, but the English'captain- was up in an instant as though, nothing had happened. Dufty was getting a little too deliberate, but the crowd were delighted with.his gigantic line-kicks.. Once Fairclough got right past him, but mulled badly. For ed out on the full, and then Dufty badly missed one of his .long returns, and Wetherill was handy to save. Con'tinuous cheering broke out when Goodall bustled along the line and O Brum beat three Englishmen to touch down for a try. Sullivan tried a run and Hutt came down on him, and Bowman went over, only to' have Peckham kick: the ball out of reach., "It's out,;Bir, • cried Horton, when the whistle went as he bore round a scrum on Peckham, but the referee was adamant. Parkin appealed, too, a little later, all to no purpose, however. A fine attempt ; _ to pot by Sullivan was one of Jhenclosing , incidents, and when the'teamsrleft-the : field each was given hearty cheer*, and, others were given for the referee,; ..... , New Zealand won 34 . scrums and England 30. 'Fifteen free-kicks were -given against England and. . eight against New Zealand. . ■- ■■ „ The New Zealand captain, M. Uetlierill, when interviewed after the game, was loud in his praise of J. &ulhvan, the English full-back,, for his fine, placing of tie long kicks. He said: "There , is very little to say. There _is no doubt the better side won.. It was a good, dean, hard game m which the team-work of the Englishmen .was a deciding factor. It is hardly fair -to-pick out individual-players on our side when all went so well, but I particularly admired T. Peckham's great work behind our scrum...'. It was a fane, clean exhibition." . •_ Mr E Osborne, manager of the Jinalishmen, stated: "I am very pleased. It was truly a very fine game, played in the best spirit. Anybody was hkelv to win right till the last kick. Though 'not spectacular, the game was of a very i high standard • and showed the New Zealanders have greatly improved since our last visit. I would like to. congratulate every man"on both sides, and to remark that if New Zealand improves their standard in the next tour years as they have/in'the past,;we shall, find them a very hard side to beat on our next trip." THE PLAY. The teams were: — ENGLAND. ' Pull-back—J. Sullivan. . Three-quarters—T. E. Gwynne, L. . iu.ii clough, C. Askin, A.Erodsham. Halves—J. Parkin (captain). B.Rets. Forwards—H." Bowman. N. Bentnam, J. Thompson, A. Fildes, F. Bowen, and ?•■ . Horton. NEW ZEALAND. Full-back—C. Dufty. p . ■ Three-quarters—R.. Hardgraves, 11. Mis bane, L'. Scott. • ■ -uvtliprill Five-eighths—S. Trentice, M. M etl.enll (captain). ' . Half-back—T. Peckham. .yßrion Forwards—L. Hutt, V. Goodall. Ji. O Tricn, C. Hall, E. -Eekhoff, and A. lownscncl. Referee, Mr A. Harlock. Bowen returned the initial *™ J'f™' attack with « ions linc-kick Prentice was fast in following a kick, and caught .Sulli van in possession. In the ensuing scrum the Whites were penalised and Dufty landed a great goal to draw first blood for his side. Now Zealand 2, En gland 0. Bv spectacular-passing among backs England went well down, bat Brisbano returned; and cut in to take the Black* into a scoring position, from where an. »f™S e *;f < let Sullivan kick back to halfway. Wetherill flashed into an opening but was Sullivan's shot at goal from half-way tailing iust short. Play remained in midficld till Askin stopped a Black forward rush and bent on to Rees and Frodsham, who made a clever run down the line. A pretty piece of team work saw the movement swing to thes.othcaide, where Gwynne, in a lightning dash, beat three men before' sending Fairclough over, in the corner. . Sullivan's k.ck missed narrowly. ... ■ • England S, New Zealand 2. Peckham was. next in the limelight with a .corkscrew run that gained, forty yards. His ™<.s was smothered, the crowd giving Jga.p of "disappointment at his not getting over, after such a great effort. Forty yar da nut Daft* had a penalty shot the ball .falling inches short. Kicking duels between toe respective full-backs were a revelation oi distance and line-kicking the New Zealander more often than not having the better of it From five yards inside half-way feullivan took a penalty-that was only inches short. New Zealand worked back to the Wane ■twenty-five, where Goodall missed Wethern! s T. a «s and what looked to be a try. Brisbane, with a flying tackle, stopped the n*st English'attack and put bis men up again, where a thrilling race saw Bowman Kisk dead just as the Blacks dived for a try. It was a narrow miss for New ZeaUnJ. Gwynne, Askin, Gwynne, and Rees were very pretty in a passing bout, bat the last-named ran off-side and the free-kick by Dufty was short. New Zealand had had 3lightiy the better of the first half, which ended: England S, N'cw Zealand I*. Right at the start Sullivan had mother long penalty, tha kick again falling short, Sullivan

[ was caught in possession, and Gwynne raced | back to save from Scott. From a scrum Par- [ kin was off like a.-flash and sent .to Rees, to Askin, back to Rees, "who shot through, sn opening and gave back to Askin, who eluded two opponents and won a groat race for. a try fairly wido . out. ■ Sullivan missed the goal. England 6, New Zealand 2. Another long penalty; by Sullivan, whon Eekhoff was-, off-side, hit an upright. Wetherill saved when Dufty had followed a kick, and Sullivan had returned' quickly. Fielding cleanly; Dufty caught the Whites off-side and gained fifty yards; when Wetherill fooled three men and sent Brisbane and Prentice on, but Parkin intercepted and sent them hack.. Another kicking duel.between the fullbacks ended in Dufty's favour, and. again New Zealand went up. The forwards hooked cleanly, from a scrum, and Peckham sent to Wetherill, who made, ground to'the twentyfive, where the forwards carried on in : a terrific rush which, ended in' O'Brien' winning the dive for tho ball to score a try in the corner. Dufty ! s. kick fell under' the' posts. .'.England 6, SJew Zealand 5. A long, line kick: by Dufty went put in the corner, and V.things looked black for the visitors, but low; hard tackling saved the situation. "• Gwynne, who was very clean in his handling, was set off by his, fullback, and ran well upl The English • ; forwards carried on, and Bowman was right to the line and was just going to score when. Peckham kjoked. tire, ball .'from his. hands. Ji; was still anybody's game, with-both sets of backs making strenuous efforts to find a gap,, but the dofence was toe good for the attack,; the tackling being very sure, Wetherill quickly •sent Hardgraves off down-the line. Tho winger had bad luck wneir.Fildes fell over. on', the ball in a handy position and allowed his men time to race back. Bowen was hurt in a rush, but. was able to resumes The Blacks came away from-a scrum <near . the Whites' line, but Brisbane was caught by; the everwatchful inside men playing close up, and, Gwynne ; and , Fajrslqugh...', ejeare'd,. Sullivan, was there just" in tinie to kick .dead in-.the: nest' Black effort. Prentice was hurt' in ■ a tackle, but resumeaV : Another long shot by Sullivan froin..tho side line fell short.the White bapks..were away, a groat tackle, by Eekhoff- stopping Fr.odsham,:- who' had.' to retire with »■ twisted ankle, when 'they' were getting dangerous. England were attacking when the bell went, leaving the Ashes:in the visitors' hands by one. point. .- . ■ ' '.■ -'-. ■■ J ■ ■ England'-6,'• New Zealand 5.

THE eURTAIN-EAiSERS. ;i Both curtain-raisers at English Park wero interesting, . providing occasional ' bright flashes of open play. '■ ■' The first curtain-raiser between _. fourth grade teams' representing Canterbury, '.and Akarana (Auckland) was. not very spectacular; as the -defence of , both sides was too strong for'the attack. In the-first Bpell,.in which no'points.were scored, Akarana had easily, the, • better of tho gamo territorially, Alter.ton, the visiting half-back, putting in* some good work. Hearing the .end'of this'spell Campbell (Caii; terbury) made a.fifty yards dash along/the line, only •' to slip when a score looked possible. ■ .•'••• In the second spell the visitors assumed the offensive for tho greater part. Nearing the end Burns (Canterbury) set his backs off, but the movement broke down near the line. However, from a scrum-the ball was. passed to Hurrcll, who went over at the comer. Tho visitors then made desperate efforts to equalise, but without success. The final score was: Canterbury 3,' Akarana. 0. Referee, Mr P. Kirton. In tho game between Otago juniors and Canterbury third grade Otago took play to the Canterbury twenty-five, bnt Jorgensen, the Canterbury half, set his backs off, the rush ending in Otago forcing. Tho Canterbury hacks continued' to throw the ball about freely, and the home players had the upper hand, except for an occasional flash on the part of'tho visitors. " They were attacking' when -the half-time whistle sounded with no score. Bad passing and indifferent combination weventcd-the Otago backs from scoring in the-first ton minutes of the second snpil, when the Black and Whites (Canterbury) were kept strenuously defending. Then the Canterbury hoys cleared, and from then on struggled with the Blues in their own half, except for two , brief breakaways. Both sides tackled well, and this vfeature of tho game, coupled with .the-tiffht play, prevented tries from being scored. . Two penalties near the Otago twenty-five' line gave R Cooper and R. Hnson chances at goal, which 'they accepted. Canterbury winning by. 4 points to nil- Mr H. King was referee.