AUSTRALIA WINS TEST

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27405, 19 July 1954, Page 13

AUSTRALIA WINS TEST

England Beaten, 20-16 At Sydney WORLD RECORD TAKINGS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, July 18. In a hard, gruelling, and thrilling match at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday, Australia beat England by 20 points to 16 to regain the Rugby League “ashes.” A crowd of 67,577 paid world-record League takings of £17,217 10s to see the match. Australia last won the ashes in 1950 after a lapse of 30 years, but lost them two years ago in England. When play ended yesterday, Australian and English players embraced each other and exchanged jerseys. England’s captain, Dickie Williams, congratulated the Australian captain, Clive Churchill, and other Australian players, then shook hands with the referee, Darcy Lawler, and the line umpires. This was in contrast to the dramatic finish to the previous Saturday’s match between England and New South Wales, when the referee, Aubrey Oxford, walked off the field after the players engaged in all-in brawling. Australia seemed in a hopeless position against the dazzling play of the Englishmen the first half-hour. But suddenly, towards the end of the first half, Australia began to play crashing, penetrating football. It overhauled England’s early lead, and at half-time led by 10 points to 8. England, hot acknowledging defeat-, and playing brilliant, courageous football, continually threatened to snatch the lead from Australia, and even at the last bell was attacking. The deciding factor was the greater physical strength of Australia’s threequarters, and the capacity of Australia’s forwards to outruck the English pack. A try scored by the Australian centre three-qudrters, Wells, between the goal posts four minutes after the second half had begun was disputed. Many, including the Englishmen—although they made no fuss about this after the game in spite of their disappointment —believed that Wells, pulled down short of the goal-line, had made a second movement in touching down. However, there were other observers who agreed with the referee’s decision that the impetus of the tackle had carried Wells across the goal-line. Mr Lawler was right on the spot. Australia was the better side, and did by far the greater share of attacking in the second half. The team deserved to win. The referee rarely had to speak to a player for unnecessarily hard play. There were no nasty “incidents.” Tries were scored for Australia by Watson, Diversi, Wells and Bidding. Pidding kicked four goals from seven attempts. For England tries were scored by Ashcroft, Williams (2) and Valentine. Jones kicked two goals from five attempts.

RETIREMENT OF REFEREE DECISION HASTENED BY BRAWL (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, July 17. The Rugby League referee, Mr Aubrey Oxford, who refereed the New South Wales-England match on Saturday, last night announced his retirement. He said his abandonment of last Saturday’s match after the players began brawling was a contributing factor to his retirement. Mr Oxford, who is a barman in a Sydney hotel, said: “The riot last Saturday was only the culmination of a series of disappointments to me. “I had been thinking of retiring early in the season when.it was obvious that I w’ould not reach my goal of controlling an England-Australia test match.

“Last Saturday’s fiasco only brought the whole<»business to a head,” he said.