RUGBY LEAGUE NARROW WIN FOR N.Z. TEAM

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27795, 21 October 1955, Page 14

RUGBY LEAGUE NARROW WIN FOR N.Z. TEAM

FEATHERSTONE ROVERS BEATEN, 7-6 (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, October 19. The New Zealand Rugby League tourists beat Featherston Rovers by 7 point* to 6 today. The teams were:— Featherstone Rovers.—Fennell, Mitchell. Metcalfe, Clamp, Tennant, Mullaney. Fox, Welbum, Fawley, Hulme, Storey, Barraclough, Lambert. New Zealand.—Haggle, Robertson, Baxter, McKay, McNichol, Sorenson, Creedy, Maxwell, Kilkelly, McLennan, Butterfield, McDonald, Atkinson. Referee: Mr T. Armitage (Huddersfield). After Robertson had twice been checked by Fennell, the home full-back, the Kiwis took the lead when Baxter threw a long pass to McNichol, who crossed for a try in the corner. Fennell missed four penalty shots for Featherston, but Haggle was successful with two for the visitors. In quick succession Storey and Barraclough went close to scoring for Featherstone, who opened their scoring after 31 minutes, when Fox sent Lambert over for a try. Featherstone had a good spell of possession, but could do little against close marking. Featherstone cut the New Zealanders* lead to one point after 17 minutes of the second half, when Clamp beat three defenders and. touched down after a 25yards run. Later the Kiwis were often hard pressed, as Featherstone won the set scrums by two to one, but they tackled superbly and stood the pace well. The attendance was 5100 and the receipts £650. The narrow New Zealand victory did nothing to suggest that the tourists are more adequately prepared to tackle the second test than they were the first. They revealed two valuable assets, magnificent tackling, which offset their defeat in th* set scrums, and fine staying power, in a game which had little more than movement to commend it. They supported each other well, too, but many of their attacks moved across the field instead of down it. OTHER NATIONALITIES BEAT FRANCE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, October 19. Other Nationalities, superior In almost every department, beat France, 32-19, in a floodlit Rugby League match at Leigh tonight. The French relied on conventional passing, but came up against stout defence, in which the Australian, Harry Bath, of Warrington, the New Zealander, T. Lynch (Halifax), Moses (St. Helens), and Jone* (Leeds) were prominent.