Brilliant Try Finale To British League Tour

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32360, 28 July 1970, Page 19

Brilliant Try Finale To British League Tour

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. Great Britain could not have finished its triumphant Rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand on a better note than when its brilliant little fly-half, R. Millward, yesterday made a superb solo break for a try between the posts to cap Britain’s 23-8 defeat of Auckland.

Britain completed its seven-match tour of New Zealand without a loss and it had only one defeat in the first test, in the Australian section. Millward’s try, his third of the match, gave him 100 points for the tour. His final dazzling run confirmed that, whatever the conditions, this British side was several classes above the New Zealand opposition. Scudding at astonishing speed over the sloppy Carlaw Park surface, the British scored five tries, converted three, and kicked a penalty goal. However hard it tried Auckland did not have the speed or guile to score a try and its eight points came from four penalty goals kicked out of the mud by E. Wiggs. MANY PENALTIES

slippery that only kicks from point-blank range had any chance of finding the posts. Britain opened with a splendid try by J. Atkinson, the wing, in the third minute and R. Dutton converted while the ball was still dry and kickable. For the next 20 minutes, however, Auckland was very much in the game. The Aucklanders forgot their early hesitancy and kept Britain under pressure. Wiggs’s second penalty goal trimmed

the tourists’ lead to 5-4 after 18 minutes. Then a long Millward pass shredded the Auckland defence and A. Hardisty ran round behind the posts to give R. Dutton an easy conversion. AWAY AGAIN From the kick-off D. Chisnall ran upfield, crashed through two would-be tacklers and a long pass put Millward in for his first try. Again Britain burst away from the kick-off, E. Moore got off-side and Dutton kicked an easy goal. Wiggs kicked penalty goals in the forty-first and fiftysixth minutes of the match and as the final Sourish, Millward scampered in for tries in the sixty-ninth and eightieth minutes of the game. The difference between the teams was even wider than

the scores suggested. The Aucklanders struggled to find top speed on the porridgy surface and any attempt to change direction or jink usually left them sliding into a tackle. The British players, by comparison, were thoroughbreds playing draught horses. Scorers: Millward (3), Hardisty and Atkinson scored Britain’s tries and R. Dutton kicked four goals. Wiggs kicked four penalty goals for Auckland.

That Auckland did kick penalty goals was little wonder. The referee, Mr A. Taylor, of Auckland, lashed the British players with penalties and the final count was 25-7 in favour of Auckland. At one stage Britain was penalised at five scrums in succession. Many of these and other penalties were within 45 yards of the posts, but the ball was so ■ heavy and

Crealy Loses To Swede

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter —Copyright) BAASTAD (Sweden). H. Zahr, the 22-year-old Swedish No. 1, clinched second place in the Champion Cup round robin tennis tournament by beating R. Crealy (Australia), 64, 63, 9-7. A. Ashe (United States) won the title when he beat Zahr in four sets.