MAORI RUGBY TOUR

Evening Post, Issue 27, 31 July 1935, Page 4

MAORI RUGBY TOUR

VICTORY AT BRISBANE

FATEFUL LAST MIPJUTES

LONG KICK THAT MISSED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, July 24.

With influenza, which played havoc among them the previous week, driven from their ranks, and playing with strength restored, the Maori Rugby Union team rose gloriously to the occasion in Brisbane last Saturday, to avenge by 15 points to 13 the defeat which Queensland had administered a week before. The difference that Phillips, wing-three-quarter, Chase and J. Reedy, five-eighths, and Mataira and Broderick, forwards, all of whom were among the influenza victims a week earlier, made to the team was apparent throughout Saturday's match. The Maoris were at least a 25 per cent, better side, and, unlike the previous week, their combination was never disturbed. Working with wonderful unison and regularity, their team work enabled the Maoris to stage a type of football that was 'as audacious as it was enterprising, supplemented by brilliant passing and handling and clever kicking and placing.

The Queenslanders also were a fine team, and because of the evenlymatched sides, last Saturday's game was more rugged and strenuous, and set to an even greater pace than the previous match. While play was not so colourful, it was bright and spectacular, as well as being a fast exposition of. the Rugby Union code. While the trend of play was not marked by the same high-scoring rate which was a feature of the previous game, the evenness of the slower scoring aroused tension which kept the crowd of 10,000 at the highest pitch of enthusiasm. BENEFIT TO GAME IN QUEENSLAND. "The Maoris are a fine body of men in every l'espect, and are exceptionally popular," wrote a Brisbane correspondent. ' "This visit to Queensland after a spell of 22 years has consolidated the game in this State. The gate takings were £75 at Warwick, £210 at Topwoomba, and £552 and £503 in the two Brisbane games, a total of £ 1340." Saturday's match, with its breathtaking climax, will long be remembered in Brisbane. There was drama enough in the earlier stages of the play, with 30 principals winning the plaudits of the eager gallery, but all that had gone before faded in comparison with the tenseness of the closing quarter o.i! an hour, and of the last minute and a half in particular. During that quarter of an hour, tnose who had criticised the defensive powers of the Maoris must have swallowed their words. The tourists were subjected to a barrage of backs and forwards propelled towards the goal by all the man-power they could command, and though the Maoris' lead of 15-10 at one stage was reduced to 15-13, they clung -to the slender advantage until the final bell.

Before that welcome sound floated from the line, 15 stout Maori hearts must have stopped when, with bare seconds to go, it seemed that a win might be snatched from them. In front of a rushing horde of fiery Queensland forwards bent on points and destruction, the Maori full-back, George Nepia, went down on the ball. There was no friendly black jersey behind him'to1 "afford protection,' and in a flash of quick thinking Nepia decided to take a risk. , He hung to the ball with the Queensland forwards pushing and smothering him. A penalty went Queensland's way, but if Nepia had rolled from the ball only a miracle could have stopped the home team from scoring a winning try. With exactly one minute 20 seconds remaining for play, Doneley, phenomenal Queensland goal-kicker, shaped up to the ball a yard inside half-way. The result of the game rested on his kick. None could have tried harder to raise the flags than Doneley, but the ball veered to the left of the posts. Doneley had missed, and the Maoris had won.

NEW SOUTH WALES DEFEAT PREDICTED.

The Maori backs have proved their ability in attack, but in future matches the forwards may fill an equally important'role. Young and tireless, of the bustling type, they are continually improving. None of the visiting backs has improved his reputation more than Smith, the giant winger. This crushing giant is going to be a thorn in the side of any defence.

Queensland would dearly have loved another match to decide the rubber, but the-Maoris had to seek fresh fields. They will have'a pipeopener at' Dubbo today against the Far Western New South Wales team, and they should step on the Sydney Cricket Ground next Saturday at their brightest and best for the match against New .South Wales. If the State team responds as Queensland did, Saturday's game should measure up to any Rugby spectacle witnessed ■in recent years.! Sydney critics believe that the Maoris will beat New South Wales.