35,000 ATTEND SECOND TEST— Australia Defeats N.Z. After Thrilling Match

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 September 1949, Page 8

35,000 ATTEND SECOND TEST — Australia Defeats N.Z. After Thrilling Match

AUCKLAND, September 25 (P.A.). —Great speed on attack, splendid covering on defence, and seizure of vital chances gave Australia’s touring Rugby team a triumphant victory in the second test match with New Zealand at Eden Park on Saturday. Australia scored two goals, a try, and a penalty goal (16 points) to New Zealand’s try, penalty goal and dropped goal (9 points). It was the first time in history that Australia had twice beaten a New Zealand team in the Dominion in one seaspn. The Australians well deserved their victory, even though for nearly two-thirds of the game New Zealand played with only 14 men. Played With 14 Men After half an hour’s play, J. W. Kelly, the All Black full-back, retired with a shoulder injury suffered in making a very heavy tackle some time before. Thereafter, New Zealand played seven forwards and H. C. B. Rowley, the No. 8 forward, went out to the wing. This was a bitter blow to New Zealand. However, two of the Australian tries occurred as a"direct result of blunders by the All Blacks, and the third was obtained in a movement in which the. All Black defence was scarcely of international quality. When V. D. Bevan flung a wild pass across his goal line at J. K. McLean on the wing, two Australians were up like a flash. Similarly, when T. R. O’Callaghan’s kick at goal from inside the Australian twenty-five curled back with the wind, the Australians broke through a bewildered defence and sped downfield in a tremendous run which justly resulted in a splendid try. Thus one could say that the Australians exploited their strengths and concealed their weaknesses. They had many individuals, notably in the forwards, who reached a high standard of skill, and the great pace in the back line made this a constant danger. The cover defence of the Australians was one of the best features of the game. New Zealand could do nothing about its inferiority in speed, but it could have played with a great deal more design than was apparent. The forwards did not counter the cunning Australian line-out play for more than 20 minutes, and nothing persuaded Couch that he could not dash through ' the defence close to the scrum. The All Blacks, all the same, had a good deal of fire and their willingness to try anything, even though it was of an individual rather than a combined nature, made the last part of the match wonderfully thrilling. Excited Crowd For the last 20 minutes the lead of the Australians was a bare two points, and with the ball being flung about in all sorts of moves, the shouting and cheering grew frenzied. Within a minute of the end, however, an All Black forward tried to pick up the rolling ball on the goal-line, and N. A. Emery smoothly whipped in to gain a try beside the posts by the simple means of falling on the ball. On this note of anti-climax for New Zealand, history was made. The Australians joyfully leaped in the air, hugged Emery, and chaired their captain, T. Allan. I As is always to be expected in a test match, play grew fairly fierce at times and there was some punching, wrest- | ling and jersey holding. The Aus- I tralians employed their fast forward, i D. Brockhoff, in the style of the South African No. 8. Mossop was a splen- | did Australian line-out forward, and K. A. Cross always seemed to be where the need of. a cover defender was greatest. C. Windon, the vice- | captain, was not quite as outstanding as expected. 1 C. Burke, the Australian half-back . was given a great deal of lattitude about the scrum by the New Zealand flankers, and in consequence was both lively and enterprising. Emery at fly-half was sound, and kicked well, and outside him J. Bromley and Allan, the centres, looked very good indeed. All of the Australians moved with i

I spirit and energy. R. Cawsey was a ! plucky full-back who played well in spite of several knocks, and R. L. Garner and J. Solomon, the wings, made good use of their comparatively few chances. Roper Plays Well Two newcomers to international football this season, R. A. White (Poverty Bay), a forward, and R. A. Roper (Taranaki), a three-quarters, were splendid players. Roper was the only New Zealander capable of matching the Australians in pace, and he put energy and determination into all his play. His was a most auspicious first appearance in a New Zealand team. J. B. Smith, too, had a good game, though the nature of it had to be defensive rather than attacking. His dropped goal was made from 35 yards out with great skill. He is still a supremely artistic footballer. W. A. Lunn was a good henchman for White in the New Zealand pack, and A. M. Hughes had the better of the hooking exchanges. All of the All Black forwards played well, and with more coaching they would have perhaps dominated the game. Bevan’s foolish pass was costly to New Zealand, but he did many good things, particularly in getting out a long pass beyond the reach of Brockhoff. O’Callaghan was not in his best form at second five-eighth, in either kicking.or passing, but when he transferred to full-back in place of Kelly he made several enterprising runs with the back line. McLean in spite of a hard kick on a leg just before half-time, had rather the better of Solomon, and Kelly was playing well up to his retirement. He made one tremendous tackle to stop a fine Australian movement. The Scoring Australia opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute of the first spell when Solomon forced down the ball after Bevan’s wild pass. Cawsey converted. Five minutes later Windon scored in the corner after a rush from the Australian twenty-five, and Australia led by 8 to 0 at half-time. Nine minutes after the start of the second half Smith dropped a goal from 35 yards out, and a minute later O’Callaghan kicked a penalty goal when Brockhoff obstructed R. C. Stuart. After 15 minutes Bevan was penalised for not putting the ball in straight, and Allan kicked a simple goal from 20 yards out and straight in front of tfie posts. Then in the twenty-first minute Roper scored in the corner, and in the last minute Emery scored his opportunist try, beside the posts. Allan converted. Mr L. Walsh, of Christchurch, was the referee. The attendance was 35,000, and the gate takings £3300.