LIKE MEN INSPIRED.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 2063, 6 January 1925, Page 5

LIKE MEN INSPIRED.

England kicked off against a fresh diagonal breeze, and the ball went out of play. Shortly afterwards, Young almost crossed the New Zealanders' line, but Cooke relieved with a magnificent line kick. England, playing with extraordinary dash, transferred play to midfield, where Davies brilliantly broke*through and ran right to Nepia, accompanied by two unmarked colleagues, but a golden chance was bungled. The Englishmen were playing like men inspired, their backs passing brilliantly, and the forwards dribbling and heeling magnifiicently. The New Zealanders were quite outplayed in the early stages of the game, only splendid defence in which Cooke was a tower of strength- keeping out their opponents. Gibbs twice outpaced Steel, only to be pulled down on the line. Both sets of forwards waged a desperate fight, the exchanges occasionally becoming heated. Following a hot encounter after seven minutes' play, C. Brownlie was ordered off the field. Parker went into the pack to fill the vacancy. ENGLAND SCORES. England kept up a vigorous attack, until their forwards wheeled a scrum in midfield and dribbled the ball over the All Blacks' line. Cove-Smith beat Nepia in a race for the ball, and scored the first try of the day, after 20 minutes' exciting and at times sensational football, amid a perfect frenzy of cheering. Brough failed to convert: England 3 All Blacks 0 Spurred on by this reverse, the All Blacks brightened up, and play centred in England's territory. Their efforts were soon rewarded. A wonderful passing movement was initiated by Richardson, who sent the ball out to IVI. Brownlie. Mill. Nicholls, and McGregor participated in the movement, and (he ball travelled on lo Cooke, who put Svenson over England's line well out. Nepia made a great effort to convert, but failed: England 3 All Blacks 3 MAORILAND GETS AWAY. The All Blacks continued to attack, and kept England on the defence. From the ruck Mill sent Steel away on the blind side, and the wing threequarter bumped his way across the line at the corner. The spectators in the vicinity loudly protested that Steel had been pushed into touch. Nicholls failed with a magnificent kick: All Blacks 6 England 3 A little later offside play by a member of the home team in front of England goal gave Nicholls an opportunity, and he landed a splendid penalty goal. The All Blacks were showing a wonderful recovery of form. The English forwards were overvigorous, and were penalised nine times in the first spell, which ended: All Blacks 9 England 3 SECOND SPELL. :-\ Oii resumption of play the.breeze materially helped the Englishmen, but the New Zealanders continued to exert pressure and kept on the offensive. After a long spell of loose play ----- line M l^jjjrM

secured the bali and forced his way over near the corner. This time Nicholls converted. It was probably the best goal of the tour. All Blacks 14 England 3 The ball was rarely out of England's end of the field at this stage. White paved the way for the visitors' next score. He swung a long pass out to Svenson, who dived across near the corner. Nicholls failed to add the major points. All Blacks 17" England 3 The game progressed at a tremendous pace. McGregor nearly got across the line after a brilliant dodgy run, and then Cooke lost a great chance through kicking on. Gibbs, who w r as the fastest man on the field, twice electrified the crowd with a wonderful run and short punting, but on each occasion he was beaten by the bounce of the ball. The fluctuating fortunes of a magnificent game kept the crowd on tenterhookers. Spurred on by a continuous roar of cheers, England swept down the field in an overwhelming rush which ended dangerously near the All Blacks' line. SUPERB PENALTY GOAL. In a scrum which followed several New Zealanders were palpably offside and Corbett dropped a superb penalty goal, which made the scores: All Blacks 17 England 6 Nepia. kicking with fine judgment and length, saved a dangerous situation on a number of occasions. Just, on the call of time Hamilton-Wickes secured the ball from the loose and put in a sensational run. On reaching Nepia he passed to Kittermaster, who scored between the posts amid the wildest excitement. Conway converted. All Blacks 17 England 11 The whistle sounded shortly afterwards with England making tremendous endeavours to even the scores. It was a fitting conclusion to a game which will go down as one of the most memorable in Rugby history. DR. MORGAN'S OPINION. REFEREE NOT JUSTIFIED. IN THE BROWNLIE INCIDENT. Tress Association. —Copyright). (Received 11.40 a.m.) London, January 5. Teddy Morgan, who scored the famous try at the Wales versus New Zealand match in 1905, writing to a Cardiff newspaper, takes Mr Frewhy. the referee, to task over the Brownlie incident. He says the referee spoiled the day for all sportsmen. Whatever was done could not justify the decision. The incident will be a stigma never to be forgotten Jby the New Zealand people. THE SCORERS. The following table shows how the scoring has been done:--

653 155 85 A REMARKABLE RECORD. The wonderful record of the tour is set out in the following table: Score

Pts. Tries Gls Nicholls, M.F .. 96 2 40 Nepia, G .. 66 0 31 Hart, A. H .. 56 18 1 Steel, J .. 55 17 1 Cooke, A. E ...48 16 0 .. 48 16 0 Parker, J. H .. 42 14 0 Mill, J .. 33 9 3 White, A .. 25 3 7 Lucas, F. W .. 21 7 0 Brown, H. W .. 19 5 2 Brownlie, M .. 24 8 0 Richardson, J .. 21 7 0 Irvine, W. K .. IS 6 0 Brownlie, C. .). . . .. 18 (i 0 McGregor, N. P. .. .. 15 r> 0 Donald, Q . . 12 4 0 Porter C. G 9 3 (! Masters, R. R .. 9 3 :t Stewart, R. L 6 o o Cupples, L, F .. ' 3 1 0 West, A. H .. 3 1 0 Robilliard, A. C. o 1 0 Paewai, L .. 3 1 i)

Match. For. Against. Sept. 13—Devon 11 0 Sept. 18—Cornwall 29 0 6 0 Sept. 25 Gloucester 6 0 39 3 October 2- -Newport 13 10 October 4 -Leicester 27 0 October 8- -N. Midlands 40 3 October It—Cheshire ... 18 5 October 15—Durham 43 7 October 18—Yorkshire ... 42 4 October 22—Lancashire 23 0 October 25—Cumberland 41 0 November 1—Ireland; ... 6 0 November 5—Ulster 28 6 Nov. 8—Northumberland 27 -. 4 Nov. 12—Cambridge 5 0 Nov. 15—London Counters 31 6 Nov. 20 Oxford 33 16 Nov. 22 Cardiff 10 8 19 0 Dec. 2 Llanelly ,... 8 3 Dec. 6—East Midlands ... 31 7 Dec. 11—Warwickshire ... 20 0 Dec. 13—Combnd Services 25 3 Dec. 17 Hampshire 22 0 Dec' 27—London Counties' 28 3 January 3—England 17 11