THE RANFURLY SHIELD.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 188, 10 August 1908, Page 2

THE RANFURLY SHIELD.

AUCKLAND v. MARLBOROUGH

AN' INTERESTING GAME.

NORTHERN FORWARDS TOO

GOOD

[SKOM OUB COKRESPONDENX.]

AUCKLAND, August 8. Tfre first Ranfurly Challenge Shield Match of the 1908 season was played here to-day between the teams of the MCarlborough. and' Auckland Provincial Rugby Football Unions. The weather wfe- perfect, the sky being cloudless ancl the day almost calm. There was an: attendance of over 4000, ifc being limited to some extent by the counterat&actidns of the interprovincial fcoMcby and lacrosse matches and the holding of the Auckland amateur boxing, championships here. The 'game resulted in a win for Atjgkland by 32 points to nil, but that do&jS not altogether represent the run of ~ PjUj7> which was really interesting at titiws. It was in the finer points of the. game that Auckland shone out, and the magnificent forward pack, when on attack, often turned themselfes into back*. The visiting forwards showed a great amount of dash at times. v The teams lined out as follows:— Marlborough. — Full-back, W. Q'<Dwyer; threo-jquarters,1 C. Costello, J. O'Brien and W, Terrill; fiveeighths, C. Manning (captain) and K. <X~Eoss; half-back, H. Oben; forwgds, G. Paul (wing), F. Sowman, J. SRjJan, E. Hegglun, R. Forbes, H. Webster, A.,'G. Grant and J. McDonald.

Auckland.—Pull-back, A. Renwick : threequarters, Johnston. Murray and F. Wilson; five-eighths, R. Magee and Coofce; half-back. Winder;. wing-for-wards, G. Gillett (captain); forwards, F. Herring. J. McGuire. A. H. Francis, Geo. Nicholson, C. Seeling, J: Maguire and' Young. , - Marlborough won the toss, and played.with the sun behind them, the wind being a ' negative quality. Francis . kipked off-for Auckland, „Paul taking nicely and punting down-field. An -, .eschangevof kicks took place between Wilson and Manning., Costello was next prominent in breaking up-, a passing-rush in which Gillett, Magee and Murray,, were prominent. ManJ nine; then came through/ nicely.. and kicked out at the corner. Marlborough kept up the attack for some time. Sowman headed a rush, and , Auckland forced. The visitors kept Auckland hemmed down, the backs essaying some passing, and O'Brien was doing some good line-kicking. Hard kicking by the Marlborough forwards again fprced Auckland. Auckland worked play down-field, and in some lively attacking work in which bo£h backs' and forwards participated O'Brien and Manning were prominent in defence. Marlborough continued ty. show"fine defence, and worked play to midfield. Nolan was prominent in the. line-out work, but hard kicking spoilt a chance, and Auckland forced down. McDonald was next prominent in some tricky play, but his kick went into tou'ch-in-goal. Play hovered at the centre for somo time, where Auckland started * another passingrosh, in which Gillett, Magee, Ooote, Murray and Johnston took part, the latter's centre being forced by Oben. Marlborouq;h was putting up a, fine defence, and turned a Tush in which Gillett, Francis,'and Seeling were prominent into attack. O'Brien led a rush down to Auckland's 25, where Henwick brought- off a fine save. Shortly after, Magee made a fine opening near the corner, and Ooote touched down for Auckland. Magee /failed to convert. Auckland, ... ' 3 . Marlborough 0 About two minutes after tlw kickoff Ooote came through with the ball at his foot and dribbled right to the line, where the ball bounced into, his arm. He ran over and scored » second time. R. Magee converted. Auckland : 8 Marlborough 0 Auckland came back to the attack, and after only a few minutes of play a weak kick by a Marlborough back was marked by Gillett, and R. Magee placed a good goal. Auckland .., ... : 11 /Marlborough ~. ..'.' ... 0 Auckland again set up an attack immediately after the kick-out, and from a chapter of mullings and mistakes by both teams. Wilson secured and_ran over. r R. Magee failed to n concert. '

Auckland ...... ... ... 14 -rtiarlborough ...... ... 0 Marlborough. next had a, say, the forwards doing good work in the loose, and Manning was prominent in a long run down-field to the fullback. His pass to Paul was intercepted, and play returned up-field. Good work by Terrill returned play to Auckland's 20, where O'Brien made a fine attempt at goal from a placekick. Auckland brought play to the centre, where it stayed for a tim©7 until Seeling, Gillett and Herring worked down-field and were almost over, but Terrill came round and saved, the bell g^ing for half-time with the ball in touch in Marlboroueh 25. The spell ended: Auckland 7.. .... ... ...14 Marlborough ... ... ...' 0 Hegglun kicked off against the sun, and Auckland came back with the ball, and from a loose rush which came right down the field Nicholson failed ■to field the ball, and it, went into touch-inrgoal. Auckland came back from the kick-out wit ha magnificent forward rush, and O'Brien, who had been transferred to full-back, snowed fine defensive work. The cardinal forwards next took a hand, and several fine rushes were indulged in, play working right down to Auckland's corner. Auckland relieved, and took a spell of attack work;, but a good ohance to score was lost iby bad handling. From the line-out Sowman was prominent, getting the ball and run-

ning to the full-back. Instead of " kicking he looked for someone to pass j-^to, and a chance to score ;was lost. ' Seeling was next prominent f ronv lineout work, but was well tackled by Paul. . Play removed to Auckland's 25; and stayed there for some time, until Young relieved with/fine footr work. Nicholson and Francis kept up the pressure, and the ball went into touch-in-goal. Auckland kept on the attack. From a scrum under Marlborough's posts Murray secured, but Manning intercepted, and, beating the Auckland backs, ran up to Renwick. He. lost an almost certain chance of a score by failure to pass to Costello, and was collared with the ball. Play hovered at midfield for a considerable time, an exchange of kicks taking place among O'Brien, Wilson, Oben nnd Hen wick. From a line-out at Auckland* 25 Nicholson secured, and, running down-field, passed to Heriv

ing, who handed on to Magee, who ran round'the posts and scored after half-an-hour of play in this spell. He took the kick himself, and placed a nice goal.

Auckland

'Marlborotigh

Auckland came off, and from a scrum in the corner Winder tried to work the blind- side, but when blocked passed to Wilson, who passed back right across the scrum to Francis, who dived over and touched down. R. Magee converted.

Auckland, .. Marlborough

Hegglun was > next conspicuous, leading a forward rush right down to Auckland's line; but he kicked too hard, and Johnson, relieved for Auckland. From- a line-out 'at. midfield Firancis secured and passed to Seeling, whoj beating all opposition, ran round the posts and sooredJ Magee converted. ■: ; ■ .•".■:■■■.•...' ■'. .

Auckland .. Marlborough

Just on time Murray scored, but Magee failed to convert, and the; game ended:

Auckland

Marlborough -

... 32 ... 0 ,

NOTES ON THE GAME.

, The,, play of the Marlborough team was of the dashing order, and the backs generally played a cafe game ; but they were opposed to a very .fine pack. Sowman, Hegglun, Nolan and Paul were the.pick of the forwards, and of the backs O'Brien, Manning, Oben and Terriil were the most prominentw

Mr A'Court refereed

The teams were the guests of the Auckland Rugby Union at dinner tonight.

Mr G. Tyler,„ the "All-Black" forward, has given the team some useful coaching during their two days' practice here. ■