Football With the Second Echelon

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 259, 1 November 1940, Page 6

Football With the Second Echelon

MAKINGS OF “CRACKAJACK” TEAM (From N.Z. Official War Correspondent in Great Britain.) LONDON, Oct. 50. The Second Echelon's inter-unit Rugby competition, which is now temporarily suspended to permit two trial games, reached the first peak yesterday, when the Maori Battalion and Field Artillery Regiment play'ed a thrilling drawn game of a try apiece. Of seven • matches played, the Maoris have won live and had a draw with the Wellington Regiment and the Artillery. The South Island Battalion has won five and lost to the Maoris and the Artillery; the Wellington Battalion has won four, lost to the Artillery and drawn with the Maoris and Auckland Battalion. Auckland Battalion has won four, lost to tho Maoris and the South Island and drawn with Wellington. The Artillery has played only five games, of which they have won three, lost to Auckland and drawn with the Maoris. On the showings so far, the Maoris and tho Artillery are the best two sides, with the South Islanders next. The New Zealand Army team should be a “crackajack,” especially in the forwards, where vigorous newcomers aro likely to oust some past internationals. At the trials on Saturday and in the following mid-week, the selectors are testing 40 players. The team's first fixture is against St. Mary's Hospital on November 9 and promises to be hard. St. Mary’s has the best team of the London hospitals and last Saturday beat Oxford University.