NORTHERN UNION CUP.

Northern Advocate, 11 August 1919, Page 3

NORTHERN UNION CUP.

Ifaielai

The contest between Hawke's Bay and Auckland for the Northern Union Cup drew a crowd of about 9000 at Eden Park on Saturday. The home team defeated the visitors after their week's practice on Victoria Perk by the rather alarmng margin of 38 to 13, and the game was won and the Cup was held (says the "Star") simply and solely by reason of the Auckland back department, which showed itself to be much faster individually and a good more expert mechanically than the line it was pitted against. Spasms of individual brilliance occurred with a certain amount of regularity throughout the rather one-sided contest, but the match as a game was inclined to be a trifle scrappy, and in the face of the nice things Mr G. West, the Hawke's Bay team'e manager has been wont to say about his boys, it must be confessed that the last moments of the struggle were a trifle disappointing. Possibly this may have been because the visitors lost a little of the spirit they certainly had manifested during the beginning and in the middle of the match but nevertheless' the result should not be taken too literally, for the fact was that the points made by Auckland always came when the game was opened up But when the fight was close the Hawke's Bay pack more than held its own. This indeed was th c outstanding feature of the afternoon—the manifest superiority of the Auckland backs in the open work and the slight inferiority of the home team when it came to close business. Another point that may be mentioned is that two Auckland tries—that means 10 points—were the results of actions that should certainly have been penalised had the referee seen them. " Dufty was in fine form as a kicker, making no less than sixteen points with his feet. Tries for Auckland were notched by Haddon (2), lies (2), Davidson, Dufty and Avery. Hawke's Bay have to thank McCarthy (a try and goal) and Jackeon (two tries and a goal) for their points. Th e visitors had & little the worst of the conditions, and they were slightly unfortunate in this great disparity of the result.