TARANAKI WIN

Northern Advocate, 17 September 1934, Page 2

TARANAKI WIN

AGAINST AUCKLAND. TWENTY-EIGHT TO FIFTEEN. DOMINANCE IN SECOND HALF. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) AUCKLAND, This Day. Before the second spell was half over on Saturday afternoon, there was never a shadow of a doubt as to who would be the ultimate winners. The Taranaki forwards, magnificently led by Clarke, the 1932 All Black, took complete command. And that was the end of Auckland. Miss Jean Batten, the Auckland girl flyer, kicked off. but although an announcement was made through a megaphone, few of the spectators appeared to realise who the slim figure in the centre of the field was. Handclapping from the members’ stand greeted her as she walked back to the pavilion. The teams wore:— Taranaki. Collins. Kinsella, Townsend, Sullivan. Sangster, Brown. Gudgeon. Fastier. Clarke. Murphy. Blakeney. Young, Preston, Fowler. Armstrong. Auckland. Heazlewood. Hammon, Caughey, Kedgley. Murdock, Hedge. Corner. Finlayson. Bush. Ross, Knight. McLean, Pepper, Hadley. Pearce. For the first five minutes Taranaki did all the attacking, although there was little in their endeavour to arouse the enthusiasm of the crowd. Young threw a long pass to Kinsella, who, with a great burst; raced into attack. He sidestepped a man cleverly and sent the ball to Townsend, who capped the movement with a fine try at the corner. Collins converted with a kick which hit the offside upright and over the bar—Taranaki 5; Auckland 0.

A loose scrum followed a line-out and Auckland heeled. Corner shot the ball to Hedge, who, with a dazzling burst, raced through Taranaki’s fiveeighths to elude Collins and score. Heazlewood easily converted.—Taranaki 5; Auckland 5. From a scrum on the Taranaki 25, Corner sent the backs away and Murdock fended off several tacklers in a race across field. He sent the ball to Kedgley, who raced brilliantly down the line to send an infield pass to Caughey, who streaked round behind the posts to score. Heazlewood goaled. —Auckland 10, Taranaki 5, The Taranaki forwards, in a fine loose rush, raced away down-field and ten yards from the Auckland line a loose scrum was formed. The ball came but on the blind side, and breaking quickly from the pack, Clarke picked up and romped over. Collins missed the kick. Auckland were still attacking when half-time came.— Auckland 10 Taranaki 8 A scrum went down and roun,d the open side flashed Corner to thread his way brilliantly through, swerve past one defender, and, -as he was about to be tackled by a second, he sent the ball to Hammon. For a split second there was a halt and- a forward shot the ball to Hedge, and, racing away, the five-eighths threw a perfect dummy to Collins and ran on to score. Again Heazlewood converted. —Auckland 15; Taranaki 8. For over 10 minutes there was only one team in the picture. Taranaki had complete command and frequent attacks saw them do everything score. As the crowd cheered them on success at last came their way, and following a loose attack on the grandstand side Brown sent the ball to Sullivan, who, with a brilliant sidestep, flashed past Murdock and Heazlewood, to score. Collins converted.—Auckland 15; Taranaki 13. Within three minutes they were over again. Glorious ball control by the Taranaki forwards swept play to the Auckland line, where a scrum went down. The weight went in and Taranaki heeled. Gudgeon shot the ball to Brown, who sent to Sangster, for the five-eighth to battle over. Collins goaled.—Taranaki 18; Auckland 15. Auckland were hopelessly outclassed now, and Taranaki were racing on to definite victory. It was not long before another scrum went down by the Auckland line, and Gudgeon shot a swift pass to Brown, who fought his way over for a similar try to that of Sangster. Collins’ goad was ruled over, although the line umpire flagged it as unsuccessful.—Taranaki 23, Auckland 15.

Auckland made a half-hearted attempt at recovery, but the time was short and Taranaki gave them not the shadow of an opportunity. In fact the visitors clapped on the pace again—a pace which had been terrific throughout the spell—and just before the end came a brilliant Taranaki attack, which led to another try. Townsend started the movement at halfway, passing to Kinsella, who sent the ball infield to Armstrong. Then Fowler took the next pass, and with the Auckland defence scattered and bewildered, Pastier took the final pass, to score at the posts. Collins goaled, and the game ended shortly afterwards: — Taranaki 28 Auckland 15 Mr J. Malcolm was referee.