City Turns On Great Exhibition

Northern Advocate, 31 May 1939, Page 3

City Turns On Great Exhibition

With fast, penetrating back-line movements and snappy reverse passing, City played ,a game out of the bag, and would have presented a difficult proposition for any team. Thus it was unfortunate that Kensington, taking the field for the first time this year after a dark period during which it was feared it would not be able to put out a side this year was unlucky in coming up against last year’s competition winners on the first day out.

F. Bradley retained his post behind City’s scrum and set his backs rolling on the slightest pretext. This player also raised the flags with two conversions.

Brains of the back line, however, was veteran Dave Parkes, centre. Handling confidently, he backed it up with hard, straight running, a feature which could have been copied by other members of both teams, who would have made up much more ground if they had not run across field.

In the pack, Pickrang played his usual tricky game, and it is evident that the side has benefited much already from his coaching. He received. plenty of support from Hirtzel Vaughan, and V. Payne, but Len Payne showed' a tendency to return to unnecessarily rough play. Kensington's Game Fight. Although Kensington put up a game fight, especiaiy when the team had settled down in the second spell, and showed that it has the makings of an excellent side. It is gratifying that Kensington has returned to the fray, as this provides two home teams in Whangarei, and consequently better fare for patrons at the Jubilee Park headquarters. Franklin played a steady game at full-back, although not displaying the form of Phil Child, his opposite number.

Kensington had an acquisition in Crump, their hooker, who won the majority of the scrums, but the ball seldom travelled far along the back line due to mishandling born of lack of practice. This fault should be eliminated in very few games, and the later stages of the match showed a big improvement. ■ Edgar Child, first five-eighth, played a hard game full of initiative, and at times received good support from Henderson. McMillan on the wing, never let up and was unlucky not to score from one particularly determined run.