LEAGUE SEASON OPENS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18694, 28 April 1924, Page 4

LEAGUE SEASON OPENS.

FOUR. SENIOR MATCHES. INTERESTING CONTESTS. 'JUNIOR GAMES "POSTPONED. Tho 1924 League football season cponed on Saturday, when foir senior games were played on Carlaw Park, before an attendance of 4500. The ground stood the rain, which fell throughout the afternoon, very well. The surprise of the day was the sterling fight tho new EUeralio team put up against their more experienced opponents, Marists. The other new team. Mangere Uniteds although well defeated by Fonsonby, hung on gamely, and much better can reasonably be expected from them before the end of the season. Tho results were as follow— Ponsonby 24, defeated Manger© 5. City 17, "defeated Nowton 2. Athletics 6, defeated Richmond 2. Marists 10, defeated Ellerslie i. The games throughout were a little better than the first games in previous seasons. On© feature was much in evidence, namely, the stopping of games to attend to.iniurea players. As there wore no serious injuries, and no noticeable' hard play, those stoppages ! were no doubt duo to unfit players taxing the field, which is usual at the beginning of the reason. A little more field play should be indulged in by , the respective teams, to prevent a repetition. . : Owing to tho railway strike all the junior fixtures wore postponed, as there was no means of conveying tho players to the suburban grounds. Ponsonby's Good Combination. The first game on No. 1 ground was Mangore, v. Pouaonby, at 1.30 p.m. The following players took trio held :- r Ja.angere UniteUs.— JjipscomDc, Paul, T. Pal, Pouiai, imam, kisser, W. Hapi, Peter, H. Lipacombe, Roberta, Anse-11. Roberts, Pai. 0 "- sonby.—Gray. Wilson Morman, Little-wood, JLiavson, Uelgrosso, McClure, Cook, bugan. Word, McNeil, Shirley, Moore. Ponsonby was always superior, due to bettor combination. Mangero got the ball in the early pari of the game, and had many chances, but lack of combination was their downfall. The Ponsonby uuok lias was solid iu defence, and frustrated many movements of ihe Mangero team. Tho Mangere backs were individually very fair, particularly Digger and Tutaki, the five-eighths line. Mangere had too many attempts at goal kicking from free kicks instead of showing enterprise by keeping the ball in play. Ponsonby backs showed good combination, the best being Delgrosso, Littlewo-id and Mot'-""- "* v ~ '--"Jin'• were only fa;;r, •rseil being the best. Tho final scores. 24 to 5, wo*, i. ...n ~ dication of the relative ability of the teams. Comfortable Win lor City. At 3.15, the following teams took the field for the City v. Newton match:—City.— lynu. G. Davidson, B David«on, S. Crewthor, Wetherall. Sutton, Mitchell. Hawkcs, Atactic, Keid, Townsend, Bass, Thomas. Newton.—Sallen, Williams. Broomfield. Sorrenaon. Warren. Callughan, Pokon. O'Donnell. Stack. Lindsay, Sorrenson. Soroera, Clarke. City was superior throughout, tho good form and combination of the side contrasting strongly with tho weakness .of the Newton back line But for the defensive tactics of Poison, the Newton half, the scores would have been much higher. The City back line played with combination rarely seen so early in the season. This, with ! the cohesion betweoti the pack and tho back«, accounted for their rather easy win. Newton will require to stiffen their back line if thev wish to survive tihe first round forfeit. They got the ball on many occasions but their half received little support, with 'the result that their movements werequickly frustrated. Warren, at five-eighths, was safe for Newton, but -Cal'echan i weak, and appears tc be too. lic-ht. and inexperienced for +bo nosition* The Newton rack is wnHhy of better support, and Lindsay and O'Donnell stood out 93 the best of a good pack.

Elloxsfie's Surprise Stand. On No. 2 ground. Mnrist opposed Ellorslie, at 1.30. The teams "wore: —Marists.—hherlock, Kirkland. Brisbane, Reitt. Laing, Ghent, Sweeney. Johnson, Kirk. Carroll, W. Stormont, J. Stormont. Geard. F.lierslieFowler, Bricn, Williams, Herbert. Noble, Peebles. Baker. Page, Crotty. Slater. Norton. Pilkington. Hamilton. This was a good game, and the storliii.t fight put up by Ellerslie was much appreciated Dy the spectators. Ellerßlie possesses * good forward line. There was not much open play, the EllersKe pack preferring to imprison the ball and not take any chances with the Marist. back line Possessing a weighty forward pack and fome promising hacks, the EUerslie team is quite likely to reach the finals of the club championship. With Baker at half, Brien at wing threequarterß, and Peebles at fiveeighths the forwards might profitably have been a litt'e more entwprising and thrown the ball about. Ghent, at half, Sweeney and L*iwr at five-eighths, Brifba.no at centre, and Sherlock -nt full, were the outstanding backs for Marists. Carroll and Stormont were prominent in the pack. The score--', 10 try 7, wnre indicative, of the respective merit* of the teams. A gre*t improvement will have to be made in the Mari?t pack if +>,» t«»am is to K*""» «t> to its reputation. Athletics oT>pc*»d Ricbmorrl. at 3 p.m.. on sie, Yardley, Timmins, Wtoolloy, WilsonW *ll. Tinv. Nichol<"m, Bcm - * Avery. Ai> fii. Carroll, Gmbam. Nixon. Townsend. Richmond.—Hanlon. Tif*l e , Hv'*T>d. CaTiney. wv:*t'"nj»toTi. McMillan. D»-"i»A«. B"tler. VVKiown, Redwood. Avery. McPr>nc»]l. T>]i« a forward came thronßho'it. Th l * first swell was confined to very tis-ht rd»v nn both sides. I« *h« second pti»ll th* AfhVies rtr'wv the ball abmtt, and 'onw moro nrif-n pli" w?i<» the- r**"U. TV*rt of tr"v«o team* will '"'"'Ot* r>n Sf>*T-day'« nlay. For *<M«Kefl, Dufty_ and Av*vrv wer<> twt PG-!T'e*«ive. while the Richmond h»W. - l an' l was a tower of _ st i -"'-fl , th to rt<« (•id*. The score*, 6 to 2 in f«winr of A*hlo*]Vo. .ho'' I '' p-Ticon's*"" *he team to b»H»r offortn. _ A little luck might have reversed th» dfow'on.

UNIVERSITY TEAM'S VISIT. DEFINITE INFORMATION. A cablegram received from Australia. intimates that the Australian University team is coming to New Zealand. A definite date has not been decided upon. The local League submitted, a number of itineraries for approval and .it is not yet known which has been chosen by the Australians. The team will be representative of tho New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland Universities, As it is during the vacation that the tour will be made, there will be no difficulty in the matter of the best talent obtaining the necessary leave. MATCHES IN CHRISTCHURCH. \SX TELEGRAPH.— ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH. Saturday. Tbe following are the results of to-day's Rugby League football matches: —Hornby 34. beat Marist B 3; Addington beat Linwood by default; Marist A 45. beat Sydenham IG.