LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19413, 23 August 1926, Page 13

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

COMPETITIONS CONTINUED. NEW RULES INTRODUCED. CITY STILL IN THE LEAD. The introduction of several amendments to the rules of the game gave additional interest ,to the League football competition games played in Auckland on Saturday. The play-the-ball rule, while it certainly made the game more open, caused the players some concern. It is evident* the players will need more schooling to make the interpretation of this rule more effective. In the match between Ponsonby and Richmond every advantage was taken of the referee's awkward position, and some very unfair tactics were adopted in securing the ball from the ruck. The results were as follow: A SECTION. Ponsonby, 20, beat Richmond, 11. City, 47j beat Grafton, 18. Marist, "15, beat Newton, 11. B ' SECTION. . Northpote, 16, beat Ellerslie, 11. Kingsland, 21, beat Mangere, 8. Parnell, 10, beat Otahuhu, 9. POSITION OF THE TEAMS. The position of tho teams, in the championship'table is as .follows ' " ' "A SECTION. - - ' , : , , ■ Points Ch. ... P. W. L. D. F. A. PCs. City , . 10 8 2 Ponsonby .... 9 7 219 l 19l 122 14 Marist ..... 9 7 2 Devonport 9 4 5 -- 184 122 8 Richmond .... 10 3 6 Grafton 10 2 8 Newton . 927 - 157 '251 4 B-SECTION. , • • ■ Points Ch. P. W. L. D. F. A. Pts. Ellerslie.. . ... 11 7 3 1 78 57 15 Northcote .... 11 7 3 1 116 119 15 Kingsland . 11 7 4' Mangere ..... 11 0 5 Otahuhu . .. It' 2 9 Parnell. ... ..... .11 2 9 - 64 IIS 4 PONSONBY V. RICHMOND.

'lt was expected that Richmond, would have a good chance of defeating Ponsonby. In the ."first spell Richmond repeatedly outplayed Ponsonby. but the Richmond backs were' unable-lo finish off their movements and Ponsonby won; by 20 points to 11. The game was fast and open throughout. Following, the .kick-off Richmond immediately set up' an attack that- carried play well into . Ponsonbys territory. Godley sent the Ponsonby backs away, -but " Ussiier held on too long. Ponsonby was penalised and. Taylor kicked - a splendid goal. Riley made a good opening for Ponsonby and passed to Littlewood, who outpaced'the opposition to a-cofre a' fine try.' which Peckham converted. Headed by Avery and Carroll, the Richmond forwards swept over the opposition. From a scrum on the line Davia! whipped .the .ball to Bass?; who shot over to score. Taylor failed to convert and the score was, 5 all. Playing with dash; Payne and. Fagan were associated =in a pretty passing run. Riley joined in and ran well into Richmond's twenty-fiVe. where a free kick pulled Ppnsonhy up. Good. play by Bass saw Richmond attack again, ■ and both - forwards and backs passed in > great style. Keeping up the pressure, E(ass broke, away again and, excitement ran , high as ,Jenkinson shot straight for- the goalposts, but /Littlewood just; saved , a try. From playne'ar midfield Taylor secured the. ball and quickly dropped a beautiful field goal, putting Richmond/in" the 'lead' by 3 points to 5 at halftime. • ,-, v : '

On resuming Ponsonby was twice penalised, ' but Taylor missed "each attempt to goal,. Immediately afterwards, for not playing the ball .properly,. Richmond was; penalised and Grey goaled.. Peckham broke aWay. arid r after Ward and putt had handled the ball'. Peckham crossed the line, but to everyone's-surprise-he -failed to ground "the ball and a force; was .ruled. Better ;hick favoured . Ponponby in their next- effort.- From a miss-kick MeNfeill secured, and, passed, to Riley, who scored. Pe>ckham goaled. Ponsonby then led; by,j 12 points to' 9. From a free kick Taylor kicked his fourth goal, reducing Ponsonby's score to one point. Prentice made a splendid opening and passed to Donald, but the latter narrowly failed to score. Then Payne made an opening from which Fagan scored and Peckham goaled. Tust on time Hutt. scored but Peckham failed with the kick,, making the final score :— Ponsonby, 20: Richmond. 11. .

••• CITY V. GRAFTON. Grafton made a - sensational opening against City and within two' minutes of the start had scored 10 points. City, however, soon settled down and. throwing the ball about well, won by 47 points to 18. Grafton Was first to. attack, and a mistake by Brown resulted in Moros scoring near the corner. * Heard goaled. The Giafton' forwards sw.ept. oyer; the opposition and Pitman added another, try. which Lucas converted. Lewis and Bass carried v play to Grafton's territory, where Wetherall opened City's score with a' penalty goal. . From the scrum City's backs passed in good style, and Wetherall short-punted for Wade to burst through and score. City repeated the same movement and Wetherall touched down. Both tries were unconverted. Then Wetherall added a penalty goal, making the score 10 all. City was now showing better combination/ Mackie cleverly evaded the de' fence and made an opening for. Bass to score a. try, which he 'converted. Just before' the spell ended City's backs away'in a splendid passing run and Wade outpaced the; defence to score an unconverted" try,, making the half-time score Citv. 18; Grafton. 10. . , • Early in the second Moros, in attempting to gain, possession, was tripped and a penalty try was awarded. Grafton's forwards were playing with great dash, and Webb and Smith .were prominent in smart following up, which resulted in Callaghan scoring. Lucas converted, making the score 18 all. , • scored two tries, one of which Wetherall converted. Then the ball was passed and re-passed among eight City players, Lewis scoring and .goaling. ■ Further tries were added by, Hawkes (2), Bass and Ghent, Brown and Wetherall convertng. one each, and the game ended with the Score:—'City, 47; Grafton, 18. ,

j . NEWTON' V. MARIST. I Newton played, only 10 men against ! Marist, but it took the latter team's full i strength to gain a narrow win by 15 points to 11. In fact,"in the first spell Newton had much the better, of the game, and was unlucky in not scoring more points; Newton opened up the attack. Little raced away and passed to Morman. the movement ending in Grover scoring an unconverted try. Good play by Moore resulted in O'Brien scoring , a try. which he converted with a fine kick. With only three forwards. Newton had- no control over the ball ill'the scrums, but the backs were playing solidly. After a passing run among Newton's backs. Little outpaced the opposition. and scored an unconverted .try near the corner. A few minutes later Little. again raced aver for a try which Herewini converted. Just on half-time Sweeney Bcored for Marist. and O'Brien converted, making the scote:—Newton, 11: Marist, 10. In the second spell Neuron continued to battle hard and for aome time held its opponents. The Marist forwards. howe,ver, Tushed play to NowtonV end where Crewther. scored and O'Brien goaled. The eame ended with the score:—Marist, 15; Newton, 11. NORTHCOTE V. ELLERSLIE. Consistently good football gave Northcote the victory over Ellerslie, the B grade leaders, by 16 points to 11. The result has placed the B section competition ■ in an interesting position and, as Ellerslie and Northcote have yet to meet Kingsland. the result is still in doubt. . In the first spell Ellerslie did most of the attacking. Within two minutes of the start Cooko gathered up a loose pass and scored an unconverted try for Ellerslie. Speight, who was playing a fine game for Northcote, outwitted the defence in a great run from ■near half-way and scored. Mcßae converted. Northcote's forwards infused plenty of dash into their play, and a sortie resulted in Thompson scoring. Mcßae again goaled.' Cooke then kicked a penalty goal for Ellerslie. At half-time the score was:— Northcote. 10; Ellerslie. 5. ... , In the second Bpell Ellerslie made great efforts to reduce the,deficit. Northcote. ■ however, offered -a -strong resistance, and the team's tackling wis. splendid. Thompson and Grey, scored unconverted tries fof Northcote, and lor Ellerslie Williams, and Shand scored unconverted tries, making the final score: —Northcote, *6; Ellerslie, 11. KINGSLAND V. MANGERE. Kingsland had an easy win by 21 points to 8 over Mangere and on the display given should be a difficult team to dispdse of in the remaining matches. List and Herring played fine gam is for 4 he winners, and Hupi and Wilson were most prominent for Mangere., . . . * ~. T ■ < For Kingsland tries were scored ov List (2). Carter (2) and Herring, while Herrmg kicked two goals and McCoy one. lor Mangere Hapi and Rewha scored and Wilson added » goal, making the final score:— Kingsland. 21; Mangere. 8.

PARNELL V. OTAHUHU. Parnell gained its second win of the sea- I son by defeating Otahuhu by 10 points to 9, after an uninteresting game. The football was of a poor standard. Both sides indulged in too much kicking, and lack of knowledge of the new play.-the-biill rule caused the game'to. be frequently held up. Otahuhu played one man short. Clarke was first to score for Parnell and Brockless added the goal points. Ellery was responsible for all Otahuhu's points. In the first spell he kicked three goals and in the second spell he scored a try. For Parnell Ghent scored and' BTockliss kicked a penalty goal. The game ended with the score:—Parnell, 10; Otahuhu. 9. CHRISTCHURCH JUNIOR TEAM, i RICHMOND BEAT WAIMAIRI. Considerable interest was aroused in the appearance of tho Waimairi junior team from ■ Christchurch, which played against the Richmond fifth grade team at Auckland on Saturday. The visitors, after r. stirring struggle, were beaten just on time by 8 points to 5. . . , j The game was fast and exciting, and some fine football was played by both teams. The visitors.met a very smart combination, and the Richmond backs were a shade too good for Waimairi. The first spell ended with the score 2 all, each side; kicking a penalty goal. Then A. Smith (Waimairi) scored a. very fine try, which was not converted. Mincliam (Richmond) scored two unconverted tries, one being just before the bell rang. NORTHERN UNION CUP. AUCKLAND V. CANTERBURY. The Auckland team will defend the Northern Union Cup against Canterbury on Saturday. The Auckland selectors, Messrs. Asher, Fox and McClymont, have chosen the following players to attend training this week:—Backs: Littlewood, L. Scott, List, Wade, Riley, Prentice, Wetherall, Seagar, Peckham, Ghent. Forwards: O'Brien, Townsend, O'Brien (Marist), Payne. St. George, Hutt, A. Scoit, Bass, Dixon. JUNIOR COMPETITIONS. Second Grade.—Ponsonby, 12, beat Mangere., 0. Third Grade.—Devonport, 13, beat Kingsland, 7. Fourth Grade.—Parnell, 6. beat Richmond, 0; Ponsonby. 9. beat Point Chevalier, 0. Fifth Grade.—Ponsonby,' 20, beat Grafton, 0. Sixth Grade.—Akarana, 13, beat Newton, 0; City A, 3,. beat City B, 0. GAMES IN CHRISTCHURCH. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH. Sunday. League football matches played yesterday resulted as followHornby. 19, v. Aldington, 16; Waimairi. 22, v. Marist B, 3: Sydenham, 21. v. Woolston. 6: Marist A. a bye