THE LEAGUE CODE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19999, 16 July 1928, Page 15

THE LEAGUE CODE.

INTEREST IN COMPETITION.

RICHMOND'S FINE DEFENCE.

DEVONPORT STILL IN LEAD. The third successive defeat of Devonport on Saturday has had tho effect of making tho senior competition much more interesting. As the position of the teams stands at present Devonport still has a two-points lead over Richmond. The former, however, has played ono more match than Richmond and will have its bye next Saturday. Richmond will play Ponsonby in its next match and a pood deal rests on tho result of this contest. Ponsonby has proved itself capablo on recent form of upsetting tho calculations of any team in tho competition. A great contest was anticipated on Saturday, when Devonport and Richmond clashed and the. match proved up to all expectations. Richmond from tho outset was out to win and had all the better of the early exchanges. The forwards worked like Trojans, and the backs by clever short passing often pierced the Devonport defence. As a matter of fact, it was only by gaining such a lead in the first spell that Richmond won tho game. For the first half-hour Richmond, which was gaining an equal advantage from tho scrums, used this advantage to the limit, with the result that Devonport was more or less at sixes-and-sevens. The magnificent defence put up by the Richmond team carried it to victory, especially in tho second spell and the latter portion of tho first half when Devonport persistently attacked. Richmond Unlucky.

In ilic second spell .Richmond was particularly unfortunate to lose the services of Firth, its hooker, as after his retirement Devonport continually obtained possession from the scrums and was thus enabled to set up attack after attack. Too much praise cannot bestowed upon the Richmond players for the magnificent defence they set up throughout the game. In the early stages quick breaking up and splendid tackling, which was an object lesson, frustrated auy attempts made by the Devonport backs to attack. Jenkinsou played a great game and was in the picture throughout, both on attack and defence. His omission from the players selected for representative practice is difficult indeed to understand. Closely following Jenkinson for great work were G. Stewart and Colebrook, but. the whole pack played well. Firth, a third grade player, who was making his first appeanance in the senior grade, did very well against St. George and easily held his own in getting the ball from the scrums, when lie was compelled to retire. -Devonport gained possession incessantly. The Richmond backs ably supported the. vanguard, and were seen in some very pretty passing bouts. Prentice played a fine game and Wheaton, at centre, was also impressive, while all the others did their work well. A word of praise is due to Leng, at fullback, whose tackling was a feature. A Great General.

Devonport in one sense was rather unlucky in not snatching a victory in the final stages. After Preston was injured A. Scott went to second five-eighths, and his experience and ability to sum up the various positions worked wonders in the back division. Always a great general, Scott proved invaluable while playing both in the forwards and the backs. Dixon played easily his best game to date and used his head well. Rule was also very prominent, while O'Brien proved ho has the offside rule down to a fine art. Among the backs Webb was much too selfish at half, which probably cost Devonport the match, especially in the second spell. Beattie played a great game at centre and mado some magnificent openings. He was well supported by L. Scott, whose dashing runs on the wing stamped him as a most determined player. His try in the second spell would have been scored by very few —if auy—threequarters in the game. Wells, at fullback, did some good work, but on occasions was badly bustled. There was little to choose between Marist and Ponsonbv and a draw was a fair indication of the run of the play The game was not a good exposition of the code. Neither side desired to open up the plav, preferring to match the strength of the forwards. It was in this department that Ponsonby more than held its own against a recognised strong vanguard. Both in the scrums and in tho loose the Ponsonby set did some excellent work, particularly in the second spell, when it dominated the game. Too Much Kicking. In the absence of Campbell, who was injured in tho trial game, Johnson did the hooking and he was successful in giving the Marist backs a good share of the ball. Tho rearguard, however, failed to cornbino well and little team work was witnessed. The Ponsonby rear division did a little better and sonic nice passing was seen. An over-indulgence in kicking was a noticeable fault with both teams, as cither side could have won comfortably had passing been utilised instead of badlvplaced punts. Delgrosso stood out as usual among tho Ponsonby backs and ho gave an excellent display at five-eighth. His defence was sound throughout, but he kicked a little unnecessarily on attack. Thompson showed further improvement, often cutting in nicely. He was directly responsible for Letton's try. Gardiner, who replaced Usher, was frequently id tho limelight, but his handling was uncertain. Let ton got more chances than his conlrere, K. Pockham, but both played well. In the absence of T. Peckhaiii, Mooro directed the movements of tho backs behind the. scrum, showing smartness in sending out passes. Tho Ponsonby vanguard played fine football, with Fagan, Hutt and J. Feckham prominent. The last-named showed a lot of pace when he ran from 40 yards out to scoro an excellent try. Gregory had a l"t, of work to do at fullback and as usual gavo a sound display, fielding well and kicking with better judgment. Cronin spoiled a fine exhibition bv holding on when Hassan could have scored in tho final stages of the game. Hassan did good work on defence, and Brady played his best game this season. His try was a. splendid individual effort. Brisbane delighted tlie crowd with strong, straight running and his thrusts through tho centre were often dangerous, lietter supported by faster wings, Marist would have scored twice from Brisbane's work. Richardson is a promising winger but he has yet to learn to remain in position. Batchelor was not, so certain as usual. The Marist Forwards. The Marist forwards did not play with tho dash tliey showed against Devonport tho previous week, and many of tho set were too keen to shine in the loose. Perhaps the better conditions of the ground called for a changed style of play. O'Brien was again tho best forward aud lie did some solid tackling round the scrum. I'etlierick, Graham and Noble wore good in tho looso, but. Moisley was not as prominent as usual. The game between .Newton and [jllerslie was a disappointing -exhibition of the code, as it. developed into a scraggy fight betweeu the opposing vanguards. There was little team work revealed. The splendid passing of Newton's rear division so often seen at Carlaw Park was not in evidence. Neither side made any attempt to play football and there was altogether too much attention given to the man. Newton was a little superior in the forwards.