REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20923, 13 July 1931, Page 11

REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY.

AUCKLAND TEAM BEATEN. VICTORY FOR HAWKE'S BAY. NINETEEN POINTS TO EIGHT. EVEN SCORE AT HALF-TIME. THY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] NAPIER, Saturday.

In a game confined mainly to the forwards, but with occasional flashes of quite brilliant back play, tho Hawke's Bay Rugby representatives defeated Auckland at McLean Park to-day by 19 points to 8 in an earthquake benefit match. The attendance was between 5000 and 6000. The first spell was not productive of many exciting incidents, the forwards dominating the play, which was remarkable for its evenness.

The ground was very heavy, following on rain and faulty drainage resulting from the earthquake. Even sawdust, which was put on tho bad spots, did not give sufficient foothold for the players. Nevertheless, the backs handled the ball with remarkable precision, and on occasions participated in some good combined efforts.

Auckland scored first, consequent upon a goal by Davies from a penalty. Auckland, 3; Hawke's Bay, 0. Not long afterwards Lambie worked the blind side of a scrum, passing to Rhodes, who unsuccessfully attempted to hurdle the fullback. Anderson, however, was handy and scored. Rhodes' kick failed. Auckland, 3, Hawke's Bay, 3. The second spell had been in progress about five minutes when from a scrum in the Hawke's Bay twenty-five Corner passed out to Jamieson. Smith, Stuart and Milliken all handled, the last-named finding the opposition out of place and scoring well out. Davies converted with a good kick. Auckland, 8; Hawke's Bay, 3. The home side was not long in evening up matters in sensational manner. Auckland.. was on tho attack, but, with forwards and backs combining splendidly, and about half the team handling, they swept the field, Howell finally scoring between the posts. Setford converted easily. Auckland, 8; Hawke's«Bay, 8. A moment latfer Hawke's Bay assumed the lead, the backs taking advantage of an opening made by Howell, which resulted in Cooke and Smith breaking away. The last-named scored between the posts and Setford converted. Hawke's Bay, 13; Auckland, 8. \ After a lengthy period of play in which there was no material advantage for either side, the Hawke's Bay backs swung into action. Cooke missed his pass from Setford, but he kicked over the line and in a race for possession he won. Rhodes failed to convert. Hawke's Bay, 16; Auckland, 8. The last try of the day wa§ an exciting one. The ball was kicked from the Hawke's Baytwenty-five to the open, with Davies, Batty and Rhodes in full cry after it. Davies secured it, but Rhodes was on him, Batty having tripped in the meantime. Setford, who had followed up, snapped the ball up, but he was tackled. McKay was handy, however, and went over the line to score near the posts. Setford failed to convert and time was called with the score:—Hawke's Bay, 19; Auckland, 8.

LACKING IN DEFENCE.

AUCKLAND BACKS' WEAKNESS

HOME TEAM FINDS NEW WING.

[BT TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER. ] NAPIER, Saturday.

Auckland owed its defeat, to-day mainly to a lack of defensive ability on the part of the backs. The game was at times fast and exciting, but, owing to the condition of the ground, quite a considerable amount of play, especially in the first spell, was confined to the forwards.

Contrary to expectations the Auckland pack did not altogether show a vast superiority over the Hawke's Bay vanguard, and, if anything, honours were even in this department. In the Hawke's Bay pack there were several more or less unknown quantities in big football, but they stood up to the day's work well. In scrum work the visiting forwards showed a slight superiority, especially as far as hooking was concerned, but this advantage was evened by Hawke's Bay's better line-out work. The home side was also better in the loose but a penchant for offside play on the part of one or two nullified many of their efforts.

Satherley, Batty and Solomon all played good games, the first-named especially being prominent for his persistent following up. Hadley and Palmer showed they were better hookers than their opponents, Wanoa and J. Gemmell.

Davies, the visitors' fullback, who was making his first appearance in representative football, had a difficult task in keeping his feet on the slippery ground and in handling the greasy ball. His kicking and fielding were up to standard, but he was inclined to show weakness on defenco. did not get many chances, but when he did he was equal to them.

Jamieson was the best inside back, making some splendid openings and handling the ball well. Corner played an outstanding game at halfback and took every advantage of the opportunities given him by the forwards on attack. The Auckland backs, taken right through, were sound, but there were quite a number of occasions when they were at fault in breaking up the opposing back movements. This was due to a failure to keep their positions rather;/ than to faulty tackling. One of the features of the day was the play of Rhodes, Hawke's Bay's wingthreequarter. He is a North Auckland representative who came to this district, and at the beginning of the season was playing in the junior grade. After two appearances 'in senior ranks he was chosen to play in this match. Exceedingly fleet of foot, hci made some splendid runs, characterised by a great deal of dash, and it was probably in an effort to. subdue him that in the second spell Caughey changed wings with Mllliken. Cooke again showed that, although he lacks some of his dash and vigour, he has lost none of his strategic cunning. He was constantly a thorn in the side of the opposing backs. The game was not an outstanding exhibition of football, but, after a rather dull first spell, it improved : immensely in the second half. Conditions under foot were extremely bad and this no doubt accounted for the nature of the game. Had tha ground not "been as it was, Hawke's Bay in all probability would have had the pleasure of placing an even larger margin of points between the teams.