THE LEAGUE CODE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21491, 15 May 1933, Page 12

THE LEAGUE CODE

NEWTON BEATS DEVONPORT MARGIN OF THREE POINTS SPLENDID GAME WITNESSED Tho third scries of matches in tho senior championship of tho Auckland Rugby League was played on Saturday heforo a good attendance of spectators at Carlaw Park. A feature of the serios was a great gamo between the leading teams, Newton and Devonport, in which tho former took tho honours by three points. In the curtain-raiser Marist beat Ponsonby in a poor gamo while on the No. 2 ground Richmond scored its first win by defeating City. The ground was in good order after the heavy rain but a couple of showers during the play made tho ball greasy and difficult to handle. In spite of this handicap players in tho chief match handled exceedingly well and somo brilliant passing was witnessed. With three matches played Newton is the only unbeaten team. Tho following table shows tho positions of teams in the championship: — points Ch.

Excellent Tackling One of tho finest games seen at the park resulted in tho meeting of Newton and Devonport, tho result being in doubt right to tho final whistle. It was a match in which splendid forward play was intermingled with bright and spectacular passing while tho excellent tackling of both teams was one of the features of tho game. There was little between the teams but Newton was the better side on the day and thoroughly deserved its victory in spite of tho fact that Devonport was unlucky onco when Donald lost the ball when over the line. Newton outplayed Devonport at its own game, its splendid backing up and quickness to take advantage of its opponents' mistakes being of a better standard than that of the' Devonport team.

As usual Newton took a little timo to settle down but after tho first 20 minutes it played as a team and as a result took tho honours. It had been stated that a good deal depended on the Newton forwards and so well did the vanguard perform its duty that it not only held the opposition but in the final stages was playing all over it. Devonport was practically played to a standstill, a great tribute to the fitness of tho Now)on side. There were many hard forward exchanges in which tempers occasionally became frayed but throughout the game was hard but clean. The Newton pack was very ably led by Hall who is beginning to show some of his old form while Nathan was always conspicuous in all-round play. However, credit is due to all tho forwards for a fine game. Rearguard Superior

The Newton backs, too, were superior as an attacking combination. There was far more thrust in their movements than those of the Devonport rearguard, while the passing was better and had more snap and accuracy. This in a large measure can be accounted for by Brimble's quickness off the mark which gave his outside men a chance to get on the move. O'Donnell, at first five-eighths for Devonport, was too slow on attack and this hampered his outside men.

Dempsey played well at fullback for Newton and Porteous gave a fine display at halfback, his try boing the result of splendid combined play. Brimble, after settling down, was in fine form, and his try was a brilliant solo effort in which he beat several defenders. One of the best backs was Pope, whose attack and solid defence meant a good deal to tho winning team.

A groat all-round game was played by Laing at fullback for Devonport, his accurate handling and splendid kicking saving his side timo after time. Laing was called upon to do a lot of work and he never onco failed. OllifT, at half, also played well, and Rhodes, on tho wing, showed pace and brains, although lacking opportunities. Devonport's first try came as a result of a fine run by Rhodes, who threaded his way past several defenders. R. Smith was hanir pered'on attack, through O'Donnell being too slow, but ho did good work on defence. His try came from a fine passing movement. Radouich, a promoted junior, played well at centre in his first senior match.

The Devon port forwards were faced by strong opposition, but nl! gavo a good account of themselves, with perhaps E. Scott, Simpson, Le/itherbarrow and Donald the most prominent. Poor Curtain-raiser The curtain-raiser between Marist and Ponsonby was not a good exhibition. Eor the most part play was of a scrambling nature and combined movements wero lacking. Marist can perhaps bo accounted lucky, as it took the lead after Delgrosso, who was responsible for some excellent tackling at fullback, had to leave the field injured about halfway through the second spell. Marist is still far from the team which it has fielded during the past few seasons. The backs cannot gain a good combination. On Saturday List, at centre, was weak, dropping many passes, whilo also giving poor transfers. There was a good deal of lob passing on both sides, and in the main the contest was fought out by the forwards. Fagan, Brown and Keith wore prominent for Ponsonby. Laird played an improved game for Marist and Ivesen was also conspicuous, especially in the open play. With the exception of an occasional flash of bright play, the game between City and Richmond was a, disappointing exhibition of the code. Richmond gained the ascendancy halfway through the first spell, and rarely looked likely to lose. City's defence was' very poor, and the Richmond backs had matters all their own way. In fact the scoring should have been greater in Richmond's favour.

lii its last two matches City has failed to produce tho form it showed against Mnrist. After making a closo game with Newton tho previoif* Saturday, many expected City to beat Richmond. However, the latter showed improvement in team work, and was definitely a better thirteen.

Lee, at fullback, was tho outstanding Richmond back. His fielding was certain and he kicked with splendid judgment. Tho wings, Marshall and Bennett, also played good games. Prentice and Hanlon showed good combination. Jenkinson and Powell were the pick of tho forwards. Until he retired with a-n injury Watene played greatly improved football. Turoi was tho best back. Both Davidson and Purdy were weak on defence. In fact all the City backs showed a disinclination to tackle low. Clark and F. Herring stood out among the forwards.

BETTER TEAM WINS DEFEAT OF DEVONPOUT 111 a splendid game Newton proved a better team than Devonport and thoroughly deserved its win. Newton won Die toss and played with the sun. li. Smith had an early shot from a penalty, which fell fihort. Devonport had tho better of the early ex- | changes in which there were two thrilling forward rushes, first by Newton, then by Devonport. Penalties against Devonport drove it back and good play by Dempsey started a dangerous rush, which Simpson saved well with a smothering tackle. Newton maintained a persistent attack and Devonport had to defend hard until Crook missed his pass in a buck attack and Newton was repulsod to half-way. Good play by Laing placed Devonport on attack. Rhodes obtained possession on the wiua and running across ho beat several defenders in a splendid run before in-passing to Leatherbarrow, who scored between the post 3. .Laing easily converted. Another fine kick by Laing beat Dempsey and Devonport maintained a continual attack, a couple of penalties relieving Newton. A good kick by Dempsey Bent Newton to the Devonport 25, where a penalty ugainst Laing saw Porteous kick a nice goal. A thrilling rush by Newton was splendidly saved by Laing and a moment later mishandling by A. bmith nearly had his toani in trouble. Newion was now having much the better of tho exchanges, a liuc-kick giving Devonport mueh-noeued reliei. The iNewton lorwards wore playing well in the loose, but lino work by Laing sent tho play to half-way. Here Hall broke clear away and, laced by Laing, passed to 1/orteoutj., who tailed to gather cleanly. The play swung across to the other side ana from, a splendid passing rueh Pope scored wide out with .burchard in support. The angle was too diiticult for Porteous. Newton had the better ol the exchanges until half-time, when the score wasDevonport. 5: Newton. 5. On resuming Devonport was the. first to attack, but Newton soon retrieved its position. Rhodes broke away in a solo rush and from a penalty in a handy position R. Smith's kick hit the upright. Fast play followed, each team attacking in turn. Mishandling by Pope let Devonport up and in some willing exchanges the referee issued a warning; Devonport was unlucky when Donald broke away with the ball at toe. gathered in, but lost possession over th« line. Devonport maintained the attack and from a handy position Laing failed at goal, Devonport kept Newton in its own halfway, but could not penetrate the defence, while Newton always looked dangerous in counter-attacks. Throwing tho ball about well the Newton backs gained a lot of ground, A Smith and Laing driving it back in clever passing. Newton was not to be denied, however, and a fine passing movement started by Pope enabled Porteous to dash over wide out with two players in support. Quirke failed with the kick. Immediately a weak kick - by Pope saw Radovich gather and i ass to Rhodes. The lastnamed ran strongly and in-passed to R Smith, who scored a fino try at the corner. Tho scorer failed to convert. Newton soon retaliated, Brimble gettine the ball from Porteous from a scrum and cleverly beating the defence in a tricky run to score well out. Middleton failed with the kick The game ended soon afterwards with the score:—Newton. 11; Devonport. 8. Mr. M. Wetherill was referee. A CLOSE MATCH MARIST'S FIRST SUCCESS Marist scored its first win of the season at the expense of Ponsonby in a close but poor match. Marist attacked in the early stages and Dunne cut in nicely, but L. Schultz mifcsed a lob pass when a try seemed certain. Up-and-down play followed, lir3t one set oi backs and then the other going into uction. Keith broke away from a scrum, but kicked too hard and tho ball went dead. The Ponsonby backs set off, but the passing was poor and 13. Schultz intercepted, and made a good run before being well tackled by Delgrosso. Is either tide could settle down to a x>roper combination and lob passing enabled the defences to smother. Once the Ponsonby forwards broke away and Keith gathered possession nicely, only to delay his pass too lons and lose a good chance when support was offering. Mnrißt retaliated immediately, Flannagau being prominent and almost scoring. Then from a penalty in an easy position Herring kicked a goal. Marist continued to attack and got right to the Ponsonby line, where a penalty relieved the defenders. Splendid tackling by Delgrosso saved Ponsonby on two occasions. Marist maintained the pressure for a period and Herring najrowly missed at goal from a penalty Half-time came with the score:—Marist, 2; Ponsonby, 0. Play livened up on resuming and Delgrosso equalised the score with a nice goal from a penalty. Immediately Ponsonby set off in a fine rush. Nenle kicked the ball up in the loose and Mills, Riley. Thompson and Draper handled in turn, the last-named scoring wide out from a fine movement. Delgrosso failed with the kick. A heavy shower of rain at this stage made the bail greitsy. Delgrosso was injured in a tackle and had to go off. Marist was now continually on attack, but in spite of the loss of one man Ponsonby defended stubbornly. Ponsonby suddenly took the offensive and if Holland had gone out instead of cutting ill a try might have resulted. Players foi nd the ball difficult to handle and up-r,nd-under tactics were mostly the rule. Front a scrum in the Ponsonby twenty-five Hassan set his backs in motion and. aided by weak tacklins, L. Schultz scored wide out. Herring failed with the kick. Soon afterwards Ivesen picked up in the loose and dodcred his way over for a good try. Campbell's kick hit the upright, and time was called half-a-minute later, tho final score being:—Marist, «: Ponsonby, 5. Mr. V. Simpson was referee. POOR DEFENCE RICHMOND TEAM SUPERIOR Poor defence by City suw the team beaten by Richmond, which was tho superior side. Within a minute of the kick-off, Watene fielded cleanly nnd passed to Turei, who ran 40 yards and sent Clarke over for a fine try. Watene converted, The Richmond forwards rushed play over City's line and after Prentice failed to ground Haulon was awarded a try. Marshall failed to convert. Lee gained usef.nl ground for Richmond with good kicking. The Richmond backs joi.ied in a. nice passing bout, which, Leo, from fullback supported, and Marshall scored a fine try. He failed to convert. City's backs combined well and Davidson passed to Turei. who knocked on. A minute later Turei intercepted, but kicked when a pass would have given City a try. Richmond pressed hard and was awarded a penalty, Marshall kicking a goal. The City backs showed weakness on defence and Loe raced through, Hanlon eventually scoring a nice try. Marshall just failed to convert. City improved its score by a penalty goal by Watene. Abbott, worked the blind side and passed to Bennett, who gained useful ground. A minute Inter Bennett scored a fine solo try. Marshall failed to convert. Watene retired injured and half-time came with the scoreßichmond. 13: City, 7.

On resuming the City forwards rushed play to the Richmond line mid Richmond had some anxious moments defending. The game was scrapgy and there was little combination on either side. Prentice badly beat Davidson, and was unlucky not to score. From a penalty Millicich missed n chance at goal for Richmond, which always had the advantage. Drew missed with a mild "speculator." and Millicich snapped up and passed to Prentice, who scored between the posts. Marshall converted. From a scrum Perry short-punted and Turei secured. Tie passed to Drew who scored. Turei failed to convort. "Weak defence by several City backs repeatedly let Richmond through. A bright run by Axeman was the only incident before Marshall lucked a penalty goi'l for Richmond and the game ended with the score:—Richmond, 21: City, 10. Mr. P Rogers was referee. LOWER GRADE RESULTS Second Grade.—Point Chevalier, 9, Mariukati, 4; Pnpakura, 3. Mangcre. 3; Otahuhu. 18. Mount Albert, G. Third Grade Open.—Ponsonby, 5, Mount Albert, 0: Glenora, 8, New Lynn, 3. Third Grade Intermediate.—Mnnuknu B, 5, Takapuna, 2; Papakura, 5, Manukau B, 2; Devonport, 11, Akarana, 4; Northcote, 3, Maris)., 0: Richmond. 0, City. 0. Fourth Grade.—Northcote. 6, Manukau, 0; Mariat, 11. Akarana. 7; City. 5, Marist A, 3; Point Chevalier, G, Ponsonby, 3. Fifth Grade.—Elleralie, 11, Papakura, 3; Richmond, 5, City, 0.

Sixth Grade,—Devonport, 6, Avondale, 0; Point Chevalier. 7, Otnhuhu. 6. Seventh Grade.—Richmond A. 16, Newton, 2: Devonport, 5, Richmond B, 3.

NORTHLAND LEAGUE MATCHES [ FROM OUIt OWN CORRESPONDENT] WHANGAREI, Saturday Following are tho results of matches played to-day under tho jurisdiction of tho Northland League:—Seniors: Hikurnnci, 8, Takahiwn, 8i City, 11, Whaka Waro, 6; Kamo, 6, Onerahi, 3. Juniors: W.haka Waro. 12, Portland, 2. CONTESTS ELSEWHERE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] Christohuroh—Linwood, 16. Sydenham. 2: Addington, 30, Pirates, 6; Hornby, 43, New Brighton, 16. Dunedin,—Christian Brothers, 10, City, 6; Pacitic, 27, Athletic, 7.