THE LEAGUE CODE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21587, 4 September 1933, Page 12

THE LEAGUE CODE

AUCKLAND TEAM WINS HAWKE'S BAY OUTCLASSED VISITING TEAM DISAPPOINTS The representative Rugby League match between Auckland and Hawke's Bay played at Carlaw Park on Saturday resulted in an easy win for the home team by 47 points to 17. Conditions were ideal and thero was a large attendance of spectators. The code was revived in Hawke's Bay this sea.son after 11 years and it was hardly to be expected that the visiting team would hold the experienced Auckland players. Auckland was superior back and forward and outclassed the opposition in all departments. With the Auckland forwards repeatedly breaking through the rearguard had plenty of opportunities. Cooke again played a fine game and his early thrusts through the defence seemed to demoralise the visiting team. Brisbane, centre, was also conspicuous for good play, whilo tho rest of tho backs played up to form. Tho forwards kept together well and all wero conspicuous. Auckland played well as a team and several fine movements were executed. Bad Passing Hawke's Bay gave a disappointing exhibition. Bad passing and at times poor tackling cost the team dearly. Many splendid opportunities were lost through weak handling and combination. Tho visitors appeared to suffer from stago fright as practically all tho work was of an individual nature. However, encouraged by the spectators, Hawke's Bay held to its task gamely against great odds. 11. E. Smith, one of tho Hawke's Ba.v wings, proved a line place-kick, two of his goals from the touchliuo being great efforts, whilo ho narrowly missed from difficult angles on other occasions. Tho teams were: — AUCKLAND Fullback.—N. Campbell. Threequarters. —11. C. Bright, rl. Brisbane (captain), L. Wayne. Five-eighths. —A. E. Cooke, o. Prentice. Halfback.—W. Hassan. Forwards.—S. Clark, C. Campbell, J. Donald, C. Satherley, It. Lawless, J.. H l 1 HAWKE'S BAY Fullback.—R. Farquhar. Threequarters. —H. G. Smith, 1. ±l. Godfrey, R. E. Smith. . Five-eighths.—J. Seal (captain), b. G. Elliott. Halfback. —R. G. Lister. - Forwards. —R. H. Gordino, H. Brady, L. Sullivan, G. R. Murray, H. W. Gushing, S. T. Nesbit. Brilliant Opening Hawke's Bay won tho toss and played with the sun. Cooke out through nicely in a passing rush, but bis pass to Wayne went astray. Clover play by Elliott cut off the Auckland defence and with several players in line almost unopposed Sullivan faded to accept his pass. Then Cooke cut brilliantly through the visiting team and gave Wayne an easy try. Campbell failed from a good position. Auckland, 3; Hawko s Bay, 0. Hawke's Bay lost two or three chances through lack of finish and poor taqkling on its part let Auckland through to gain valuable ground. A clever movement on the blind side by Auckland beat the defence and Hall was running over unopposed when no was called back for accepting a forward pass. Prentice broke through the Hawke's Bay inside hack and Cooke came up fast to take his pass and score bv the posts. Campbell easily converted. Auckland. 8; Hawke's Bay, 0. A good run by H. G. Smith was nullified when Brisbane intercepted and made a nice run until centring. Hall picked up and sent to Satherley, who was held up on the line. From the scrum Bright easily scored on the blind side. Campbell goaled from a good position. Auckland, 13; Hawke's Bay, 0. A ~ , After persistent attacks Auckland scored again when Wayne touched down from a rearguard attack. Campbell made a poor effort to convert. Next Lawless scored beside the posts, after the game should have been stopped for a breach. Campbell converted. Auckland, 21; Hawko's Bay, 0. Mistakes by the visiting backs saw Cooke dash in to gather and make a simple try for Brisbane, who scored between the posts. Campbell converted. Auckland, 26; Hawke's Bay, 0. Auckland was penalised, and R. E. Smith narrowly failed at goal. Lawless then scored for Auckland, after a possing rush. Brisbane converted. Auckland, 31; Hawke's Bay, 0. There was loud applause wheu Bright lost the ball on being tackled, and Brady picked up to score at the corner. R. E. Smith converted with a great kick. Auckland, olj Hawko's Bay, 5. . A minute later Smith kicked another good goal from a penalty. Auckland, 31; Hawke's Bay, 7. The visitors maintained tho pressure and Lister made a nice opening on the blind side, which H. G. Smith finished off with a fine try at tho ■corner. R. E. Smith kicked another great goal and half-time came with the score: — Auckland . . . • . . 31 Hawke's Bay . . . . 12 * Auckland Increases Lead On resuming, Nesbit broke away and fended Campbell off, but the Auckland defence covered quickly and saved. Brisbane eluded the defence cleverly and scored at tho corner. Cooke failed to convert. Auckland, 34; Hawke's Bay, 12. Clever play by Wayne, in which he threw the defence out of position, enabled Hall to score easilv behind the posts. Donald converted. Auckland, 39; Hawke's Bay, 12. Murray broke right away from tho loose, and the visitors lost a try when Lister failed to take his pass. Mishandling by Campbell gave Brady an easy try behind the posts. 11. E. Smith converted. Auckland, 39; Hawke's Bay, 17. Campbell retired and Cooko went to fullback and Lawless to centre. Satherley next scored for Auckland and Clark failed at goal from in front. Near time Lawless scored and Donald converted. The gamo ended: — Auckland 47 Hawke's Bay . . . . 17 Mr. L. Bull was referee. TEAMS ENTERTAINED PROGRESS OF THE GAME Hie Auckland and Hawke's Bay teams were entertained at dinner at tho Commercial Hotel on Saturday evening by the Auckland Rugby League. In proposing the .toast of tho visiting team Mr. Grey Camp'bell. chairman of tho Auckland League, complimented it on the spirit in which it pliiyed tho game. He said the spirit in which games were played at Carlaw Park each Saturday reflected credit 011 the code. No doubt Hawke's Bay was disappointed, but it was beaten by a hotter team and did not do itself justice. It was unfortunate to meet Auckland at the peak of its form. Mr. H. 0. Nicholls, manager of the visiting team, expressed appreciation of tho hos f pitality extended to the players. Hawke's Bay lacked knowledge of the finer points of tho game, but he was sure the gap would be made closer in the future. Mr. J. Seal, captain, and Mr. C. "W. Merrick, picsident of the Hawke's Bay League, congratulated Auckland on its success. Mr. H. Brisbane, captain, and Mr. H. Avery, one of the selectors, replied on behalf of the Auckland team. In proposing the toast of the sTew Zealand Council. Mr. W. E. Barnard, M.P., patron of the Hawke's. Bay League, said one feature that had impressed him during the match was tho interest and enthusiasm shown by the Auckland publie. This showed the cbde was in capable hands and hft congratulated the New Zealand

Council on its efforta on behalf of the (tame. There was no doubt that League was a Beiious competitor to Rugby. The codo had made astonishing progress in Napier already. Mr. Barna-d expressed appreciation of the sporting spirit of the Auckland PU Mr°'C. A. Snedden, chairman of tho New Zealand Rugby League, in reply, said they had every reason to be satisfied with, the progress the code was making m New Zealand. Credit to a great extent was due to the various leagues, as on their success depended the success of thd New Zealand League. AUCKLAND TEAM CHOSEN MATCH AGAINST SOUTH The Auckland selectors. Messrs. H. Avery, E. K. Asher and W. Mincham, have chosen the following team to play South Auckland at Carlaw Park next Saturday:— Fullback.— Campbell (Marist). Threequarters.—L. Schullz (Marist), i±. B.isbane'(Marist), R. Bright (Ponsonby). Five-eighths.—A. E. Cooke (Richmond), o. Prentice (Richmond). . Halfback. —\V. Hassan (Marist). Forwardß.—S. Telford (Richmond). Campbell (Marist). Donald (Devonport). Lawless (Richmond), C. Satherley (Richmond). I. Hall (Newton). Clark, Axeman and Wayne (City) were not available.—The team will meet at Carlaw Park to-morrow and Thursday evening. Any player not available ib requested to. notify Mr. Aslier. SOUTH AUCKLAND TEAM [from our own correspondent] TAUPIRI, Sunday Following is the team selected to sent South Auckland at League football against Hawke's Bay at Ngaruawah.a on Wednesday next:—Fullback, G. Tittleton (Taupiri): threequarters, H. Hill garu . t V wahia"). S. Paki (Huntly), E. 1 remain (Taupiri). R. Clout (Rotowaro), one to be omitted ;'five-eighths, K. Peckham (Hr Jri-v W. Tittleton (Ngaruawahia), it. J' ft rry (Taupiri). one to be omitted; haHback. Knight (Huntly);. forwards. T. lll ™ ns (Huntly). J. Fleming (Rotowaro), P. Mc Burney (Ngaruawahia!, H. Masoni (Ngaruawahiah C. Siddle (Huntly). R- Stephenson. (Rotowaro). B. .lackways Trauvetter (Huntly). two to be om.tt«L The curtain-raiser will be played by J\ a Ora juniors and a team selected from the other junior teams. CHALLENGE HOUND The fourth round of the Auckland Rugby League's special senior grade challenge competition was played at Carlaw Pai-k on Saturday. All three matches were well contested. Newton and Ponsonby fought out a close game, victory going to the former by a single point. Under the rules of tho competition one point is awarded for a force down. A fast, open game was witnessed between Devonport and City, the former gaining a rather lucky win. On No, 2 ground Marist comfortably defeated Richmond. GOOD BACK PLAY Good play by the City backs was a feature of the gamo against Devonport, which was lucky to win by 14 points to 12. Tho opening try by Devonport was'one of the easiest scored at headquarters this season. A high kick just beat Leydon and the ball bounced into Smith's hands and the wing scored without opposition. City was unfortunate to have a point registered, against It when McLaughlin was pushed into the dead ball area. The point was given against the side, as well as a scrum five yards out. The second half was well contested, both sides giving good exhibitions. City s backs were in particularly good form, and e try scored came as the result of splendid combination. O'Donnell and Seagar were tho best Devonport backs. Two new forwards, Lowe and Smith, made good impressions. Masefield was perhaps the best forward. Turei was the outstanding player, on the ground. He gave his best display since joining the code. Davidson did a lot of useful spoiling work. . For Devonport tries were scored by A. Smith, Radonich and O'Donnell, Oha converting two, For City Turei and Kawhiri scored. Turei also kicked three goals. Mr. P. Rogers was referee. WIN BY FORCE-DOWN Ponsonby and Newton played a close game, the latter winning by a force-down. Play for the most part was confined to the forwards. The Ponsonby > backs lacked finish. Newton did most of the attacking and was unlucky on several occasions not to score. Good defence by Ponsonby nullified several attacks. Dempsey. Porteous and ■Stephens were the best of the Newton backs. Nathan was outstanding among the forwards. Holland and Riley played well for Ponsonby. Mr. F. Thompson was referee. * COMFORTABLE WIN Mnrist had a comfortable win over Richmond by 18 points to 3. Good passing by the rear division assisted the winners to beat Richmond's sound defence. The Marist forwards gave excellent assistance in the loose, and the set took part in most of the tries scored. LOWER GRADE RESULTS Second Grade.—Knock-out final: Mangere. 24. Otahuhu, 8. , . Third Grade Open— Knock-out. final. Marist, 13, Glenora. 5. . Third Grade Intermediate. —Papakura. 5. Akarana, 3; Northcote 35. Richmond. 0 Fourth Grade.—Manukau. 3, Newton A, Point Chevalier, 19. City. 0; Ponsonby, 8. Richmond, 0; Marist B. 25, Newton- B, 3, Marist, 30, Ngaruawahia, 11. Fifth Grade. —Richmond A, 8. d. EUerslie. 19. Papakura, 5. Sixth Grade.-- Devonport, 20, Manukau, 0. Seventh Grade.—Newton,. 5, Ellerslie, 4. Primary Schools.—City, 28. Devonport, 7; Ellerslie, 8. Avondale, 0. . 1 House Match. —W. Lovett, Limited. 13, Auckland Gas Company, 13. MATCH AT WHANGAREI [from our own correspondent] WHANGAREI. Saturday The Marist (Auckland) junior League representative team defeated the Whangarei junior representatives at Hikurangi this afternoon by 12 points to 9. The game was fast and open, and there was a large attendance. The ground was m splendid order and the >veather conditions were perfect. MATCHES IN THE SOUTH [by telegraph —PRESS association] ChrlstcHurch. —Sydenham, 10, Addington, 8; Hornby, 19. Lmwood, 16. Dunedin.—Christian Brothers, 17. City, 3; Athletio won from Pacific by default. AUSTRALIAN TEAM'S VISIT Definite advice has been received by the New Zealand Rugby League that the St. George Club, Sydney. >-ill visit Auckland next month. The club holds a prominent position in the New South Wales Rugby League competition and on two occasions held the lead. It was first intended to open the tour on September 16, but the St.. George players will now arrive by the Mariposa on Saturday. September 23, and meet an Auckland club team the same afternoon. Four matches will be played in the Auckland Province.