RUGBY FOOTBALL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22097, 1 May 1935, Page 17

RUGBY FOOTBALL

PROSPECTS FOR THE SEASON STRONG GRAFTON FIFTEEN ALL BLACKS PLAY AGAIN The 1935 Bugby season opened in Auckland on Saturday last with the playing of a series of club day games, in which the senior A and B division teams were engaged. The gate proceeds, and also the amount resulting from the sale of tickets, will be divided among the respective clubs. The senior championship competition will commence on Saturday next. The draw will be made at the meeting of the management committee of the Auckland Rugby Union this evening. Judging by the standard of last Saturday's play the Auckland public will seo some very bright football during the season. The tour of the All Blacks to the United Kingdom has created an early interest. Trial matches will commence this month and the [ team will be selected next month and will Sail ftt the end of July. Apart from the incentive to players to reach this high standard, there is the knowledge that, after Auckland's select have been taken for this major tour, a strong team will be required to defend a series of challenges for the Ranfurlv Shield. The meeting of Grafton and Manukau last Saturday provided a good lino I on the prospects of these teams in this j year's championship. It will be remcmi bored that last year they played off i twice for the honours before Grafton j prevailed. Judging by their latest meet- ! ing, Grafton is the stronger combinaj tion this season. The difference lay bci tween the back divisions. The two packs were fairly evenly matched, but in the backs Grafton showed a definite ; superiority. An Object Lesson Great interest was taken in the first appearance in Auckland club football of B. Killeen, tho former Hutt and I Wellington representative, and ho pleased the onlookers immensely. Ho was early in the limelight by scoring tho ; first try of the match and then potting a neat goal. He scored another try in the second spell. Apart from his I scoring, however, he played a very brainy game. | One of the outstanding features of : Killeen's exhibition —and one of which i the majority of Auckland backs I should take special notice—was that he j refrained from passing the ball to a colleague in a worse position than himself. Killeen gave a very heady display and followers of the game in this centre will bo anxious to see him in action again, as a repetition of his latest form will make him a star attraction at Eden Park. Grafton is going to be a very hard team to defeat. A solid pack is well supported by clever and speedy backs. Inglis, Ryall, Killeen and Ellis appear likely to'develop into one of the best club combinations seen here for some seasons. Among newcomers in the forwards are Roddick, an ex-Poneko player, and Keif, late of Wanganui. Both are members of the police force, and are good types of front division men. H. F. McLean is captaining the team. Weakness at Hall Manukau's forwards will be as strong as ever. Tho backs could not be correctly judged on last Saturday's piny, as a weakness at halfback upset the combination. The half played fourth grade last season, and so there was an excuse for him in his first big game. Hatfield, who 'played half last season, recently underwent an operation, and he will* not be seen in action until later on. It may be worth tho experiment of trying Brimble behind the pack, as he is'quick and of the right type for a half. Newcomers in the back line are McCormick, five-eighths, who played for College Rifles last year, Fulton, centrethreequarter from Thames Valley ,•■ and Flewellyn, wing-threequarter from the Merivale Club in Christchurch. Otahuhu showed greatly improved form last year, and its matches will be more keenly followed than ever this season on account of the fact that its star live-eighths, Hedge, is well in the running for All Black honours- The club's principal gain is Brown, who plaved some dashing games for College Rifles and the Auckland B representatives last year. Technical, which finished fourth last season, will field much the same fifteen. A notable defection is Commons, wing-threequarter, who has been transferred to Wellington. Return of Solomon Ponsonby's team has been considerably strengthened by the return of F. Solomon, the All Black forward, who stood down for the gfeater p&rt of last season on account of a knee injury. His younger brother, who played fiveeighths for the North Island at Dunedin last year, has come to Auckland, and he will bo a valuable addition to the back division. University has not yet settled Upon its team, there being sd many players offering. Bush played in the forwards last year, but, in view of the tour of the All Blacks, he has gone back to his old position of fullback, where he should give gome excellent displays. Caughey, of course, will be in • his accustomed place at centre-threequar-ter. Alarist will field a strong forward side, as usual, but the backs are an unknown quantity. S. Hadley has returned to the game after a season's retirement, and ho is bound to make a difference to tho play of the pack, if not the team as a whole. W» Hadley, the All Black hooker, is right out after further honours, and his play will be watched with interest. B Division Teams The Grammar A fifteen will be practically the same side as last year, and with players Of the calibre of A. Knight and M. Corner, who both gained All Black honour!! in the 1934 season, should be quite up to the task'of winning tho B section. However, the in-and-out play of the team was never more fully emphasised as it) last season, when, through inconsistency and tho absence of Knight and Corner in Australia, the team was unable to hold its senior A status. College Rifles has a hard-working pack, but at times among the backs there has been a weakness hard to define. At one stage of the past season College Riflesi appeared certain to hold its senior A status, but the sido lost form, with the ultimate result that it was relegated to the B section. Eden appears to have a fifteen equal to, if not better than, that which last season enabled it to defeat all others until the advent of the reduced senior teams.

North Shore, which fields a ncavy team, has a keen and hard-working set of forwards. The backs for some seasons pa«>t have almost entirely lacked combination, and with some improvement in this department North Shore should certainly be capable of springing a surprise.

Parnoll, which enters the grade from the C section, to which it was reduced during the season, will he keen to show that the winning of that honour was on merit alone. With many new players in the fifteen the club is confident of putting np a, good showing. Both University B and Manukau B should be Capable of good performances and add to the interest of the competition.