THE LEAGUE CODE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22792, 28 July 1937, Page 20

THE LEAGUE CODE

TEAM FROM AUSTRALIA TRIAL MATCH ARRANGED GOOD TALENT AVAILABLE Interest'in the forthcoming visit of the Australian Rugby League representatives has heightened by the selection of Possibles and Probables teams to play a trial game at Carlaw Park this afternoon. It is anticipated that the New Zealand team to play the first test will be announced on Saturday evening. The selectors have plenty of talent .available; and it is surprising that A and B teams were not also picked to give other players a chance.

From the form shown lately it is apparent the selectors are faced with a difficult task in the choice of the forwards. At least a dozen are well up to the best standard. There is not an abundance of good inside backs, and a great deal of interest will be taken in th<> form of H. Kielv, the West Coast five-eighths. Kielv is a good type of attacking back, runs very straight and is hard to stop. He will be remembered for an outstanding game in last year's North-South Island match.

On present form W. Tittleton is easily the best all-round N back. Both on attack and defence the Richmond fiveeighths has ability. The omission of L. Scott, the North Shore winger, conies as a surprise. Scott has shown better form this season than at any stage of his career and his speed alone should have been a deciding factor in comparing him with the wings chosen. The selection of T. Chase at first five-eighth.4 is an experiment so far as Auckland football is concerned. With the Manukau Club Chase has played centrcthreequartcr, but he has a good record ?is a first five-eighths with the New Zealand Maori team in Australia in 1935.

Hemi should have little difficulty in gaining the fullback position: His form this season has been excellent. 'I he selectors are s . evidently not satisfied that Mahima is the best halfback, as Halloran, the Ponsonby five-eighths, has been chosen in the Possibles team. Halloran is no stranger to the position and with reasonable chances this afternoon it will be interesting to compare his form with that of Mahima. The surprise omission, however, is H. Mataira, the ex-New Zealand All Black forward, who in his five games of League football has shown excellent knowledge of forward play. Good front row forwards, with hooking: experience such as that possessed by Mataira, are rare, and after his game last Saturday against Richmond, Mataira looked a certainty for incluison in one of the trial teams.

Little exception can be taken to the inclusion of the other forwards, and an added attraction will be the appearance of W. Glynn (West Coast) and J. Cootes, and C. Berry (Wellington). Haslam (Marist) must be considered a little unlucky, but injuries have kept him out of the game for the past two weeks. Mitchell, Richmond, is also on the injured list. Ground conditions at Carlaw Park on Saturday were the worst seen for some years, and drainage works put in hand earlier in the week had made one side of the playing area a quagmire.. The players rose superior to the conditions, however, and the match between Richmond and City was played at a fast pace. Richmond went close to defeat, City being decidedly unlucky, in the closing stages. Richmond has lost a little of the good form which it revealed earlier in the season. No team in the competition 'devotes more attention to training than Richmond, and it is possible that several of the players have gone a trifle stale. City, however, played a dashing game, especially in the forwards. Led by Mataira and Raymond, the pack gave Richmond's backs a torrid time on defence.