LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20491, 20 August 1928, Page 11

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

SECOND TEST MATCH. WIN FOR ENGLAND. A DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY. ROUGH PLAY PROMINENT. The second -League football test- match between 'England and New Zealand was played on the Caledonian • Ground on Saturday in the presence of about 10,000 spectators, ■ many of whom an exposition of the code for the first time. The weather 'was ideal, and the ground was in splendid-order. The executive of the Otago‘Rugby. League had .made excellent arrangements, and -as the teams were known to be clever exponents of the game the stage was well, set for an exhibition that should have convinced Rugby Union supporters. that- there was'-something attractive about-the League code. ; It can only be stated that the. spectators who patronised-the match'in.the-:hope of seeing a good game went, away thoroughly disgusted, and disappointed, and that the players who, were responsible for the deplorable exhibition that was given have done incalculable harm to the code in-this district. The, winning ? of the “ashes ” is quite a worthy object, but unless that ohj ject can• be achieved, by clean tactics there can-he no'honour attached to it. The sporting and friendly spirit in which the same should be played was lacking almost from .the start of the play, which at times degenerated l into a rough and tumble display, that was most descreditable to all concerned. From- the press stand; it appeared ' that the English players were responsible for starting the " rough stuff,” but in fairness to them; it must be.stated that opinions oh this point differ. Some people who were in a good .position to .judge, state-that, the New Zealanders were responsible for starting the trouble, gnd that it soon' bec.ame a case of 50-50 in 1 the,matter of placing:the man instead of playing the ball. Some-of . the local, club teams have played better. League football than was seen on Saturday, and when one thinks of - the exhibition given by the Queenslanders in Dunedin & few- seasons ago he must think - that' the standard of play -has slipped back instead of advancing. THE TEAMS. The'teams.were as follow: England^—Full-back, J. Sullivan (captain); three-quarters—A. Ellaby, J. Brough,* C. Askin, A. Frodsham; halfbacks, B. Evans and W. Rees; forwards— W, Burgess, N. Bentham, E. F. Bowen, R. Sloihan, A. .Fildes, and W. Horton. New 1 " Zealand —Full-back, C. Dufty; three-quarters—H. W. Brisbane, R. Hardgreave, and L. Scott; five : e:ghths', S.-Pren-tice and M.- Wetherill; half-back, F.' Delgrosso : forwards —J. O’Brien,, L. Eutt. M. O’Brien, W. Somers, C. Hall, and V. Goodall. THE - PLAY. England won the toss, and New Zealand kicked off with the advantage of the sun in the .first spell.'- In the first few minutes offside., play by J. O’Brien gave the visitors a penalty kick.' Fine footwork by Prentice sent the . ball over the , English line, the visitors’forcing down just in time. “New Zealand maintained a strong attack, and the .visitors'kicked over their own , liiie in ’defence. A; series of scrums took "lace",five’ yards• from; the, English line, bpfr hard kicking enabled England to force.. ; Immediately afterwards the Englishment were penalised in their o-.yp twenty-five, and Dufty, kicked a goal from immediately in front. ~New. Zealand .. .. .... 2 points. . England .. .. .. Nil. The visitors then set up-an attack, and FrodsKam. missed = a chance of scoring by failing to take a pass. -Fildes mide a sensational breakaway: from near midfield, but was well stopped by Dufty inside the New Zealand twenty-five. - At this stage the • webe- getting posses? sicn from; the scrums, and their backs wqre. putting, in some clever work. The New Zealand tackling was_ very . solid. The home team were, penalised .mid-way between* their own twenty-five and halfway, and Sullivan had a shot at goal-, but without success, although’ the ’ effort . was a gooi-one. J-ust after this,. Prentice intercepted a. pass, and ran: nearly half the length of the field, but nothing-came of the. movement, and before long- the. Englishmen were ' attacking again. . Offside play, by 51. O’Brien gave' the,- visitors a. penalty, kick just, outside the home team’s twenty-five, but Sullivan: failed with the shot at go'al.' “The New Zealanders then broke; away,, and .51. O’Brien and_ Goodall were mainly responsible fOr taking, play to the other end. The latter got over the line," but the referee ordered a.scrum a. short distance out owing ■to an infringement. ' The visitors’ backs, by clever Handling.' immediately transferred play to the- other-end, where New Zealand were penalised. Sullivan had another shot at goal, and this time succeeded in equalising the scores. - ' New Zealand--..’ .. .. 2 points. England .. .. .. 2 points. ■A little later, Prentice put in a brilliant run,' and- play’ was taken to the English twenty-five, but was returned.to.the other end immediately, Brough making a .sensational run. The ball camn out to-Ellaby, who was tripped by a New Zealander. England got a penalty kick, but Sullivan’s shot at goal was fruitless. J The visitors attacked for a while, but a kick pent the ball into touch in;goal. A- promising movement by New, Zealand was stopped by a’knock on.' Dufty gained applause ; by cleverly evading, opponents .and transferring .play to the,English twenty-five.’ Wetherill hung on to the ball too' long instead of-kicking, with the result that the home team were busy 6n defence right away. -The Englishmen got the ball, and if Ellaby had accepted a high pass‘from Brough, the visitors must have scored. New, Zealand shifted play to halfway, where some unnecessarily rough play took place. The- result was that Prentice (New Zealand) and Bowen (England) - were warned by the - referee. The incident, which occurred after the game had been in progress for half an hour, was responsible for Delgrosso being carried off the "field on a stretcher. His place was taken by Peckham. Faulty handling of the ball by New-Zealand let the Englishmen-* through, but a force down was the only result. A passing bout by B. Evans, Burgess, Brough, and Bowen .seriously threatened the New Zealand Hue. but the effort broke down when Ellaby failed to take a pass. The New Zealanders cleared their line,- and' a loose rush transferred play to the Englishmen’s twenty-five, where Peckham -put, in a fine run. and then transferred to Scott, who’dashed over near the Corner. Pufty’s kick at goal hit one of the uprights. - New Zealand .. . . 5 points England .... .. 2 points .Offside play by New Zealand gave the visitors a . penalty kick, and from .the return Brough.. and Askin made fine runs.. From a penalty near the New Zealand twenty-five Burgess had a shot at goal, but the kick lacked strength, and the ball fell under the bar. : Excellent passing, .in which Brisbane took a prominent .part, • ended in Prentice being thrown , out a yard from the line.’ The Englishmen immediately removed play to the other end, where good following up resulted in Dufty being overwhelmed. Rees got the hall, and scored a good try in a handy position. Sullivan converted, and made the scores read:—

England .... .. ' 7 poisite New Zealand .. .. 5 points The whistle J was sounded immediately afterwards for half time. At the opening of the second spell New Zealand immediately took play to the Englishmen’s twenty-five, where the. visitors were penalised, and Dufty had a fruitless shot at goal from just outside the iwehtv-five. Just afterwards Sullivan transferred play, almost to halfway by a solo effort, but. Wetherill was responsible for putting the Englishmen on the defence min. A passing bout by the New Zeal. " i backs was checked well inside the English twenty-five by a pass forward. A bright solo effort by Peckham, in which a little bit of hurdling figured, evoked applause. Fast following up by Prentice put New Zealand in « promising position, but off side play by Goodail spoilt the movement, giving England a penalty kick. A scrum infringement by England gave Dufty- a penalty kick just inside halfway, but nothing came of it. The Englishmen then trans-

ferred play to the New Zealand twentyfive but the home team gradually worked their way back to halfway. A long kick by Dufty sent the ball over the English line, but it went into the deadball area, with Hardgreave in hot pursuit. The New Zealanders had a slight advantage, in some fast play, but did not succeed in getting very close to the Englishmen’s line. The Englishmen shifted play past halfway, where Horton earned the cordial disapproval of the crowd _for the rough manner-, in which he handled Wetherill. A caution by the referee seemed to be a light punishment for his offence. The English forwards then rushed play to the New Zealand line, and Fildes. appeared to score, hut the referee' awarded , a force down. A few minutes later Horton was injured, and had to be assisted, off the field. A couple of -minutes later the game was held up on account of an injury to .J. O'Brien, who also had to leave the field. The next incident was a shot at goal by Dufty, but there was no alteration, in the. score. The Englishmen then broke away, and the best piece of passing in the match was . seen. . rrom about ballwav the Englishmen got away on an irresistible 'tush, and completely beat the opposition; Ellaby scoring at the corner. Sullivan failed to convert. England . .. ... 10 points Xe\v Zealand o points The next feature was an argument between one of the linesmen, and Burgess, the outcome ■ being that the latter was ordered off on a charge of deliberately kicking an opponent. New Zealand then attacked, put a. timely mark in front of-the goal and saved the situation ot England; The visitors .gradually worked thejr .way to halfway, and a clever passing movement took it inside the fiew Zealand twenty-five. ' Bentham made a vigorous dash, but *ls ©w. Zealand gradually removed the; scene, of operations to halfway. ; ■ -j Sullivan made a splendid opening, and after .beating several men, passed to Bowen, who made an.equally fine run and scored a. good-try at the-corner, with Ellaby in support. Sullivan failed to convert. ' England ■ ■ .. • • 13 points. New. Zealand ... .• 5 points. For some.time the, Englishmen had been playing a decidedly superior game, their speed and resource completely bcat’ng the New Zealanders. In the closing stages New Zealand looked like scoring, but they met with a stubborn defence, and eventual! v a strong passing rush by the visitors shifted play to the New Zealana end. Xlie ball went out a yard from the New Zealand line as the final bell went, und the game ended with the scores— England .. .. ..13 points. New Zealand .. :• • 5 points. NOTES ON THE PLAY. On the day’s play-the Englishmen were undoubtedly - the better team, and they fully deserved to win. They used 'thenweight' and pace to advantage, and at times showed remarkable cleverness in beating the opposition by good team work and . initiative, which tried the New Zealanders’ defence sorely. It is unfortunate that this side of the game was not exploited to the full extent, for it was only occasionally that the spectators saw League football as it should be played. The 1 New Zealanders held their own fairly well for quite a long time, but towards the-finish there .was only one team in the picture, and- that team was England. The defence of the New Zealanders was poor, weak tackling being a prominent feature of-their play. The passing on both sides left a lot to be desired during the greater part of the game, many promising ’movements, 'being stopped by a failure to take passes. Sullivan, ’ the English full-back, played splendidly, being one of the. best on the ground. He was always sure in fielding the! ball.'and the way in-which he eluded tackles .by' the opposition time after time was ' decidedly clever. Brough played well in the three-quarter line throughout, and though Ellaby was not particularly good at the start he put, in some fine play later.on. Evans and. Rees got the ball out smartly..and it was :not their fault that the visitors’ passing movements- broke down.- Burgess, Bentham, Fildes, and Horton were the most prominent of the forwards. but the last-najmed was responsible for a lot of rough "play that should not hare been seen.

Dufty played well, but his exhibition was not as good as that given by Sullivan. The three-quarters all showed up well at times, but probably the best; back on-the New Zealand, side was Prentice, who put in no end of clever work. He was well supported by "Wetherill and Delgrosso, the latter of whim played well until he was injured.. Peckham. who replaced ‘ Delgrosso, played a very fine game. Of the forwards, J. O’Brien, 51. • O’Brien, and Hall appeared to be the best. The game was • controlled by .Mr S. Devereus, who - kept up with the play throughout and whose decisions left nothing to be desired, with the exception that-he was too lenient in the matter of rough play. If he had ordered a few ot the offenders off the field in the early stages of the game.it would have been for the benefit; of the'code. • ’ GATE RECEIPTS. • The gate takings totalled £602 14s. Of this amount the Englishmen take £361 12s Cd. and the New Zealand League Council’s share is £139 4s lOd. CHRISTCHURCH GASIES. (Pee United Peess Association.). CHRISTCHURCH. August IS. Sydenham 18, Waiinairi 10. Marist 14, Hornby 13.