Great League Battles

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 667, 20 May 1929, Page 6

Great League Battles

Devonport Retains Its Lead City’s Magnificent Fight THE meeting of the two unbeaten teams in senior League City and Devonport, drew a record crowd of upwards of 10,000 to Carlaw Park on Saturday, an added incentive to new attendance figures for the season being the playing of all the senior games at the Park. All the matches were keenly and closely contested, scores of 18 —18. B— 4, 15 —10 and 15—1 illustrating the close and exciting nature of the games.

/"MTY, reinforced by its new Rugby * J acquisition, Watene, put up a great fight against Devonport, Watene distinguished himself by scoring all the points for the red and blacks (two penalty goals), but Devonport was too solid all round for City. The scoring for the Blacks was quite a family affair. Len Scott getting two tries and Alf Scott making up the rest with a penalty goal. A mild stir was created by the reappearance of Dufty with Newton, despite rumours that the big fullback was to play for another club. Although na/turally a bit off form. Dufty kicked three good goals. Quite the outstanding individual performance of the day, however, was that of Mclntyre, formerly of Newton, who signalised his return from Sydney by scoring three tries for his new club. Ponsonby, the rest of the points being made up by the ever-reliable Delgrosso. The Marist team, which has not won a match this year, was again out of hick, the best that the greens could do against Kingsland being ’to make a draw of it. 18 all.

TACTICS AND TACKLING WIN FOR DEVONPORT

CITY’S HEROIC FIGHT Devonport’s defeat of City has to do mainly with a period of 10 minutes just before half time, when the Shore backs got away with the run on, on three distinct occasions, and twice finished the movement by overlapping the City chain of defending backs. This was really the whole story of the match —the City backs bunched together too much on defence, stood too deep on attack and generally allowed the Devonport backs to play right up on top of them. The result was that the magnificent game played by the City forwards liad to be written down as a defeat for the red and blacks as a team; and a win for superior tactics and the splendid defence of the seasiders. The last quiarter of an hour was packed full of thrills. It saw the City forwards rise to the occasion in a glorious exhibition of teamwork. Time and again they flung themselves on the Devonport line, fighting like demons to break down the well nigh impregnable Shore defence. Had they been able to depend on their inside backs they might have succeeded, but as it was they were unlucky not to have scored another two or three points, with all due respect to the strength of tlie Devonport defence. That, briefly, is the whole story of the match. It does not call for extended description. The first halfhour, of the first spell was almost devoid of back movements, both sides being too uncertain of each other to open out. The first 20 minutes of the second spell was also a long drawn out series of forward rucks, with only a flash of back play here and there. City was getting more than its share of ball at that stage, but its inside backs were not equal to the task of making full use of it. Despite all these factors, It was a great game to watch, and Devonport will not grudge City a generous share of the honours of a game which saw forward play at its brilliant best, and an exhibition of tackling by both sides which was good to see. THE PLAYERS There was hardly a man on the Devonport side who did not play well. Alf Scott led liis team with sound judgment, and with the rugged McCarthney at the head of the tight stuff, every man pulled his weight from start to finish. Beattie, Seagar, Den Scott and Rhodes were the pick of the backs, and Simons at fullback was safe and resourceful all day long. He is the makings of a very fine League fullback. It is hard to single out any of the City forwards for special mention, because every member of the pack deserves almost equal credit. Hamilton, McLaughlin, Clarke and Hadley were always in the thick of thiifgs, and the rest were not far behind. For the City backs, it has to be said that they were up against one of the strongest rearguard formations in senior League, and there was perhaps some excuse for their inability to shake off the inferiority complex which seemed to dog them all day long. They were splendid on defence, the two Perrys, Iveson and Banchard especially so, but on attack they stood too far back and too close together Watene was a bit uncertain at times at fullback, but he improved as the match went on, and kicked two nice goals. Match summary: Devonport (two tries by L. Scott, and a penalty goal by A. Scott), 8 points; City (two penalty goals by Watene), 4 points.

RICHMOND DOWN DELGROSSO AND MACINTYRE DO THE SCORING FLASHES OF LIVELY PLAY Although Ponsonby managed a ’ victory over Richmond by 15 points j to 5 in the curtain-raiser to the j big game at Carlaw Park on Saturday, it was fairly even going throughout, both sides featuring flashes of dashing and spectacularplay. Not until a few minutes before time did the Ponies manage to secure the winning try. It took the Ponies twenty minutes to settle down and find their feet, and they were indeed fortunate that during that time Richmond did not pierce their scraggy defence and run up a score. They seemed dazzled by the lightning moves of the Richmondites, who tossed the ball about in lively style during the early stages of the game, their forward pack and rearguard line combining remarkably well. The Ponsonby side had been changed about a fair deal, and possibly that was the reason for its slow beginning. But once under way Ponsonby had j its fair share of the attack and Maclnj tyre, Thompson and Delgrosso at times

played havoc with the Richmond defence. But for its victory, Ponsonby must hand out the honours to its nippy half-back, Maclntyre, who, making his first appearance on the field after a couple of seasons, scored all three tries. He is a marvel at seizing any opportunities offering. It was certainly Riley who made the winning move of the day for Ponsonby, but it took Maclntyre to finish it off and score the wining try.

Although Richmond made such a sparkling beginning, it was quite noticeable as the game wore on that its rearguard line was not moving with its usual precision, and while “Scotty” Prentice, Davis, Mincham and Co. were producing all that could be expected of them, Hanlon at five-eighths, was far from his best, and his usual unique ability of changing the direction of an attack or swinging liis outer backs away in a passing turn was lacking. Then the Ponsonby back line showed a vast improvement as the game progressed, and with five-eighths Thompson at his best Richmond found it hard to prevent the Ponies breaking away in occasional surprise attacks.

Delgrosso, as on the previous Saturday, was kicking with brilliant exactitude, and he and Maclntyre ran up the points between them. Revell was given a try-out at fullback, and certainly excelled in that position compared with McKinnon on the other side, who made some bad blunders and appeared to lack confidence. The Ponsonby man, however, was certainly very cool, calm and collected, perhaps a ,'ittle too much so, for on occasion he was slow with his clearing kick and was caught in possession. Richmond has a real star performer in Mincham, who took the left wing. He was anything but smothered with opportunities on Saturday, but even so put in some spectacular sprints, sufficient to mark him as a budding crack. Coote on the other wing is more of the solid type, and although not shining out with any particular brilliance, did his job quite well. AMONG THE FORWARDS In Jenkinson and Telford, Richmond can claim two of the best and hardest working forwards. Jenkinson was outstanding on both defence and attack, his spoiling tactics troubling Ponsonby as much as anything else, while Telford, a great spoiler, although not a star out in the open, does more than his fair share in the tight and loose scrambles. Stewart, Lennie and Jones are a trio which can never be overlooked in sorting up the Richmond pack, but on Saturday’s form, next to Jenkinson and Telford, comes Colebrook, who' although much too light in weight to be ever likely to join tlie ranks of representative forwards, was like a tiger in the loose play, and if favoured with a safer pair of hands had a good chance of making the score even. In the forward division, Ponsonby certainly missed the services of Lou Hutt. Moore, as last man down, is always capable of making himself a nuisance to an opposing team, but is a shade on the light side to be expected much of in a scrum. Stevens left the field with an injury and was replaced by Kimberley, who played a great game, and it seems difficult to fathom out why he was not included in the team. DUFTY HELPS NEWTON TOO CLEVER FOR ELLERSLIE PLAY WITHOUT COLOUR Whatever cleverness of any degree was seen when Newton swamped Ellerlie by 15 points to 7 on Carlaw Park No. 2 ground was in the ranks of the winning team. Nearly the chief point of interest in the clash was the fact that the two veteran internationals, C. Dufty, back, and Somers, forward, returned to the code to assist Newton. Dufty was in fair kicking form and gained six points—a conversion, a penalty, and a dropped goal. Besides this, he linekicked with something of his wellknown accuracy. Newton liad Dufty in tlie threequarter line, but it was not until the second half that any back play of value was provided for the spectators. Both sets of backs were slow to accept opportunties, and it was not altogether out of place that the interest of the players more than once strayed to the more inspiring Devonport-City game on the other ground. The heavy ground also slowed up the play. SOLID FORWARDS By commendably solid forward work, Ellerslie shared the the honours with Newton in the first half. Half an hour from the opening, Dufty put over a penalty, and, just as the bell went, Hardgrave scored a good try in a corner after a back attack. At the interval Newton had a five-point lead, but the team had actually missed more chances of scoring than Ellerslie had. Play was uncertain. Scoring began immediately in the second half, Dufty landing his field goal and Hemingway opening Ellerslie’s score with an excellent penalty kick. Then the best individual effort of the game was made by Brimble, the Newton five-eighth. He fooled the Ellerslie defence by dummying and got clean away to score under the bar. Dufty put the kick over. Soon, the Newton backs came to light with a bustling rush, which found the Ellerslie defence wanting. The ball came out to Hardgrave, who shortpunted, and scored his second try in a corner g Just before no-side, R. Crewther, Johnstone and Littlewood handled in a live Ellerslie back attack after the team had been pegging away for ten minutes. Littlewood crossed and converted, the game ending: Newton 15, Ellerslie 7. Dufty definitely proved that he is still a handy man in rushes, as well as kicking. He made the opening for one of Hardgrave's tries. Hardgrave was the best winger on the field. Little, on Newton’s other wing, had a quiet afternoon, but lie stalled off the Ellerslie forwards successfully enough. In addition to Dufty’s good defen-

GOOD CITY FORWARDS

sive handling at centre, Butterworth was an efficient fullback. He kicks with judgment. OLLIFF’S SERVICE * Dufty’s brother, R. Dufty, was tried at half-back. Although he sent out the ball quickly, he had not the polish of the successful Ellerslie man, Olliff. Olliff gave his backs plenty of chances, but they were slow to move. The trouble lay with the Ellerslie fives, Crewther and Johnstone, who showed a tendency to crowd the three-quarter line. They were given object-lessons in cutting-in by the Newton fiveeighths, the elusive Brimble and K. Peckham. Littlewood was a better winger for Ellerslie than R. Crewther. The losers had valuable defenders in Hemingway, centre, and May, the fullback. Forward, Ellerslie produced nearly as many guns as the opposing pack, but Newton, with Somers in the front row again, was definitely superior in the scrums. This told in the second half With Somers, Hall, Francis and Rhodes shone out in tlie winning pack. Hobbs proved his worth in the loose for Ellerslie, and, twice in the first spell, was unlucky not to score. Crewther, Cooke and Quirke gave him best support. Viewed broadly, the match revealed that Newton had more finish and speed in the backs. With an advantage in hooking, the result was apparent by half-time. Ellerslie should concentrate on snappier handling and penetrative running by its inside backs. Mr. G. McCowatt was referee.

SNAP SCORING KINGSLAND GIVES MARIST A SCARE CHANCE THROWN AWAY The young Kingsland-Athletic combination added fuel to the suspicion among League followers that it is a team with improving possibilities, when it ran a heavy Marist side to an 18-IS draw at Carlaw Park. Down on the first spell’s points, Kingsland had the better of the snap scoring competition throughout the second half. The team had the lead twice and had the ability to keep ahead. Kingsland slackened down and eventually just managed to catch level with the Tykes. One Marist try was a two-handed gift which aroused the derision of the crowd. It was in the first spell, when the Kingsland fullback, Haydon. missed a rolling ball when he took things too easily over his own goal-line, and a Marist forward fell on it for a try. Prior to this, Haydon was shaky and he was replaced for the rest of the game. Marist opened the scoring when Brisbane and O’Brien handled well for Campbell to score. Hickey converted. Kingsland replied when R. Carter * scored an unconverted try after a big sprint down touch. Before half-time Graham beat Haydon for a try for Marist, and Tykes led by S points to 3 at the interval. Marist, mainly by forward play had had the better of the spell. Batchelor handed to Hassan. who scored in a corner for Marist at the beginning of the next spell. Longville came away for a determined try for Kingsland, and he made the conversion. Next, McLoughan scored in a corner and Longville put Kingsland ahead with a big kick. N. Campbell then landed a penalty for Tykes, but it was not long before York sent R. Carter over for a try for Kingsland O’Brien put a free kick on Kingsland’s line, and Graham was there to score a try, which N. Campbell converted. Before the whistle Longville made up his nine points by bringing Kingsland level with a penalty. DUEL FOR POINTS Kingsland showed what it could do in the scoring duel in tlie second half. Longville was the kicking hero and was a fairly steady five-eighth, although Angelo, his partner, was more enterprising. The half, Lucas, linked up well. List shone out as centre by strong running. He was rivalled by R. Carter, on the wing, whose two tries were deserved. Carter did better than the other winger, Christmas. The Marist half, Hassan, was reliable, and his anticipation stood him in good stead. Hickey and Stewart, the Tykes’ fiveeighths, had Kingsland guessing repeatedly, but Brisbane, the astute centre, was too well marked to be dangerous with the chances he had. Because of the Kingsland watchfulness, the Marist wingers, Batchelor and Bulcraig, were hampered, but the former made some good runs. The fullback, N. Campbell, tackled well and kicked efficiently. Graham, of Marist, was the success of the forwards. Always up with the play, his two tries were the rewards of following-up. O’Brien and Moisley we.re slower than usual, and Campbell and Duane were much more dangerous in the loose Kingsland’s forwards fought every inch with a new show of energy. York gave his backs several opportunities. and McLaughan was always busy. H. Carter and Railey battled strenuously. Because of its superiority in the first half, Marist would have been unlucky to lose. The Tykes must have been surprised at Kingsland’s show, and its bid fo.r forward honours- Marist’s backs persisted on the attack, and the Kingsland defence underwent a stiff test. This first success of Kingsland will encourage the team. Mr. T. Chernside referee/'*