Ponsonby’s “Hoodoo"

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 969, 12 May 1930, Page 6

Ponsonby’s “Hoodoo"

UNLUCKY DAY AGAINST CITY Heavy Scoring in League WHAT ought to have been a great match at Carlaw Park oil Saturday ended in a farce. A crowd of more than 8,000 turned out to witness the game between City and Ponsonby. Up to half-time, it was a hard, desperate contest. But a succession of casualties in the Ponsonby side robbed it of any chance of winning. In fact, at the finish, City was throwing tries away. On No. 2 ground Devonport created a surprise by the overwhelming margin by which it defeated Richmond. The absence of T. Peckham and Taylor, no doubt, made a difference to Richmond, but it had no chance with the dashing Shore side. The only unbeaten teams are now City, Marist and Devonport. The two latter teams have three straight wins, while City has two wins and a draw. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, was an interested spectator at Carlaw Park on Saturday. Pleased with the bright exhibition of football, his Excellency promised to come again.

HARD HIT BY INJURIES, PONSONBY CRUMPLED UP

and many promising - movements were broken down by uncertain handling. Lucas, the Kingsland halfback, did his share in endeavouring to get his back line moving, but the handling and efforts to combine were often feeble, and were badly broken up by the fast-moving Newton pack. Yet the Kingsland rearguard featured a number of first-class exponents. List was on form, and his deadly fond proved a regular nightmare to some members of the opposition, but he failed to run straight, and gave his wingers insufficient room in which to work. PLENTY OF PACE Carter, on one wing, shaped well, and had he been given reasonable consideration by those further in would no doubt have been responsible for some good scores. He is weighty, and has plenty of pace, but'he had a good man marking him in Brimble, who played one of the finest back games of the daj r . Brimble is a versatile player, and has shown much improvement since last season. He tackles well, has a fair turn of speed. and is a useful kick. At times on Saturday he got out of his* place, but it was invariably to his side’s advantage. Longville enjoyed his share of the limelight as fullback for Kingsland. Although on one occasion he was bustled, and in endeavouring to kick into touch, mis-kicked, and this permitted McLeod, to score in a good position. Hill, at centre for Newton, characterised his play by running straight, and was playing well up to when he suffered a severe knock, which put him off his game. Cammick played his usual sound game at half, and had a fair match in Lucus. McLeod was one of Newton’s handy back men, and he played no small part in the majority of scoring movements, although Ferrall, who played next to him, was by no means at his best, and toward the end of the game gave away an almost certain try when he fumbled a pass from McLeod.

CITY’S WALK-OVER Ponsonby supporters must have wondered if there was a “hoodoo" on their side on Saturday. First, Moore was debarred from playing owing to his non-appearance before the Judicial Committee of the A.R.L. last year. Tfien in the first few min Lites of the game, Delgrosso, the skipper, was carried off with a knee injury. Ponsonby' did have a stroke of luck when Pat Skelton got clean through with what looked like a knock-on, and a try was the result. But its misfortunes came thick and fast toward the finish. At the end, Ponsonby had only nine men on the field, Delgrosso (replaced by’ Cronin), P. Skelton, Goodwin, Riley and Thompson being the casualties. It was an even battle up to halftime, with City having a shade the better of things. Wetheril! was showing magnificent form on attack, and he led many brilliant City movements, as well as defending cleverly. The second spell gradually became a rout, and City could have made the score a lot bigger if it had wanted to. In the circumstances, it is not easy to assess the merit of the players on the usual lines. Wetherill was the master tactician of the City team. It is remarkable how quickly he has regained his old form. Although as far as possible the New Zealand selectors may be expected to give preference to play’ers with most of their football in front of them, the experience and playing ability of a couple of veterans like Wetherill and O’Brien would be valuable to the side which is to go to Australia shortly. Davidson has yet to reproduce his old form. There is no reason why he should not do so. His English experience is well exemplified by his exceptional knowledge of positional play. He has all his old cleverness. It only remains lor him to reproduce the old dash and hard, straight running which made him one of the finest players of his day in 19215. When he gets down to his old playing weight he should do that. FINE HALFBACK Shortland is as good as ever. When ne decides to go on his own he is as , slippery as an eel, but unlike one or two of his close rivals, he does not overdo this at the expense of a long, swift pass from a standing position at the base of the scrum. That is the first essential of successful halfback N play. By the way, it looks as if City badly wants a goal-kicker. Most ot the attempts on Saturday were very feeble. There are very few good *goal-kickers in Auckland, and players should remember that this is a valuable help to rep. honours. G. Peri’y gave a taste of his old form on the wing. He is not good on a long run, but he is like a flash over 20yds or so, and a good man who can follow him would get plenty of tries from hi * lightning dashes. City has a line lot of forwards this year. Len Barchard has all the attributes of a champion, but for some reason or other he just fails to get there. Iveson is doing well in the pack. He has tons of dash, and is not atraid to give it a go. Clark was another forward who was at the top of his form. It would be unfair to criticise Pon- ! sonby adversely. The side was completely disorganised at the finish. Mcueay attracted attention by the way fie Kept at it from start to finish. Tins young forward is too fond of •mixing it' in tiie close stuff. If he cuts Uns out and concentrates on the Dc.li, ne should go far. HARD WORKER Stevens was a hard, unobtrusive worker all the way. ±±e was one of me best men in tiie pack. Pat Skelton piayeu well up to tintime lie was crippied by a leg injury, nut this young pniyer is carrying too much weight, ana is inclined, in conctquence, to be clumsy, if lie can get down to ins right playing weigne, ne will be a very dangerous /man wno could be relied on tu smash openings down the centre. Winters is faster than ever. He is quick and dasning oil attack, and is one of the most improved players m me senior grade tins year. Cronin old some great work in the rust spell when ms side was getting a snare of the bail. fi.ngeio, too, snowed up well at times. BRIMBLE AND FRANCIS SHINE i UK NEWTON KINGSLAND’S HARD FIGHT Characteristic of most senior gamesplayed on outside grounds, that in which Newton clinched a victory from Kingsland by 14 points to 8 by no means featured first-class League. It could be regarded, perhaps, more in the light of a dour struggle brightened on occasions by loose passing bouts and some fine individual efforts. Led by Francis, who was one of the outstanding forwards of the day, the Newton pack took up the attack from the outset, and received plenty of support from the rearguarders, although it was seldom in the form of neat passing movements. Newton, by its bustling tactics, continued to carry' Kingsland until the score was B—o in favour of the city thirteen. Then Kingsland seemed to take a new lease of life, and by T the end of the spell had managed to make the score S all. In the second half, Newton again led the attack, although at times Kingsland swept play' to its favour.

ELLERSLIE HAD MARIST IN DANGEROUS POSITION

DUFTY’S GREAT KICKING Playing on the Ellerslie ground on Saturday afternoon, Ellerslie had an opportunity in the second half of snatching a win from Marist. With the score only' B—s8 —5 in favour of Marist and, with Ellerslie continually besieging the opposition’s goal, Ellerslie’s supporters were in high hopes. Marist realised its danger in time and began its most effective aggressive tactics in the last quarter. Hassan, Marist’s halfback, was prominent in beginning attacking movements, and Ellerslie can thank Dufty, by magnificent line-kicking, for the failure of Marist to add to its score considerably. Johnson clinched the game for Marist when he picked up from the rtick and dived over near the posts, for Gregory to goal. Ellerslie gave Marist an extremely hard game, and there may be difference of opinion justifiably on w'hether the greens deserved a win by the decisive margin of 13 points to h. Marist, indeed, was more frequently defending than Ellerslie until the last stages of the game, when the losers were definitely held in check. Ellerslie’s forwards placed a great game. With Wally Somers constantly' in the limelight and with Hobbs, Capner and Chapman working strenuously', the strong Marist pack had no simple task. Ellerslie shone in scrummaging, too, _and its backs were liberally supplied wfith the ball. However, on the day, neither side produced remarkably' good back play. Johnson played as good a game as anyone for Marist’s forwards, Graham was always useful, and big Jim O’Brien was ponderously i bandy’. He troubled the losers’ backs. The dominating figure of the match w&s undoubtedly Dufty. He took all Marist’s efforts with the utmost coolness, and was rarely caught in possession. There is no ether fullback in Auckland with Dufty’s knowledge of placement, and it is surprising that this quality has not brought him into the City side to play Northland next Saturday. Dufty’s play is most likely to restrict the marauding methods of the Northland forwards. Gregory* was Marist’s most useful back. He played a sound game at fiveeighth in the first half, and at fullback in the second, when N. Campbell was not able to continue. Hassan was very good at half-back, and showed resource suited to a player of much more experience. The other backs did little out of the ordinary', although Brisbane v/as solid on defence^ Behind the scrum for Ellerslie, Olliff played another fine game. Coster and L Grogan w r ere enterprising wingthreequarters. The scoring details were: Marist (tries to Hassan, Batchelor and Johnson, two conversions to Gregory), 13 points; Ellerslie (try to Capner and conversion to Dufty), 5. Mr. P. Rogers was the, referee.

BRILLIANT CITY BACKS

™ I SHORE SURPRISES RICHMOND ROVERS MAROON’S HEAVY DEFEAT Devonport administered a big shock to supporters of Richmond Rovers on Saturday, by defeating the maroon men decisively by 22 points to 3, in the three o'clock game orr No. 2 ground at Carlaw Park. The game was a game of mild sensations, which began when the first try was scored only 13 seconds after the starting whistle. What was even more sensational, however, was the fact that Devonport repeated this at the beginning of the second half, by registering another try. this time ■25 seconds after the time-keeper had rung his bell! Richmond soon recovered from the first of these shocks, and, taken all round, probably had the better of the first half territorially, although it could only end up with three points against the Devonport side’s six. The fight was a strenuous one throughout. The forwards appeared to be very evenly matched, with Richmond having the better of the set scrums. Richmond made repeated attempts early in the second stanza to stage a recovery, but toward the end of the game there was only one team in the picture, and that team wasn’t Richmond. PECKHAM’S ABSENCE The unexpected one-sidedness of the game is one of those things in which luotball abounds, and generally speaking, there is probably no wholly satisfactory explanation possible, it must be said, in amelioration of the maroon tailings, however, that the back division severely missed, its brilliant pivot ot the first two games, Tim Peckham. He would have made a wonderful difference to the team, but whether that difference would have been great enough to have turned the tide against Xorth Shore is a different question. Another player whose services were missed was Taylor, of place-kicking fame. The Richmond backs seemed to be dislocated. Every man played well in his own individual position, but that is never enough. There was very little combined work, and repeatedly men were found well out of position, possibly through overeagerness. Prentice played a dogged game, and the Davis brothers, Mincham and Patterson, all got through a lot of work. Lee, at fullback, upheld the reputation he has built on recent Saturdays. Among the forwards Lennie played a fine game till he was slowed up by a headlock which would have done justice to showman Vance, and Whowell, formerly a Soccer fan of no mean order, was incapacitated at a crucial stage of the game. It can be said that it was the Devonport threequarter line which was responsible for the big margin in Shore's favour. The O’Leary brothers and Tate played rattling good games. Les. O’Leary scored the first of the two sensational ' tries, and the fleetfooted Trevor had a hand in most of the tries scored. Rhodes and Seagar got through a lot of solid work well, although- the same could not be said of O’Donnell, at fullback, during the first spell. Among the forwards the dusky Ruby was outstanding, and was responsible for one try after a spectacular gallop half-way down the field with several maroon hounds in pursuit. McCarth- i ney, Rule and Saxon also shone.

SENIOR B GRADE

NORTHCOTE BEATS MANGERE Northcote was decidedly’ lucky in defeating Manger© by 8 points to G on the Municipal Reserve at Northcote. Mr. W. B. Dariow, patron of the home club, kicked off for the first match of the season. From the jump Mangere set up a strong attack on the home goal, but faulty handling among the backs nullified their efforts. Northcote then started a forward rush, from which Thomas scored, Kindly' converting.— Northcote 5, Mangere 0. The Mangere backs got going again and L. Wilson finalised by scoring with a great solo effort. The kick at goal failed. —Northcote 5, Mangere 3. A strong passing bout ended in Morton Raul scoring, the kick at goal again failing. Half-time score:—Mangere 6, Northcote 5. A neat piece of play early in—the second half resulted in H. Wilkins scoring, the kick at goal failing.— Northcote S, Mangero 6. From this out Mangere backs dominated the play and Northcote was on the defensive the whole time. Despite its repeated attacks, the Mangere men could not finalise matters, and when the whistle blew time, Northcote and its supporters were greatly relieved. OTAHUHU’S CLOSE CALL A ding-dong encounter from first to last summarises the senior B grade clash at Mount Albert on Saturday, when Otahuhu defeated the home? team by the narrow margin of 9 points to 8. The final aggregate of both teams was seriously affected by defective kicking. Throughout the game Otahuhu missed three possible shots at goal, and right on the call of time Mount Albert missed an easy shot right in front of the goal, which would have turned the tide of defeat into victory. What was lacking in kicking was more than made up in the play of both sides. The backs played a superb game throughout, and numerous brilliant flashes of the code were witnessed. The forwards all played well. The outstanding player on the field, out of 26 good exponents, was Jury, of Otahuhu, who played a faultless game throughout. Mr. Bull controlled the match. Keen interest is being taken in next Saturday’s game, when Point Chevalier, last year’s champions, will meet Ctahuhu. runners-up, at Otahuhu. Neither team has suffered defeat in the present season’s competitions. LEAGUE FINAL LONDON. Saturday. The final of the League football championship at Wakefield resulted in a draw between Leeds and Huddersfield. two points each. There will be a replay at Halifax on Monday.