VICTORY FOR TARANAKI

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1934, Page 10

VICTORY FOR TARANAKI

DEFEAT OF AUCKLAND BY 28 TO 15 4* .J' MAGNIFICENT FORWARD DISPLAY BRIGHT TRIES SCORED BY BACKS . Taranaki’s Rugby representatives finished the season in a blaze of glory on Saturday when, playing magnificently and "wearing their opponents down by speed and aggression, they gave a dazzling display in the last 15 minutes to defeat Auckland by 28 to 15. Auckland early in the second spell had secured a lead of seven points. Taranaki and Auckland inter-provincial fixtures have long been regarded as providing some of the most thrilling football seen at Auckland, and Saturday’s match was no exception. It was a hard, clean and open game fought at a terrific pace. At times it rose to heights of brilliance. There was scarcely a dull moment. The speed with which the situation altered—a team one minute attacking strongly and the next minute having to defend for dear life—and the way fortunes fluctuated kept the crowd at high tension throughout, the climax coming when Taranaki scored four tries in quick succession, three of them in the last 15 minutes, to emerge victorious. During that period the crowd was wildly excited.

HONOURS SHARED BY TEAM

FIERCE FORWARD ATTACKS

WPBOVBMSBT AMONG TBS BACKS.

TERRIFIC PACE MAINTAINED.

Credit for the victory must go .to the whole Tarhnaki team. Admittedly the magnificent work of the forwards paved the way by their tireless launching of attack after attack to wear their opponents down and have them almost at their mercy during the latter half of the second «p&L Taranaki backs did their share, too, by solid tackling and taking advantage of opportunities to score. Auckland supporters could hardly believe that the blue ahd whites were the same team that had last week beaten Hawke’s Bay for the Ranfurly Shield, i which they had before them. Taranaki supporters, on the other hand, could scarcely realise that their forwards were practically the same pack that went under to Hawke’s Bay a fortnight ago. Tarapaki on Saturday played above itself, as it has been known to do before, \ whereas against Hawke's Bay it could infuse no dash into its play. Auckland. which probably played above itself at Napier, was considered by its supporters to be below form on Saturday. Be that as it may, it is an old axiom that a team can play only as well as its opponents ■ will let it, and there is no doubt that the shock tactics of the Taranaki pack were the feature that spelt- defeat for Auckland. The run of the play shows that Taranaki had the better of the early few minutes, but then Auckland definitely took charge—practically for the remainder of .that spell—when it had both the sun and a slight wind at its back. Securing from scrums and line-outs, however, Auckland met very determined resistance from Taranaki’s fast-breaking forwards and solidly tackling backs. Try as it might. Auckland found itself circumvented and: Could pierce the opposition only twice—once when Hedge saw a gap to flash through, and again when high tackling, let Murdoch, initiate an attack that ended ip a score’ Auckland tried the orthodox method of smartly passing out. from the scrum, Teising on the trickiness of the inside fracks to vary the direction of play an,d the forwards to also take a hand in passing, but Taranaki checked all these. , It might have paid Auckland better to have made more use of the ’sun by kicking high apfi using its pace in following up, particularly as for a period of the spell Collins was being beaten, by the sun. Despite. Auckland's superiority. Taranaki was only two points behind at half-time, having scored a try early in the spell and one at the close. Auckland had’ converted, its two tries and Taranaki had converted only one. Taranaki had played to instructions in the first spell. Ip the interval the selector, Mr- C, Brown, and the manager, Mr. J. Rowe, merely advised Taranaki to “get right into it again, take the offensive and keep it,’ 1 When Auckland through a clever try by Hedge increased the margin to seven early in the second spell and looked like scoring again Taranaki’s prospects did nqt look rogy, it appearing only a question of how much Auckland could win by. DOMINATION BY TARANAKITaranqki then with the sun and aided by the breeze,, which had slightly increased, played magnificently. The forwards launched attack after' attack, witji Clarke ever to the fore, but. with the Pack at hand as one man, They literally dominated the pall, securing possession in the scrums and the lineouts, • Handling in short passing rushes and in long Posing movements that kept Auckland on the alert, feeding the backs on all occasions and backing up in the passing bOuts, The forwards kept Aucklandon the run, apd though naturally there were many dropped passes which Auckland was quick to use to stem the attack, Auckland was given little chance of launching counter-attacks. The forwards overrun. Comer, Hedge and Murdoch had no chance of making bright movements. ■ Tarapaki's inside men then shone on attack- Gudgeon, who had earliler in the* game been doing yeoman service in defence and had sent out good, passes, besides varying his play, came into his qvm Xd fed backs' smartly, resulting in three tries, all scored by the backs.. The first cAme to J- Sullivan, who after Brewn had drawn his man and sept out a wefldudged pass, showed elayarr peas and determipafion in beating three rhep to dive across and scoreAuckland was. palpably tiring, and Taranaki §warm®d oh the line. A scrum saw (Sudgeop send the ball by way of Brown to Sangstor, who made a, fiesper- ' ate da?h to force his way over with an opponent clingipg to him- A? Collins converted both’ tries Taranaki was ahead. To make certain Taranaki forwards

swarmed down again, and frdm a scrum Gudgeon sent the ball to C. Brown, whose hard, straight dash was rewarded with a try as his weight and pace carried him over with a blue and whiteclad opponent hanging on his back. AU the tries were great efforts, but Taranaki’s final try was the gem of the match. It started on one side of the field at half-way and was handled by two backs and four forwards for Fastier to score alongside the post. Collins converted this try as he had done four of the other five. Indeed, the goalkicking was remarkable. Collins converted five of Taranaki’S six tries and Heazlewood converted Auckland’s three. Thus sixteen of the 43 points seared were due to conversions. Never has a Taranaki pack been seen to better advantage. The game against Waikato following the rest after the Hawke’s Bay match evidently did them good, while the policy adopted by the manager of giving them their training run on Thur&day and a rest on Friday certainly proved the correct ope, They played from whistle to whistle at tremendous pace. Indeed, they were going better at the finish than at the start, and-had the match lasted another quarter of an hour the score would have mounted still higher. That is indicative of the will-trajned manner in which the team stepped on the field, and Mr. Aitken, who accompanied the party in the role of masseur, was pleased with the result. CLARKE OUTSTANDING.

All the Taranaki pack did yeoman service, but in R. Clarke Taranaki possessed easily the" best forward on the field. On the day he outclassed McLean, Knight and Hadley, and if he is not selected in the next North Island team the Auckland public will want to know the reason why. He was in everything, showing great pace for such a big man, and going on with it to the end. He has a good pair of safe hands, too. He made only one mistake, when he kicked after he had broken away and the goalline was in sight. Had be gone op his pace and weight would probably have carried him over for a second try, or had he passed out two men were with him. However, that do6s not detract from the merit of a magnificent performance. AU the other forwards played so well, giving thejp weight in the scrums, their pace in the loose, handling well in the open and tackling well, that one hardly cares to discriminate, but.'would rather place them in alphabetical order, Armstrong, Blakeney, Fattier, Fowler, Murphy, Preston and Young. It. is a pack that has only to repeat Saturday’s play to gain great honours for Taranaki. Gudgeon, the Taranaki half, covered himself with honour. The Patea man has never played better. His defence was soundness personified, while on attack he has speeded up considerably. He seldom ran far from the base of the scrum, but when he did it was to some purpose. His passes were welltimed, crisp and accurate. Brown at first, five-eighth was Taranaki’s best back on the day, and the cognoscenti among Auckland football authorities will not be surprised if he is given a chance in bigger football next year. He handled perfectly, ran straight and hard, drawing his man and sepding out beautiful passes. He was playing opposite' Hedge, who is regarded very highly at Auckland, but on the day Brown was definitely on top, Only once did Hedge slip past the Taranaki man, while the latter beat his Auckland rival frequently. Brown’s try was the result of grit and determination. Sangster was sound at second fiveeighth. His tacklmt, left little to be desired, while on attack he played his share in the success, scoring a try through sheer- determination. He did pot indulge too much in kicking; indeed at times he passed when it might have been better to have short-punted. Taranaki’s three-quarter line deserved all honour. Townsend did not let Caughey, ‘the All Black, get away with much, the Taranaki man being very versatile in attack. He scored one try by cleverly coming on the outside to make an extra man, and his “heady” pass infield to Kinsella initiated the movement that led to Taranaki’s last try —the gem of the match. WINGS SAFELY HELD. Sullivan and Kinsella on the wings held Hammon and Kedgley in check throughout the game by tackling well. Not many scoring chances came their way, but they made the best use of what did, infusing dash into their movements. Sullivan’s try -was a clever and determined effort, he showing the possession of football brains. Kinsella did not score, but he was always there when wanted. Collips, the AU Black full-back, did not reproduce fiis. trial match form. At times his fielding was uncertain, particularly for a period in the first spell, when he had. the sun in his face. He did not always find the line, but when he did, and that was on most occasions, he gained considerable length. Aucklanders contrasted his play with that of | HOazlewood, and on the day there was I )ittle to choose between them. Both ! were useful goal-kickers. I Of the Auckland three-quarter line iCaughey was the best, Taranaki did not

give him too many chances, but he used his pace to spore a fme try and to save his side on. occasions. Neither Kedgley nor Hammon was given any chances by their opponents. Hedge, Auckland’s first five-eighth, showed that he needed only to be given an opening to be very dangerous. Taranaki knew that, however, and only once did he get a chance to show his elusiveness. At most times he was not allowed to run straight but was forced to run across the field. He was, moreover, too light to stanq up to the Taranaki pack. Murdoch at second-five-eighth also was not allowed to run straight, his vis-a-vis being right on to him. Only once did high tackling let him get away. Corner, the Auckland half, handled cleverly when Auckland got the ball, but the fast-breaking Taranaki pack gave him little latitude, and in the second spell he had a gruelling time. Of the Auckland pack Ross, Bush. McLean and Knight were the best. Bush is very useful for his line-kicks. He gained a lot of ground from penalty kicks.