RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15360, 8 October 1923, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

SENSATIONAL GAME. WIN FOR NORTHERN TEAM. • _ n POINTS TO 9. AUCKLAND, Saturday. A crowd, which is variously estimated in number at between sixteen and twenty thousand, gathered in the Domain to-day to see the return match between the Hawke's Bay champion team and Auckland. The conditions were entirely favourable for a brilliant exposiiion of the game, and the public got its fill of brilliant football in a game that was keen and hard throughout in its less spectacular aspects, and yet was crammed with exciting and spectacnlar incidents, with the sensation of the Auckland team finally taking the upper hand and unexpectedly Winning, by 17. points to 9. For once the ; goal-kicking of Nepia failed, and h e 'should have added_.at.. least. sevenpoints, that -would have indicated about the real ■ difference-of a point between the teams.'■'-The deciding point of the game was the finish the' Aucklanders put on their attack, which the others lacked on tfci'e day Jind game. . _ ' : At the outset it was at once apparent that although they showed to advantage in the heavy work and the line-outs, the visitors were not going to have it all their own Way among the forwards..- -Auckland were getting their share of the ball in the scrums, and were malting good use of it. They had got to a £tood position, when play-' ing a man on the ground, brought a penalty against the visitors, and Ifwer-

son registered 13ie first thrill by placing a fine goal.. • Thereafter the Bay forwards and.-'backs went for a more open style of play; and though the forward work was gruettting hard it- was kept within bounds, and the game opened out into spectacular bouts on both sides, which kept spectators tuned up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. Nepia lost u goodr chance to equalise matters from a. fr.ee, jtnd then Auckland thrilled their supporters in a bout ending in Cooke, being beaten by the bounce with an open line before him. A fine dash of passing by the Bay f or- ' wards should have brought a score, but the critical pass"-was dropped. The Auckland backs, with O'Brien, Righton, Arnold, and Peters always handy in;support, several times had Hawke's Bay back at their line, and again the Bay backs, with Kerwan and Grenside prominent, made dangerous - sallies, while Gemmell and M. Brownlee were always threatening .to get right through. In the final minutes of a fast and thrilling first spell, the Hawke's Bay backs opened out and gave the Auckland defence a thorough testing that it withstood.

Having seen Auckland get through the opening with the points equal, though the visitors probably had slightly the better of the play, the spectators were well, satisfied and, hopeful. They wanted more Auckland scores, but when Mill and Osmond got going in dashes that nearly brought a

scbre, and Nepia, Kirwan, and Grenside just failed to get a brilliant effort through, they were glad to see the scores still equal. Then Cooke and -Lucas, and after them, Wright " and Wilson, did some great Inter-play that made the Auckland spirits bound again. Once more Kirwan nearly went over after a brilliant run, but from the' appearance of disaster the elusive and fleet Lucas snatched a- chance and transferred the game to the Hawke's * Bay line.

At this stage the Hawke's Bay team appeared, to be rattled, and the Auckland forwards came into the limelight as had never been expected of them. Play flashed from line to line in highly exciting fashion, but the breaking-point was reached when the local pack made a chance for Cooke, who was promptly away with Lucas by him, and the latter with a nicely-timed reverse pass let Cooke over at the •corner, too far out for Ifwersen to goal. Hawke's Bay pressed desperately to the attack, and were on the verge of sucoess when Ifwerson broke away sensationally with Cooke, Keary and Sheen at. his heels, and though Ifwerson's pass was dropped, Keary dribbled the ball on for Cooke to nip it up and send along to Sheen, who scored a try that Ifwerson converted.

Almost immediately another sensational try was got in a two-handed passing bout down the sideline by O'Brien and Wilson, the former scoring. Although Hawke's Bay bucked up, and Brownlee scored from a forward rush, and Grenslde from a passing bout, the Aucklanders now held the upper hand, and a breakaway by .Anderson (who had replaced Arnold) enabled Wilson to add another try just on call of time. The Auckland -scoring had been done mostly in the last 20 minutes.

HAMILTON (8) v. PUKEKOHE (3). On Saturday a weakened Hamilton team visited Pukekohe where they met the local representatives. In an interesting game, Hamilton won by 8 points to 3 points.

MORRIS CUP CONTEST. The Morris Cup contest was advanced another stage on Saturday when Fire Brigade defeated Telegraph Engineers by 8 points to 3. Railway and Fire Brigade will next meet.

A JUNIOR .GAME. At Steele Park on' Saturday afternoon, City and High School fiflecns met. in the final for the Gllling Cup. After a fast and interesting game, City won by 5 points to 3 points.

TE AROHA MATCH. , ' JUNIOR COMPETITION. WON BY TERRIERS. (By Telegraph.—Special to Times.) TE AROHA, Saturday. The final of the Piako Rugby Union's Junior Pennant Competition, Terriers versus Waihou Rangers, was played this afternoon and resulted in the unbeaten Terriers winning by five to three. The Terriers' try was scored by Wald and converted by Prater. In the third quarter the Terriers fullback, Goldsbury, was penalised for kicking the ball behind the line, resulting in Johnson, for the Rangers, kicking a goal. The game was the most willing seen this season, several players being hurt. 0. Barker made a satisf/tfcw weferee.