Splendid Showing By First Season Player

Chronicle (Levin), 6 September 1948, Page 7

Splendid Showing By First Season Player

Press Association)

(Per i

AUCKLAND, Sept. 5. The splendid performance of a young ilayer in his first season of senior footjall, \yas the outstanding feature of the iVA-elfth" of the , series . Qf ' All' -'Bladk' Etugby trials between the A ahd ~B" ;eanis of the northerii ha'lf of the North Lsland on Saturday. ' Tlib match' was" piayed at Eden Park on a very' muddy' leld. The young *player w^s TT. Blaek, Auckland live-eighth, who made two dazzling breaks through the defenee to pave the Avay for two tri'es scored by the A team. Black's haudling was faultless and he demonStrated so niuch Lmproveinent OArer his go'od play of recent representati^e fixtures, that he deserves serious consideration for the AiJ Black team. The B team, captained by M. N. MeHugh, 1946 All Black, drew 8-all with the team captained by the Kiwi and All Black baek row forward, N. H. Thornton. McHugh's excellent captaincy and solid work made him one of the out3tanding forwards. Thornton, P. J. Crowley, J. (1. Simpson (all Auckland), V. A. Ensor (Waikato), R. Johnstone (Auckland) and F. McGuigan (Bay of Plenty) were the other prominent forwards. None of the foiir halfbacks tried proved of All Blaek quality. AV. J. Conrad (Waikato) was the best. Outside of Black, the most inipressive back Avas J. R. O'Hearn, of Waikato, Avho piayed on the Aving in the first spell and at centre in the second. He scored a good try after a 40-yard run. R. L. Dobson, t'ormer KiAvi, made some useful breaks in the second live-eighths position but his def enco was sometimes fauity. The All Black fullbaek, B. W. H. Scott, made one or two mistakes in not finding the line.