LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1534, 2 September 1912, Page 7

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

"ALL'BLUES" BEATEN

SOME SAVAGE SCENES-ALLEGED. ■' '' DEANE' OBDEBED OFF: : ' ' ""{By 'iMoclatlon.J Auckland, August 31.. • ; The;.. New South ;;Wales\ League' footballers played the'thiTd -ganie- of their tour., against Auckland on Victoria Park to-day.- There was an'attendance'of about (000, the heavy rain iviiiefi fell prior to and during the game keeping away many thousands. Contrary, to expectations, Auckland defeated t.he visitors, and there was no element of luck about the victory. It rained.:.practically from, whistle to'-Bell, and/consequently there, was little of the. niuch-bbomed' brilliant'.passing of the visitors'in, evidence. ,Tho Auckland' forwards ;riuite outplayed the opposition vanguard, -arid.'in;the second spell, there was.only one. team in it.

After the interval, when. the visitors found that-they were; "up against it," play became 'extremely rough, the visiting packmen "putting in their boot," and mixing it freely. Some disgraceful scenes were witnessed and ; Deans was.sent off the field just prior, to "no .side."' The crowd rose 'en masse and hooted him. It can be safely said that.never in the history of KtigbV'football (of either code) has such a rough game been' played in this, city, and the League game has received by no means a good advertisement.. In justice to the Aucklanders it must be said that they were not- the aggressors,- and tit times,- it'was noticeable that they were slow to retaliate although punched' and .kicked deliberately. New South Wales-simply could not take a drubbing, and 'their deliberate foul and ■unsportsmanlike play will never- be forgotten ..-in: Auckland.....Time, and . again, when an Aucklander was .tackled,:-.the' tackier, not content with --.downing .his man, sent in sharp upper-cuts and bodjpunehes, and- at times, even resorted tothe boot;-

The game itself needs little description. New South Wales had slightly the-better of matters , in the< first spell, but they only managed .to score three points, "Williams -.crossing \at the corner after play had been in progress some fifteen minutes. The visitors, however, failed to adapt themselves to the circumstances, tho ball was greasy and heavy and-accurate passing was out of the question, but still the Bine banks persisted in throwing it about. . Consequently the home ■ forwards were able to get amongst them, and they always profited by the'numerous mistakes made. ■ . . ..

,In the second. . spell the Auckland forwards ' played the traditional Auckland game, and New South Wales was simply not in it. .Rakutai, the Haywards, Seager, Dunning, and Mitchell ,l>laying together as one man, swept the field time and again, and although M-'Gregor (the -visitors' full-back) tried hard to stom the tide the task was too great a one for him. Auckland scored in five minutes after the resumption, Mitchell, as the'outcome .of. a fine, forward rush, touching down.in a handy position. HardgraVes . added the major points. Auckland maintained the pressure, and although New South Wales occasionally g6t into the home quarters and endeavoured to uso their backs, the game was always Auckland's. Their backs supported the forwards Splendidly, fielding, tackling, and ticking in. the best provincial style. Halfway through tho spell. Ken- South Wales was penalised in front of the goal, and Dunning sent tho-ball over the bar. Auckland, 7; New. South Wales 3. Some minutes lateT Webb whipped the bail out to Rske, and the Rotorua man went over the line in a' twinkling. R'ukutai made a poor attempt at goal. Auckland, 10; New South Wales. 3. The play was now extremely rough, and numerous cautions were administered. Just before-the bell went. Deane deliberately punched Curran three times, and in fact, the referee had no option but to send hiin off the field. Considerable feeling was shown by the crowd and as the players filed off the field the visitors were hooted.

Messrs. J. F. Macmanamey, T. DugBan,' and T. Pauling (late of New Zealand), the selectors for tho New South Wales Rugby Union, chose the team to tour America last week. It is as follows:—Backs: L. Dwyer (Orange), A. K-. Dunbar (Newtown), D. B. Carroll (St. George), H. Jones (Newcastla), E.,J. Wilcocks (Brisbane), L. Meibnsch (Toowoomba), L. WcJgan (Glebe), W. G. Ta* ker (Newtown), \Vard Prentice (Western Suburbs), F. Wood (Glebe), aud J. Flyna (Brisbane). Forwards: W. Watson (Newtown), T. S. Griffon (Glebe), H. George (Eastern Suburb#), A'. Kent (Toowoomba), J. Clavken (Glebe), E. Fahev (Eastern Suburbs), K. B. Hill (Newtown), CI. Pugh (Newtown), J. Wylio (Glebe), M. Frasev (Glebe), P. Cunningham (Brisbane), T. ,T. Richards (Manly), and W, Murphy (Brisban^i,