N.Z. RUGBY LEAGUE TEAM WINS FIRST TEST MATCH WITH NOTABLE RECOVERY

Grey River Argus, 31 May 1948, Page 7

N.Z. RUGBY LEAGUE TEAM WINS FIRST TEST MATCH WITH NOTABLE RECOVERY

(Rec. 8.40) SYDNEY, May 30. Though they apparently were outclassed,' and; were trailing Australia by thirteen points, the New Zealand Rugby League team recovered brilliantly on Saturday to defeat Australia by 21 points to 19 in the first international Rugby League test to be played in Australia for thirty-nine years. There was a crowd of over 55,000, including the Governor-General of Australia, Mr McKell. The crowd rose to cheer the victorious Kiwis as they ran off the Sydney Cricket Ground after the match.

The teams were:— NEW ZEALAND 1 Clarke; Forrest, Robertson, Wiles, Redmond, Graham; Barchard; Hardwick, Hurndell, Mcßride, Hambleton, Smith, Newton. AUSTRALIA Bidding; McMahon, L. Smith, Pegg, Graves, O’Connell; Froome; Tyquin, De Belin, Rayner, Farrell, Schubert, Brosnan. ' The referee was Mr T. McMahon. KIWIS START POORLY The first 1 half hour of the game showed the Kiwis in the worst possible light. The handling of the ball by their backs was uniformly bad, and many times their back line made fruitless efforts to win ground after taking the ball flat footed. Fast breaking New Zealand forwards did their best to hold the opposing movements by the Australians, but the New Zealand backs, with the notable exceptions of Wiles, Bar chard, and Forrest, showed little penetrative power. The visitors’ only ray of hope at this stage lay in the fact that their scrum work was much more efficient, and that’the New Zealand forwards were winning a much greater share of the ball than in either of their previous Australian matches. A bad feature of the game lay in the number of penalties that were being awarded to both sides. They chiefly were for the scrum infringements. This might have worked out in favour of New Zealand, had not their star place kicker, Clarke, soon demonstrated that he was having an off day. . • -xu To make matters worse for the Kiwis, the Australians had discovered two very accurate kickers in Graves and Froome, thus reversing one of the few superiorities that New Zealand liad shown in their match earlier against New South Wales. In all. Graves kicked five penalty goals, and Froome two penalty goals, as against Clarke’s three goals. THE PLAY After an initial attack, in which they crossed the Australian line, the New Zealanders were pushed back, largely through an apparent inability of their backs to take advantage oi their share of the ball. Graves opened the scoring when he kicked a penalty goal from five yards inside of the half way, and, after ten more minutes of scrambled play and of penalty attempts by both sides, Froome landed another penalty goal from close in. Australia 4; New ZeaThe Australians hammered away solidly at the Kiwi defence until, from a scrum on the 25 line, Rayner took the ball through without much interference to Froome converted fhp trv Anima. 9: New Zealand 0. Furtherpressure by the the Kiwis in their with the game haMifiT houWK the scrum infrmgenf&rffw gaver-Australia two more penalty goals, both of which were taken by Graves. Australia 13, New Ze At a this°stage, New Zealand attempts at* taking the offensive were doomed to collapse through wild passing and through a lack of backing up. Wiles and Forrest, however, showed up in bright movements. N.Z. RECOVERY Then, just before half-time, Wiles and Barchard took the ball mto enemy territory, and Redmond fought off three tacklers to cross the line for a try, which Clarke converted. Australia 13; New Zealand 5. SECOND SPELL The New Zealanders went into the second spell like a new team. They began breaking up the Australian combination with ranging forwaid play, and they also were throwing the ball about to greater effect. Newton charged down the full-back, Pidding, and then loose play developed in the Australian 25. Here,- m four Clarke missed twice when ne attempted to put over penalty goals. CROWD WITH THE KIWIS Finally Clarke did land a penalty goal. Australia 13; New Zealand I. Clarke for his kick was loudly cheered bv the crowd, which was now behind the New Zealand team in its efforts to draw even. . The Australian defence, m which Graves, L. Smith, and Froome figured prominently, held the Kiwis out, while the game, seemed to increase its tempo every minute Robertson broke through to the Austra Han 25, and then Wiles and Forrest cut across, in a challenge, down the right wing. At this stage the referee

cautioned the Queensland forward, Brosnan, for rough play. Then Australia took a hand, with Bidding joining in a long back movement, which ended deep in tire Kiwi territory. Froome there kicked another penalty goal. Australia New Zealand 7. But soon the Kiwis were back, with Hurndell prominent. Next a solo effort by the Australian three-quarter, McManon, almost turned the tables, when, after penetrating the New Zealand defence, he was recalled for a knock-on. x , The Kiwis were now straining the home defence to the utmost, and were giving the Australians a lesson in hard running and tackling. Though they averaged three pounds heavier than the Kiwi pack, the Australian forwards were not. able to cover their backs. ANOTHER N.Z. TRY Half way through the second spell, Forrest ran down the line, and he sent a long pass infield to tne forwards, who- bullocked through, and sent MeBride over to score. Clarke converted the try. Australia 15; New Zealand 12. The next minute Hambleton intercepted a pass and he raced the length of the field to score for New Zealand. Clarke gained the conversion wuh a difficult kick from the sideline. Ims placed New Zealand in the lead—New Zealand 17; Australia 15. . Refusing to let up, the Kiwis xedoubled their pressure. Though Australia made fruitless efforts, in the closing stages, to break through, the run of the play was all in favour of the Kiwis. Nevertheless, penalties could have robbed them of victory at any stage. . Clarke and Graves each kicked two penalty goals. In a final flurry the New Zealanders were swarming all round the Australian line. The full time score WaS NEW ZEALAND 21 AUSTRALIA Kiwis were the Better Team, Says Sydney Critics (Rec. 10.5). SYDNEY, May 30. . Rugby League experts are unanimous in the opinion that blew Zealand was unlucky not. t % 1 ( * ! ?-,.®x xLI score against Australia in the fust Kst even higher. . “New Zealand’s smashing 21-19 victory threw wide open the selection ior the Australian teani in the seconc ■ test”, says Mr W. F. Corbett, in tin Sunday Sun. “No man in the Australian team can feel certain of his fu ture in big representative games. Alter looking, in the first half, as iithey would be decimated, the New Zealanders trampled all over the Australians. They scored three tries to one and were easily the better team They lashed the Australians in open football, .and pounded them in the. f °Mr a Corbett continues: “After leading at one stage by 13 to nil, Australia can give no excuse tor then defeat. Australia lost control of the game when it slackened, just before half time, and the New Zealanders poured through gaps in the defences. Australia did not regain command. “Instead of wilting, as they did last week the New Zealanders strengthened’as the game went oh. Sydney whl not forget .the resolute way in which the Kiwis re-arranged then forces, and battled back. qprnms The official count of the scrums was 21 to 19 in favour of New Zeala The referee, Mr McMahon, awarded forty penalties during the match. These mostly were for scrum. infringements. They were equally divided.