NO ASHES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 61, 4 December 1937, Page 17

NO ASHES

AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE QUEST COMMENT IN SYDNEY Qnce again the Australians have lost their chance of taking the Ashes but they will have another opportunity in 1940, provided English tlufrs do not continue to "pick the iycs" out of Australian League football, states Claude Corbett in the Sydney Sun, in commenting on the defeat of the Kangaroos by 13 points to 3 in the second Test with England. Australians now playing with EngHsh cluba, including Dave Brown, wOuld have made ali the difference to the result. The time will surely come when Australia will demand the right to call upon its own players who are jnembers of English teams. The players are satisfied that the better side won and have no excuses. Their only regret'is that they have been unable to keep the Test interest alive until they meet England in the tinui Test .at Jiuddersfield on Decemher 18. There is no questionjthat the better fwm won. Securing the ball frequently enabled England to work to a plan of attack, whereas Australia had to be satisfied to do what it could on the spur of the moiftent when the rare cpportunities came its way. Credits to Backs. The Australian backs deserve the greatest credit. The Kangaroos went down with colours flying, for. in the fading light they were fighting hard in England's twenty-five when fulltime arrived. Whatever chance Australia had was aliowed to slip when two'oppprtunities of scoring were xnissed. The first was had luck, when Percy Williams crosskicked to Hudson, who missed the bouncing balL Unfortunately, so did Prigg and Bert Williams. The ball jumped about over the line, and both Adstralians failed to grasp it. Otherwise a try would have been scored close to the posts, and there • would probably have been five points. On the second occasion, Lewis burst through and instead Of racing ahead, shortened his stride, looking for support to come up. Three supports, Prigg, Reardon and Dawson, appeared and when Lewis sent the ball to Prigg the defence had rallied. Prigg passed to Dawson, who was tossed into touch. England's backs, in the first half, were unhappy, but the second half was a different story, with, Jenkins and Brogden brilliant. A surfelt of the ball from the scrummages gave England a full chance to exploit construcUve football. 1 was surprised at the ref eree, Harding, permitting ' psdpably forward passes. Edwards scored his second try after getting the ball in what certainly seemed a forward pass. Risman sent yards forward to Brogden. The crowd yelled, but next time Brogden and Edwards were worse. Fortunately for Australia, Edwards was pushed into touch a couple of yards from the line. The Australians tried desperately * hard. .There was still a chance when the score was 5 to 3. Before Dawson's try the ball hadbeen put into the air, and Prigg and B. Williams handled. Belshaw fumbled and passed to Reardon, who took the ball shoulder-high. He was clear, but had just sufficient pace to score between the posts, Hudson downing him. Reardon rolled out of the tackle and passed to a comrade, who sent to Dawson, He strolled pver the line for a try. Beaton Inaccuratc. Beatonhad several shots at goal, but although they were close, he was not kicking well enough to score points. 'England's last try, right on time, was due to Australian carelessness. Ward ran up and passed to Norman, who knocked on, and instead of kicking the ball, aliowed it to lie on the ground. Hudson came through, toed the haR twice before it went over the line, Hudson f alling on it to score. There was one.occasion in the second half when the Australians were unluCky. They had the field open when a pass was knocked down by Hudson, who cleared. There were two men outside, and nothing would have stopped them. It seems to be the Australians' destiny, in Tests, that the dice never rolla their way in such situations. Cleverness of England's inside backs worrled the Australians. One magnificent effort was made by Jenkins, who raced 50 yards with "dummies" and quick side-stepping.