League Rugby

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 475, 3 October 1928, Page 11

League Rugby

Notes and Comment.

The Roope Rooster In a game which rose at times to the heights of brilliancy, and throughout was fought with tigerish energy, Ponsonby landed Newton a k.o. blow from which there is no recovering. The Rooster final now rests between Ponsonby and Marist when they meet at Carlaw Park next Saturday. Exit Newton The defeat of Newton, last season’s Champion of Champions in Auckland Rugby League, marks the exit of a team *of individually great players (there are four New Zealand reps.), demonstrating again the fact that even very ordinary combination will always beat a team which man for man may be stronger, but which combines less effectively as a scoring machine. Men Who Were Missed Somers and Clarke were badly missed from the Newton pack on Saturday, while Hardgrave. with an

injured ankle, was hardly more than a passenger in the backs. However, such unfortunate c ircumst ances cannot be avoided. Newton might yet have won the game had Dufty done a little less kicking, and given the injured warrior outside him a few more chances

to score, as Hardgrave did do on one occasion, which at the time looked like the turning of the tide in Newton’s favour.

Triumph F r or Delgrosso Ponsonby’s triumph was in a very real sense a triumph for Delgrosso—the man to whom the Ponies owe what chances they may yet have of ending the season as Champion of Champions. He came to the assistance of his club early in the season, when it looked as though Ponsonby’s star was fading, and by outstanding generalship and superlative displays on his part, rejuvenated the team. Marist v. Ponsonby The Roope Rooster final between Marist and Ponsonby at the Park on SatLirday promises to be every bit as great a match as the one staged there last week. It is quite possible that Tykes will have Gregory and “Stump” Campbell with them again, and so should be able to keep the Ponies up to the mark, it is leai'ned that the injury to one knee that Gregory suffered on a recent Saturday is not as serious as was originally thought.

Bad Day For Strides Saturday was a bad day for the Newton baggage man. Both Hardgrave and Cammick had their nether garments rent off, the former while he was sprinting for the line. ’Tis said that several feminine admirers of the second “Shaver” tried to get off with the belt that was thrown, together with the rifted tweed, over the fence on to the terraces.

The “Old Boys” Match A feature which is always looked forward to, toward the end of the League season, is the meeting of the veterans. Compared with the game which followed, the display of the Old Boys suffered somewhat, but nevertheless. there were several thousands at the Park who would go a long way to see Porky Gibbons and his men if they turned out again next week. Permission has been granted by the Northeote Borough Council to the local football team to play a return match against Hamilton on Octber 13 on the Municipal Recreation Reserve. This will be the final match of the season, as it is intended to immediately proceed with the formation of cricket pitch and outfield.