Strong Whangarei Side

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 761, 6 September 1929, Page 7

Strong Whangarei Side

Three All Blacks In Visiting Team GOOD GAME EXPECTED DESPITE the fact that Auckland Rugby teams will be engaged at New Plymouth and Huntly. the province will field a strong side against Whangarei at Eden Park tomorrow. The Whangarei team, which is the champion North Auckland side, includes three All Blacks in Finlayson. W. Rika and Waterman in its ranks. It will be practically a North Auckland side that will take the field tomorrow and for that reason Auckland is fielding a team comprising most of the best representative players. To counteract a strong pack practically all of the A forwards are being played.

When Auckland met North Auckland ! at Dargaville recently most of the j Whangarei players were in the side. The Northern team put up a very j solid display, if anything having the better of the forward play. In Kerr j the side posssesses a very useful type j of fullback and the threequarter line, ; Waterman, Xicliolls and Darracli. all ■ show promise. Nicliolls is a brother of Mark Nicliolls, the All Black vicecaptain. Ryan, first five-eighths, is said to be one of the most brilliant men in the team. He was unable to play against Auckland in the last match on account of an ankle injury, and his exhibition tomorrow will be watched with interest. Mr. L. Guiney will referee. A junior grade B curtain-raiser will be played between Grammar A and Marist commencing at 1.30. Pollard Cup and lower grade competitions will be continued. Teams are as follow: AUCKLAND Fullback. —Butler. Threequarters. Minns, Lucas, Goodwin. Five-eighths.—L. l-look, Jenkin. H alf ba c k.—Ra e. Rover. —Solomon. Forwards. Finlay son. Hadley, Batty, Wanoa, McWilliams, L. Knight, Highton. Reserves. McLeod. McManus, Wales, Souter, Colgan. WHANGAREI P'ullbaclc. —Ken. Threequarters.—Waterman. Nicliolls. Webster. Five-eighths. —BriHand, Ryan. Halfback.—McDonald. Rover.—McQueen. Forwards.—M. Morissey, Sheriff, Finlay - son, M. Rika, W. Rika, O’Shea, MorriReserves.—Dickson, Fletcher, Hemi, B. Morissey. Senior Grade University.—Robinson, Edwards. Jenkia, Brooker, Hudson, Dunn, Keegan, Stone, Jensen, McCarthy, Linton. Babbage, McKay, Stotter, Milliken, Carter, Berghan, Mooreliouse, McGlashan. North Shore.—H qolcer. Pope. Hume, Roach, Green, Kitehings. Parkinson, Lynch, Ladbrooke, Windsor, Bowyer. Strange. Hume. Stapleton. Taituha, Anderson, Sua Tui. Third Intermediate Grade Y.M.C.A. —Findlay, Randerson, McIver, Emanuel. Corbett, Herbert, Emanuel. Emanuel, Osbalir, Cutforth, Howley, Love, Mills. Jansen. Carroll, Whitmarsh. North Shore. —McCallum, Broughton, Webb. Shea, Latta, Curtayne, Mclndoe, Moore. Townsend. Edwards, Ranbv. Simpson. Challinor. Mason, Chappell, Joyce, O’Brien. Fourth Grade Y.M.C.A. —Redpatli, Hawkins, Conway, Pressley, Johns, Miller, Dick, Lauclilan, Harris, Kirk, McLean, Bathurst, Duncan, Spratt, Underwood. THIRD GRADE REPS. The following players have been selected to play for tlie Auckland third grade open representatives against the Thames juniors at Thames tomorrow:— Fullback. Todd: threequarters, Biggs, Tetley, Campbell; five-eighths, Hallowed, Paul: halfback, Mason; rover, Bainbridge; forwards, Colvin, Kenworthy, Gould. Mihaka, Kendrick, Skinner, Davis. Emergencies: Hook, Bright, Higgins, Townshend. The team will leave the post office by motor-bus at 5.30 tomorrow morning. WAIUKU TEAM ; Tlie following team lias been selected to represent Waiuku against Manukau at Waiuku on Saturday:—Mayes, A. James. Parkes. McPherson, Bishop, B. James, Laing. Massey. Ray McNaugliton, Aylward. Pleydell. Kerebs, Kearey, Harvey, Reg. MeXaughton. Emergencies: Southee and another.

CQually as keen as in other grades, there being- only a couple ot' points among the three finalists. The most surprising points* victory in the junior grade on Saturday was Grafton’s win over Marathon by 29 points to 9, particularly in view ot" the fact that Marathon had lowered the colours of Eden, a team well up on the championship ladder. The Magpie backs gave the brightest exposition this season, their passing rushes being as irresistible as they were sparkling. Finnell, the speedy centrethreequarter, was a prolific scorer j on the day. registering five tries. Junior Rep Games The Junior Management Committee has made definite arrangements for a junior representative team to pla> : Manukau Sub-Union juniors on September 14 at Papakura. The Auckland team will not be representative j of all teams, as the grade championship will be being decided that day; j but the fifteen will be selected from a ■ number of clubs which are not en- , gaged and will be players who would not otherwise have had a chance of j a game. It is probable also that a match against Huntly will be arranged j shortly. Thirds for Thames Tomorrow a fully representative | 1 Auckland third grade team will travel to Thames to play a return game i against Thames thirds, repaying the j visit by the southerners earlier in the iseason. Is It Reasonable? Complaint of a correspondent, “Rupert P 1.,” to The Sun of the few representative fixtures for junior grade players was referred by the writer to a prominent junior management committee official of the Rugby Union. He replied that junior grades, by the end of the season, would have had more representative games than for ten years ! past. After all, he said, club football, which constituted the backbone of the ! game, had first to be considered, and with the large number of teams in the j lower grades, it was not possible to select representative teams in the j middle of the season without seriously ; interfering with the majority of clubs in the competitions. Referring to the objection raised by the correspondent, about allowing Marist thirds, B grade section leaders, to represent Auckland against Hamilton, the official illustrated the difficulty of selecting a fully representative team from a grade, in which 25 teams were participating, involving 375 players. To give fifteen representatives a game, it meant upsetting the competition for 360 player*. Even now, if the competition ran its course, the semi-finalists would not be decided until well into November. It so happened that Marist had a bye on that occasion, and was given the match, which, from the public’s viewpoint, provided good football.

JUNIOR NOTES PARS ABOUT THE TEAMS Semi-finals Near The hardest struggle for years, is the verdict of followers concerning the contest for the junior championship. In A section. Ponsonby has a lead of two points, with two games against Grafton still to play. The first of these matches will be decided on Eden Park tomorrow, and if Magpies are successful. they will be on level terms, with a further match to decide the section winners; on the other hand. Saturday’s game will determine the semi-finalists, if Ponsonby wins. Equally even is the B section, in which Marist is one point ahead of Grammar. These teams should provide some bright, spectacular football when they meet as a curtain-raiser at Eden Park tomorrow. A win or a draw will place the Tykes in the final for tlie grade championshin. Third Open Winners Semi-final stage lias now been reached in the third open, Newton having been victorious in A section while Ponsonby is the B section finalists. The championship will not be decided until September 14, there being a representative game tomorrow. Only two points separate Grammar. Eden and Otaliubu in the A section of the fourth grade competition. Grafton, Technical Old Boys and Marist are on similar terms in B section. Keen Fifths Comment upon the fact that the fourths’ competition was one of the keenest of the lower grades has prompted an enthusiast to supply some interesting information concerning the fifth grade premiership. Three teams. Marist. Ponsonby and Elerslie, are on level terms with 29 points each. Ponies and Tykes have each drawn thrice, on two occasions when opposing each other, the other leading team. Ellerslie. has won 14 games, lost two and drawn one. At this stage only one game had to be played to complete the round. Illustrating the evenness of teams in this grade, results of the following matches in the first and second rounds are interesting:—Manukau 3, Marist 3: Marist 0. Ponsonby 0: Marist 3. Ponsonby 3: Ellerslie 9. Ponsonby 4: Ellerslie 9. Ponsonby 9; Marist 6. Otahuhu 6; Otahuhu 3. Manukau 3: Ponsonby 3. Manukau 0. In both i rounds Manukau and Otahuhu have j helped to make the contest exceedI ingly open and interesting. In the seventh grade. Ponsonby. Marist and Eden are fighting out the premiership, which promises to be