LA CROSSE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 167, 27 July 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

LA CROSSE.

The first round for the championship was completed last Saturday, under very disagreeable weather conditions. It was absolutely the worst afternoon we have yet had to contend against this season. The respective merits of the Ponsonby and Grafton teams could hardly be gauged by last week's contest, though Grafton certainly did have the best of the deal on the day. It was generally thought that GVafton would just about win in the heavy going, but even their most sanguine supporters never predicted they would come out on top so easily. Their performance on the whole was meritorious, and there was not a "waster" in the whole team. Ponsonby'a performance waa much below what waa expected of them. The weighty men of the team were almost helpless; in fact, the whole team appeared to be completely disorganised. A noticeable feature in Grafton's defensive play was how correctly point, cover-point, and third man kept their positions, whereas the blue and black defenders were continually drawn out by tfye i opposite attack and fooled. The final meeting of these two teams at! the end of the second round ought to i remove all doubt as to which is the i strongest. Last Saturday was the first occasion in championship matches in j which the Ponsonby team has tasted | defeat; naturally the members did not | receive any condolences, rather the < other way about. I was pleased to notice in the Graf- j ton-Ponsonby match the amount of | good feeling that existed between the I two clubs, and rough play was con- \ spicuous by its absence. | Owing to the long distances that | gome of the members of the Suburbs j Club live from the Domain, a few of j them expected that the matches would j be postponed, and consequently the team played short-handed against Xorth Shore, and suffered defeat, butonly after a close struggle. It was a pity, for had the Suburbans won they might have ha.d a big say in the finals for the championship. The team has improved a lot lately. Parnell were altogether too good for the Ponsonby B twelve, who like their senior tea'tn fared very badly with the slippery ball and the swampy field. So far this Is Parnell's best performance this season. Graham has dropped the habit of wandering all over the field, and was conse?-' quently seen to better advantage, and accounted for no less than six goals— not a bad performance. Fairburn gave a glimpse of the form shown by him earlier in the season. H. Thomson, Grafton's left attack, is one of the most improved players I have seen so far; hia rare turn of pace enhances his play. Stewart, centre for j Grafton, has never played a better j game than he did on Saturday last, j

W. Wilson (point) was very sound, and played the best all-round back game on the ground. This player has evidently had a lot of practice, and studied his position well.

Braithwaite, of the Ponsonby B. team, is in good trim just now, and his play on Saturday fully entitles him to position in the A team.

A prominent member of the North Shore team, but now a resident of the City district, is already on the job trying to get a team to represent City, as he Is a well-known enthusiast. I think it is pretty safe to predict that there will be another district team competing- in the championships next season.