NOTES ON THE FIRST MATCH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 178, 28 July 1903, Page 5

NOTES ON THE FIRST MATCH.

(By Our Special Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, July 20.

The New Zealand representative Ru-'by team of 1903 made their debut in 'Australia on Saturday, when 32,000 spectators witnessed their skill against a New South 'Wales combination. The Sydney Cricket Ground presented . a brilliant sight, the large arena being densely packed with a highly-expectant crowd" all' anxious to see how their own juan would fare against the New Zea-'j larders. Never before had the New Zealanders feasted their eyes upon such an enormous attendance, and to this fact may be ascribed a slight feeling of nervousness which came over three members of the team when they took the i field. A few minutes of play suffice-'- to drive this feeling away. The huge attendance included Lord Tennyson, the Governor-General of the Common wealth, and Sir Harry Rawson, the State Governor. The officials of the New S-'mth Wales Rugby Union informed me that Saturday's attendance constituted a football*record, the previous best being on the occasion of the visit of the English team headed by , the - Rev. Mullineaux a few years ago. The figures then read 25.000. ' The gross takings on Saturday totalled £1400. It was loudly asserted by the followers of the New Zealand team that the Welshmen would o - o under, and a few enthusiastic spirits were bold enough to give ten points in. As for the match itself, it was wholly in favour of the visitors, whose line was seriously threatened only on one occasion in the first half. The sueceedin«* spell was more evenly contested, though the visitors maintained the upper hand. Our men played aggressively from the jump, and kept moving briskly back and forward, giving the Weishmen a hot time in warding of! their tierce attacks. It was only a lack of condition on the part of our mleu which gave the Welshmen some breathing spness in 'the latter stages of the play. The scruming brigade was certainly a trifle short of work not a single member of the team expected perfect combination in their ranks that object is only attained after one or two matches, and i when the players' have' an:.' opportunity of becoming conversant with each other's particular ideas. The packing of our scrums did not give great solidity, and an absence of more effective pushing power in the back row had the effect of counteracting many formidable rushes initiated. .We got possession in the first half an hour, thereafter honours were fairly even. The drJbbling rushes of-the New* Zealanders were far cleverer than those of the local' combination, but a tendency to over-run the ball-when toe■h "g M down th<! field marred weral excellent opportunities. In the loose we were far on top, and it was quite a treat to witness our pretty and unselfish hand-to-hand passing, which raised Ihearty hand-clapping. The heeling was not so clean as it might have been, the ball hanging dreadfully in the centre row. In following-up quickly and tackling, the New Zealand' vanguard were seen to advantage. -

Our rearguard was miles ahead of the Cornstalks' back division, and each man gave his comrade every possible chance. When the ball did get going amongst them was always trouble ahead for their opponents, who seemed to have litle conception of circumventing the methods of the New Zealanders.

Our line-kicking, though not collectively perfect, was far in advance of that of the opposing division —Wallace and the two McGregors doing splendid sci*t vice in this department. The passing was generally well-direct-ed, smart, accurate and clean, and whenever our backs kicked for the followup they took particular care to kick sufficiently hard and high for their forwards'to another of the return. If there was a flaw in their display it was the rush-stopping at near quarters.

Wallace, who made his first appearance as a goalkeeper, came out with flying colours, his line-kicking and talking of the ball being nearly faultless. Wallace never made a mistake during his afternoon's work. Asher highly impressed the crowd with his display, and he certainly was the star of the threequarter lhie v He showed plenty of trickiness, cleverness and pace, and was a nasty customer to bring down. R. , McGregor played soundly, particularly in the first half; his gathering in of the passes and running being very fine. He made a number of nice, openings for his wings, and defended solidly. D. McGregor kicked and ran well, and two very clever screw kicks which lie effected in the thick of an opposing forward rush were superb. Duncan shaped well at times, but his tactics were not always conducive to success, and more often .than not be marred the way for Wood opening up a score. Still the veteran's tricky work often came in handy. He failed to take Kiernari's passes cleanly in the first spell, but remedied this fault in the next half. Wood, who did mot get too.many golden chances, might have rendered- his side- more signal service had lie contented himself with beating his man oftener. He made one particular brilliant run which just missed securing coveted try. Kiei'nari shot the ball out smartly to his five-eighths, but showed too much desire to dive past the opposing ruck when a pass would probably have meant stretches of ground.

Armstrong, on the wing, played hard and troubled the opposing halves., Of the scunners Cooke was greatly to the fore by initiating passing and dribbling rushes. His tackling wa« deadly. MeMinn' and Gallagher gave him valuable

assistance, and the brigade, as a whole, did sound, honest graft.

There was nothing in the display of the New South Wales men calling for special mention, and their play in both divisions was weak. It is evident that their present-day methods need much alteration. Saturday's game proved conclusively that with more combination the New Zealanders will be a very formidable lot, and they should have a very fair chance of getting through the tour with a clean sheet.

A-regrettable incident of the match was the ordering off the field of Cooke by the referee for having, it is alleged, Struck Judd, a forward in the Welshmen's team. There are many conflicting reports afloat as to what really did happen, but independent witnesses declare that Cooke was not guilty of the charge laid to.his door by Mr Pauling. Cooke himself absolutely denies that lie struck. Judd, and says tha.t he was warding off an intended blow by the Welshman! The officials of the New. South Wales Rugby Union expressed their deep regret at the occurrence. .

The conduct of a section in the Members' Stand raised the ire of several fairminded New South Wales'sports. Just before the ending of the. first spell, Judd and McMinn had trouble.

In truth, it cannot lie said that Mr Tom Pauling, who visited New South Wales a.s a member of the JSO7 New Zealand team, was a great success as referee. He-passed over too many infringements/ and his interpretation of the rules of the game were at variance to what New Zealanders are used to.

On Saturday evening the team visited the Palace. Theatre, where they witnessed the perfonhanee of '"AfiaoiiaV* by the Triiwley combination:'•' Thlf'nueriioon they were taken for an enjoyable harbour excursion, two launches for this purpose having been speoinlly placed at their disposal by Sir John See, the State Premier, who intends having the visitors and their friends'as his guests at a harbour excursion on Tuesday next.