NOTES ON THE GAME.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 217, 11 September 1907, Page 7

NOTES ON THE GAME.

ißy T_-_g-_tph Special to Star^ NAPIER, Tuesday. -" __he ____-__- to-day -was played, in "bea._L- . .laM weatherj, a strong sun--hilling do_T_ cm the players, and making them uncomfortably hot. . The Auckland team only -oiived las* night. There can be no, doubt that tftsre were signs of stateness among them irt to-day's match . Several x>i the ieaan. have been -___able,-fco'play, and in consequence some of the members have been overworked, and they showed . _t-.t__day. The ground for the match, -was very hard and uneven in places, and -Jfche'Tflhole team in their present condition felt the match in the strong sun -mery. __:____. ;_E_awke's Bay -won by ,10 to'nil,-but the match was a very even -one, An_____t_d, : if anyt-_i__g,-___a?v_ng-__ight-iy the better of It. As usual, however, "' __ey lacked scoring ability,- and in con- ; sequence suffered defeat.- Not once during the tour have the backs shown any attacking qualities, though their de-fence-has generally been good. . In today's match, however, the backs were, not up to- their previous form, their : ■ ia_n(____i_g of the ball being-' weak, and ■even: -heir _____-kieki__g was not satisfactory. The attacking work was never really dangerous, chiefly owing to bad "gassing'-and handling of the ball-Miller, w___-ati_factory, except on one -occasion, -when he made a bad miss, and 'Hawke's Bay scored. The three-quarter line did not play •well together, but they did hot receive the ball from the fiveeighths. Magee has been overworked, and is evidently stale. Coote, at halfback, did not play nearly as well as in previous matches. The forwards played well, but not with the dash shoftm pre- • -viously; but this could not be expected, as they all felt the hard grou__i and Twere knocked about. Auckland were attacking frequently, but could riot break through, whereas Hawke's Bay managed to secure two tries, which should easily have been prevented. In the first try an Auckland forward missed' taking the ball on; the line-out, and . .an.apposing .forward picked it up and scored an.easy try. The second try was also, scored by a forward, who followed up and secured the ball after the fullback had missed it; but if anyone bad -been backing him up this score would have been averted- The Hawke's Bay backs were not a dangerous lot, though Payne made some good runs. Walsh "was-also pretty good. Their forwards played a hard game, but they were notequal to their opponents, except perhaps in hooking, and even in this department they did not show any marked superior- - %•' . ■.;- • ";