BRITISH FOOTBALLERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 170, 17 July 1908, Page 5

BRITISH FOOTBALLERS.

TO-MORROW'S MATCH. GREAT CROWD EXPECTED. SOME PAST CONTESTS. To-morrow (Saturday) - afternoon, at Alexandra Park, the third British team to visit New Zealand play their first match in Auckland, when they meet the ! i local fifteen. A visit of a te.am from j the Old Country always creates a lot ■ I of interest, and when the first of the I ! representatives of the Mother Countay arrived in the colonies in 18SS they wore | looked upon as something supernatural,! ! and created a feeling of awe amongst i the more timid of the people of the ! i Dominion. J The older Rugby enthusiasts will re- ; member that the team of 18SS did not i come out fathered by the English Rugby i j Union, but was promoted by Messrs. j , Lilywhitc and Co., as n purely financial j speculation. Considerable comment was ■ made at the time, it being thought that no tram should be welcomed which did' not come from the English Union. At : the time of the visit, however, there' was no New Zealand Union, so consequently it was entirely a caso of each : provincial union for itsol'f, and little difii- I culty was found in arranging a programme of matches. The team consisted j of twenty-two or twenty-throe players,! • captained by Mr. R. L. Seddon (who I lost his life through a drowning accij dent while tho team was in Australia) J Included in the team was A. X, Stoddart,' who was recognised as one of the great-.-et three-quarters the world has pro-i durod. The first match in Now Zealand was pinyed oti April 28th. IHSS, when 1 they met and defeated Otago by S points ! to :5. Their rir.-t reverse was at Tara- ! j naki on May 16th, when they were de- J ; feated hy 1 point. 'Hie second defeat was inflicted hy Auckland on May 24th.' the locjil players winning by 4 points; to nil. These worn the only two re-1 versos the team sustained, and out of i the 111 matches played they won 13, lost 2, and drew 4. The first ma ten in Auckland was piayed on May 10th, 18SS, when the following composed tlie local fifteen:—R. B. busk, full-back; Whitoside, Madigan, i and McCausland, three-quarters: Elliott, | i Braund, and Con way, halves; O'Connor, 1 ■ I.ecky. Keefe, Hobson. Wells. Twiname,' 1 Marshall, and AlcKenzie, forwards. 'Die ' J game was a very exciting one, England . ovontually winning by 0 points to ;i, I two tries, one by Seddon and the other ; j liy Anderlon. hoth nf which wore conj verted by Paul, while for Auckland Roht.' ! McKenzio got over the line and McCaus- i J land converted. Hngiand's two trios-* were pained very softly. The first was | got by Seddon following up a pnt at j goal by Spcakman, and the rough ground I causing the ball to bounce the wrong j way. ho fell on it right at the tr-ot 'if; I ho Auckland men. Anderton's try was gut in almost a similar manner. It was in this pimp that the redonbtablo "Bob -, Whileside, the- idol of all Auc-klandors, got burt, and few who had! the privilege of witnessing the match ! will ever forgot, the groan of anguish j that went up from tvn ground when the] "champion or dianipious" was seen to bo unable to rise artor being heavily i I tarldo.l and thrown just about tile half- 1 way on the northern side of the ground. { Dr. Smith, of Kngland, examined him, I :iii(l found that ho had severely wrenched j the ligatures ot the right leg. Although | practically useless he stayed on the field , uitil about half-way through the second spoil, when he got another nasty fall | and had to be carried off the field. One of the principal features of the game WES the display of the Auckland fullback, R. B. Lusk, who gave one of the finest exhibitions over seen on the ground, and as the teams filed off the field cheer after cheer was given for the Aucklander. The second game played on May 24 was a veritable triumph for the wearers of the blue and white, and they succeeded in defeating the visitors by 4 points to nil. a try secured by Elliott, from a pnss by Braund, and a sensational goal kicked by Hobson. The latter score j will long live in the memory of those present, and the large crowd went nearly frantic with excitement as the bail sailed between the posts. The team in the second match was the same as in the first, with the exception that Tommy Brown took Wliitesido's place in the three-quarter line. In this match a most memorable incident occurred. Early in the game Barlow Madigan (one of the tamest three-quarters that ever took I the field) was thrown heavily, but got i tip and went on ploying as if nothing had occurred. After the game lie complained of his shoulder paining him, and on being examiner!, by a doctor, it was found that his collar-bone was broken, and how he came to play on in the state he was. was little short of marvellous. Of the players who took part in the first two matches, "Hooker" Conway, "Barlow" Madigan, and Orlando Wells have crossed the great divide. After touring tl-.p South the Britishers returned to Auckland and played two games, winning the first jby 3 points to nil. and playing a draw in the second, each side scoring a try. Tn the first game Speakman potted a goal, and in the second Stoddart scored for England after a tricky run, while Braund, one of the best half-backs ever seen in New Zealand, dodged over from a scrum on the visitors' line, badly beating Stoddart and others. The Auckland team chosen for the first of the last two matches gave a lot of dissatisfaction, and a lot of alterations were made in the second fifteen. In the first game T. Brown, R. Masefield, L. Meldrum, T. Ryan, M. Herrold, A. Braund, 11. Stevenson, T. O'Connor, 0. Wells, J. Loeky, W. Hobson, R. McKenzie b P. Gould, A. Stewart, and J. He.ffernan, and in the second R. B. Lusk, R. Masefield, T. Brown. A. Tanfield, A. Braund, M.' Henold, T. O'Connor, O. Wells. N. McLean. C. Marshall, R. Crowe, W. Hobson, J. Lecky, R. McKenzie, and J. II effernan. A long period elapsed before a second toam was seen in N.Z., and it was not until 1904 that a combination under the captaincy of D. R. Bedell-Sivright toured the Dominion. Considerable changes had taken place in the game since the ISS3 team's visit, and public interest had become so keen that when BedellSivright's men took the field at Epsom on August 20, it was estimated that fully 2:?,000 spectators were The Auckland team was as follows:—W. Harrison, full-back: A. Renwick, 0. Murray, W. E. 11. McKenzie, three-quar- j ters; M. Wood, R. McGregor, five- i eighths; H. Kiernon, half; D. Gallaber, wing; and G. Tyler, W. Mackreli, W. Cunningham, C. Seeling, G. Nicholson, H. Hajward, and W. Joyce, forwards; and they succeeded in running over the visitors by 13 points to nil, tries being secured Vγ McKenzie, Cunningham, and Gallaher, tro of which were converted by Abraa*. 4a »fi*n»i*L,S*»» J»»Ji

also played by the team against the Maoris at Rotorua, the latter winning by S points to 6. The score of Auckland was the biggest registered against the Britishers, but some excuse can be offered in the fact that the men were undoubtedly feeling the effects of the tour, for it has to be remembered that they had played 14 matches on the hard grounds of Australia, the whole of which they won, scoring 265 points, while 51 were scored against them. In N.Z. they were only out on five occasions (not counting the Rotorua match), and won 2. lost 2, and drew 1, defeating Canterbury. South aOntevbury, shr shr j and Westland combined Otago and 1 Southland combined, while they ! were defeated by the New Zealand I team and also Auckland, and drew with ] Taranaki and Manawatu combined. ! They scored in all 22 points, and had I n.'J a<rainst them. i Following the visit of Bedell-Siv-right's team, a representative combination from the Dominion paid a visit to 1 England, and, as is well known, returned with the marvellous record of 32 wins, ; and only 1 defeat, scoring 830 points and I only having 39 scored against them. The ! presence of the present British team in New Zealand is to return the visit of the i N.Z. Union, and it is to be regretted that : the Scottish and Irish Unions thought lit :to stand aloof, as a consequence of which the men had to be selected from the , English and Welsh Unions. However, I they have sent a strong combination. The visitors have been very unlucky since their arrival in the Dominion, several of ! j their most prominent players being in- | Mured, added to which the men were called! I ' upon to play when palpably unfit, and ! consequently their showing in the earlier I engagements was a long way below what they have since proved themselves capable ; of. Since being defeated by Canterbury, the cram have had a long run of successes ! —accounting for the West Coast, Nelson, [Hawke's Bay, Poverty Bay, Manawatu and | i Wanganui—but suffering defeat at the j i hands of Taranaki last Wednesday by 5 points to nil, while they played a drawn 1 game in the second test against the pick ;of Now Zealand' at Wellington, after one iof the hardest fought games yet played lin the Dominion. In this match the visiI tors showed themselves to be a first clas3 combination, and the honours of the game were undoubtedly with them. They were generally voted unlucky not to win. The Britishers are now fairly on their I mettle, and they are leaving no stone un- | turned to secure a victory in both the I Auckland and the third test matches, and with the Auckland team in good con- ; dition, a.nd' confident of upholding the honour of their province, the struggle to- ! ! morrow should prove one of the keenest I iof the tour. Unfortunately several of j the visitors aro on the injured list, and , their fifteen will not. be as strong as they I would wish; but even with this handicap i they aro confident of giving one of their j best displays. Excellent arrangements for the. accomj modation of th e public have been made jby the Auckland Rugby Union officials, • and there should be no difficulty in every j ono who Journeys to Epsom getting an uninterrupted view of the match. The gates will be opened at 10 a.m. sharp, andi in order to till in the interval j before the big game commences, two J curtain-raisers will be. played: the first i starling at 11.30 a.m., between a team ! representative of the Auckland Public Schools and the Gohifields Schools; and the second starting at 1 p.m.. between the , Auckland B team and the Waikato repreI sentativea. ! In addition to the above a band will render a number of selections on the lawn .in front of the main stand. Tile teams ' are as follows: — BKITAJX. (Colours: Red, white, and blue.) Full-back: J. C. M. Dyke. Three-quarters: H. H. Vassall. 'Tuan" Jones, P F McEvedy. Halves: H. Laxon, O. L. Williams. Forwards: A. F. Harding, R. Dibbk, E. Morgan, P J. Down, G. R. Hind, T. Smithf J. F. Williams, L. S. Thomas. Only fourteen men have been chosen, the selection of the fourth three-quarter heing hold over till to-morrow mornin" owing to several members of the division being on tbe injured list. AUCKLAND. Colours: Blue and white . Full-back: A. Renwick (Grafton). Three-quarters: G. Murray (Ponsonby), R. Magee (City), V. Wilson (University). Five-eighths: G. Bater (Ponsonby), J. Morse (Waikato). Half: H. Kiornan (Grafton). Forwards: Front row: F. Herring (City), J. McGuire (City); middle row: A. Francis, W. Cunningham. (J. Nicholson (Ponsonby) ; back row: H. Hay ward (Thames). C Seeling (City); wing: G. Gillett (Ponsonby). Referee: Mr Charters (Wairarapa). Brakes conveying botb> teams will leave the Central Hotel at 1.45 p.m. The kick-off will take place at 2.45 p.m. sharp. A meeting of the Cornish residents in Auckland held at the Waitemata Hotel, last night for the purpose of considering a proposal to entertain the Cornishmen of the Anglo-Welsh team, Messrs Jackett and Davey. It was decided to tender them a complimentary social after the return of the team from Rotorua next week. A hall is to be engaged for the occasion, and it is anticipated that there will be a large attendance. AUCKLAND E v. WAIKATO. AUCKLAND B. Full-back: Miller. Throcquarters: Hogan, Twiname, Carla w. Five-eighths: Blakie, Gray. HaJf: Webb. Wing: McDonald. Forwards: Todd. Griffin, Waddell, McGuire, Kinder, Hall, Petersen. WAIKATO. Full-back: Powell (Lower Waikato). Threcquarters: Naylor (Lower Waikato). Coote and Hughes (Hamilton). Five-eighths: Flynu (Hamilton) and Clifford "(Waipa). Half: Barker (Waipa). Wing: Jas. Burke (Waipa). i Forwards: Henderson (Waipa), McKillop (Lower Waikato), Turner (Waipa), Mears, lock (Hamilton), Maeaulay (Lower Waikato), Clarke - (Cambridge), Thompson (Waipa). Mr A. Campbell, of Auckland, will probably referee. Brakes for the players will leave the Imperial Hotel ai 12 o'doek. The kiek-bff win take place at 1 p.ra'. sharp.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS. AUCKLAND v. GOLDFIELDS. AUCKLAND. Full-back, Valvoi; threequarters, Cornaga, MeGlashan, Westbury,; five-eijhths, Alison, Handcoek; half-back, Wolledge; wing, Woolle'y; forwards, Sellars, Baker, Rodgers, Foreman, Crawford, Ralph. Harty, Bollard; emergencies, Colgan, Olsen, Vaughan. The G-oldfields team arirve to-morrow morning. Brakes for both teams will letf.e His Majesty's Theatre at 10.30 a.m. The *>• feree's brake will leave the Metropolitan corner at 1 p.m. sharp . THE VISIT TO AUSTRALIA. It is understood that Mr H. Kellv, of Wellington, has been appointed by the NZ.. L T nion to accompany the British team in their tour of Australia. NEW ZEALAND UNION. AUCKLAND UNIONS SUGGESTIONS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union at to-night's meeting, rejected a proposed alteration in the rules remitted by the Auckland Rugby I'nion: "That a member of the. Management Committee of a union as well as the referee should have the right to report a player for rough or foul play." THE TARANAKI MATCH. (By Telegraph.—l>ress Association.) NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. Later returns bring the gate at the Bri-tish-Taranaki match to about five pounds short of £700.