SPORTING GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 250, 21 October 1919, Page 9

SPORTING GOSSIP.

* ' } (By iCTAEOX.) ' FOOTBALL. RTTGBT. THE E.F. TEAM A-XD AUCKLAND. ; Sixteen points to six was the final 1 score of the X.Z.E-F. footballers against • Auckland on the Showgrounds on Saturday afternoon, and the Diggers were at , the front. Both teams were obviously not in the be*t possible iorin, but the j' conditions were not exactly ideal for a fast football game. The" Army team | shone in their general attacking work • and in handling the ball, being far more accurate hi both than were their 1 opponents. The forwards were a very strong pack. too, much better than Auckland produced for the day, and indeed the general , J opinion was" that the pack was better than the back division. The Digger backs were without question a strong team of individual*, but their combined work was , not so successful as ma.ny anticipated. That is what made their defence so very sound, for it is not so much a machinelike combination as individual brilliance that makes for sound defensive play. A etrong team would have all its work cut out to score often against this army • fifteen, judging solely by their play on I Saturday. O'Brien, the full-back, amply 'justified everything that has been said of him. His handling of the leather was super-accurate, only once did he make a miss, and then the thing was so unexpected that nobody was near to take advantage of it. Stohr, the Taranaki three-quarter, was the principal trygetter, and his work was often good, but it can «-nreely be said that any of the backs, bar O'Brien, made any great showing, and. as a machine, they came not quite up to expectations. The feature of the day's play was the Army forward work. The pack from ! the front overwhelmed the eight men up against them, and in particular their .-peedy follow-up work and their accurate handling of whatever Aucklander happened to have the ball made them an unsatisfactory team to "buck" up against. All things considered, Auckland was unlucky not to score a few points more, but on the other hand it appeared as if the Army team could easily have made many more'points had the'men been in fn fettle, and had conditions been more conducive to a fast, hard game.