SPRINGBOKS WIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 190, 11 August 1921, Page 7

SPRINGBOKS WIN.

. . DEFEAT OF OTAGO. BY ELEVEN POINTS TO THREE. LARGELY A FORWARD G.VMiK. ('By Telegraph—Press Association.) IDUNEDIN, Wednesday. Although the weather early iv the week was very wintry, and was marked by tfrequeut showers of rain, to stay nothing of a fall of snow, it cleared last night, and the overhead conditions to-day -for the match with the Springboks were beautifully tine. The ground was in siplendld order, and attracted l>y the almost summer-like conditions, there 'Was an attendance- which numbered close upon 20,000 persons. The game ended: 'South (Africa W, Olago 3. The teams were as follows:— Springboks.—Full-back. G. P. Morkel: three-quarters, A. Van .Ileerden, W. Senditl. J. Wee-pencr and "VV. C. Zeller: halfbacks. W. Town-send and J. Tlndnll: forwards. Itnv Morkel (caplainl, -M. Kills. -T. Van Rooken. N Im Plessis. R. Walker. Boyle Morkel. P. J. Mostcrt and .1. Olilvlor. Otago.—Full-back, Watson: three-quar-ters, .Stewart. Bell an-d Ward: live-eighths, Oles and -Perry: half-back, .M.-Nnnghton: forwards. Duncan (ciptaini. Ilain. Patter-j son, Richardson. Sontag, llarty, Bore-ham, Cabot (wing). Otago won the toss and kicked off with' ■the wind in their favour. .Play was fast, j and full of incident. The only score In the first spell came when the home lenin was awarded a free kick well in strikingdistance, from which .Hell landed a fine goal. ain-i<i a scene of tremendous en'thusiaMU: Otago .'!, Springboks 0. Otago repeatedly attacked during the remnimier of the spell, .but the whistle came with play ill neutral territory, and the score unchanged. ' The second spoil oppne.l with a short period of even piny in midfield. ■Sendin placed his side in an attacking position. Aj few ininuies later he received a pass in! front of tlie goal, from which he had a ; good but unsuccessful not n't goal, although several of -the Croon backs were awaiting a pass. The .South Africans continued to attack, and their backs got going in a likely-looking rush, but Zcller was pushed out. iljke a flash the Croon backs we.c again in action In one of the -best pieces of passing of the day. the ball being hand-led by Townsen.l. Sendin and Zcller. The last-named made a fine run. an.l. beating Watson, scored in a good position. G. Morkol gonling: Springboks .".. Otago .t. i The -South Africans continued to attack, and Otago forced twice In su.-cession. The Otago foe wards again -commenced to assert themselves, and the scene of operations ■was shifted. At this stage Patterson retired temporarily thiough an injury, 'but speedily returned to the field. With ten minutes to so .the Otago forwards showed signs of tiring, and the speedy :S-p.rin™hok backs were constantly dangerous. From a scrum in the Ota*M •twenty-five the 'ball was handled in a tine passing rush by Townsend. Tlndall, Weopener. Sendin and Zcller. who raced round tlie Otago Jiaeks and scored behind the posts. <J. Nortel's kick failed, and the score rend: Springboks S. Otairo .1. . j Weepeuer next ohrained possession, and transferred to Sendin. who sent out a long pass to Zellc-r. This player outpaced .Stewart and Watson, and scored a pretty try, which G. Morkel failed to convert, and the game ended almost immediately afterwards: I Sr.ringtiok.-5 11 j Ot a go "> Mr. D. Stalker, of Inveroargill, was the , referee. COMMENT ON THE PLAY. I CLOSE FO.RW.VItD WO'KK. OTAGO BACKS AT FAULT. I I (By Telegraph—Special to "Star.") DrXEiDIN, 'this day. j Hard and strenuous though it was, the Otago-Siprlngtooks match -was not a bright one for the spectators. There was too much close forward work in It for It to be spectacular. Divest the play of the fact that the game was between South Africa and Otago, aud it would appear as simply a dingdong Im'ttle between two packs of forwards, with occasional fla.sbes of hack play. Indeed its interest was chiefly that which it gave to those people who wished to analyse the Springboks' style of play. Those who had seen the visitors before saw nothing fresh in their tactics, beyond the fact that they played a win™ forward Throughout, the game instead of only occasionally. It was the bad positional play of the Otago backs that gave tho Africans the victory. -When set scrums were In progress the Otago backs usually chose their positions fairly well. ! -hut behind the line outs and the Informal scrums theLr positions generally were illselected. In such play Otago's first five-1 eighth. Oles, usually was straight •behind | the half-back, and the other backs were drawu in correspondingly. The result was that when the .South Africans opened up •parsing rusibes hy their -backs from line * outs and Informal scrummages, or as some, people call them loose rucks. *the Spring-1 boks had the advantage of the odd man | out. one of their centre three-quarters I being directly opposed iiy an Otago wing three-quarter, and the Springbok wing. bebig loft 'with plenty of room, and with only a clean taking of a pass and plenty of speed needed to secure a try. It was I unfortunate for -Stewart that tho -Spring- ! bolts' tries were pained on his wing of tlie] Otago three-quarter line, and to some j extent the game might 'be held to demonstrate that, it is not a sound policy to select very young players for hatrd re/presenta'tive games, for 'Stewart is a lad still | attending .MeGlaskan .College: yet even a more experienced player would have been unable to cope with those attacks on the flank when ho was so drawn out of position rxy nis centre backs. .If Stewart had marked Zeller consistently he 'would .have left a .big gap between himself and his centre. 1

It was not only In their positional fvlay •t-bat the Otago backs were at fault, their work generally was patchy, and t.hey undoubtedly let down their iforwnrds. The Otago forwards played well, but not as successfully as the -Canterbury forwards ■had played against the Africans. There was more tight-play than in the Canterbury match, and the game was not as fast. The Otago forwards had not the same knack a* Can-terbu-ry's of disintegrating the tight play into loose, and harrying the . South Africans with loose -dribbling rushes which the Springbok backs do not relish. Fast, open .forward play with plenty of dribbling rushes is the ipla-y -to heat the ■Springboks. Tho Otago forwards stoixl up to the South Africans rather too much, and helped to keep them up, where as the Canterbury forwards dunrped the big Springboks whenever the latter got the trail. What footwork there was favoured Olago. hut even In dribbling rushes one did not see the 'blue pack coming awny rogether very often. Apart, from Cabot and one or two other forwards, there was also a lack of fast following up. f;till the 'Otago forwards, whose pack men averaged lost Sib. played a hard solid ga.ne against a pads which averaged just ou list 6lb. There was a good deal of rough play at times, 'boots and lifts working illegally. One cannot say who started It. ibut some -of the .Springboks certainly were not backward in the "rouhg stuff." There were also one or two visiting backs who displayed temper, and a remark made by one of them as the team were leaving the Held at halfthne. and overhead hy the Oiago men. tha-t Otago ought to be playing a lot of Kaffirs, was not calculated to bring sweetness -into the game.

The Springbok;;" detached forward. Boy Morkel. was simply that and not it wiujr forward as New Zealand views the wing forward. 'He kicked the dash, alertness and speedy following 117) of a New Zealand .winger. Cabot. -Otogo's wing forward, played an excellent game until he strained a tendon in one leg. after which he could only show occasional bursts of good pltty. In the Otago forwards Richardson. Xiuncan and Sonntag were the best. Van .Itooiyen. 'Kills and 'Walker were The best of the Africans' solid but not clever p:K-k.

. Zeller was the brightest o£ the Springtook hacks. 'He took the ball well aud showed more football speed than the much boomed Van illeerden, who although be played a useful game, was Inclined to rely too much on bumping opponents off in his dashes, than on nippiness and speed. Some good judges of "Rugby consider that Duncan, having won the toss, should have played against the wind in the first half, and then come at the South Africans with the wind and low sun behind Otago in the second halfr The sky had olea-red since the earXrr part of the morning, and there was a sun. Otago lost one very tine chance to score soon after the .Sprirtgrboks had gained the lead. iDuncan started a riwfti. from which Sendin tpdcked np and kicked. The kick rebounded from D-on-

can, .Bain got. the nail next, but passed infield to Cabot, , who was marked, ■whereas a pass ont 'would have gone to an unmarked Otago -player, jvith the African goal line not far ahead. The South 'Africans had 'the better ot hooking the Jjall from the se-rums, but not to an extent which •warrants any conclusion that their scrum work will also enable them to get .the 'ball against New Zealand on Saturday. Of course 'the .Springboks will have a better team in the Held oil Saturday, but the fact that they still show no improvement in their style of play, and no progress in *-ourbination, .has Increased confidence in the New Zealand team.