"MODIFIED RAPTURE."

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 219, 15 September 1924, Page 4

"MODIFIED RAPTURE."

Some months ago New Zealanders awaited the,result of a football match in Sydney with the question not, "Who won?" but "How much have we worn by ?" To minds in this confident mood news of defeat came as a shock. Yet, though confidence was less exuberant than it was before the New Zealand football team played in Sydney, the question before the news came of the first match in England was the same: "What was the margin?" Victory by one of 11 points only—which in the old days would often have been considered decisive and quite satisfactory—was rejceived with what one of the characters lin "Patience" calls "modified rapture." Defeat would have been tjoo terrible for words, a disaster warranting the appointment of a day of national humiliation. To those who feel disappointed that the margin was not'twenty, thirty, or forty, it may be pointed out that circumstances are not the same as they were in 1905. Then the All Blacks caught England by surprise. This time they came heralded by trumpets, and we may be sure that, early as Saturday was in the season, more pains were taken with the Devonshire team' than on the previous occasion, and, after all, Devon is the home of strong and valiant The play of the New Zealand team has impressed the critics less than in the opening match in 1905, and some of the New Zealanders who try to make the younger generation understand that there were great players before to-day's heroes were thought of, may take the result as comfirming their view of the comparative weakness of the present side. Some allowance should be made, however, for the strength of the Devon team. At any rate it is too early to say very much. No thoughtful follower of the game has taken it for granted that the team will have as easy a task as had the side of 1905, but the fact that in the ' opening match the visitors had to fight I hard for victory may give a salutary j check to over-confidence at this end of the .world, to say nothing of its effect among the players themselves. ======= .