LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 212, 8 September 1925, Page 14

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

THE FIRST TEST. Probably not more than one per cent of the 18,000 people who lined Carlaw Park on Saturday expected New Zealand to beat the redoubtable Quensland League footballers, and the most we hoped for was that our visitors would be tried right out and not treat the Dominion representatives so unkindly as they did when, in the first of two games, recently at Brisbane, they defeated the New Zealauders 43 to l'J. That kind of beating takes some wiping out, and to reverse it a team has to improve out of all knowledge. That the Blacks had progressed in the past three weeks was generally admitted. They had been put through a course of training probably never before asked of a home team, they had been taught now tactics and the absolute necessity lor a better understanding between the players on the held. The coaching was done with the object of making the players . conversant with the methods of play which had made Queensland's name on the football map of the world, and the training was to enable them to see the game right out no matter how

fast the pace might be. Was it any wonder that the New Zealamlers felt confident'.' Seen before tin: match, Bert Avery, the captain, said he expected a hard .game and thought his men would win. Others in the team were of the same opinion,, but they must have. Been disappointed when at half-time the Qucenslanders led 19 to 5. Certainly the visitors had been playing with a strong wind behind tliem, but even so there was a lot more polish and suappiness about their play than the exhibition given by the Blacks. The fact that the reds , were getting . the ball consistently from the serums was the one factor that played havoc with the New Zealanders, who had always to begin their efforts by defending. There were occasions, of course, when uiiY men won a scrum, but even so the backs did not look like bringing off scores, and When half-time arrived the chances of New Zealand looked as black as the icrseys they wore. The crowd must have been disappointed, not at the game, but at the inability of the local men to stop Aynsley, the Queensland winger, from a habit he had of running along with the ball and putting it down between the New Zealanders' goal posts. But what a change in the second half. Apparently it was realised that at League we had no chance, and the only card to play was the one which had beaten the Englishmen last year. Sio the Blacks resorted to Kugby Union methods.

Up and Und«r. From the kick-off in the second half till the bell rang .just 50 seconds after time was up, when with the ball still In play Delgrosso placed a goal which won the game for New Zealand, all that the locals had been taught in new tactics was forgotten. The forwards adopted the "up 'n under" game—the only way to beat brilliant backs. Not for a single second did they let up and every time they had a chance high in the air went the ball and the forward* tore down the field to be there when it came down. Craig and Gorman, who had been enjoying themselves in the first half, were finding things very different. Connell had been handing the ball along to them from practically every serum, but now the Blacks' forwards did not try to hook it and preferred to go right though the Queensland vanguard. If the ball was in the air the New Zealanders were under it, if it was on the ground they were with it, and there was no questioning that the Queensland backs were bustled. Their scissors passing, for which they were noted, was not present, and they just had to do the best they could for themselves. So determined was the onslaught and so continuous that once Aynsley went so far as to take a mark, which, by the wav, was not noticed" by "the referee. The Queensland backs are claimed as the most brilliant set in- the world, and perhaps they are, but the brilliant forwards who play the Rugby game will smash up all the combination in the world. We tried to play the Englishmen at the League game last year. Our forwards tried to throw the ball about like the backs, and what happened? We were hopelessly beaten. But there was a different story in the' Tests when, instead of endeavouring to handle the ball, our forwards kept it at -their feet, and down went the Englishmen like ninepins. it was the same story with Queensland on Saturday. The teams meet again, and the only chance New Zealand has is' by the forwards playing the Rugby game and keeping the ball down. The Players.

In touc-hinz upon the players one must first congratulate the visitors upon tne good sports they are. To be beaten even later than the call o£ time does not happen often, and few players wbuld have accepted such a defeat in the same spirit that tne Queenslanders' did. Immediately the bell rang tne' Queensland players grasped the hand.of, an opponent and congratulated hlul upon the win. ■ ! & .Taking the New Zealand team first, Gregory, at full-back, was just good. He wasn't by any means brilliant, and has played better games. Still, the chances are that no man could have done better. The three-quarter line underwent some changes during the play, but Kirwan was easily the best. He did well in attack, but in defence he was the mainstay of the backs, and a lot of work fell to him. Delgrosso was good, both when wing three-quarter, and afterwards when brought in to take WilsonHull's place at half-back. Parkes was not as good as he might have been, and Davidson did not shape well at all. Saunders was hardly a success, but WetherW was doing his bit consistently, and. doing it well. The -best -forward in the team, in fact, on the field, was O'Brien. The harder the game got the better he went, and he tore into the play brilliantly. Avery may bnve been noticed in more spectacular movements, but it must i>e remembered he is the breakaway man and should be seen often. Herring, Singe and St. George were good. Of the Queenslanders, Aynsley is generally given credit for being the best back on the ground. No doubt he scored all four tries for his team, but be was only finishing off the work done by Gorman. The latter, without showing any remarkable* speed was nippy. As a matter of fact alt the backs were, but they were playing to Aynsley consistently. The forwards'are a solid lot, but they did not shine because their one object was to get the ball to the backs, whereas the New Zealand pack in the second half forgot they had any backs, and set out on their own to play the whole of the visitors. It was exciting football, the kind that the crowds enjoy.