THE ALL BLACKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 20, 18 October 1907, Page 7

THE ALL BLACKS.

WIDNES DEFEATED. I 'A SUBSTANTIAL WIN. NEXT SATURDAY'S CONTEST. BY TEKEGBArH—PBESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. London, Octobor 17. Tho, Now Zealand football team which is .touring the district under tho jurisdiction of tho Northern Union played tho third match of the tour to-day at Widnes, a Lancashire town of about thirty thousand inhabitants, thirteen miles by rail from Liverpool. As in the two first' games played by tho New Zealandors, thoy proved too strong for the opposition, winning by a very substantial margin. Tho ground was heavy, but this fact did not detract from the display, the game being fast and tho scoring rapid. ' In tho first spell tho homo thirteen held up thoir end well, tho gamo being marked by even play. When the teams crossed over, however, tho. visitors showed quickly their superiority. . . The rosult of the gamo was:— New Zealand ... 38 -—. Widnes ' ... ... ... 14 The score of tho New Zcalanders was made up of four goals and six tries, while Widfies scored one goal and three tries.

Tho Widnes team, during the season 1905-6 (the latest year for which statistics aro available), occupied the twenty-first portion in tho Northern >Bugby League, in which thirty clubs take part. The record of tho Widnes Club is as follows: Matches played 28, won 10j lost 16, drawn 2; scores for, 17 goals, 33 tries, total points 133; scores against, 29 goals, 59 tries, total points 235; League points obtained, 27; percentage, 39.70. The Broughton Eango'rs Club, which the "All Blacks" meet on Saturday, during the same season worked into tho 'eighth position of tho ,same League, with tho following record: Matches played 38, won 21, lost 12, drawn . 1; 6cores for, 50 goals, 100 tries, total points 400; scores against, 39 goals, 48 tries, total points 222; League points obtained, 49; percentage 63.23. The match against Broughton' Bangers on Saturday should produce a large gate, Broughton boing a portion of Salford Borough, which is only divided from the city of Manchester by the river Irwell.'Thus, with the towns immediately surrounding . Manchester,- the population to draw from approaches 2j millions, and though Manchester itsolf is now a large Association centre there are several Northern Union- clubs within the suburban boundary, such as • Salford, Swinton, and Broughton Bangers, whilst Oldham,. one of tho strongholds of' Northern Unionism,' is only eight, miles distent. At Oldham thero is ono /irm of engineers, Messrs. Piatt Bros., who employ 7 upwards of 3000 hauds, and as the Honorary Secretary of the Northorn Union is Mr. J. Piatt of that' firm, it is safo to assumo that a large percentage of tho employees will play the Northern Union gamo. The-following is the.moao of scoring of the Northorn Union: , A try equals ...' ... 3 points. A goal equals 2 points. In case of a-goal''from a try, the try is to count in addition to tho goal. According to the rules— V "A goal is obtained by kicking the ball from the field of play, except from a punt, kick off, or drop out over the opponent's crossbar, 1 whether it touches such crossbar or the goal posts or not."So the only difference from New Zealand Rugby scoring appears to bo that while our goals have different values, only one valuo is recognised in the North of England—2 points.