ALL BLACKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 65, 10 December 1907, Page 6

ALL BLACKS.

Iflß ST. HELENS ANFLIEDS MATCHES. MESSENGER'S. GREAT RUNS: : successful punt-and-follow ■•. ....;"•.' tactics. (By, A. H. Baskorville.) ■ Leeds—Won by 8 points to 2—l goal 2 ..-.- tries to 1 goal. Played on Saturday. October 28. St. Helens—Won by 24 points to 5—3 goals . '■ and 6 tries to 1 goal and 1 try. Played on Wednesday, October 30. , ] "In spito of tho rain and tho "off day" , iboiit 6000 people, assembled.., to seo the St. Helens'.match, the gate beiiig approximately £300. Just before the match' the rain' gtopped, but. the prospect of more was always apparent. Tho ground. was very heavy. Mr. Norman Pilkington, /an old Cambridge University Rugby player, kicked off officially, .following'a (custom wo have estab- , lished in matches of this kind. Tho ball wasback, and a scrum was formed on . the half-way lino. { .'■' St. Helens started with a .high wind tehind them, and for a fow mdmonts looked dangerous. Their forwards rushed. down to the All Blacks' line, and after temporarily . relieving with a free kick we were coin- • , polled to force down. Our forwards • then started a rush after the kick, out and came bowling down to half-way? Cross got offside, but St. Helens failed'to put the penalty kick over tho bar.

' New Zealand relioved by getting a free kick for the same offence, Messenger findr.ing the lino well down. R. Wynyard re- '■ ceived the ball from the scrum, and passed to Todd, to W.. Wynyard, who was well St. Helens worked back to halfYway with a good passing rush. R. Wynyard then tried to work the blind side of the Bcrum, but a. forward pass to Lavery spoiled a good chance of opening the scoring. J A STEEPLECHASE RUN. ~ Messenger startled 'the crowd with r an amazing run, in which he jumped over two , opponents in succession. Lavery gained more ground by a good dash. A passing rush •' originating at a scrum saw Layory in possession on the wing, and he was just pushed -into touch in time. . . ' . Smith thon broke through and made a .fine opening but a pass forward robbed us of a'try. Cross and Pearce headed a fine , forward rush to St. Helens's territory. Todd earned on further with two smart dashes, ibut on the second occasion a pass forward ■again proved a stumbling block. St. Helens retaliated with a fine rush, but offside-play let Messenger shift the scene of operations back with a fine kick. New Zealand secured from.a scrum. R. Wynyard, , Todd, and W. Wynyard combined in a passing rush, but the latter player was tackled surely. ■> ■ " . : Lavery secured and ran until he was - threatened! He then kicked high, sprinted m> and caught his :own punt on the fly. and he broke through the opposition to the fullback and passed to-Wright, who, after a twenty-yards sprint, scored. Messenger converted ten minutes after the game; .had' ■ started. . . I ... . _The same player secured from their kick- ' £?' £, r ? n , well - before ' ho,was tackled." ■bt Helens forwards made a good,effort and held their own for,a while R iV yr , yard,with a tricky little dribble, started "an invasion. , a New Zealand forward obstnicted and St., Helens came to ■ the the w' d -' r?e;k ' ck andrthe.aid of ; ST. HELENS EQUALISES. . ~,'An excellent passing rush was attempted' .and enabled them to score a clever trv wnich was converted:— ■- * ' ■ •-New Zealand ... - "... ■ .', .. k ■St. Helens ... ■ .. . ■ "' . *...

■ ' S J; : Helens followed up this advantage with another good passing rush, but a ward spoiled their chance this time.'' ' f.V e " Pi"? al >°«t halfway was the' order' until Todd by" clever" work started an advance. A scrum resulted. R. Wynyard secured therefrom, and passed to Todd," W Wynyard, and Smith, who' sprinted. Mes-\ Benger failed to accept a-transfer, and Smith - re-secured by a bnlhunt effort, out-distanced-.the dcendors and scored a try. Messenger _ added tho other two points with a good kick! New Zealand ' ... .:, iq St. Helens .„ ■ ■„/■ 5 ...'From' a scrunTat halfwav, R. Wynvard secured, and gained ground with' a' clover : lostt^ -Vantage gained ,-New Zealand repeatedly, secured the ball in the scrums and were, thus able to keoptheir opponents out. St. Helens were given faiL r d O t klCl H fOr tI a - Elack boin S offsidefbut *?, 1ed .,. t0 their score by a. goal. Tur-' at iTfll^-'r- 085,1, " 0 **t&:the lin C wind y> " ;oloVerly apinst the Wright secured, and brought off a fine Turti I, from tho full back position made whist! d rU "^f d sll ?r%'after halfSewa ANOTHER BRILLIANT RUN BY , MESSENGER. ! woVrS- 6 reS f" mptio " ° f play St - HcIol « went well for a low minutos, but* New Zealarid , : Boon reasserted their superiority. Z- • sSd tt MT'- a::^ ,ilo ' U "« ! W^ng , secured the ball in his own twenty-five, and by an amazing run scored. He jumped an .opponent and .was downed one? 'but 1 a be o d f inning aZost the J. Fpnof the .field—near ..the corner - and ( dodged around behnd tho eoal-Do-ts H« 1 converted the try himself S P ■' , ' B ° '•New Zealand .... ... jg St. Helons ... " " . r

st^W 1 TT WaS c ° n ? piouous soon after reHew doing, well all along. Even ffi ■ caßlon ? ] P assi »S rushes on' both ' ' fevor hT f ™ leracilt of onlookers at a .teyerheatfor some minutos. 'Wright CrnU ' r« n sh L but b 9f k \rr y Wit - h , a fi »"dnbblng . a Pass might have resulted t a g sc ™' • Iho Now Zealand forwards started a slmrt passing rush. Nearly every one of U, om t ( a hand in the. movement, which carried pHv to the homo twenty-five. Todd m lh structed and JolmsHhi, following up 'tfe ( SMITH SPRINTS. ■a^H^rt' 11 clea r. catch . ran well, ?° ddafte r receiving a pass from tho Bcrum from H. nynyard Todd again made a fine run, and kicked • over the hoads of his oppono/its. Smith epnnted after tho ball, an\£ securing/daS • 9 Messe "S cr failed ■ A passing rnsh by Johnston, Wright, and Lavery was the next notable feature of the game, but tho last: transfer was given forward, after a try had boon practically scored.' .from 3 scrum at halfWoy, Wvnvard so ' c . urc(l - Ho. cleverly tricked'the'Siti™ by cutting m and running to their full-back lodd and his brother, W. Wynyard, were in attondanco on either side. Ho passed to the latter, who, after a fine long ran, scored nndor the goal bar. Messenger's kick was taken too close to' tho posts, and went under tho bar. Messenger atoned for this error a few' minutes Later, whon ho started to run at his own Bide .of the half-way, and, by jumping, swerving, and dodgLig, almost reached their goal-line. , ■

From a scrum..there, R. Wynyard secured, ana dribbled over, but was beaten for the ba11.,., . Lile. then mado a good run, and, jvhoii tackled, got'tho ball to Turtill. Our iMI-baok made a clever run, and passed to (smith, who transferred, after making a chance for Wright. Tho latter, with a lino dodging rim, and a final dash, broko through, and scored tho final try near tho cornor. Turtill failed to convert from a difficult position. Ino final stage of tho game was marked by a fine run by Smith, who handed on to \V. Uynyard. The latter was tackled near their line • ■Tho ■ ivhistlo sounded a few minutes-later, tho' scores standing:— New Zealand ';.. 24 St. Helens' ... ."., "" H

LEEDS PLAY. "In'tho inatcli;'against Leeds, which was won by'B to 2, tho "All Blacks'" play was a decided improvement on that of tho preceding, .Wednesday, when they drew with \\ akehpld. Innity , Straiigo to say, the latter team which was held so cheaply in lorkshiro, -draw-lnsf Saturday with Halitax (last year's Leagiio Champion). This proves that they are not tho weak team ■ that we wore led to ■ understand they were lie most remarkable feature of tho game at Leeds was Todd's superb tackling. Time after time he brought Ins man down and broke attacks.. - Ho.also performed very well Messenger.proved'by; hid play that wing-threo-quarter is his: favourite position. His ,™ ar * , ''ashes, wore' universally admired, lho heavy ground, and ball were not favourable to good goal kicking. (smith, played a very, serviceable game. He vas always on the spot when any work was Tnrtill 1 clo / ensive work was excellent. lurtill played one.of his best games, and that is saying a groat deal. His h U g e kicks toant aSOUrco of , al "ioyance to the Homo Wrigloy brought off. a few fine pieces of nw 6 W - i, '. Ut in bfcher dictions was not quite up to Jus usual standard. Hβ ran too much, for the touch-line, and shut his °y° s to tho chances of in-passing W. \\ynyard was a brilliant success as five-eight Ho put iu several fine runs, and aby partnered Todd in tho position. vert' I,f ya w at half -, back k ept the defence very-busy. He was always dangerous near their me. He performed somo very neat .work during tho day. '

• ■ • ■■ THE FORWARDS. Our forwards, with one exception, were a wfeV o^ 0 t] ? Se ; vho Played against \\akefaelcl Thoyvplayerl a vory ]lard ° though they were not as successful at securing and the heeling out in the scrum as one could' desire. Nevertheless, they about ■held their own m this, department. In loose PW; %V were superior to the Leeds' pack All did so well that to individualise would be practically impossible. Each man at different .stages of the game made smart,' ■dashy runs, and often passed like first-class irresistible™ ' " nbblin S rushes were .After , going to Wales the tern will come back to Ilkley a Yorkshire health resort in thebeaut.furWhhrfedale Vallev. The Whff Y>J, fee ? S , h? ' S beon ' a P lea sant one. \\hat with entertainment, and football, not one member of the team has felt a minute drag. Yorkshire hospitably is munificent-.