ALL BLACKS' LOSSES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 89, 8 January 1908, Page 8

ALL BLACKS' LOSSES.

: -WHAT IS THE CAUSE ? BAD LUCK. OR BAD MANAGEMENT? WET. GROUNDS. SMITH'S GREAT EFFORT AGAINST > ■ ;.' ' ' OLDHAM. . (By A.' 11. Baskerville.) Oldham—Lost by 7 points to B—2 goals and t .1; try ,to 1 goal 2 tries. Played on November 23. Runcorn—Lost: bV.'nll to 9—3 tries. Played on November. 17;" The New Zoalanders invaded tho •" Gib- , iraltar of 'the' Northern Union " on Saturday lajt (November 23)',. and by the narrowest possible-margin. wero defeated again. As stated;,by..today's ." .Yorkshire Post," luck was!/ against. ',us.;. ; ?-"' ■ : Seven unwilling spectators wore Byrne, Lile, .Toddj' R. Wynyard, M'Gregor, W. Wynyard, arid! Watkihs —all on tho injured list. :To see .their.; comrades a few points behind at" the. interval, arid attacking, mostly .near tho home team's goal lino, about three-fourths of the second spell, must have,been;galling to; them. The All Black team,.'which . tqqk' t.h.e! v field was: —Turtill, : Lavory, f .Smith, ..Tyler, .-Messenger, Wrigley, Kelly, 'Gilchrist, Pearce, Trevarthen, Cross, .Wright, Johnston. .We met with a Alio reception on arrival tho before the match. That evening we visited!■ tho principal theatre and enjoyed a fine performance. At mid-day Saturday .we were welcomed by the Mayor' of Oldham; arid were entertained to lunch at the Town'''Hall..'"Unfortunately dreasbing, rain fell all Friday) day and night, and conSaturday: until relieved by a heavy fall of snow and sleet," which fell until a few minutes' before tbb start of the game. This interfered.with a'display of Lancashire passing football, which, undoubtedly would nave resulted had weather conditions: been fav- > ourable, and also had_ a serious effect on what promised to bo our record " gate" of tho. tour.Notwithstanding the rain, hail, and snow, 15,000 people attended, and. contributed nearly £G75 to the New Zealand guarantee'fund.'. "I'-'.' HOME TEAM'UNBEATEN. Oldham were very , successful last year, and- this season havo not. yet been beaten. They aro at the top of 'tho Northern Union. League "competition. The Club's following is a largo one, and had tho weather been bveu moderately fine,.:all attendance records would havo ? been-:easily broken, as nearly £300 worth-of tickets-were sold prior to tho day the .match.l.. '™ The ground -after dry weather is a perfect one.- It is: well-drained, and though no pools were visible, the ground' and ball wore heavy and'.'-"sliddery ( *■' as Burns says. Oldham won.the toss and took first advantage of tho breeze blowing. -Kelly was the,first'Now Zealander to distinguish himself... iHo, saved a rush; by marking.; smart)y:.soon: after the kick-off. Turtill, with a finovdme kick;vgot'play to half-way. Tho ball .was .passed-from tho scrum to Wrigley, who, with ; a useful run and short kick, reached Oldham's 25. There Messenger was obstructed foully with a clear field, in front. A try should have been awarded him.;.'.'. -

Kelly mado ; a fino dribblo from a scrum at half-way to tho home-twenty-five. Oldham relieved with a .penalty kick. Kelly onco moro made a fino dribble,-which, when taken up by tho Black forwards, reached their opponents' goal-line;.-..Oldham again worked ■back with a free kick,;which found touch at half-way. Turtill, :.by fino kicking, and Lavery, with a clever, dribblo, frustrated an Oldham attack.- r, -Tyler and Pearco, by fino passing, • gained - moro : ground, but ap op-rporient-with a .good.lino.kick sent the play back. Oldham, marked in a good position, but failed--with a--kick at goal. Soon Messenger'had a-chnncc-with a frco kick, but ho, . too, _ failed: at'.goal. . Wrigley stopped, .a hard Oldham forward .rush, and assisted his mates later to stem a fino passing rush by resolute tackling. Kelly shifted', play bnck to homo -ground by fast ■ following up.- .Wrigley had a fine cha'nco of scoring;, which- was spoiled by obstruction. New .Zealand was awarded a frco. kick, but Messenger again failed; OLDHAM.SCORES~/>.FINE COAL BY . . , V ..MES-SSMCER. The Oldham'forwards, dribbled-to neutral territory. New Zealand, by offside play, gavo their opponents another chance to goal, but it was';not .successful;'- They attacked peisistently;'and once-Turtill was compelled to kick into dead-ball area. Johnston got slightly offside, arid,"'.oldham opened tho scoring by placing a goal from.the penalty kick. . Smith'and Lavery, by fine runs, put New Zealand into a good 'position. The' home team'■ secured'from a.scrum. Their half-back ran and .punted. A wing three-quarter caught tho ball -between Turtill and Tyler, and scored a try after a fine run. This was not converted. Tho New Zealand forwards, headed by Cross and Johnston, rushed to Oldham's twenty-five, but offside play lost tho- advantage. Oldham attacked in tuhi, Turtill by fine kicking and Gilchrist by a neat mark relieving tho pressured. Johnston and Wright led a forward rush to home territory again. Lavery carried .on with a strong Tun. Messenger made a clever mark, and kicked a beautiful goal himself from it. Half-timo was sounded then with tho score; —Oldham, s;'New Zealand, 2. . ■ Rain, sleet, and snow commenced to fall again at tho interval. ■ Oldham attacked at the re-start, but, Wrigley and Smith by smart' defensive Work kept them out for a while. A sor'um- was - formed on tho Now Zealand line, and the.Blacks secured, but tho Oldham half-back slipped around quickly and surprised Kelly by scoring a try under his nose. This, was not converted. Oldham, 8; New Zealalid, 2. • NEW ZEALAND AT7ACKINC. From this stage to tlio end of tlio gamo tho ; " All Blacks" attacked persistently. Both backs and forwards recognised that it was useless to .run arid pass, so kept tho ball on tho ground'as much as possible. During tho next quarter of an hour tho play surged about' in the Oldham half. Smith, Wrigley, and 'Kelly made fine individual efforts. Lavery also appeared to advantage on several occasions. Tho wet going suited him.-.Several times the New Zealand forwards rushed over tho homo gpal line, but bad luck kept tho score tho same. Gilchrist ran through once, but was held up in goal. Johnston ran into thoir goal-post after a fino effort and lost a try. Snow began' to fall heavily, and hid tho far sido.'of the ground from view. Sovcral brilliant Now Zealand forward rushes wcro witnessed, but offside play or other infringements usually nullified them. Johnston, Cros3, and Pearce shone out prominently in forward attacks, and Turtill was very useful in keeping them penned down by fine punts, in spite of the heavy ball. About -two' minutes beforo tho end of the game Oldham, attacked' strongly. Smith picked up the ball near his own goal line and ran to halfway, right through tlio whole Oldham team. Either by design or accident ho dropped tho ball there, and dribbled past to the Oldham 25. Their full-back camo around and blocked Smith there, but Lavery was in attendance, and he dribbled over tho line smartly, and scored near tho corner flag. Messenger converted tho try from an almost impossible position under the circumstancos. Smith and Lavory repeated tho performance almost hefore'the'final whistle sounded. Thoy mado a fine long concerted dribblo, and nearly wiped out the one point deficiency in tho last'minuto. But- the game elided with the scores—Oldham 8, New Zealand 7. .INDIVIDUAL PLAY. Such a defeat is regarded more in tho light of a victory in Northern Union circles., A section of the 'taxed us with inconsistency, but all gnvo jis credit for a magnificent performance—particularly in . the second part of the'"game. The Christchurch pKycrs, Turtill, Lavory, and Pearce, wero veryprominont throughout .tbo game. The former gljyed magnificently

Onljr once did tho ball, beat him. Lavery received praise from all,prcsoiit. Tli'o wet ground suited Kelly, who was always in tho .thick of tho fray. It also suited Wrigley. In fact, all tho New Zealand backs did remarkably, well. Smith's amazing effort at tho end of the gamo will'" long bo talked about in Oldham. Both teams, and a largo liumbor of prominont citizens, were entertained at a magnificent banquet in tho Town Hall after the match. Tho Mayor, an old player, presided."

AT RUNCORN. HOME TEAM LIKES THE MUD. Last season the Runcorn team, ended up with being ono of the higher four in tho' Northern Union Leaguo competition. This season, so' far, they havo been only moderately, successful, but, of course, when wo came along they came out of thoir shell, as usual, and surprised even their most sanguine supporters. ' \ Tho New Zealand team has struck a vein of bad luck. Several timos against Runcorn the fates wero against us. The "Daily Mail" stated that—"Misfortune seems to dog the footsteps of the 'All Blacks', in their midweek matches. 'Yesterday they went'to Runcorn to meet with defeat without having tho consolation of scoring the least possible points. Runcorn, like all the rest of tho Northern Union teams, gave an exhibition of football far above their ordinary display, and on a ground that was more like a quagmire than a sports arena. They revelled in tho mud, and thoroughly triumphed over their formidable antagonists." Bain fell in torrents from about ono o'clock to the time of kick-off. l It converted an already bad' field into an infinitely worse one; in fact, made it practically unplayable. As Runcorn is tho smallest town we visit, and is in addition rathor isolated in Cheshire county, we woro surprised, under tho prevailing circumstances, to-seo an attendance of about 5000 people. - Tho following was the Now Zealand team: Turtill,' Lavory, Smith, 'Messenger, Rowe, Wrigloy, ' Kelly, Gilchrist, Lilo, Mackrell, Pearce, Wright, and'Johnston. v HOME TEAM GETS A LEAD. ~ Runcorn, won the toss. Wright , kicked off for Now Zealand. A few minutes later ho was kicked oh the ■ knee,. and was rendered almost useless for tho rest of the game. New Zealand attacked for a .start, bur. forwards dribbling woll in tho slush. Kelly secured from a scrum,.and ran smartly to Runcorn's 25. A free kick, allowed the home team to find the line near our goal. From a scrum thero they secured, and by excellent passing managed to score a try noar our corner flag. The try was not converted. Even play,' interspersed with a fino run La very, and a good dribble by Lilo, took place about half-way for some time. A passing rush, Messenger, Johnston, Kelly, Mackrell, reached Runcorn's 25. A frco-kick rolioved the pressure. Turtill kicked too hard, and they forced. •

,! Then Runcorn attacked, until Turtill, by a fine run. and ,kick, and Lavery by a fine dribble, got back to their 25. Lile and Lavory again made a fine'dribbling rush, and put New. Zealand in a good position, but lluncom worked back again to neutral territory. They secured a'free-kick in a fair position, but failed to place a goal. Some fino line kicking took jplaco, both sides doing well, Gilchrist and Turtill for us particularly. In quick succession both Runcorn and New; Zealand wore compelled to forco down. '

Forward rushes, in ' which Lile'was very conspicuous, kept rembving play from one bud of the field almost, to the other. Messenger was given a free-kick for Smith being 'fouled, but failed to find the goal. Runcorn again forced. The homo team came along with the kick out, and rushed to Turtill, who found the lino.'weir back, and thus relieved. Kelly iand Rowo dribbled through .the mud to Runcorn territory. Messong-er endeavoured to drop' a goal from a free-kick, but failed, tho ball going .a few feet outsido tho goal-post. Runcorn forced'twice to save the situation. Just before half-timo sounded tho homo team attacked, but, failing with a ■ free-kick at goal, Messonger 3ccured, and sont them back to half-way with a fino line kick.

SECOND HALF. -Events worth noting-immediately aftor tbo re-start of play were a fine dribblo by Kelly, a run by Messonger, and fino lino kicking by Turtill. , Tho latter player also saved well' by bringing down a Piuncorn back who had mado a good run. Ho could not,. however, hope to stave off a fine home passing attack, -which resulted in another try accruing . to them, also unconverted. The Runcorn team kept up th'o pressnro. They seemed to take kindly to tho sloppy ground, while, on the other hand, tho Blaclis wore literally "at sea"- in the'wet. Turtill relieved for a while with a fino long lino kick. Smith mado several fino efforts, and saved the situation cleverly, on moro than one occasion. At length the home team scored their third try from a passing attack from n scrum near our line.' This not being converted left the score, Runcorn; 9; New Zealand, 0. The New Zealanders then settled down for thoir characteristic final burst. Johnston and Gilchrist headed a sweeping forward rush to the home goal lino. Wright charged down a kick! , The ball rolled over, and Lile was in the act of falling on.it to score, when an opponent kicked it from under him. Now Zealand still kept on the pressure. Messenger' was obstructed and dropped for goal with the free kick, but the ball passed a little beneath the cross-bar.. This was our last chance, lis Runcorn played the " safety " gamo thereafter, and evidently " marked time " until the final whistle sounded. "NOT A SUFFICIENT EXCUSE." Bad luck is not a sufficient excuse for tho defeat. Tho "All Blacks" should have dono as woll in the bog as thoy. did on Oldham's wet ground. Bad luck, constantly recurring, assumes, in the long run, the appcaranco of bad management. They should' have adapted themselves to circumstances, as the Runcorn men did. Two players' stood out abovo all others in the field—Lile and Turtill. Both, in their different spheres, played magnificent games. '

' On Thursday a New Zealand team—Johnston, Messenger, Callam, Rowo, Lile, Gleeson. Cross, I'rascr, Baskerville, Mackrell, and Trevarthon—played tho Ben Rhydding (Yorkshire) Hockey Team, and wore beaten,' after a fino fast game, by two points to nil. Both scores camo soon after the start, before tho New - Zealanders had settled down to their now game. In tho second spell, howover, when thoy picked up a few "hockey" points, they wero continually on tho attack, and narrowly missed scoring on several occasions. Messenger, Lile, Gleeson, and Cross played woll.

The country around Ilkley on Tuesday was covored with six inches of snow. We had rare fun in it. The members of tho team are not taking kindly to the climate on the moors. The majority 0 f them have bad colds, and cannot go out of doors. It-has been decided to. movo 'further south on Monday, when tho headquarters of tho team will bo tho.Grosvcnor Hotel, Manchester. A fixture with the Bradford Club has been substituted for the West Lanca-shiro match which has been postponed indefinitely. '