PLAY AND PLAYERS.

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 141, 17 June 1922, Page 12

PLAY AND PLAYERS.

Love having been included in the Maori team, tl^e Petono pack has again been disorganised. Unfortunately for the team it has had" constant changes in the forwards ever since the beginning of ths season. Last Saturday Priest was called on to take Love's place as lock, and, although he was not so much to tho fore as the real lock, he grafted hard and held the pack together fairly well. It is said to be seven years ago, except for a couple of games for tha Petone junior 3 this season, since Priest last took an active interest in football. In those days he was in Dunedin. M'Coll, the energetic and heavy Old Boys ■wing-forward, is said to be out of the game for the balance of the season. If so, it is a, pity, for in each game this season he has don© great work for his side. Playing against 'Varsity on the King's Birthday he put his shoulder out, and the resultant weakness is expected to keep him on the side-line.

There are plenty of good ■wing-forwards in W«Jington this season, and one who can always be depended on to do his share of the work each Saturday is Fitzgerald, of Petone. He is like the oldtime wing,- in that he has reduced the throwing out of the ball to a fine.art— some of his long throws to open up the game are a joy to watch. Incidentally, he has a happy knack of joining in with the backs to give that "extra man" who is such a thorn in the aide of the opposition. If he has a fault it is on the side of the scrum, but unfortunately most wingers work on the principle that obstruction there is legitimate. Ashton ■was with the team again last Saturday in the back. rank.

Marist had hard luck in not beating Berhampore. When all is said and done a try is the real test of a game, and the one try of the match was scored by Marat, Berhampore had the luck in the goal-kicking, particularly in Mouatt's last venture, which struck the post and bounced inwards over the bar. Murphy failed to make adequate use of similar opportunities on the Marist side. It is •part of the game of -football to avoid being penalised in any position, where a penalty kick would, be at all likely to come off, and M'Rae certainly gave away three points by his . infringement on the Marist 25-yard line. No team can do more than the opposition will let them. 'Varsity were made to know that more than ever against Poneke. Almost every attack attempted by the backs, collectively or'individually, was quickly stemmed, and when it came to defence the Collegians were quite off their game., ATtken,-however, was an exception. He played excellently throughout, and now appears to be at the top of his form. Siddells, however, prevented his captain" from getting as much of the ball as he should have done in attack. In trying to cut straight through his opponents, Siddells was invariably caught by tire wide-awake opposition. Siddells is not a success as a five-eighth. He was seen to best advantage in the full-back position, am played well as a three-quarter, but his play has fallen off since he went up closer to the scrum. ,

Murray, \who haila from Gisborne, is coming on, and may develop into a fiveeighth of high" standard. Trapski gave his backs a lot of feeding in the game, with Poneke, but it was rarely turned to any good account. Jackson and Malfroy did not gain their usual prominence, although the latter mado some useful centring, kicks. Jackson seemed to get bustled at times, on one occasion in particular, when he chose to keep the ball in play instead of forcing, and ran into trouble as soon as he crossed his 02& line. 'Varsity forwards made their presence felt more than their backs. Hanson (who had been out of town for some weeks), Scott, and Thomas being the leading lights. Burns shaped well aB wing forward in place of Smith, who was away from Wellington for that match. Poneke's backs, as arranged last Saturday, could not be bettered by the team's selection committee. Jimmy Tilyard took up his old position as halfback, and quickly removed any idea that his footballing days are over. There was no delay with him in getting tho ball away from the scrum. With tho exception, of Christopherson, who is likely to make- good as a full-back, the other backs have played better games. M'Arthur, however, did a lot of good work, particularly on defence. One effect of the new rule re kicking into touch was made plain by Christopherson last week. Oftentimes, in clearing, he worked round to get a clear space to the touch-lino, then kicking along the ground to touch. There's a lot ■in such kicking, but it falls far short of the long punt. . ' • Calcinai added to his reputation as one of the best of irhis season's forwards by a splendid showing1 in the ' Varsity - Poneke match. It is still difficult to understand how ho came to be omitted from tho Wellington representative fifteen. ■■', E. King (Poneke) was well marked by the crowd last Saturday, but he " indicated to them in his usual cool manner that he could take a mark whenever the opportunity offered. Athletic sprung a surprise upon Oriental, having W. Ryan back with them for the occasion. Ryan was in fine form before sustaining an injury some weeks ago, -and it is to be hoped that. he. will be able to carry on for the remainder of the season. Oriental were a slightly disorganised team last week, and during one part of ■ the game they had a forward (Gilchrist) playing as full-back. Heley was absent on account of a cold. Moffitt was also on the bank, but Scott was a very good :. substitute as lock. During the progress of the Poneke'Varsity match the play went on for some time after the line umpire had raised his flag. As the ball passed over the touch-line Jackson smartly patted it back into play, and it was kept in motion right across the Geld to the western side before either players or referee noticed that ■ the flag was still being held up on the touch-line near the stand. The referee thereupon ordered play back to that spot. Ma-rist have a lively, smart-passing crowd of backs, bub it seems to tho writer they loss half the effect of their movements by crowding up on too flat an angle with their half and five-eighths. This means that they cannot get the ball away quickly enough to be rid of the opposing tackier. If two sets of backs . Mg;do^.^p..to:.oaa..'tfothfx..ftn4': I tha:ba^

goes out towards the wings in the orthodox manner, the defending side can easily follow its course along, and, if it does get to the wing man, pinch off his further progress and force him to touch. If the echelon were deeper, there would be a better chance for the outer backs from the scrum to get into their stride, take the ball on the run, and beat the man waiting in front. A running man at full pace has always the advantage of the man waiting to stop him, for his movements are 'naturally quicker and he can side-step, feint, play the dummy, or, do anything before his opponent can get off his mark. There were quite a number of absentees from the Selwyn and Wellington teams last week. Sickness was the cause in some cases. Among those-who donnej a gree-and-black jersey was J. Flack, who was formerly a prominent Selwyn senior. He is now coaching the team.