SOCCER

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1922, Page 14

SOCCER

THE SECOND TEST BUT A MODERATE DISPLAY WHERE NEW ZEALAND WAS WANTING. . ■

(By " Vanguard-.")

The man who makes so stupid a statement as that New Zealand was not trying on Saturday either did not see the game or is talking for cheap effect. Thegame was ono of the hardest-fought matches put on on any football field, Soccer, Rugby, or League, for a long time past, but admittedly it was not a spectator's game such as-.'the Welling-ton-Australia and the first.Test matcfi, and the reason was in the main due to the thorough marking of every forward by every opposing- man. From the point of view, of the 11,000 at the" ground that was a great pity, but the mark-a-mah style was adopted by both elevens within ten minutes of the opening of play—immediately' following the first series of Australian rushes—and was never thereafter departed from except for brief flashes of play. ; On wet grounds the Australians have thrown the ball about in a wonderful manner, so much so in the first Test that half the New Zealand players were almost nwi to a standstill in the first twenty minutes, when their wind came back, and as Athletic Park was in almost perfect condition, from the New Zealand r if not the Australian point of view; a wonderful pace was expected. That was why New Zealand paid such careful attention to marking and early spoiling. The Australians' reason was made clear by the remarks made by Mr. Storey and Mr. Gibb at the dinner in the evenirtg. On finding that the method of tackling the man was recognised as the. right thing in ' New Zealand, they said , ' the Australians had,to adopt that style instead of .keeping to the pretty passing game,' which was a. feature of the game in Australia. The Blues were right to adopt the style whicb was likely to win the game for them, but it is my opinion that they went too far with it at'times. I am not referring to the accidents' to Corbett and Jones, they were pure accidents, and for that matter Maunder and Doyle were almost equally badly hurt, but it .did seem that the Black men were played too much, not that there was bad feeling. : The Australians adopted a style new to themj and rather overdid it. :.; ■'■. '• - ■ ' ■•/-.:i ;■

"As to the success of their tactics: Cook was thoroughly bottled up and very seldom got going as he 'did at Dunedin. He was not to blame, but his game was disap.pointing after his ..showing in 'the first Test. Campbell was watched in every move by Bratten and, more particularly,, by Gibb, and Ballard, on the outside, was never,left alone long by J. Cumberford, and then Doyle took up the watching and left nothing undone. Bruhdell was starved, not because his wing was neglected by the halves,, but because Anton was the wrong man for the inside-right's position., He was not up by a long way. Possibly he was exceedingly nervous in his first big game, but whate-ver the reason he did not justify Ms "inclusion in the team. Maybe had* Brundell been better supported he would have been more prominent, and as it was he put in some reaJly fine work. I am. inclined ,to think that ; he will have to stand down for the third Test.

In spite of the stonewall; against the left-wing and centre, and the weakness ,of the right-wing, the Black forwards generally left the Australian front line -well behind in points, and a broad impression of the.game was New Zealand's forwards against Australia's backs. Australia by no means had the bottling game to themselves. Brown, at centre ■for.them, for instance, was not allowed many opportunities to shine—l would have liked to have seen Maunder at centre^ —BaUard and Jones looked after J. Cumberford and took all his speed away, while Brownlee, in a quiet but very persevering manner, helped Brundelt in the job of seeing that Ward, rather,slower than the other winger, did not often get away. Gibb was the man of the Australian team, a spoiler and blocker ahead of any local man, a judicious feeder, though sometimes booting beyond-his forwards and very often kicking rather too squarely. He, D. Cumberford, Fisher, f and Cartwright were the men who kept tht scores down to one all. T. I liked Cumberford as well as Fisher, but I liked Cartwright better than eiMer of them. His goal-keeping was just about as finished .as one could wish for, and he had no chance; with the "goal against him. Doyle should [ho grouped with the backs as one. of the Big men.. Sheaton was hardly so prominent, possibly because he was out of his usual position. Bratten was as good as any forward on the Blue side, but Maunder was/not at horne1 at inside left, besides he was badly shaken up. , ' THE ALL-BLACKS. Of course, I do < not mean that the Australian forwards never got away; they did, many times, but in my opinion New Zealand's forwards were still1 ahead on attack. They got as far as theback line, often no. further than the halves, and were pulled up sharply. I do not think that Australia deserved to win on the play. I think that a draw.was the fair thing, back and forward play being considered together; but I do;not think that New, Zealand's chances would have been very much better but for the unfortunate accident to Corbett so early in the game and the weakness of .the right wing. Corbett was not expected back after his head- to head crash, and .when he went off a second time for attention everyonel was- sure that he could not return. Corbett, bowever, comes, from Aberdeen, where folk are notoriously hard headed, and he was trained in tho.Navy, where doggedness is, valued, so he came back. : While he was off the Black team was naturally disorganised as a ■-'result of Campbell's falling back—and playing up as well— and Jones haying to close in. By the; way, more than once I have passed unkind . remarks about Jones's st/yle 0f... play. I now lift my hat-to him. HSp play on Saturday was great, his judgment good, and:he was altogether unselfish. In spite of a'bad knock on the ankle ho carried through with: great dash, and one fine shot, from the bad foot, almost whizzed through from thirty or .forty yards. Having taken off

my nat to dones, 1 mo it to tsrowniee. Jones is naturally a showy ' player, Brownlee is consistently quiet and steady. Ho is'seldom in the high lights ;of the picture, but .there would be a big „gap in the essential barckground if he walked off. •'■...

The backs, I believe, could, not be improved upon, though Taylor has played better games, than MAuley did on Saturday, but the forward line may be recast ■'with ,advantage for the big game at Auckland. Campbell and Bollard,- 1 take1 'it, will bo there,-and Cook i"ill probably stay, on, as, centre, but Anton is not. strong enough, and -jj-srhnps there are better men. than Uruiidell. . Alec Bissett '(Gauterbury) is an old horse, and might not thank" the selector for a . position, but there are Murray Hayes fttuntly), limiss (Auckland), Leu. Burwell (Christ-

church, a 10 3-ssec man), perhaps Norman (Canterbury), and what about Caere (Auckland)? A FEW FIGURES. The Australian goalkeeper handled the ball on sis occasions, including the punching out of a headed ball in the second spell. Twice during the second 'spell he handed bullet shots over the bar for corners/ Oraxton handled the ball on seven occasions, including that when a goal was awarded against hini, but one of those incidents occurring- in the second spell. The Australians kicked the ball behind 24 times in addition to giving- away five corners. . New Zealand kicked tehtnd only once during the first spell and thirteen times during the second, as well aa giving away a couple of corners. Seven free kicks were given to the Australians, eleven to New Zealand, only one free kick going to Australia during the second spell. These figures are hardly to be interpreted on their face value. They seem to show that Australian rushes were the rule. The fact was.that the Blue defence was wonderfully sure, and that very little was allowed past. It would seem that New Zealand's shooting was poor, actually it was good when the backs could be passed, and though Craiton had one more ball to handle, his saves were not to be compared wfth Cartwi-ight's. THE ENGLISH TOUR. The English tour has been mentioned several times in these columns, but "Vanguard" had not knowledge of the five-game proposal when he wrote last. Five games and a £3000 guarantee is a pretty stiff proposition. Bad weather or other bad luck would see the guarantors' faces as long as fiddles and bluer than they were long. Whether the four centres will each get a game apart from Test matches, has to be decided—if the team does come—but they will certainly expect it Three Tests would have to be played, for "sudden death" would please no one, and very little would be left but to arrange one North and one South match, an unsatisfactory arrangement, surely. Tho proposed English visit, has, of course, been disenssed in detail between tho visitors and the N.Z.F.A., but, the Dominion officials, I believe, have so far refused to commit themselves to 1923. When the present tour is wound up and a general survey of results, good points, and shortcomings can be made in proper perspective, a definite pronouncement will be made. The C.F.A. cannot force the hands of the N.Z.F.A., though Soccer folk here would greatly regret seeing an English team within a thousand miles or so, and yet impossibly far away, and my belief is that before the N.Z.F.A will agree to find £3000 in hard cash the Commonwealth, Association will have to give away more than five .matches. Just what the Australian point of view is I do not know at the moment, but no doubt Mr. Storey will make the position clear before the Australians' tour ends. , THE THIRD TEST. The Auckland Association has beenmet in a very happy manner by the League in the matter of arrangements for tho third Test. The League in Auckland is in the fortunate position of holding a good ground almost in the centre of the city, C'arlaw Park, and when the Soccer folk approached them they came more than half-way, handed the ground over for the day upon particularly', reasonable terms, a 'graduated percentage running down from 12£, imposed no restrictions, and asked what else they could do. The 'League has done a very handsome thing in a -sporting manner. They gave a helping- hand by vacating grounds on the Domain when the Brown Shield match was played a fortnight ago, and by the same token have given a hand on the occasion of past Brown Shield games. In handing over Cai-law Park for the third Test, League did make some restrictions, for the' Association wag naked not to mind if ten life members of the League walked in and if an old lady who generally sold sweets on the ground carried on as usual. 'Apart from those, Carlaw Park is to be under the sole control of the Association.