A POINTLESS DRAW

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 31, 6 August 1923, Page 10

A POINTLESS DRAW

WAIRARAPA v. WELLINGTON.

As a curtain-raiser to the North-South match, a Wellington representative team met the Wairarapa representatives at the south end of_ Athletic Park, on what is known as. No. 2 ground, play taking place in an east and west direction. A light rain fell steadily the whole of the game, and lons before the first spell was over the turf was reduced. in many places to a quagmire. Under 6uch conditions, with a ground soft and- sodden and then muddy, good football .was next to impossible. It was vain for the .backs to essay handjin:;. of a greasy, waterlogged ball, and this was realised after many attempts on both sides and the forwards finally were, assisted by the backs iv strong dribbling, rushes, several of which by both sides came within an ace of success. Neither team ,wa,s, how-

ever, able to score, asd a. hard dingdong game ended in. a pointless draw, isoth teams gave a very creditable exhibition of football, and made the enthusiasts who braved a most disagreeable afternoon to see the game regretful that the day was not fine, and the conditions propitious for football. Considering the state of the ground and the ball the backs' did wonderfully well and there were some brilliant patches of passing even it..they did not succeed in achieving the desired end of tries. The defence on both sides was excellent particularly in the case of Wellington who had to repel most formidable attacks of a splendid pack of Green forwards, in this Malcolm shone as seldom before and established his claim to the position of full-back in Wellington's 'next representative team. Cundy, for Wairarapa, played an almost equally "ood game, and his fellow backs ware of great assistance. They were unnsually clever and resourceful for a counter team, and altogether the fifteen impreesed one ac the best that has come out of Wairarapa for many years.

Of the backs, apart from Cuudy Carson and the Booths, particularly F. Booth, at -eve-eighth, caught the eye as players of promise. The Green forwards were a good all-round solid lot, more consistent it individually ] ws brilliant than the Wellington .pack Of the Wellington backs, O'Sullivan both on the wing in the first spell and as .first five-eighth in the second half, absolutely justified his selection Curiously like E. Roberts, who shone with intermittent scintillation at half, he has a good deal of Roberta's football ability and made many fine openings in the second spell, when it was most difficult to devise means of making progress under such conditions. Fa.ber, Svenson, G. Gibson, and Corner all did well under the circumstances, if guilty o f occasional mistakes. The forwards vied with .Wairarapa for the honours in .adaptin"themselves to the mud. Porter was exceptionally brilliant in both defeaice and attack, and .justified all the gpod opinions formed of him. The teams were :—i Wairarapa.—Cundy 1; Carson, E. Booth. Morris; Jury, F. Booth; Hiroti; Donald; Hutcheson, M. Willoughby, Knowles,. Harvey, Bond, Desmond, Fairbrother. Wellington.—Malcolm; Faber, Svenson, O'Sullivan; Corner.', G. Gibson; E. Roberts ; Porter; A. Thomas, C. Thomas, Rogers, Duncan, M'Rae, Swain, Osborne. THE PLAY. Wairarapa-, playing- back to the stand, had ra.ther the better of the opening stages, the Green forwards beating the Blacks for the bull. A sudden "rush headed by Gibson with a fine dribble carried the black; colours right to the Wairarapa line, where Svenson and Rogers in the follow up were just beaten in the final issue by Carson, who cleverly relieved. Wairarapa resumed the attack,- and so hard pressed were the Blacks by the dogged rushes of Green forwards that first Malcolm was compelled to kick dead and then Morris was unlucky to knock on while over the line with a sure- score for the visitors. Porter finally forced fro mthe resulting scrum. In spite of the state of the ground the' game was fast and willing, and both sides had their chances of scoring, only sound defence and a certain amount of luck, saving the situation. Malcolm's kicking again and again gave \\ elhngton welcome relief in positions of acute distress.. Duncan was conspicuous in a smfirt bit of fielding, which with a well judged kick, turned play into the Wairarapa half. The first spell, which was om the whole to the advantao-e of the visitors, ended without either side crossing the other's line and the one or two attempts from penalty kicks' by Maleblmjuid;.Cundy-missed; tile mark.; The."'weather had picked up slightly when the game was resumed, but the ground was in a hopeless state. The order of ihe -Wellington backs was materially changed by O'Sullivan goin°from the iving up behind Roberts at half, taking 1, the place of Gordon Gibson who went to the wing. The effect was for the better in the passine movements, and Gibson's defence on the wing was very good. The first incident was a passing rush by the Green backs, with F. Booth successfully dummying iiis way through until brought up with a I tackle. YV elhngton, however, were hay- j in.it the best of things at this stage, and a determined rush was only foiled by Careon forcing. The' defence ot Cundy and H. Booth was excellent and attractive passing bouts of the Black backs led to no success. Counter attacks found Corner, Malcolm, and Gordon Gibson equally effective when Wellington was hard pressed. Shortly afterwards .Carson was injured, and taken off the field in a stretcher. Stunnell took his place. So the came went on, both sides playing hard to the very finish. Roberts tried some special devices to get the ball out to the wings, once with a splendid long swing paS3 right Qut to Svenson, bnt the conditions were too much for the players, and the. defence too good at, the final test, so that a_ very fine wei weather game ended without a score, which fairly represented the quality of the. game. • Wellington o Wairarapa ;.. 0 Mr. L. Simpson wa6 referee.