FINAL TEST

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 1, 1 July 1925, Page 9

FINAL TEST

• Ifr A SEA OF MUD. SYDNEY, 24th June. Except that there was a dry patch in front of each goal the ground for Tuesday's match was in a very bad state, the bulk of the playing area was a sea of , #oft mud, and in addition there w«r»,

numerous pools of water on it. In the circumstances the All Blacks played extremely well, and by their ability to adapt themselves to conditions dominated play throughout. There were, of course, many instances of inability of holding 'the greasy ball, and eeveral trie* were lost from that reason when the defence had been completely beaten. The home team was a beaten side from the kick-off, ant! only on five occasion* did they seriously threaten the visitors' line. For this the poor play of their forwards was mainly responsible, and their frequent breaches of the offside rules gave the winners a large number of free-kicks from which they invariably gained ground. Tho Black forwards played splendidly, and their loose rushes were something to enthuse over as they swept down field in a. compart mas.i. The backs, .too, wero at their best, and never failed to go down in fearless fashion to the dribbles of the home pa-?k. Corkill, who played five eighth, and Blake, at centre, were particularly effective in this respect, but, generally speaking the same could be said of all tho backs. THE RUN OF PLAY There was practically no wind when the Blacks kicked off and at once invaded the home twenty-five. The forwards had the best of the first few scrums and Wright made good use of tho then dry ball, and worked tho blind side effectively with the aid of Law, who at once found hiis form. The home line was continuously attacked, but the fine defensive work of Reid, at centre, and Ross, at full, averted a tcore. Persistency told at last, however, and Wright, taking a quick hecl-oufc, sent Johnson away, and I,he ball travelling via Corkill and Blaka to Law, the latter went strongly for tho line and scored a good try close to the corner. The kick-off gavo the home side no -relief, and the Blacks were toon back in their territory and pressing hard. Several fries were missed by narrow margins— once when Wright made a strong dash but slipped when a try seemed certain, I and ..gain when Donald went across but, was recalled for a knock-on. Knight, j Ri|;hton, and Fjnlayson each missed scoring; by very little, but the greasy ball beit them, and the spell ended with the 'scorea 3to nil. ■ The Blue* showed fheir best form at the opening of the second half, but toon feded away. During this period, however, they obtained their only score, by the medium of Ross, who kicked a fine penalty goal from about thirty-tWe yards out. From then on the Blacks dominated the play, and tho Blues -arely got beyond half-way. The seqend score was. the result of a sweeping rush by the visiting pack into which the backs joined, and some q-iick short-passing enabled Wise to score in a. handy position. Play then slackened for a little while and the backs exchanged a number of kicks which had no effect on the game, till Harris with a fine effort landed the ball into touc'i in the home twenty-five. From tho ensuing line-out Finiayson broke ;iway, and quick and accurate handling by tho forwards enabled Walter to get over. JoLnson was successful with ths'kick, and tha scores stood at 11 to 3. A good line kick by Blake brought play back afler resumption and the Blacks retained the upper hai/.d till the close of the game, which cam« with play at the home twenty-fi-'e. A COMPACT MASS ■There were practically no single-hand-ed efforts by the Black forwards, their combined work being very fine as they swept along in a compact mass. As a result it would be unfair to single out individual players, though in -justice to Knight it must be said that he was tha beginner and leacler in roost of tho rushes. Even Finlayson was dwarfed by comparison, till in the last twenty minutes the latter showed out and from ihen till the finish played in the manner' which has earned him the name of being the, best forward in . the team. ■ The backs played finely, both on attack and defence, and their nnrsin; of th<i forwards was judicious anJ effective. Earris was magnificent^ and no other adjective would justly describe his play. His fielding, kicking, and tackling was up to the best standard,, and' when following up to put his forwards on 6ido he never went too far. On the fey? occasions he had to gc down to a ruth he. invariably got tho ball safely. Law showed much improved form to what he did in his first game, from which it would appear that he suffered from lack of confidence on that' occasion. Ke got plenty of'work, especially at tho start of the game, and was never found wanting. He took the ball cleanly and ran strongly, while his tackling left nothing to be desired. Blake, at centre, was cool and effective. He kicked strongly and accurately and thus giive his forwards very material .help. Wise very seldom got the ball in & concerted movement, and almost the only time he did so scored a good try. He was in a ' handy position to come to the assistance of Harris had it been needed. Corkill and L. Johnson both adapted their gamo to the conditions existing, and did not attempt any of tha usual methods of their position. Both went down .to the forward rushes in good style, and usually stopped them at their inception. Wright got plenty of. the ball and passed out cleanly, until the ball became sodden, when he wisely kept possession, and broke away to start his forwards off. Ho played his most effective game of the series. ' The home team made a bad start and' afterwards played only as well as they . were allowed to. The forward! were lacking in dash, while the backs defended ■ very weakly and did not relish going ' down to the Blanks' rushes. Ross at full , was a notable oxception, and he, with | Reid, who, by the way, learnt his foot-, ball in Auckland, stopped many promising movements. Altogether the side gave tho wuakest display of the series. Mr. Irving again acted aa referee, and, as in the previous matches, was i prompt and accurate in his decisions, !