THE DECIDING MATCH

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 25, 29 July 1926, Page 8

THE DECIDING MATCH

DASHING BLACK FORWARDS. 20th July, 102(5. Except that a fairly strong breeze blew almost straight across the field the weather conditions wore again favourable for' a good display of football iv the third and deciding Test match. Unfortunately, although a fast pace was maintained throughout, the play seldom reached a high standard. There was ygain too much mishandling of the ball by both sets of backs, and, in addition, many fine passing movements were brought to an end by a forward pass. The Blacks were perhaps the worst offenders in the-latter respect, though on several occasions the cross wind was more to blame than the players, and had the referee kept closer to the play the game need not havo been stopped by him. New Zealand won by 14 to nil. FORWARD PLAY AT ITS BEST. Although they did not reach quite the same standard as in the previous game, the forwards again played finely, the only difference being that their collafing was not as effective, though it was never bad. Their loose -rushes were again very sweeping, and all did their share in them. Finlayson played wonderfully well, and with Porter frequently got back in a masterly way to the aid of tho backs when thu latter were in trouble. Brownlie w;is never far below Finlayson 's standard, though "but little ahead of the rest, who never let up, and showed forward play at its best. Irvine and Loinas were quite as. successful as the opposing hookers, and in addition tho former was more than usually prominent in the loose. Porter w!)3 everywhere, and on one occasion when hemmed in coolly and unexpectedly made an nlmcst successful attempt to pot a goal. MILL THE EBST BACK. Mill was the best back on the iield, and gavo a dashing display. His passing from tho scrum was quick and

clean, and after starting his backs off ho invariably joined in their rushes. In defence ho was solid, and frequently changed defence into attack by picking up at the feet of the charging Blue forwards and passing to one of his backs.-Nicholls handled the ball well, and gavo Cook& many fine chances to get moving, which the latter seldom failed to utilise. He (Cooke) was a very good second to Mill, and was always a source of trouble to the Blues. Brown, while not brilliant, was always safe and reliable, and frequently got bac- in the nick of time to remedy Stevenson's lapses. Svenson and Elvy were both very dashing, and each narrowly missed scoring on several occasions. Stevenson was again very weak, and as compared with Ross looked an absolute novice. He was rarely in position, and hig frequent failures to take the ball lost hia side a lot of ground. His presence in the team proves that he is capable of better work, and his loss of form is very puzzling. Ross was again-a tower of strength to the home side, and never let it down. The other backs wero very mediocre, and rarely looked dangerous. Their passing was too much across tne field to be effective, and their handling was clearly overmatched, but made a gallant attempt in the second spell to turn the tables, and for a time played very finely. Their efforts, however, were not seconded, and came to nothing. The line-out work was unsatisfactory and resultless, mainly as a result of the glaring obstruction of tho Blue forwards. This was so persistent that it was evidently carried out as the result of a set plan, and it speaks well for the temper of the Black pack that they used only legitimate means to counteract it. A fresh .referee handled the game, but was not an unqualified success. His decisions were very puzzling, and not at all uniform. In addition, he frequently failed to keep up with the play ana consequently lost touch of the incidents.