NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALLERS AT HOME.

Evening Star, Issue 12674, 30 November 1905, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALLERS AT HOME.

PRESS COMSIENT. Concerning the Somerset match, played on October 21, the London "Daily Mail' says :■•—" The display in the Somerset match was in.many respects the worst tne New Zcalandeis have yet given. The team were not so good at Gloucester as the side which weie defeated. The combination was inferior, and did nd possess the same dash. The absence of Smith, Hunter, and Roberts seemed to put the machinery out of gear. The absence of Roberts, the scrum half, was perhaps most soveiely felt. He has to receive all the hard knocks and do all tho dirty work, j He gets none of the credit if things go ■ right, and all the blame if they go wrong, j The little man who forms the connecting ! link between the two great pieces of ma- | chinery is scarcely noticed, but if his work is not done expeditiously the machinery is liable to break down. His work may not be so showy as that of Smith, Wallace, and Hun tor, but if the New Zealanders are to be beaten nrobably it will be when tliis quiet, unobtrusive »layer is absent. If the backs in the Somerset match did not reach the usual standard of excellence, the forwards were "as good as ever. Somerset were always famous as a forward team, ■ and did not disgrace their best conditions, j The colonials had to deal with a pack almost as powerful as themselves. The tackling on both sides was strenuous, but there were no casualties. Though beaten in j tight scrums, the Somerset forwards were ; very good in loose rushes, while their fol- j lowing tin was a.s keen as that- of the New j Zealanders. The ground was uneven, | rough, and decidedly narrow." J Of "the game with tho Devonport Albions, played four days later, the same j journal says :—" In defeating the Devon- j port Albions tho New Zealanders, inciden- j talb- gave the Devonians an object lesson in : the art of try-getting which should prove of ! practical value. It was ono, of the hardest > games the New Zealanders have been j called open to play. For the first timo j they' met a combination, and not a collec- J turn of individual units. It speaks vol- ] times for the originality of their methods and the genius of the players that, after having had none tho better of a keenlyfought first half, they gradually wore their opo-nents down, and at the close scored pretty well as they chose. The first forty minutes of the game will long b'e remembered by the New Zealanders. At the j start tne Albions apneared to be sufforing ' from stage fright, which allowed the co- j lonials to score a soft trv in the first few minutes.. The ease with which it was ol>taine>-i seemed to show the penetrability of New Zealand's armor, and thencefor- j ward the Albion forwards took the game j into their own hands. Keeping to tho ball as close as they conld, they initiated their opponents into the art of wheeling scrums. Th-jy broke through time and again, and swept up the field in an irresistible phalanx with the ball at their toes. Every moment a score anpeared imminent, but the pluck and coolness of Stead and the brilliant kicking of Gillett prevented a score. Right up to half-time did the Albion men keep up their heroic effort, and although they were 5 points down they had had none the worst of a fast, exciting struggle. In the second spell everyone expected the local men to do even better, but whether the tremendous cxerti- ns had taken too much out of them, or whether the Now Zealanders improved their game, the fact remains that only one team was in it alter the change of ends. Tho second half yjiv Ihe New Zealanders at their best, the backs giving a.n electrifying disnlay of combination, interspersed with individual efforts, which bewildered their opponents' ability to change their tactics to suit the occasion. One cf the chief charms of thy New Zealanders' play is that the men are opportunists in the best sense of the word. R-?d tape is entirely absent frrin their methods. Smith was very much in evidence. His pace made him the prime favorite with the crowd." Priss Assocn;ion —By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY. November 30. (Received November 50, at 9.5 a.m.) In football comments, the London 'Daily Chronicle,' doalimi with tho Somerset match, says that the home team pat up a fine piune against their powerful opponents, but Uio styles of play differed materially. The homo" team relied on tho old fcrward game, and New Zealand on rapid transfers. Somerset were always on the ball, and their clever tackling somowhat upset the visitors, who, however, when once j settled down, completely outplayed their rivals. The 'Daily Telegraph' syas that in the absence of Hunter and Smith the New Zealanders were not seen at their full strength when they met Somerset. It also stated that several members of tne team wero beginning to feel the effects of the tremendous enrgy which characterises their efforts. Beaten nointless as Somerset were, the pame was by no means one-sided, but the colonials showed marked superiority in petting the ball away from the scrummae-e, and their better cahdition gradually told. The attendance was far in excess of that at any pievinus match in the district. Whatever result the visitors' triumphs'may have on the Rugby A MOTHER OF TWET,VE. " About, four yearn ago," writes Mrs E. E Warneminde. North Pines (Q.), "my little boy, when about five weeks old, had a severe attack of diarrhoea, and though I was giving him the medicine prescribed he did not seem to get any letter. I had seen in the papers that Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera, and Diarrhoea Remedy had cured cases similar to Ids, so I thought I would give it a trial. To my great relief, ho ahowed improvement, after tho first dose, and it only toot a couple cf descs to completely cure my infant. I am a mother of children, and after my experience I can safely recommend it."—Li.clvt.3

game, their visit is certainly aroußing an astonishing amount of enthusiasm. Regarding the Devonport match, tho ' Daily Chronicle' considers the game one of the finest ever witnessed on tho Rectory Ground. It produced a Titanic struggle Alhions tired. Tho impression which the until midway in the second half, when tho scone would give, howeyor, is entirely fallacious, as on a strict matter of play, in accordance with the rules, Albion were as clever as their doughty opponents, but lacked the sneed and recklessness of the Now Zealanders, who always meant getting there, quite heedless in regard to how their desideratum was achieved. Judged on tho first half, Rugby has little to learn from colonial ,mthods, though the New Zealaiaders' passing was certainly bewildering. The article concludes that the moral is that speed and stamina are the main things. Th« ' Daily Telegraph ' says that among their many viclcies none redounded to the New Zealanders' credit more than Devonport, which is admittedly one of the strongest teams in the country. While the Nov/ Zealanders fully deserved their victory, they owed it more to speed and stamina thaii to combination. So long as Albions wero able to keep up tho pace with their weighty antagonists they fought on even terms, and their football disnlay suffered nothing in compariGon with that of the colonials up to a certain noint. The Albions did much to vindicate tho reputation of English football, though thoy were nnlv recent followers of tho New Zealanders methods. They adopted the colonial formation. The five-eighths acquitted themselves with conspicuous success, and the half-back was on the whole the master of his opponent, Roberts. Tho article adds that the snlondid finish of thoir attacks was the feature of the visitors' display.