HOCKEY NOTES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20259, 29 May 1940, Page 3

HOCKEY NOTES

STRING MAORI TEAM PROMINENT PLAYERS By "Sticks” Interest is gradually increasing in the Poverty Bay Hockey Association’s men’s A Grade competition, and much attention is being devoted to the improvement of Muriwai, who were promoted from the B Grade. i( , Each Saturday this season the team has been improving in. combined effort, and the hard game against Y.M.C.A. last -Saturday gave the champions something of a shock, particularly as Y.M.G.A.- held an early lead of 3—o. From then on the game was mainly in favour of Muriwai, whose excellent halves kept the forwards on the attack and relieved .the full-backs of much work. Matenga’s work at centre-half was, one of the features of the game, and on the day’s play he proved one of the most effective halves in the competition. He and D. Halbert, centre. forward, are two men who have attracted much attention this season. _ , . , , Another prominent player pn Saturday was Thompson, full-back, and although he frequently played too far upheld, even when the defence sought to put the opposing forwards off-side, he made a valuable contribution to the efforts of his team. The Y.M.C.A. combination was not as effective as last year, and very often the forwards relied too much on their speed to carry them through. The Harrisons were particularly fast, Bruce combining excellent stickwork with his speed. In the halves Lawton was a much improved player, more particularly in defensive work. The full-backs stopped as well as ever, but often their clearing hits were weak.