FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 22 September 1913, Page 3

FOOTBALL

Half time sounded two minutes later. SECOND SPELL. Hughes set the ball rolling for. Australia, and Cockroft fumbling, play settled in the blacks' twenty-five. The olacks gradually worked the play to half way, but a good kick from a penalty by Dwyer improved ' the blues' position. Cockroft -got his side but of difficulties Mth a lucky "speculator" and Wilson .and Cummings headed a forward rush which had Dwyer in dif-, Acuities. Wood tame to the rescue' with a nice piece of play, but was unfortunate enough to receive a nasty knock', play being suspended for sev- ; eral minutes. A kick by Wallace was well •'returned by Stewart, and O'Lcarv gained further ground by' kicking well down. A good forward rush by the visitors was stopped by Cockroft ancl a. fine piece of play by Wood nearly Jet Wallace over. From 'the ensuing scrum Wood set his backs going, and the ball was centred by Tasker to Wogan and Jones, who cut in and scored Hughes converted. Australia, 10; New Zealand. 5. Wilson sent the ball well down, but Sutton returned well, and Murphy headed a forward rush which was repulsed by Spillane. Wogan -.'picked up from the ruck and cut through and passed to Tasker, who sent it.on to Murphy, . to Sutton who scored. Hughes failed at the g0a1...-'-Australia, 13; New Zealand,- 5. Tasker returned well from the kick out, but. Wilson, McNeece and Brown participated in a forward rush, and VVallace and Williams returned with a similar movement. A passing rush by the black backs ended in Stewart being pushed over at the over' flag, the ball going into touch in goal. Woods, Wogan. Tasker and Jone. were associated in a nice passing rush the 'first named finding the line. Burns broke away from the scrum, and punted up the field, but Dwyer again returned with a goocl kick. From a scrum a few moments later 1 Wood passed to Tasker, who cut in, aiid sent a long pass to Wogan, who transferred to Sutton who scored wide out. Hughes failed with a good kick. Australia, 16; New Zealand, 5. Hughes was responsible for .a good mark, and Wogan 'had a shot from half way,, the ball falling short. Jones earned loud applause for a good individual effort, but a free kick relieved. Dwyer put in a good run, but O'Leary repulsed the blues- with a mark, and Stewart put in a good run, and a long kick. Time was now. up, and the final whistle sounded leaving Australia winners by 16 points (two goals from tries and two tries) to 5 (a goal from a try.). Mr. Geo. Nicholson controlled the game. New Zealand did not play below the standard. The trouble was . that, they were not. up" to the "all black" form. Their faults lay in weak tackling, weak fielding, and lack of initiative. On the day's play the two packs. were evenly .mjatched, ahd 'the difference in the scores marked the difference between the backs. Australians were "nippy" and the home team' never knew, exactly what was going to happen next. If they had followed the good , old axiom that, the best form of defence is attack they would have clone more credit to themselves. The three-two-three formation of the Australians gave them an extra man's weight in. the scrum, and contributed to their success in' hooking the. ball, but in this departments they shbw-ed no marked superiority. i New Zealanders were soundly beat-. en by Australia because the backs were - no good, and [when the- forwards in the second spell were blown with the task of doing their- own work and covering up the mistakes of their backs they were naturally let. down. . The fast-moving and resourceful Australian ba^ks ran all over their opponents and piled up the points. Tn the 'first spell the home forwards bad the upper hand, and mistakes behind the scrum were not so apparent, 1 although there .was an absolute lack of cohesion among the backs. The Australian backs undoubtedly deserved credit for the win, struggling in the first spell against a dashing set of forwards, they had their attacking movements cut off before they looked dangerous. When tliey found the forward opposiitfan- Weakening, they Jma'de the most of the opportunity and threw the ball about effectively.