FOOTBALL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11873, 24 April 1899, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

NEW ZEALAND RUGBY' UNION. [Peb Press Association.] • WELLINGTON, April 23,

■ At the annual meeting of the-New Zealand Rugby Union Mr Campbell, who presided, sa.id that the most important matter was in reference to the proposed new laws of the game. This -was a new departure for the New Zealand Union, but he thought that it might prove' to be the turning-point in making the game more popular not only_ in New Zealand, but in other parts of the world. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Patron. Lord Ranfurly ; : president, Mr Libtlejohn (Nelson) ; vice-presi-donts,' Messrs' Devore (Auckland), Cooper (Bush district), Rhodes (Canterbury), Ha.nkins (Mana-watu), Whatema.n ( Wairarapa). Callaway (Otago), F.mpson (Wauganui) and Campbell (Wellington) ; honorary secretaiy, Mr De Costa ;treasurer Mr Hya.ms ; management committee, Messrs Hume (Otago), Marte.r (Mana-watu), Morrison (Hawke's Bay),. Wesney (Southland). Laurenson (Poverty .Bay)'. Gibbons (Auckland) and Ward (Canterbury). . The location of the. Appeal .Committee was fixed at Dunedin. The proposal to send a- New Zealand team to. England was referred to the, Management Committee. It was decided that the North v. South match should not be played this year. The New South Wales Union wrote regretting the decision, of the various affiliated'Unions with reference to the proposals in regard to New Zealand, sending a, team of players to Sydney to meet the Englishmen, and hoping that the decision Mould be reversed. It asked that a contradiction should be given to the statement that New South Wales could ha.vc forced the Englishmen to visit New Zealand. The matter was referred to the Management' Committee. A motion that the remainder of. the sentence of disqualification on Calnan, Harris and Roberts, members of the last New Zealand team, should be remitted, was lost by twenty-five to ten. A motion that Calnan's sentence should be. remitted was lost, by twenty-four to eleven, and one with regard ,to Harris was lost by twenty-six. to nine. It.was decided, by twenty-five to ten, to submit the proposals for an alteration of the laws of the game te> the English Union. A proposal with reference to the formation of the Australasian Union was brought up by' Mr Firth, hut- the matter was so important- ihnt it, wa.s denided to refer it to the affiliated Unions. A vote of thanks was accorded to Mr De Cost?., honorary secretin-, and the Management Committee was instructed to award him a. bonus at the end of the year if the funds permitted.

MERIVALF, v. SYDENHAM

This game was r laved on the west side of Lancaster Park. The'ground wa.s in splendid order, but the rain that fell in the morning made the ball orcasy. and being a. new one. it was difficult to handle. There, was no wind to assist kicks, and Sydenham defended the north goal From' 1 the start the Merivale forwards playejf up with plenty of dash, and- kept the Sydenham backs busy. Orr and TV Reese did good defensive work. A mistake hy Love, however, was taken full advantage of, and Forbes easily scored, but. the place-kick by Voyce did not. increase the score. Sydenham bad a busy time defending, but D. Reese, by a serviceable kick, relieved the danger, and Burrell fumb ling, the Svdenham forwards, with O'Brien and" Watt in the load, looked like scoring. Voyce. cleverly saved by kicking into touch. Play was stn.tinnarv near the Merivale, twenty-five until M'Cree "and Low. by good kicking, centred, and then the Blue forwards broke right away, a.nd a'mistake bv Orr let King over. Voyco easily converted. Immediately after the kick-out some neat passing, in which Dansey, Low, M'Cree and Voyce, took part, ended in Forbes scoring and Burrell, by a. line kick, converted. At the start of the second spell, Chambers easily scored behind the posts, but Voyce missed «the kick. Some neat kicking by the Rceses centred the play, and O'Brien, Thomas,- and Black were prominent, out Burrell and Voyce did good work in saving what looked like a. score. With the play at the Merivale. twenty-five, flag, the best piece of play in the game—a passing rush started by Vovce—-was taken part in by P. Menzies. Voyce. M'Cree. a,nd Marriner; Bush finally scored without opposition, Dansey easily converting. A series of fast forward dashes followed, together with an interchange of kicks by the backs, play finally settling at the Merivale twenty-five, where D. Reese kicked a poster from a penalty, and soon after Dansey made a fine kick at goal. Some fast play by M'Cree. Low, and Marriner followed, and Sydenham were forced, and just before time. Drake placed a goal from a penalty kick. Merivale thus won by 24 points to nil. Mr W. G. Garrard was referee. LINWOOD v. ALBION. Albion won the toss, and Linwood kicked off against the wind. The game was fairly fast, and the ball travelled up and down and from side to side without either side securing any great advantage. Albion were forced a couple of times, but they soon made up their ground. At last a. good kick by Phillips sent the, ball well down the field ; the forwards followed up, secured the ball, carried it to the Blacks' line and in the general scramble L. Fanning picked up and scored. The kick .wa.s difficult, and E. O'Brien failed to convert. After the kickout the Black forwards made a determined charge down the. field. Butler secured the ball, and passed to Burson, who, after a splendid run, was thrown out at the corner flag by O'Brien. Ormandy relieved, and the Greens attacked in turn. Near the Afbion twenty-five,' Byrne got the ball from Campbell, sent it on to Phillips, who passed to M'Gillicuddy, who scored. Campbell's kick went wide. Good line-out play by B. Fanning, Ker, and Plunkett and a forward rush brought the play to the Albion line, and Pegg touched down. O'Brien again failed with the kick. Albion's chances wcra now dismal, but dashing forward play and good passing among the hacks brought the ball near the Linwood twenty-five. A mark was got within fairly easy range, but nothing resulted. Albion continued the attack ,and play became very exciting. A series of scrums resulted right under the Linwood goal, but an over-eager Black forward at last spoiled his team's chances bykicking the ball over the line. From the kick-out, the ball rebounded from, an Albion forward, and the Blacks swooped down again. Ormandy and Phillips at last relieved, and the ball went out oi touch as the bell sounded for half-time. After Albion's kick-off the play was of a give-and take description. Phillips, M'Gillicuddy, and Byrne did some good running and kicking for Linwood, ana Butler, Burson, and Machin for Albion. A hurried kick by the Albion full back struck Ormandy, who was following up well, and the fast wing-forward scored. B. Fanning failed with the kick. The Albion forwards now made great efforts, Louis and Heuwood being noticeable for their dash, but they were overmatched. Linwood made several good passing rushes, in which Phillips, Byrne, and M'Gillicuddy were prominent, but Albion's strong defence staved off aaiy further score till near the call of time. The Linwpod fbrwaids heeled out to Campbell, who sent the ball to Phillips, and then it travelled to Byrne and M'Gillicuddy. With a neat (icdgv run the latter scored. O'Brien converted, and a few minutes later no-side was runs the final score being—Linwood 17, Albion 0. CHRISTCHLRCH v. KAIAPOI. The. first meeting between the Christchurch and Kaiapoi teams took place at Lancaster Park on Saturday, when a very evenly contested game resulted in a win for the town club. Christchurch. kicked off, the Kaiapoi full-back returning to the centre Hag. The play was very even for some time, numerous free kicks being awarded to both teams for breaches of rules. A loose rush by the Yellow forwards placed the Christchurch line in danger, but a chance of scoring was lost by off-side play, the penalty kick to the Reds relieving the pressure. Another strong attack by Kaiapoi was repulsed by Raphael with a useful kick info touch. Kaiapoi, however, attacked again, but hard kicking threw away another chance of scor-

in.c,' and the. Reds forced down. A good passing rush, in which Green, Barrett ajid Duncan took part, nearly let the last-named player in. The Reds now relieved the pressure. A. good kick by Pyne being mulled by D. M'Gregor, the Red forwards forced Kaiapoi. The spell ended without any score. On resuming, it soon became evident that the home team were in better, form than their opponents. Good loose- play by the Red forwards gave Kaiapoi some trouble, and a nice bit of passing between La.wrenoo, Cardale and Pyuis nearly resulted in a try. Cardale soon after got a mark, and a good kick by Raphael put the ball between the posts, giving Christchurch a, lend of four points. Good play by Martin placed the Reds on the defensive, but a strong rush took the ball to the Kaiapoi end. From a scrum Lawrence got possession and passed to Weston, who transferred to Cardale. from whom Vangioni received the ball, ;m.d a. smart- dash resulted in his scoring. Raphael's kick was again successful. After some give-and-take play, Martin failed with two .attempts at goals from free kicks. After a, food run by A. M'Gregor his brother got the hall and scored a try. Duncan's attempt at goal was x failure, and the game was nine to three. For the rest of the spell Christchurch kept the Kaiapoi men busv, the game ending, without further score, with play near the Yellows' goal line. Mr F. T. Evans was referee. Scores: Christchurch nine points, Kaiapoi ' three points. JUNIOR FLAG. The match between Albion and Kaianoi took place on the Kaiapoi Park, and. after a good game, resulted in a win for the visitors br six points to nil. For the winners, Tillvshort and Lewis scored tries. Mr W. Irvine was referee. Meriva-le Second defeated Linwood Second somewhat, easily by thirteen points to nil. For the winners. Rodders and Mn-theson each scored, a try; Mat-heson ' kicked a penalty goal, and converted one try, and Neatc' was also successful with a. kick at goal from a try. Mr A. Lawrence was referee. The match between Christchurch and Sydenham ended in n draw, each side scoring rhree points. For Sydenham, Johnston kicked a penalty goal, and for Christchurch Avers scored a try; ' Mr T. Pike was referee. Richmond and Lyttelton met at Richmond, the home team, winning bv six points to nil. ' The winners' score consisted of two tries, gained by Pentecost. Mr J. Nixon was referee. PRESIDENT'S CUP. The match' Iwtwe-en Linwood and Christchurch resulted in a draw, each team scoring three points. Hands scored a try for Linwood. and Robertson for Christchurch. Mr W. E. Simes was referee. Sydenham B. and Sumner played a dnuyn game, the scores being three, points each. A. M'Phail scored a try for Sydenham, and R. Heat-fin one for Sumner. Mr 11. Barry was referee.

A really good game was the outcome of the contest between the Boys' High School and Albion B. President's Cup teams, the School players winning by eleven points to throe. Bain and Maude scored tries for the winners, Gibbs kicking a goal from one of the tries, and also placing a penalty goal. Falcrar scored a try for Albion. Mr H. E. Hiddlestone was referee. The Albion A team ran over the same club's C team to the extent of forty-nine points te> three. The winning team's score was made up of thirteen tries, five of which were converted. W. Sykes scored four tries. Hunter three. Waiters'two. and Gray, Garfiiner. Schwartz., and Butt-on one each. Turtill placed three goals from tries, and Wilson and Gray one each. Williamson scored for the losers. Mr S. Wilson was referec. Merivale A defeated Sydenham A by twenty point? fco three. For the winners, Frasei- secured two trips, and Dunn and Chisnall one each. Fraser and Woods each converted a try, arid J.-Saunders potted, a goal. Anderson kicked a penalty goal for Sydenham. Mr G. Simpson was referee. OTHER MATCHES.

A match-played on Saturday between Imperial and Cambridge resulted in a win ior the former by six points to three.