N.Z. v. MID DISTRICTS

Northern Advocate, 8 February 1936, Page 10

N.Z. v. MID DISTRICTS

f Special to “Northern Advocate.”]

ABERDARE, December 12. A WRITTEN welcome is often better than a spoken. This is what appeared on the programmes presented to the team when they arrived at Aberdare today:— “Welcome to those from a Southland —happier in its climate than ours—where Rugby is almost a creed, and men play up to the age of forty.

It was a late whistle. And his two tries, were world-beat-ers. The last was as pretty as any yet seen on the tour and equalled only by Hart’s at Leicester and Oliver’s today. Two minutes before time we saw Mitchell backing up the unsteady Caughey with all the will in the .world, take a hard ball and dodge his way over to the other side of the field. Here he handed to Corner, who, after a nice dash, iransferred to the left winger. With surprising speed Brown, working in a limited space, rounded the opposing winger and went through “teeth, eyes and legs” for the line. He bewildered all those who came across field to get him, and when he reached the full-back went into a dodge that resembled a tailspin, and with which the last defence could not cope.

“Let us bear in mind that our visitors come from a land whose Maori race have a legend and sense of chivalry and honour fully equal to that of any European country. Above all with the Maori there stands out his instance of his pledged word. Let us today pledge ourselves that we shall giye them the welcome their sportsmanship and chivalry deserve. “From the land of Miracle they come—a land where there is no colour bar, but both Pakeha and Maori have settled down in mutual respect and amity.

Well Done, “Bomber.”

With yells of “Well done, Bomber Brown” from the boys in the stand he went over under the posts. Hadley said: “See him lay his ears back.” Wynyard reckoned he developed a speed wabble. He certainly went through as though his life depended on that try.

“Let them go back from here with the knowledge that they have received no warmer welcome than from the people of the hills and valleys of North Glamorganshire."

Gilbert reached his hundred points scored on the tour today when he converted the first try, amid a rousing cheer from all admirers and New Zealand supporters on the sideline.

Shocking Display to Start.

For the first 'fifteen minutes after the boys took the field they gave such an exhibition of mishandling and general muddling that we began to think this junior team from the Mid-Dis-tricts might beat them. But Gilbert soon came to light with a nice penalty goal and then King scored from a good piece of work by Tindill.

. ';Then the team settled down and launched attack after attack, to which the young opposing team stood up. in great fighting style. But brains and technique proved too much for them. 1 ' Caughey and Oliver were combining together in fine style. Corner showed what a good half he could be and Cleared cleanly, always joining in the attack again after getting the ball away. But a misfortune happened in the second spell. Caughey injured his knee and had to retire to fullback, where, in his disabled state, he was next to useless.

Gilbert, who had been failing rather badly to find the .line with the majority 'of his kicks, now came up to the centre position, Oliver dropping in to second five,-eighths.

Oliver a Genius.

. In this position today Oliver proved a genius. He was for ever going clean through the defence. The try he scored was beautiful. He carried the ball from half-way, right through the lot of, the Mid-District men, to score under the posts. Another time he sold three dummies on end, passed to Mitchell, received again from Mitchell and passed to Caughey. This was before Caughey was hurt, of course. The ball was taken from well in .our 25 right to the Aberdare line. Caughey was unfortunately held up there.

A wheeze, tried for the first time today,, almost worked. It had been rehearsed before, no doubt. The line of backs spread out on one side of the scrum and Oliver motioned to Gilbert to come up from full-back to make, a spare five-eighth on the blind side. The ball came out in the usual manner, not on the blind side, but Tindill kicked high and long up midfield. Brown and Gilbert streaked up on the blind side.. Gilbert caught the full-back in possession, but, before Brown could .free the ball, other MidDistrict men, who had perhaps anticipated the move, were up to back their comrade. Still it was a good move.

Brown Gets Chances,

Today Brown got the chances he has been awaiting so long, and he proved his worth to the utmost. Two of these chances came from Corner, one from Gilbert and one from Oliver. He was held up once after a fine dash; he got over three times, once being recalled for a knock-on by Gilbert, - before the ball reached Brown.

Brown & Oliver Outstanding

As a centre he proved his elusiveness. He seemed to glide past innumerable opponents. We could all see Tindill’s drop-kick coming before the ball left the scrum, and, perhaps, the Aberdare men saw it too, but were powerless to prevent it. Mitchell was kept busy throughout the second half backing up the injured Caughey. In this respect he excelled himself. On one occasion he had two men to account for. He got them both and was standing himself at the finish.

However, he was up attacking when Aberdare grabbed her second try. A long kick over the line saw Caughey and an opponent making for the ball. Caughey had half the distance to go, but his leg would not allow him to hurry and the other men overtook him and scored the resultant try'.

In their full-back, Williams, and their half, Davies, those Mid-District men had first-class players, although their team was picked from second grade teams. They are not classed as good enough to compete against such teams as Swansea, Llanelly, Cardiff, etc.

Of our forwards, Pepper and Best outshone the rest, in the loose at least. They were both on the ball continuously. Pepper deserved his try. I can’t imagine why he has not been played in the tests. There were no more than 10,000 present at Ynys Stadium this afternoon.