FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 810, 9 September 1887, Page 13

FOOTBALL.

WELLINGTON v. OTAGO'. A DRAWN GAME. The Wellington representatives, having beaten the Canterbury fifteen, who made a much better show against the Aucklanders than the Otago men, it was generally considered in this city that we should 1 also beat the Otagonians in the match, played on Saturday. The play, however, went to prove the unreliability of results as a criterion of strength, for a. desperately-fought match, of which it would not:be fair to say that either side had the -best, ended in a draw, no score having been made. The teams were about as evenly matched as could be, and although the result was unsatisfactory, a better match was probably never seen at Newtown. The respective teams were as fellow : —Otago-: Full back— D. Fraser ; three-quarters —Keogh, Miller and Bee ; halves—Thomson and Fraser; forwards Drabble (captain), Treseder, Martin, Gibson, Diamond, Beck, Morris, Macfarlane, Isaacs. Wellington ; Full back —L. Dixon ; three-quarters Fairbrother, Moorhouse (captain), and Gage; halves Merlet and Richardson ; forwards, J. E. Smith,Taiarca (wings), Storey, Ellison, Cockroft, Wales, Crowell, Moore and Mclntyre. Messrs J. M. King and Hunter acted as umpires, and Mr Cotterill a 3 referee. When the teams took the field, which they did auiidst applauga from an enormous crowd of

| spectators, the Otago men appeared to be | considerably heavier than their opponents, i Whose variety in size was quite’ striking. 1 Several of the visitors’forwards are strapping big fellows, who, as it subsequently appeared, are also very active. Play was commenced at a quarter-past 3 by Otago kicking off from the eastern end. Dixon returned into touch, and a rush of Otago forwards from the line-out brought the ball down to the Wellington twenty-five yards’ line, where it was held by Fairbrother. Very soon, however, the Wellington forwards, among whom Mclntyre was conspicuous, rushed it up the field again, and aided by a couple of profitable punts by Richardson, got the play past their opponents* twenty-five, Thomson sending it back to the line by a pretty pant into touch. The Wellington men came again, and, going across the field, got the ball near the Otago goal line, whence the defending forwards literally pushed it back into less dangerous ground. A little later Moorhouse made a weak shot at goal from the Otago twenty-fives, and Gibson came to the rescue of his side and dribbled the ball up to half-way, whence it was promptly brought back by similar play on the part of Smith. Wellington had a good deal the best of the play for a time after this, and eventually Mclntyre kicked the ball over the line from a mark by Richardson, and Otago was forced down. Soon after the kick out Merlet and Thompson each made a good run for their respective sides, and the latter and Miller punted into touch very nicely, the effect being to send the play to the Wellington twenty-fives, where the Otago forwards, assisted by Thomson’s kicking, kept it, in spite of the good work done by Merlet and Richardson, until the Wellington forwards suddenly pulled themselves together, and took the ball down to their opponents* twenty-five with a great rush. A few minutes later, when the play had got down the field and up again, Taiaroa made a dashing" run, and, being collared by D. Fraser, held on to the ball instead of passing to Smith, who followed up very smartly, and would almost certainly have got in. For a time the play centred about the visitors’ twentyfives, Thomson working gallantly in defence of his territory, until Gibson, Beck, Martin, and Morris got away with the ball well in front of them, and took it helter-skelter down near inside the Wellington twentyfives, where Dixon cleared his line splendidly. The play remained just about the Wellington twenty-fives for awhile, and Miller had an unsuccessful shot at goal. Presently, half-time was called, with the play near the local men’s twenty-fives. The second spell was started by Wellington kicking off. D. Fraser returned into - touch, and a series of heavy scrimmages in the vicinity of the half-way flag ensued. Here Smith marked, and punted down the field ; and the Otago backs, hesitating in taking the ball, were rushed. The play was soon taken back to the Wellington side, however, where Miller made a long and unsuccessful shot at goal, and Wellington forced down. After the kick-out the visitors again brought the ball down near the Wellington twenty-fives, and here Miller unfortunately missed a pass from Thomson, from which he would have had a tolerably clear shot at the goal. However, Bee got the ball and punted over the line, and Wellington; forced down. The Wellington forwards, who had been playing very indifferently for some time, now roused themselves and worked the play into the Otago twenty-fives. Here they stayed for a season, working it closer and closer in, in spite of the resistance of the visitors’ forwards and the dashing defensive play of Thomson and Fraser. A dodgy run by Merlet and a similar one by Ellison took the ball into touch a few feet from the Otago line, and after a series of hot scrimmages the visitors forced down. Shortly after this, Gage made the best run of the day, and fairly “brought down the house.” From this to the finish nothing worthy of note occurred except a good run by Smith, who fell when he had a probability of getting in, though he was outside the Otago twenty-fives. Thus the match ended in a draw, neither side having scored. In the evening the visitors were entertained at a smoke concert by the Rugby Union at the Post Office Hotel. A good programme of music was arranged, and a very pleasant evening was spent.. On Sunday the visitors were driven to McNab’s Gardens, at the Hutt, and they left on Monday by the Tarawera for the South.

The Otago team of footballers left for the; South by the steamer Tarawera on Monday afternoon. A large crowd assembled on the wharf, which included a number of the local footballers. As the steamer moved, away from the wharf three hearty cheers weregiven for the Southerners, which compliment* they returned. They play Canterbury tomorrow. The annual football m&teh between the banks and insurance companies will be played at Newtown Park on Tuesday next. The third and fourth fifteens of the Wellington Football Club will meet to-morrow, commencing at 3 p.m., on-the College ground. The third fifteen will be as follow :—Barron, Duncan (2), Young (2); Gore, Devenisb, Eliott, Hutchinson (2), Bendall, Kelling, Pownall, Carrington, and Porritt ; emergency, Hume. The fourth will be represented by Baxter, Miles, Heywood (2), Lsherwood, Bary, Craig, Newbold, Jacoby, Stevenson. Seed, Muir, Willesfcon, j. McLean, and C. Pearce ; emergencies. Didsbury and Brooks. (united press association.). CuK-ISTOFiirP-Cir, September 5. The following-team chosen by the-Rev. J. Hoatson to play against Otago consists of-Full-back, H. Wilson ; three-quarters, E. Francis, W. Allardyce, A. Hobbs ? halves, H. Roberts, J. Donnelly? forwards, W. Bean, H. Berwick, R. Blanchard, B. D’Auvergnej W. Dow, G. Harris, J. Horner, W. Sutherland, J. Turnbull. The team is the same as played North, with three exceptions. Hobbs (who plays for the province for the first time) is small in stature, but very fast, and a very good pot shot at goal-. On Saturday ho potted a goal from ■She half-way touch-line flag. Turnbull and D’Auvergne, two splendid forwards, are the other exceptions. The Probables, of 14 men, were beaten on Saturday by the Possibles with a goal and three tries to a goal and two tries. Hirley p ayed well, and made one run clean through the Probables. He.

ran Hobbs very close for a place in the team. The match with Otago on Saturday will be played at Lancaster Park, which is now in splendid condition. The team choose the captain on Friday ; Francis is almost certain to he elected. The.weather now is splendid and promises to continuo.

THE OPINION OF THE CANTERBURY FOOTBALL TEAM ON NORTHERN FOOTBALL.

The following is taken from a Christchurch paper of last week: —Of course our readers are by this time aware that the Canterbury representative team has returned to its home, and has come hack in a partially maimed condition ; that several of its members will be precluded from fighting for the honor of the province with Otago. The team was very well treated while travelling, and a member of it, who was interviewed by a representative of this journal, has given some interesting information concerning the trip and the play of the Northern men. “At Wellington,” said our informant, “we were driven round the city and fairly well treated ; but, for good, sound hospitality, the succeeding Diaces visited rank before the Empire City. At Auckland we were most courteously entertained. Sylvia Park was visited ; the North Shore also ; and, in fact, there wasn’t a lion of the city that was not seen. At Gisborne we only had a few hours, but tnere we we were feasted and sent away rejoicing ; and the Napier folks wouldn t hear of us being placed at any expense at all. At Wairarapa we had also a good time, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, especially witnessing the Maori exhibition football match, reference to which has already been made in the newspaper reports. As to the play of the several teams, well, Wellington is pretty strong in the forward game, arid the best we met, but its backs cannot be called excellent, and though we were beaten I am inclined to think the forward play of our opposing team is accountable for our loss. Wellington plays wing men. Wing men may not affect a side that does not play wing, but I fancy it does, es ■ pecially when the wings amount to extra backs as it were. Really they were more backs than forward wings. But the forwards were in good fettle, fast and hard. Albeit that a little off-side play was noticeable, the Weilingtonians play well up to rules, but they’re rough, and were especially so on Helmore and Roberts. Auckland have weak forwards, but fine backs, on whom they evidently rely. They depend greatly on running, as their three-quarter backs are powerful and smart, men indulging in running shoes for the sake of speed. The wing men there are really backs, and stood farther behind the scrummage than the Wellington ones. Auckland play two half and centre half, two threequarters, and a full back. The centre half is kept to stop rushes, and with his confreres to feed the three-quarters, Whiteside especially. They are poor kicks. The forwards dribble fairly well in rushes, but really depend on the back play, and more frequently than not heel out for that purpose. Napier has a pretty even, all-round team. The forwards are a clever lot, and are especially good on the touch-line. The backs are generally smart, particularly Warbrick and Taiaroa. The Wairarapa team are the boys for weight, great big fellows, who reckon they’re best in the loose, but I should fancy their weight would carry them along with more effect in the tight scrums. It’s quite likely they throw best. They shine in the touch-line, our men being unable to overreach the six-footers who stretched out their long arms for the hall as it was thrown in. They play wings, and spoil their game by doing so, and were the worst lot for off-side play we encountered. Their backs are fairly good, but they want coaching.”