From Goal to Goal.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7847, 8 July 1911, Page 14

From Goal to Goal.

TTTn results of last -week's matches have left the leading teams in rather less interesting positions than the}’ were previously; but the struggle for the championship is by no means over yet. By their win over Petone St. James are now two wins, or four championship points ahead of the three teams next in order, —Potono, Oriental, and Athletic, ' —but the team who are in winning form, Poneke, are one point lower on the merit list. How they.came to be so low down on the ladder is a mystery, for it does not seem probable now that any other team, has a really good chance of beating them in any of the matches still to bo played. St. James have a substantial lead, but they are by po means out of the wood yet. for they ’are quite likely to suffer a couple of defeats before tile round is over.

The Athletic Park was so sticky last • Saturday that any games played on ii » could not be otherwise than slow. And • the Poneke-Oriental struggle was a slow, » dull business. Very soon it was ar- » ent that tho backs on either si-. .ore not going to be of much use in at-.ack, » and the game resolved itself into a haru » forward scramble. The Oriental pack • had all the best of things in the first » spell, and it was mainly through their • eii’or'.s that the first and only try of tin I match was scored. It is true that a L back actually touched the ball down ’ after a scrappy pass or two, but tx, magpie forwuras had been making the attack so lively that the defence was ' not quite in position.' Poneko were lucky to get two penalty goals in the | first spell, but Oriental were exceeding- • ly lucky in avoiding several scores ! against them in the second spell. Po- ' neke deserved to win on the play, but . they did not show their best. form, a.. | Oriental showed no form at all except , in the forwards. ) Oriental lost the match because their backs were utterly useless against tbi Poneke forward rushes. With Fred Ko belts the Oriental backs are the bes j lot in Wellington, and the team is ...the ’ 1 most, brilliant attacking side in Vw lington, but without him the team is useless both in attack and defence. Tney had the hardest luck in losing nit. very valuable aid just at this critic. ! stage in the tourney, for a win against the red and blacks last week would ; have put them in an excellent position. The team are, unlucky. If they had had. the balance, of , t the luck .- in: Thu., favour "in this match they might have escaped out of it with a draw; Poneke, on the other hand, have had very gooo luck this year: Last week they were helped out of bad positions time an again by penalties at times when they needed help badly. This does not mean, of course, that the other side did not commit the infringements in respect of , which the free kicks were allowed, but it does mean that the Poneko team got full compensation for tho other side's faults, and escaped punishment very fre- | quently for their own. This does not apply to last week's match only, for it i has happened very regularly. It is not j that the referees,are more kind to them; j the team are simply lucky. J It is not easy to say off-hand wherein lay the superiority of the Poneke side, for it was not all at one point. In one i department, however, they were out of sight better, than their opponents, .and that was in kicking. If one side is kicking on on average about twenty yards stronger than the other they must • have a decided advantage if the o’.n. team is anything like equal to them in o*her respects. Probably those long kicks of the Poneke backs—they were always long, and the length was always well used—had more to do with, their, win than any other circumstance I in particular. The two teams 5 forwards were about evenly matched, tho balance being in favour ’of Oriental, but tin-J Poneko backs wore only tolerable, and the Oriental backs were scarcely tolerable. i The biggest man m the whole match was Walshe. Ho is about tho beet allround footballer playing the game in ; Wellington just now, and all the mus- | tard of the Poneko team. He kicked j the two goals which made up their total score; he took all the free kicks, and! kicked longer, and straighter than any other man on the ground; and he was tho man who always got busy to dig the ball loose out of a melee arid get away with it. There was not a single attacking movement in which he was not the leader, and every time good hard defensive work was to be done h was there to do it. As a wing-forward he is far 100 good for any other man playing in that position in Wellington, but he is only ordinary , when op > to a burly, none 100 scrupulous opponent, as he was in the Marlborough match. In that match he kept his.en up well enough, but he was not in command all the time as he generally h in club football. The rest of the forwards on his side do not matter for the purposes, of these comments. They played a good enough game, but they were a fairly equal ’ordinary lot. Generally, they * play a good game, but last week they, were, as a pack, rather below theij par value. ’ Mitchinson was really the only decent all-round back playing in the mat". 1 There were perhaps two others, but their chances were so few that theireal form was scarcely apparent. Th two others were Gardner and Klnvir Mitchinson made more than one good break under the most unfavourable conditions, for Tilyard threw passes.out to him with no discrimination to speak of. His defence was always fair, but once or twice ho had recourse to method' which will not always serve in first class football—the speculators, riskin'passes, and the like. Gardner was the only other goed back playing for Poneke. He showed a surprising turn r BTV'od now and Hi-n. his kicking wa* safe, and his tackling and fielding like wise. Ryan was bn* a Poor suhsHtutfor Morris in attacking line. B** is a fair defensive player, but he does not understand the passing game wei enough. Perry and Mcßean were tho best in the Oriental pack. It was a good team of forwards, but the men were run r ' their legs by the weakness of their J backs. Also they had not a winger lik-" Walshe, and time after time their hard

Review of Matches Past. St. J ames Increase their Lead. Poneke in Winning Form. “By WICKLOW.”

won. advantages were lost all at one* through Akers being outwitted, or bumped out of the way by Walshe. Behind m l6 t 6c r un } Little was only moderate. McLeod played such a game that it was aithcult to understand how he could ever have been chosen as a representa* live player. Kinvig played a safe game. kicking exceptionally well, but ho could not do all the defensive work for his 6 , three-quarters were .a very 111I 11 lot, and Eitchie, a promoted junior, was quite unfit to carry the replaced on his shoulders as full-back.

Little remark need be made about the Southern-Victoria College match. The College team was practically a junior team and not a very strong one even in that grad©, so that Southern deserve no special credit for their win.

To those persons who read tho announcement,. St. James 19; Petone -IB !• w j>uM appear that 'the "Jimmies” found. Petone a rather easy proposiuon on Saturday. This opinion, however, must-undergo some modification when it is remembered that at half time th*, score read 3 all. Twenty minutes after starting the second spell the scores were ketone G; St, James 3, and with the second spell half gone honours were a =' a . l . n - oas J- It was in the latter stages -u the second spell that St. .James pixou up their score; until then Petone- was decidedly dangerous, and a few morelaxation of effort on the part oi the reds would have put a very different complexion on the game.' It was one of those fast, eventiui tussles in \yhich anything might happen, and which was neither won nor lost till tho final whistle sounded. Both teams applied themselves with energy to their work, and both played good games. I hero were times in the first spell when play was not particularly exciting, but it was always well above the average, and in the second spell, ©specially when tne darkness warned Petone that victory was slipping further and further from ffrip and spurred thorn to fresh elf f. r f‘ t “ ere was excitement enough to satisfy the most insatiable of sensation lovers. Petono bear a reputation—by no means misplaced—of never being beaten till the whistle sounds, and they acted up to this on Saturday. To win in the last few minutes- of tile game—to put on six points in less than ten minutes against a teain whose defensive tao tics were almost faultless—was a heart breaking and well-nigh impossible task, but they did not slacken their exertions for one instant, and played with as much dash and cheerful determination as if one point either way would have settled the Though St, James did load by six points their supporters on the bank waited somewhat anxiously for the termination, and foreboro hailing a win an indisputable certainty. Some of them had done eo earlier in the game and had received a rude shock. When, about half way through the second spell the score stood IC—6 in the red’s favour! the confident ones pronounced the game ended, 'and _ commenced to leave the ground. Within a few minutes Petone r j C !S th , c ''’hole length of the field, eluded the defence as only Petone backs can and scored a nice try which McParlano converted. It all happened very quiekv, and instead of St. James having a ten point lead; the confident ones found that a converted try by Petone was all that was required to make the game a draw, Petone has a habit of winning a match in the last few minutes and the confident ones decided to return home by a later train. - 1

The back and forward divisions of both teams played well, and there is IhiK fault to be found with them. It was clearly in the forwards, however, that the weaknees of the Petone team lay. When the blue hacks got into motion } (and their opportunities were rare) thev treafed the -spectators to some passing work which was as clover as it was pretty. There can bo no doubt that ha- ! I this fast, resourceful rearguard been given a ,fighting chance, St. James would have found the suburbanities a much more difficult proposition than they < The way the Petone backs handled the .ball, the rapidity and precision with which they threw it about, and the manner in which they ran through the opposing defence was worth going a long way, to watch. Unfortunately a great deal of their work in this direction took place when it was too dark to see the ball and when it was exceedingly difficult to distinguish the players. One had to j udge from the movements of the men what was toward. Ocasionally, wiiil; some tight forward work was going on, one would see a solitary player emerge clear, presumably with the ball. A movement by the nearest member of tho Petone back line followed, and then tho whole string, moved on with a fast clockwork combination that was beautiful tc watch. Had Petone been aided by reasonable light at this time they wonld perhaps, have scored, but tho darknesa and the sure tackling of St, James proved too big a hurdle. It is no aspersion on St. James to say that the Petone backs were easily the better of the two rearguards. They did not score as frequently as did their opponents, but they certainly made better use of what opportunities they got. The Petone forwards 1 were good and did a lot of useful work, but they ■ were not up to tho standard of St. James. In the scrums they managed in the early part of 1 game to send the ball behind them more frequently than did their opponents, but weakened perceptibly in this regard towards the end. In close work the reds had all the heifer of the argument and prevented the Petone backs from getting the ball. The blue forwards showed a fair amount of combination, but both individually and collectively they wort tho weaker of the two packs. They shaped pretty well ,in Icoee rushes and used their feet to advantage, often gaming a good deal of ground bv theca means. , '

Back and forward lines_ of the 8t James team played splendidly. The forwards made the pace ' veiy strong at times, and gave the Petone defence some warm moments. They broke up many Pe’one rushes before they haif reached dangerous proportions and sent the ball to their backs in fine style. They held well in the scrums but did not get the ball as often as they might have done, though in the actual trial of strength thev were usually the better of tho two. Their combination was good,, and they worked well together from start (Continued on page 15, first column-)

From Goal to Goal (Continued from previous pngo). to finish. In close work they invnriabl onded th« argument; by giving their backs the ball, ami so opemd up a large number of avenues to scoring, ’.they Wero particularly .sound in defence, their tackling being at all limes sale, whil" no member of (he pack hesitated to “get down” when hard work, accompanied b a possibility of ban! knocks, was going on. The backs were unitormly good, and combined well with 11m Iron! rankers. They rarely showed the lightning dash of Intone, nor wa* (heir handling so reliable or their attack co sure, but limy were, nevertheless, decidedly dangerous when they got in motion and • took a good deal of slopping. They were willing workers and maintained a lively pace to the end. Their tactics were forceful and tolling, and they gave a lot of trouble at close quarters, seeming to bo able to creep through any small loophole that presented itself. They showed to advantage in the second spell, before Petone made its last bid, and their play was smart and clean.

In the Potono team (he bright particular star was undoubtedly Ualy, who piayod a really splendid game, lie is quick and docs not aft without reason, lie drew first Mood for his side, taking tho ball from the end of the line of backs and getting over in a that permitted m tho try being converted. ilo repeal'dly turned deleave into attack, anil indulged in a number of tricky runs that sorely upset (ho calculations of many opposing players who tried to atop his progress. His last long run. as a result of which Petone scored their final irv, was a really brilliant effort. 110 secured tho leather at halfway, raced right through his opponents and got within ten yards of tho line before ho was required pass. Hoyd, a Junior, acquitted himself n t great deal bettor than did many of his more experienced companions. He made very few mistakes ami did a lot of good work in attack, as well as being safe in defence. Corson made a better showing than usual, and was rt>m?nicuous in several passing rushes. Miller and McKenzie did good work both in defence and attack, while Ramwleri, at half, was fairly successful. The forwards workco well, but none wore brilliant. Mci'arlano kickett well as usual.

St. James played ivell all-round. Moffitt, Cook, U. and IT. Heberts, Soling am! Thomas gave good accounts of themselves. Thomas was very sale at full-back and stopped a number of Petouo attacks in the nick of tune, lie used the lino to advantage, but was not so good at goai-kickiug, missing one or two rather easy shots. Cook did yeoman service, and at times performed really brilliantly in attack, lie was well fed by the smart half and was always handy when wanted. Moffitt was sonsistently good and worked hard from start to finish. Do Blois played well during his short stay on tho field. L. wag useful at all times.

Fairly good play characterised the Ath-letic-Melrose match at Miramar last week, though Athletic did not play up to their xifTiuu standard, and Melrose did not take things too seriously. There did not seem to bo much difference in tho teams in weight, and after the game had commoncod it was seen that there would not b© a big margin of victory for the winning team. In fact, a draw seemed likely, and it was not until that that matters appeared to bo tending any other way. Mowever, tho Melrose defence, though strong, was not as ©olid as that or their opponents, and on two occasions Athletic men creased tho red lino. On tho Metros© side Gilchrist, in the backs, and McGuinness in tho vanguard,.performed well, tho former by his fin© line-kicking amd tho latter by his ceaseless endeavours to keep on tho ball. Pooiey also did, good work., ' Eaugi Wason Mae undoubtedly the best man on the Athletic aide. On several occasions it was ho who made the triune —which on tho whole was practically a forward one—a little more open. It would bo unfair to omit mention of bun Wilson, who also was of considerable service to his team. Seady, despite his preponderance of flesh, was not out ot the picture. If the play was not as fast and interesting as it might have been Dvonson's splendid kicking almost compensated for it. Last Friday a team of Wellington telegraph messengers. under the managemeut of Mr 11. B. Magee, went to Christchurch. whoro they played a team ot messengers. Victory lay with, the visitors by 11 points to 3, tho scorers for Wellington, being Anderson (a try), Malloy Ca try), and Marshall (a try). Marshall also converted a try. Briggs scored % try for tho Christchurch boys. It is said that Canterbury will be able •fco put a very good team in the field this year, especially in the back division. If the forwards are well picked they are likely to be (so it is reported) absolutely the finest pack in the Dominion. Paddy Burns, the All-Black representative, Weston, and D. Gray, axo showing all their old good form. Meadows, an. exThames representative, is also playing well.’ Fryer is getting older, and eome of his friends who recently visited Christchurch scarcely him, so changed has he become.