FOOTBALL.

NZ Truth, Issue 97, 27 April 1907, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

tryry

;<By "PakehaV)

Championship Matches.

Championship matches -were m full swing last Saturday, and the verdict m the several senior contests at the cessation of . hostilities were, as follows : — Poneke 11, Melrose 5 ; Athletic 30, Old Boys 11 ; Petone 33, Wellington 7 ; Oriental 9, St. James nil.

The weather was perfect and the •presence of the Besses o' th' Barn Band at the Athletic Park, . together with the interest always aroused by the meeting of Poneke and Melrose drew some 5300 spectators to the ground. N The going was a bit soft, but much better than might reasonably have been expected vn. the circumstances.

It was this scribe's misfortune to miss the games on Saturday, duties demanding his presence elsewhere. Prom all accounts the <Poneke-Melrose game was a clinking go from start to finish. The impressions of oon'trilbiutors who witnessed the various games are recorded hereunder :—

The Old Boys ? v. Athletic game was . of an open nature, first one side and then the other taking a turn at attack,, thotigh the solid work of the blue' forwards began to tell as the game progressed. , r The game was. npt so one-sided as the scores ' would indicate,, as %f Old Boys missed one . or two chances of obtaining tries, arid their gaol-kick-ers missed some easy chances- '

The v.whites have always been 1 noted for the qoiick arid 1 accurate work among their backs, arid the team awl its supporters must have been surprised to see them beaten at their own game, for while few qt no attempts' were made by the whites at back play, the blues 'brought off some neat passing work which 'resulted m scores.

The defensive work of the White back division was very weak, and must show a very great improvement or the club will have some big scores put up against it as' the season ad-

The blue back division is ia,n ; imr provement on tliat placed" m; ; the field during the ; past few seasons, and when stremg'tyhened by the irtr elusion of O'Meaira and Cunttingham will be a fairly good combination. Buddie, who was prevailed on to play at full m place of Blacklock, who was ' abse.nt on account of Ms father's illness, which, all will be- 'very sorry to hear, pebved fatal, played a fair: /same, but was not so lucky as usual m getting out of difficulties, and got his side into trouble on sev r eral occasions, through failing • tb get rid .of the ball quickly. ;.

. Gardner, at centre-iihreequarter; played the best, game on >his side, and saved them on severalv-b'ecai-sions. : ' ! !

The wing thre6r;ruarters: Bliasi . arid Dawson. had no opportunities •' <to score, as the ball seldom came -out to them, and when it did -■ it was too late. ■' ; . ,; : ;. Wood and Johnston; at- five-eighths^, did not work together, and the* ball seldpm got past them. :''■..■■.:.

The half Lomas is to light for the position, and was bowled over by the opposing forwards.

The forwards were not m good conjdition, and suffered from a want of icomfcaroation. Jacobsen;, the Alexander ESrothors . and Avery were perhaps the pick

McLennan, the blue -full-back, feave a good display somewhat marred by a tendency to slowness on ' two or three occasions. Bvensen was- .eyir dently m his position as wing, ttireer quarter, and seems to have got ovec that feeling of hesitation he was wont to display .on .receiving the ball.. He made a couple, of dashes mi n great style, and ; scored on both occasions. ■ ->

Murphy at centre showed great promise, and ds likely to be .heard of m the near future. . . He is , youngthree yeairs- ago he Was playing fifthclass—but what he lacks an exper? ience he makes up for, m dush.

Sims Wilson, another prominent junior, played well, and made some nice openings at five-eighths, , but has a bad habit, when pnessedi of running back to get his kick m. Pdwnall, an ex-Wanganui rep., shaped nicely at half. The wing-forwards, O'Sulliva^ and Murray appear to be m great - .condition, and worried the opposing backs a great deal. „

Standen, late of Southern, played his first game with the blues, and proved a great acquisition, for besides his worth as a hooker he was all there when any l;oose work was going on. The way he took the ball on the line and scored his try stamps him as a tradesman.

Wilson also played a great game both on the line and m the loose, and although now playing m front of the scrum Ms work m the. open did not suffer.

Bell is a forward who puts his whole iSoul into t]ae game, and plays froih. start to finish. He should' catoh the selectors' eyes before the season is over. .

Baker, the giant ioi the team, narrowly missed scoring a couple of tries .. tumbling oVer the line with a swarm of whites on him. . McKeegan and Patterson, . two . prominent juniors,! justified their selection, and will take . some displacing. , Coming "to the ' Poneke-Melrose game, Charlie Slater shaped well for the red and Macks behind the scrum, getting m, a lot of solid work, and extricating h:is side out of many a tight comer. Skelly, late of Manawatu, played five-eighths, and showed up very well m .the first half of the game, the tw* ; tries secured by his team were due to his head work, as he cut m field, and passed just at the right,

time. He seemed to shirk 'the tight work m the second spell. Skelly waniis to Be able to find the line betjer ;With his kicks. . On Saturday's play Mitchinson is undoubtedly the making o! a champion, and he was easily the ■■ bos* back on N the ground. His clever <run, from which the red and black* scored,was equal to anything seen on the Park for years. The try. he scored himself was very pretty, and well appreciated by the public. Wallace did. his share of the graft welj, and the same remark, applies to the "other backs, with fbhe exception of tdie full-back. ' On the strength of that performance Mc-G-hte should take a rest op the bank. The Poneke forwards were, outclassed, and only shone out /in the loose work. Sam Abrams, pe/rhaps, being the most prominent. / Melrose forwards played their old safe game, and troubled Poneke all through the game. J. Spencer, was always on the ball, and was well seconded by .Dv Blois and Gilchrdst., iDu Blois' try was veiy well scored,, and reminded onlookers of Hardcastle's old days. ; \ Taken all round the Melrose forwards played a much better game than their opponents, biit their backs (with. the exeception of Geo. Spencer, who played splendidly although injured) were a vdry " poor lot, . and gave the . . forwards. ,., yfcry little assistance at any time. Peter Mackie/ handled the game fairly; , welL He ,made a good many mistakes. Af tet Vwatching ; the, ' rep. marches last . Reason it ; would be well to! remember that .'.local, -fpf^iirds seemed too slow for. any thing,, and it is about time, referees here woke up and encouraged fast following up instead of otherwise as was. the case when Slateir,; tried to take the ball from a high punt, and Melrose were penalised for, getting .down too quickly,, on Mttr. ;•'■'•■. 'At prie time during the game it .fce£ame:so interesting tKat Tom Hales, the Athletic touch judse, forgot his match and was watching .operations;, elsewhere ' s*b intently as to ■be reminded of the fact. : ■ ' The" Oriental v._ St. James match caused jip-'smair. amount' of interest, speculation being" rife as io how 1 the Jimmies would fare m v the senior rinks, 'if their game with .Oriea is to^.jbe' any criterion, the Jimmies haVe'xefta.inly taken, a step m., the right' direction. - - ; , . The Etariie itself ■[ was ' principally confined to • the forwards, but occassionally some very fair back play was, /shown by both teams. . St. James, assisted with the /wind, . had the ' better of the first spell, their fp^wa-rds playing with great cpmbijiatidn;' -repeatedly; brpVe away, with some fine dribbling rushes, Bruce, MoflElt and Wijghtqri generally lepdin& 'thejway. ' , ." . ' 'The Orientals have a very, heavy 'pack 1 , 'which to a big extent' gave them the game, ,as their .much fenter opponents' found the : , ; strain top much" for them, half way through, the second' spell, and went to pieces, pries m the meantime scoring tyirW tries, none of which were cbnvertied. After • that the Jimmies pulled themselves together again, and gave the Orientals. a good go, defending till time was called. .•■••. . Roberts was m e;reat form, stpi>pinc;., ; several good rushes m ( fina style. His/ try was a . brilliant'iudiyi dual effort. ,• He secured the' ;b?>U about half-way, -then . jwrited hisrh, " and followed up. He got possession again, beat several opponents, and scored right under the. posts'. ; . ; St. 'Jamas' backs /v are :a fast ..' lof, but all except Thomas are on the light side! George Warwick, St. James' wing three-auarter, was m g|66d form, and with a little more experience, should develop, .into oho of our best backs. . - . Cozens (half) had. a very heavy ■afternoon's work, but came out of the- ordeal "creditably. Thomas (fuUbackj luid a day but, and- I have never seen him give a better display, his fielding and kicking the ball w/is- first class. 'In Bruce the St. James possess a rattling good forward, a solid graftear m light work, and plenty of dash 1 In the pjpen. , r Taking everything into t consideration/the bpeming display- of St. Jarn^s was a very creditable one, and wiih one or two heavier forwards %o assist them they will give some ot the crack senior teams a veal good go.-:- • ■ ■■ : ■'. •■■■■;■..;■. ; One word m conclusion about- tlie 'grounds. They certainly were not m b. fit corwli'tion to play on. In fafct, a noumber of the players had to set to and fill up a 3ft square hole before the senior match, was played. . The clubs were given to understand at last Wednesday's meeting of the Union that the grounds would be ready for Saturday's matches. Several grounds ha d hei ther goal posts nor touch flags. . / The Rugby Union's officials or whoever is responsible for last Saturday's happenings deserve to be haul^ ed over the .coals for this business. It is; disgraceful that such a state of things should have existed. Thp Petpne team had a picnic with Wellington. The latter club went to meet the ' Suburban team with a good many new men and though they, scarcely hoped to beat the blacks they expected to put up a respectable defence. i The Petone forwards must have been a*bout a couple of stone heavier than the city men and after the first few minutes they did as they ;4iked with them; The and bladk scrum was outmanoeuvred by the clockwork combination of their redoubtable opponents and their backs had a hot time trying to stem the forward rushes of Gross, Byrne and company. Byrne played a fine game throughput and his -play m Saturday^ game recalled Ms brilliant efforts of last season. His kicking was very useful. ■ During the progress of the game

McGill received an injury to his Boulder when collared by Henrys. It is (f,uite possible that had he not been injured some of the WeUinfiton nien mip\ht have fared badly as MbGill was playing rather too vigorously. Wfith tile exception of Bvrne it would be difficult to single out the best of the Petoiie forwards as they all worked with splendid combination and seemed to have a thorough understanding with one another. Among the Petone backs, J. Ryan fend Barber stood out prominently, free former played a very solid game and did some Rood-. Roal kicking. With Kyari and Barber at hand the JPetorie team will not miss ■••the goal posts very often. The 'Wellington play does not call lot much conwnent. After their victory at Easter against the Christchurch Club it was thought that they would be aible to collect ». decent Senior team but Saturday's Kame reveals a weakness somewhere. Henrys and Carey certainly played well and the try tine' latter scored was well deserved. Henrys by a fine piece of work took the ball to the Petone line and when he overran it, the ever watchful Carey was "ttiero tjo fall on iJt and 5 completed the try. : \ 'Callum did not distinguish himself as a hooker but -of course there was bo. weight biehind him. The backs included Gollan of Dunedin, White of MarllborouHh and Cook of Taranaki, but none of them seemed to be over anxious to go down to the forward rushes. This is a .great test of a bapk and, when one , of them funks a Wrward rush he ought to act as line umpire. ' . , . Cook who was included m preference to Malfroy is not a brilliant half, but he may hot yet have struck form. His passing was very erratic. Last year the Wellingitonians had a different. senior team almost every week and this may m a measure have accounted for their, indifferent displays. What they need is a shrewd coach to pick out their most promising players and keep them together till they get combination. No .club should be anxious to import a ma£ for theij first team unless he is a real top-no tcher. The Petone Club opened very well on Saturday by notching about 150 joints among their different teams. fThev will evidently have a big say m deciding the championships. Chatting with G. S. Matthews who had his arm' broken at Christchurch that player informed me that he was getting on very well and hoped soon to be able to take his injured linvb out of the sling.' Matthews will .not however, be assisting his club again this season. Charlie Manson was out at Petone on Saturday, and rumor has it that he intends to don 'the jersey aigain and ; teach the yellow vanguard the gentle art. The Petone Club suffered a severe loss as regards its back players ; but 5t looks as, if their forwards are m better trim "than ever. When this club meets Meirose and Pqneke the games shojild be worth watching.