Championship Matches.

NZ Truth, Issue 100, 18 May 1907, Page 2

Championship Matches.

, The match that caught the public eye on Saturday last was that between Oriental and Petone at the Athletic Park, where about 4006 spectators were rewarded with seeing a desperately fought out and fast tussle, yd which the honors, back and forward, rested with the suburban combination. As far as weather was ooncerned the' conditions . were excellent, but th'e.raaa wihdeh toad fa 1 ten earlier _m the week made the turf heavy t and the rearguards were handicapped to some extent. . It was a hard,-, robust same ..all through, and scintillated- with . scientific tit-bij;s. w The r Psotfe teattL^if played the best polish., and dempntftatj qn" v tlji;.-, afileraiQjpty.'s fo. rm. . it ' must v . 'be a&#i.n „ seriously considered, for premiership honors. . J ...With the material, fhe'y iaye now m .lia'ad, .^he, ,,-. champions . piust ' future .opponents -,a goodl dusting. Ops., or two..sjighf change's m thje back division would still furtihe* enhance .. their attacking power. Resinning with the forward divisioas, Petone was the better and cleverer . brigade. The black scrummakers were a fine class of rushers', being iquick .m booting the bsill through _ and on to Roberts, wio was paid ssto t much attention, ,and bustled so often, as to. leave him no shiniwg ohiaaees whatever to britag his attack into execution. The sftftorba/h forwards were solid from u^e Jymp, they worked m uinison m, the loose, and their display was. an incentive to equally-efiect-ive Tyork amongst the back division. Their qiiiick breaking tactics muzzled those behind the "Orie" pack. The slackness of the Petoneites blocking fob'e w«hi)te fiv©^eJybt»hs 'aiadi desitraying the effectiveness of the whole Oriental machinery m unpronounceaible manner on very many occasions. Petpne's hookers beat their vis T avis badly for possession, and Ryan and Green got the ball going amonKst thpse behind them m good style, Barber and Reed, m particular, leading the "Ories" a merry dance to stop their progress. A little more headwork as between the black, three-quarters would possibly have assisted m piling on more points to their side's credit. The Petone backs were nippy and each m his position did valuable work. They were better organised than Oriental's rearguard to stand the shock of the forward rushes. They defended well and surely, the stopping, with very few exceptions, being faultless. All made excellent use of the touch-line, m defence, and when attack happened their way they succeeded m covering stretches of valuable territory by doing the correct thing at the opportune moment. To their energy was added smartness, sureness, and celerity, and the chances were eagerly seized on, though, as mentioned before, a more perfect sys;tem of telepafchetic oommundca<tion an the three-xjuarter line would have extended the blacks operations m a wider sphere. This defect was the one thing wanting to bring about those quick enveloping movements, so necessary to ensure complete success. At times, often, m fact, Green, Ryan and Barber exhibited a fine combination, 2nd the work of each player dovetailed lvicelv m the ' attacking moves set m operatidn. The soundness of the Petone reargiuard surprised me, each man playing splendidly up to one another, and moving; ciuickex and faster on the heavy turf than one might reasonably expect to see. Their tackling was excellent,- the opponent being downed m tiue Rugby style with a deadly low tackle. From the jump they swung into rattling, all-round form that must have been as pleas-

ing as. it was surprising to, their opponents. The Oriantal . scrumjaajjor* B^SSO^ i*. ha£s wE»i*«* tie Diaoi: M@pHk but .were us* hie t» o*^qu»t theft bull-ruabifK, *»*&«£ aa^ ia&ngUrtKS&e easla-UffhiK •! ike suburban o«t».fcißa,M#n. Wie» the '•Onfe" p*ckm.e» i»un<d the o#po*itio» to» swift and deadly it would have paid them when they did get possession to have held the ball and screwed off with it, more especially as the black brigade was not devoting too much attention to solidity m the tight. When the play was driven, into Petone territory, the Oriental forwards exhibited top much anxiety to break up the, scrum and come away wit& ..a loose rush. wMch the sure Stbp'piftg of ttfose behind the Petone pack effectually checked. More headwork and craftier generalship might have meant an extra try or two to the white's credit. Another thing I noticed was that whenever the I bal came out of a bunch of Petone forwards there was a ihtoot reaidv ; to send it along without hesitation, and a good area of pxbtlD'd was invariably gained, by a practical demonstration of prompt action. . In the case of the "Ories" there wgs considerable ,, a r mong the players when using th'eu: feet m the dribibling rush, and ,the sequence was, generally speaking, wasted energy; and the confiscation of valuable ground. And, . again, there was a want of cohesion m the "Ories" ranks, a weakness of pushing power being apparent on the right flank of the scrum. As contrasted with. Petone's showing the following-up was often lethargic. Greater keenness m this department m'igjlt have crippled the efforts of Green,' Ryan, Barber and Co. .On /the., otji-^r hand the black's rapid fallowing did great damages, ,£o the Oriental rearguard, the former smothering their opponents before they could, get their Icick m. .. w , When the ball did happen to come to Roberts his confreres, Anderson and. Madden, . were' tcfo slow m getting the others moving; and the Petone side were down on them m g tnvinklirog. On the last few displays, Roberts has a task ahead of him m building up a more substantial comfbinatio© ibletween the two divisions. ....,'.. . The white rearguard altogether failed" to play up to its forwards when the tall came their way, arid the attack was. never thoroughly sound, /whilst tie. defence was weak at many points. There was not enough expertness or keenness amongst the. whites, save Roberts, and the bally was far. from bein,g handled with the cleanness and sureness arid accuracy of those on the other side. BdMeri-tly tihe "Orie's" back division wants, a . lot of leavening to make it a formidable factor for success iii the . engagements tp eventuate. : , T$S OrieTitai ti JiaSiffe five-eightJis^ £im£fs jjut of iriumfer,- d"fs"re£ardeil iM fitbt a . ffi|t %• w&f.. ! hlng« iffiM f&ibß. the ishjM of We bscfe $S&y, d#endeS. By failing to. mix .his piaV by high ipunts and follow up, . tne'ri the. quick pass and running round to 'tste i jfftie pas's, afro", lastly, the tigerish spurt; a<nytihi'no\ m fact, which, would, tend to 'upset the ; calculations of oitponents, he 'to a very greit't extent' played into the hand's of the su'boirljaiti fingers and. backs. . Anderson failed to work both sides of his scr um. .wjhen'j Oriental was -in a strong attacking position 1 m the 5.e00n.3 spell, and he thjew away two rosy opportunities x>f> gtettlng! 1 across the Petone chalkmark by falHn's to utilise the blind side with tlie co-opera-tion of Roberts and his wing-three-quarter. . ... Tq Anderson I niight al^o commend the suggestion laid down by an old-time colonial rep. player, tfiat an attacking move that, might well repay its experiment, is for him to stand pn the, open side, get the ball from Roberts arid iiien shoot it across to the "silly" . side where Madden, or his wing, with the least pretentions to celerity and slickness would be at the line tefore their opponents grasped the situation. Taking stock of Saturday's proceedings I am coriv need that had the movement been engineered m this game, when the whites were penning Petone on its goal-1 ne, from the position of Ryan, Green, and Hardham at tin moment, it must have been productive of a score. With' Roberts hustled so often by the Petone winders and forwards the "All Black" had few shows of slinging the. ball amongst those behind him, but there were occasions when the whites had the chance of distinguishing! 'themselves, but they failed to rise to t Q e occasion Perbaps the fact that many of the Orie backs don't know too much about the fine and Iricky points of the game makes it harder for Roberts to get effective combination out of them. When all the men m a, division are thoroughly conversani; with eacb> other's tactical rocTei, &s m the case of the "All Blaoks" I combination, it is quite easy and spells' success. . Roberts finds the difference between working' an Oriental rear?cuard and playing to men of th# stamp of "Dunk" McGregor, Billy; Wallace, George Smith and company. Some fairly good individual form was exhibited iiy the white's backs,, but their methods had little or no variation or effectiveness. ,M. Ryan played capitally as. fullback for Pet one, his takinc, kicking and stopping being characterised by expertness, force and soundness, and resolution zmd sureness. Mick was cool all ohrou'gh, and defended splendidly. . ' The suburban three-quarter line, exhibited plenty of sDeed,an r l showed neat conibinatioii. Their handlirie; of the leather was perfect, and their giving and receiving of passes Was marked by celerity and accuracy. Their defence was flawless, Barber and Re:d doing capital work m th* stopping" department. Each showed great dash, Reed bringing ofi . somo'

capital- bursts. .Hwnlhaui, who left his old post oh the edge of the scrum to take up v more responsible , position . as wing-threequarter came out of the ordeal with flying tolprs, and Jus try, which was the result of #-'a '■. tigerish dash through the . "Ori«" bftcks, and neatly potted l jroal, loaded . him , with honors- j Thouj^i not apparently conversant , with' the numerous intricacies which ! KO hand m liaivd I ' with a wing-three-Aruarter's- Work, the Petone skipper nevertheless , had reason to shake hands with himself en his afteriioon?s' work'- ", JUed has 'to learn the wisdom of ; -adop'tiflg, m attack, the punt across i?he' tfleid,' in'a' d^a^<jnai line, a line of Rctiqp.' which' can also be executed with ' profitable results m the case of himself and his other wing acting .m ' concert with another. When the Oriental centre and wings were getting but of pqs tion m their own territory, as they often did on Sat- - urday, Reed would have found it a ■tactical success to have followed the aboVe advice. Barber, an^l Reeid did some fine touch-line kickiujj and thereby assisted to conswve the energy of their forwards. When dodging I noticed 'Jimmy, moved forward smartly all the time, which ' >went to show that his ccnilition is much improved from a training view-point. J. Ryan (five-eighth) and Green lehind the scrum played into one another's hafiils.^with mathematical accuracy. Both.wtre sharp m attack nndi 1 : solid /iia\^«fence;. They paid the proper, 9"bteirtiQ,n • to those behind them >nd / ejo'sely shepherded the opposing comjjuliiation. Both repeatedly took advantage af the slowness - displayed fey, -the ►other 'side and interp^)tfed.their'passes m great style-. JThey op«a*4 up the play Quickly *nd»fiectiT«ly; *nd Green made some beautiful opaoin^s; whilst, he paid close h.ee4 "t© %h». whereabouts of his r,om.radss .wh-«i the play ' got into Orientals tejiitorv. The little fellow always wlijpped. Ihe b,all out smart-, 'ly ' -from .-.the scrum. He would, how- ; ev£r, ha^e -had more chances of en■g:neering the ball if he had stood ; up closer i 6 the. line-out. All the Macl: packmen bunged it m v;ith a rigrht good will- Where every • man .played up to the knocker it would be "unlair to ' sppcialise any one ; for exce^tfoii'Hl ' distiaction- . Tom • Cress andW.'Bumper" Wright grafted like deinojUi. and so did' all, for the matter of that. They were fine toilers m. either the loose or tight. ,Their t^dy-'like following up was a greai feature. The tackling was un--.erxingly sure and t deadly. Hi^het- was sojnewh'at ;ia:j l! .abl^, tho-ii^h ive d-d some ; neat and quick saving WQrk. I-tis Icicking lacked force', and "his $elding was not the personifica&oii. oi cer faulty : The display of tlie. t,hre£-i(fuarier line was not one to enthuse over, comb nation' being .anahsent q,uantity, whilst the -attacking m,ovements lacked- skill and acfeivenss.s. It was difncult, somehpw' to jcet*'^the . threenjuarters ttancing along .m the try-getting line even wiifa that chance came their way. at inttrvalg. Their handline; was on tho weak side, and the touch-line kicking was neither forceful nox accurate. ' As fat as five-eighths were conserneA • ikzy were altogether on tlt9 slo,w #i#, Vand failed to get Xhass iv&i&A ihexn ROjng before the Uplfeons ro£fc w«re down^ pnthe-m. JMiy wotft&i; ojx np system what- ■ ev»r, <aad "w*at- o ' lot of shaking up. ; T-heir slotltfulnesi! enabled Tynne and JPhlllips to worry them right through !the earns, ' / Rebates did fc«Bl> s of saving work, atid his "«jvu.clc punts extricated his • side froxa.' danger m several instances. ' With forwards breaking quickly, on top of-iiiiQ,- f^w chances of getting the ball from the scrum, and an unslcilful set of Iwicks to play to the , ''Ajd "Black'*' •' exj^erieiices were not enviajjle- Dash and pluck are of no avail unless your confreres are a bit dashy and classy. ■ Freddy was closely marked and muzzled from start ,to no-side. ' LUe, Mamiiton, . Gillespie and Baskiville appeared to" be the most ccnspi<suous grajEt.ers m the white vanpuard. -GoUertpn m-ars his usefulness 'by reckless exhibitions m the open, which 'do more damage to his side than "*to Jthe other team. Heenan was tp tne fore repeatedly, but wells seemingly had a poor conception .of his duties on the edge of the jcrum. v . \ ; Mick Ryan had two fine' hut resultJess shots at "Qries" goal m the first- spell, the ball just going under •the.bar from >a halfway "boot", the Beco-nd time/ • Before the teams crossed over,. G-reen set the ball m motion from the ; scrum, ahd after It passed /through the hands of Har-d-Kam", Barber, ;Reed, and then back to B?r-fer r the i^tte^ racing over the , dmlk-mark amidst hearty hand-clap- | pinir. It w<is a- prettily executed piece of concerted passing, the movements bei^' conducted with clockwork accuracy and nicely timed. -Early m .the first spell Phillips 'throw away- a cert try by booting the leather • too hard over the ohalk-

mai-k. ...... v. ■ ! After Loathing time Billy Hard- j ham .cartel-" a Jiame for himself by scoring a try . in> great sMe. _ A strc-n? Petone forward rush carried The play well into Oriental territ?rv, wJlete :% . scrum was formed, oEd th? hall heeled out smartiv to fil-if en who cleverly beat Roberts, .then sent the leather' t 0 J- j Ryan, who came, up at top, mad* a nice, opening for Hardham, and then at tho psvchologieja.l moment gave it to bis stopper, who went at a terrific ljat for the povcted challcmark. J^nflin!?. himself blocked on. the line, •Harhhnm made a 'terrific dive, and • the- hall. The "Ories," however, cried tbat the Petone man W3S -rolled oserw^dle m tbe act of !t-oyrfei;us .! dovn, wfctte , spjne of Hie sr/ertjutpf s • Qlose : feandy assert that Itwae tnu.ch-fln-^oal. Anyhpw.it was •p. close iMn-sr, and the refpree gave Petone the benefit of the douht. In any case the score could easilvhave been prevented had the Oriental cen-fre-tiij-een'iiartprs and wing understood ep/li- other. "Oinrer." Conerton 'first missed putting 3 try t^ his credit by' being JuirnPf l^. into .tpuob at the cor n cr 'f n g. - "Ha ; ii ' hiis^' tf)P "p-ipce," been screwed on I'hP riirbt' way.;.Conerton would Tiave eupnVed the 'Petone man". before h° ept tl.iß't ."lio-ni're on. , Theresas tkrific cheerin?: from^'ie rr^wH .whose stmrfothies vere plninlv with. Oriental >Ik?n Roberts sent, the Ipaisier over. Hlm? 1 rro^s-J)a.r, and it waP in^re-'Sfd H f flW m-voluinp wlivn 'J RVpr ' f -.rT-i «./! to newt a hiirh ireturn, a.'nd following; im. witii greyhound speed, ffot it

iv his -clutches, and went over under the posts, Roberts adding the major paints. Baskiville's promptness and agility deserved its reward. It was a lucky try all the same.

With a two-points lead Oriental " made terrific, efforts to. maintain dts ' ' advantage, but the champions set j their teeth, and the* forward brigade : , ?evting on a great rusfc ' had the , ! whites fighting desperately to 'retain their laurels. The unexpected happened, however, and thie hopes of the "Dries" supporters were rudely , shattered when Green ';' popped" '. the ball to HarJham, who saghtedi the ranrc, and then pelted a "bonser' ? goal. It reminded- one of Billy Hardcasfele?s feat on that historic afternoon at Carishrook m 1897, when the ''Butchers' Team" scattered the expectations of Ot-aso's elected. There was quite \an epidemic, m tho potting line on Petone's side. There were some o£ the decisions of -referee Connell I disagreed with, and Ms interpretation », of the knock-on is to my mind entirely wrong. He is, however, not the only member of the whistling brigade : by a long chalk whose 'reading of vthis rule is very questionable. Deliberately illegal interference was again rampant, though m many cases so cleverly covered over as to almost escape detection. Pctone was • a great offendcir m this respect, and the sending off of the chief- delinquents for a spall r might improve matters to a very desirable extent. The e;amo was very willing at ; stages— lairly rou:% «n fact. Tom i Cross vi'as putting m plenty of vigor, and so was another .black forward, whose "dial" I could not catch sipht of. Their methods, how- ; ever, were legitimate, m my opinion, ■ and did not offend the canons of rugby. Tlitere was absolutely no excuse . for the screeching of the spectators ■ who made a dead set- against cor- j tain players from Pctonelartf. s The St. James-Athletic result came as a surprise to most followers of the game, although ; there were a few who expected the younger club would make the pace a hot one, j •and give their opponents a good) go. The boys were" m ?:reat nick, j ulaving with fjoorf combination thoroughly deserved to win.' Play during the, first speld wais wholly m favour of the athletics, wh 0 securedi the ball from every, scrum, ar.d plavrel their Tacks for all they : were worth, but the tackling of. 'the! ycift's was so good that their lime was only crossed twice- ". After the interval the game turned round completely, St. James taking, charge, and keeping athletic ..on; defence. Harry Roberts, the boys.' j coa-h, had been among them- 'during' tjhe 'Uieatlving space,, and re-ar raided ; their tactics. They harassed .the | ■blue Ij-acxs, snd took advantage of;* every little opening, and as a result; soon had the older players m dijincul" ties. ' ' After a time the blues lost their fceads, and neglecting all precau- | tions simply played- into their] opponents' hands. None, .of their i l;ao!i:s could ftnd the line or take a T.»ass ; as their opponents were kickvp;?; into i touoh, and gaining ground with e'v- j cry attempt the t-lue forwards were run off their feet. .- • Thomas, the St. James full back, pHye-d a great game, : kicfon;.-; . and , fielding well- ,No fault cqiild "be found with his defensive work, though he j had but little to do- ' i • Ferguson, at ccn'tre-thrcssonarter, | was the best d the fc^cks. He is \ very, fast, handles .the ball well, ca^ 1 tackle, and) uses his head. One of jhis tries ' was a fine individual piece of play. Crowes and Warwick also playc-d well, ljut suffered from comparison with Ferguson. Roberts, at five-eighth, has plenty of pace, and did his share of line-' sporting, but had no chance ,of showing what he Could do m the f>eoring line. Couzins, at half, was called upon to do .a grt ; at deal of, defensive work in' the first half, and fiat through the ordeal very we'll. Where" all played so vreil it would fe perhaps unfair to single out the forwards for remark. They were playing together wi-ili a system, and sank their individuality. In the loose Bruce must, however, be singled out fo( his gocd *vork. McLennan, the blue full, had a day off, and as he received no assistance from the other backs his side was let down. Murphy, at centre, could not foot it with O'Meara, and missod several chances of scoring m the first spell. •'.■.' O'Meara, the five-eighth, was watched too closely, but m the first spell he managed to make some fine openings. In the latter part of. the game, he received a knock on an injured shoulder, and was . unable to take the ball. The half, Pownall managed to feed his backs well, but showed very bad. judgment when the tide turned against his ' team. Had he Iplayed the blind : side occasionally to draw the • opposition away from O'Meara, kicked for touch he might have been able to stem the tide, of defeat. The forwards played well, but m th' 3 second spell were not supported, and any ground they made was'immediately lest fey t'.ic backs. This, combtinod ' with the heaw -ground, to o k all the dash out of. them towards the end of the game. f The ground on which the PonekeOld Boys match was* played was practically uuder water at tha South end, and thus the hall became very greasy shortly after the commencement . The play was confined mainly to v th'e forwards. The Old Boys hooked the ball very freouently, but the superior weight of the red forwards enabled them' to keep the ex-Collegians almost continuously on the . defence. . . : The Poneke backs, wdth the exception of Wallace, did not. appear to be looking for work. Slater got through some good line kicking, tout the greasy ball .puzzled him on one or two occasions. -.-..; Skelley . played. " a, . solid game and struck me as .being very safe throughout. He is a trifle slow, but does not get flurried.. Mitchinson had practically no work. Wallace was not able to get old of the ball too frequently, but on one or two occasions he. dashed into it, and' made the Old Boys' forwards wake up. At one time m the second spell he dribbled the ball from his own ■ twenty-five, ' And took' it right over the line, the full Track Saving wdth a lucky kick over the dead ball line. Among the Poneke vanguard .; Abrim w.i's. the most prominent, ljl| t . ; the state of the ground seriously b handicapped both packs, a.ad at times

it was difficult to locate the ball among vfae 'splashing. A very played a line game for the Old Boys, He was continually at the head of the loos© rushes, and it was by .fais efforta %h&% the line was cleared over and over again. Jordan and Alexander were responsible for some good work also, 'both m and out of the scrum. I' he play of .the Old Boys lacked finish. On one or two occasions they essayed passing, Iwt were always .jammed on the touchline. Johnson and Dawsion made one or two runs, but the former .has a lot to learn about defence. . Wellington met and defeated Victoria College ; by three points, but the play was uninteresting. A word of criticism, however, may be appreciated by the teams. The grou n d on which this fixture was decided was mountainous/but dry. The yellow and blacks started oft well, and kept well ' on the attack, but their chances of scoring were spoilt by selfish forward) play and weak backs. Once or twice the green men attacked m ROod style, and it would have been no surprise had they seined and maintained an advantage. ■ ' Bogle did . not do as well as I expected him to do 1 , but his kicking was good. The other backs all showed inexperience, bu,t there was something approaching combination m their play. There is . a deal of. pace among the. three-quarters, but there is more brains required. GoodLehere had more than, one opening given him which he took no advantage of. The College pack was decidedly weaker than the Wellington <;ne, but as L say the play of the Wellingt onions was selfish. Gullan, centrpthree-ouarter, and Henrys, wing 'forward, wore the two best men m- the field. n 'he former did some splendid kicking and played a good defensive game, but his passing was poor. On Satur-' day's play, however, he is a longway the best of .the Wellington backs. The wing three-quarters plixy]ed wretchedly', and the lull hack j should learn to take the ball on the I full. Carey was not sound at' half, but he d'^d good work when altered to the wingi ■ Henrys : played a pood game t'hxoughout. As a wing forward ho is ycry proficient. He kicks a«id tackles like, a back, and m adidition "to smothering the half on one or two occasions he also made one or two good openings. . Barclay <Md some good work, "but Iheis a decided vamper. Broc.Vett 'was \}\n best grafteir m the scrum- ! mi-vx division. j The College 'hookers sent the ball j out very cleanly early m t'4e f^aiim, 1 but they -.vero beaten very often m lithe second spell.

Fce.(eren Sieyers awarded nurowrous fres kicks, tut the place-kicking on both sides was very poor.