MELROSE 13 v. SOUTHERN 6.

NZ Truth, Issue 215, 7 August 1909, Page 3

MELROSE 13 v. SOUTHERN 6.

Petone ground, on which this match was played, was m very bad condition. It was very sloppy, and there were pools of water m several parts of the ground, the west end being the worst. The game was a battle between the forwards, and the Red and Blues were lucky to win the toss, as they played with the wind and sun behind them. Melrose forwards kept Southern penned m its own ground nearly the whole spell. Marshall,' Murphy and King scored, Fraser converting two. In the second spell Southerns set up a strong attack and Taylor and Les Campbell scored, several other attempts failing by inches. An unpleasant feature of the game was the great amount of talking indulged m, a Melrose forward being the worst offender, keeping at it from start to finish. He also had a tendency to play unnecessarily hard. Marshall, Murphy and Fraser played good games . for Melrose. Fraser's linekicking was splendid. King was the best of the forwards. He played a good clean game, and this cannot be said of some of the other forwards. . Mitchell and Taylor were the best of the Southern backs. Taylor's try was a very clever one. All the Southern forwards played well arid it is a pity they do not receive more support from their backs. Houlihan's hooking was splendid, he getting the ball m nearly every scrum; Leahy and Les Campbell were very conspicuous for fine work.