The British Football Team

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 8562, 17 August 1904, Page 4

The British Football Team

By Telegraph. New Plymouth, Angnst_l6. The following are the teams picked: Full back—Fookea; three-qaartere—Thon- ] son, Stalker, Abbott; five-eighths— Mynott; half—Frewin; wings—'Guy, Glasgow; forwards M'Minn, Wilson, O'Sullivan, Glenn, B. E. Douglas, G. Douglas, M'Kay. Britain: Full back— Stanger-Leathes; three-quarters —O'Brien, Gabe, Llewellyn, M'Evedy; halves—Vile, Bush; forwards—Rogers, Traill, Dobson, Edwards, Bevan, Swannell, Harding, Crowthcr. The weather now promises to be fair, and a record attendance is expected. The town to-night is full already. Auckland, August 16. The Auckland team to play the Britishers on Saturday will be as under: Full back—Harrison; three-quarters— Renwick, Murray, M'Gregor, M'Kcnzie; halves— Wood, Gallagher, Kiernan; forwards— Tvler, Mackrell, Cunningham, Seeling, Nicholson, Hayward, Joyce. M'Gregor, though on the three-quarter line, will in a measure act as five-eightlis, and Gallagher will have a roving commission, working between wing and half half-back.

THE NEW ZEALAND MATCH, i (Lyttelton Times Correspondent.) i Wellington, August 13. MTvenzie, celebrated in foOLuall circles ' as "Ulfside Mac," and a recognised expert, s; ,y 3 .—No forward team taking the field for the first time could have played better than the New Zealanders. The scrum was packed like a phalanx. They were never pushed, and, bending lower than the British, they frequently forced them to the perpendicular, and obtained possession of the ball three out of four times, and when they did not, twice out of four times tho British halves were swamped by Gallagher. There was no cohesion in the British scrum, and the "triple front" forma- . tion received its death blow. The custom of the outside British forwards is to advance a leg when the ball is going into : the scrum, to '"cut the opponents' leg out," the leather naturally finding itself behind 1 the Englishman, or" rebounding from him into the field. To allow the player to prepare himself, the British h:ilf stood well away from the scrum, buwicd the ball, and sometimes threw it like a catapult. At those times the British front-rankers would withdraw their legs, and the leather would pitch clean through the scrum towards the tricky Bush, who was waiting on the other side," but Gallagher, standing nearer the scrum tlian the Welsh wonder, immediately bolted off with the ball. The business with the leg was also knocked on the head. On whichever side of the scrum the ball was being placed, the New Zealand flank front-ranker countered with the limb of the Englishman. Thus a ball fairly within the centre of the scrum was hook'ed and passed to Fanning, who held the front-rankers like a vyee. Then the forwards heeled it back to Harvey, or screwed the scrum as required. The British pack did not screw at all; the formation of the scrum was against it. They wheeled. Their front-rankers remained stationary, and as the rear portion of tho scrum was ragged, the New Zealand wing forward had little difficulty in rendering the movement useless. Sometimes the visitors played four men in the front row, the idea being that a thinner forward line between their opponents and their backs would be better for them. This is a Welsh system, and sacrifices everything for the glorification of the backs. In the loose play the New Zealand forwards were all in evidence at different times. Only once or twice did they flag, and they finished stronger than they started. The British had no chance against them on the line-out, where Cress, Gallagher, Fanning, and Glenn were continually prominent. New Zealand made 1 it more of a forward game in the second half, but whenever its forwards were near the British line they never forgot the greyhounds behind them. The last try scored by M'Gregor from a loose attack initiated by Gallagher and Nicholson stemps those players as marvels. They swept the ball from a wild dribbling charge beneath the noses of Gabe and Llewellyn, but towards the wing. M"T're~or°s effort, going at fall speed, with the ball lobbed somewhere near his ear, allows him to challenge any as the fir:":', -ttarlcing threequarter in New Zealand. The British team did not play up to expectations. Their backs were disappointing and their forwards crude. Their tricks were old. so old that they had "been forgotten by New Zealanders or wiped out by penalties inflicted by long-suffering referees, who disliked being "got at." It is not meant that New Zealand can learn nothing from Britain. Morgan, M'Evedy, and O'Brien tackle magnificently, and Vile showed Spartan pluck in opposing the wolfish attacks of Cross, Fanning, and Glenn. As drop-kicks, Bush and O'Brien are the finest seen in the colony. A cold shudder ran down the spines of the crowd when Bush and O'Brien unconcernedly dropped at goal from half-way, the ball in each case falling dangerously near the bar. Once it went into touch in goal, and in the other case wes forced, the only time during the game. For the purpose of increasing their defence against the wind, Britain, in the first spell, played Harding as an extra back. Tfarding was shifted forward in the second half. This led Sivright to the opinion that his men would ultimately win easily. '"You've lost nine points," said one of the Britishers to Duncan; "we've got yn« now r\nd we'll beat your forwards now we have Harding." "Go on," replied th<? '"teran, with optimistic calmness, "oyr forwards have not yet started playing." Duncan was right. After the interval the New Zealand forwards played harder than ever, and the smooth-skinned Brit "sh forwards were no match for them. This led the visitors to say that when the New Zen, land team visits Britain it will be opposed by coal-miners, especially selected for the purpose. Remarked Swannell to Cross. "You will be killed." hnt Cross laughed at him. The greatest forwards in England are the Yorkshire miners.