Southland v. Otago.

Otago Witness, Issue 1865, 19 August 1887, Page 27

Southland v. Otago.

In 1885 and 1886 some dissatisfaction was felt in Southland at the non-inclusion in the Otago representative teams of some of the Southland players. Whether the dissatisfaction was justifiable or not is |an open question, but there can be no doubt that the distance between Dunedin and Invercargiil was too great to allow of play of the Southland men being fairly gauged by the match committee of the 0.R.F.U., and it was suggested that the best way out of the difficulty would be for the Southland clubs to form a Rugby Union and play matches with Otago. In Dunedin the proposal was rather favourably than •therwise received, and when at the beginning of the present season the idea took practical shape in the association of the Invercargiil, the Star, the Invercargiil Pirates, the River ton, and Gore clubs, under the title of the Southland Rugby Football Union, there was not a footballer in Dunedin but felt that a satisfactory solution had been found for a considerable difficulty. The desired end having been attained, the O.R.F.U. at once put itself in communication with its offshoot with a view to arranging for a match in Dunedin this year, thus ensuring an interprovincial match in Dunedin every year. After a little parleying Southland agreed, if possible, to send a team to Dunedin and open what it is to be hoped will be a long series of interesting contests. The great difficulty with all young societies, want of funds, was, by the energy and determination of some enthusiasts, at last overcome, and the first Southland team made its introduction to an Otago crowd on the Caledonian ground on Saturday afternoon. Although the weather was bitterly cold and wet, the crowd numbered between 2000 and 3000, and took the greatest interest in all points of the play during the afternoon. The teams were as follow: —

Southland : Full back — Lillicrap ; three-quarters — Lee, Hawke, and Wallis ; halves— Tapper, and Cuff; forwards— Ekensteen, Morgan, Galbraith, Mentiplay, Harper, M'Bobie, Hutchison, M'Naughton, and Jenkins. Otago : Full back — D Fraser; threequarters—Bee, Millar, and Keogh ; halves — Thomson, Fraser, and Hunter; forwards— Beck, Diamond, Drabble, Gibson, M'Farlane, Martin, and Morris.

Morgan skippered the visitors, and ' Hunter the home team, and the latter winning the toss elected to play with the wind. Morgan kicked off in the middle of a regular squall, and play at once centred in the visitors' quarters. A quick rush by the Blue forwards led to Diamond getting across the Colours' line five minutes after the kick off. Thomson took the place, but the state of the, ground and the ball put accurate

place kicking quite out of the question; and although Thomson made a good attempt no one was surprised to see the ball go outside of the posts. The ball was' soon in play again, and the Colours rallied for a time, and by some smart play on the "part of Galbraith, Ekensteen, and Mentiplay, shifted the ball towards neutral territory. * Some fine dribbling rushes by the Blues, forwards, in which Isaacs, Morris, and Gibson were particularly, noticeable, brought the leather back again, and Lee distinguished himself by a smart run along the touch line. Fraser and Thomson were closely watched by Cuff and Tapper, the latter especially being very active ; but, despite this, .both got away on, several occasions and gained lots of ground for tho Blues. ' Again the Colours' got the . ball oat of danger by their good, defensive play, and then Millet got a mark near the twenty-five line, but nothing came of it bar a force down. Southland was twice forced down in quick succession, and, thereafter, following up the kick out smartly, looked dangerous, but Bee stooped the rush in • good style. Lee again, was loudy , applauded for his fine' tackling, Miller being the one to find out the power of his hug. Hunter made a neat run, finishing up with a smart punt into touch, and the Blues' forwards did some good foot passing across the field, which' led' to Keogh scoring the second try for the Blues close to the touch in goal dag. Thomson was again unsuccessful in the place kick, and from the kick out till half-time the ball was hardly ever out of the Colours' twenty-five. Half-time was called, and the Colours got the wind with them. In the second spell the Blues altered their tactics a little, and screwing the scrum and playing much more loosely, kept the Colours for by far the greater part of the spell entirely on the defensive. , Thomson was, the first to show up with a fine run, and Lee returned the compliment. Gibson then broke away from a loose scrum, and finding an opponent on the ground in front of him, showed his agility by clearing the said opponent at a bound, and looked exceedingly like scoring till Hawke got on the ball. Fraser, who had been very busy all the afternoon and was playing in rare form, tried a punt at close quarters. The ball failed to rise, and the Colours' forwards, notably Morgan, Ekensteen, and M'Naughton, were away with it in an instant. Hunter stopped the rush, ! and sent the ball into touch. Martin, who was j conspicuous throughout the game in the line out,' then got away, but again the defence of the Colours was good, Wallis collaring his man in fine style. Theßlues,however,werenotto be denied, and gradually but surely drove the Colours back, Thomson finally bringing down the house by dropping a goal in grand style. The ball was again kicked off, and was once more rushed down to the Colours' line, where Fraser made one of his smart dashes and got across, not, however, before two of the Colours' backs had got their arms round him. A very short maul onsued, but Eraser cleverly wriggled the ball on to the ground, thus bringing the Otago score up to six points, at which it stood when time was called, for although the Colours did once afterwards invade the Blues' territory, ' and even forced them down, the advantage was only momentary, and the game finally ended as above. A more detailed description of the play would, from the nature of the game, prove tiresome, as it may be described ■ briefly as consisting of a series of loose dribbling rushes by the forwards, relieved by smart running and collaring on the part of the backs. Kicking and passing were at a .discount, and even picking up after 10 minutes' play was very uncertain. The forwards had a day out, and although the Blues were a man less in the scrum, they quite held their own once they dropped to the correct game for such a day — viz., screwing the scrum, hard kicking, and quick following up. Large as the score was, it would have been much larger had the Blue forwards instead of packing the scrum in the first spell done what they did iv the second. The spectators were very impartial in their applause, and any bit of good play by the Southland team was especially cheered. No one will deny that the Southlanders played a very fine defensive game, and in the matter of tackling their backs excelled the Otago men. Lee is especially good in this department of the game, the way in which he floored Millar marking him at once as a tackier of the right stamp. Wallis, the flyer, is also a good man, but might have done more for his side had he been, as the funuy man of the Otago team put it, a " swimmer." In Cuff and Tapper Southland has a pair of half backs who, with practice, ought to turn out first-class men. Cuff has the reputation of being the better of tho two, but Tapper was certainly the most active and useful on Saturday. The visitors' forwards play a hard game, but would be altogether out of it on a hard, dry ground, as their pace is by no means equal to their weight. They also lack experience, which of course is ,a considerable handicap. Ekensteen, Morgan, Mentiplay, Jenkins, and M'Naughton were about the best men as far as could be judged by the afternoon's play. The Otago forwards all played well, and would they only learn to rely less on their backs and more on themselves, and further, to get round the scrum in quicker time, would be hard to beat. The backs also played in fine style, mistakes being few and far between. They will doubtless give a good account of themselves against their Northern foes. The match was played in the very best spirit, the umpires (Messrs Colbeck and Wyinks) and the referee (Mr Allan) having but little to do.