THE ENGLISH FOOTBALLERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1904, 18 May 1888, Page 26

THE ENGLISH FOOTBALLERS.

THE MATCH AT WELLINGTON. , Wellington, May 12. The fifth match of the English tour was played on the Basin Reserve this afternoon in the presence of between 6000 and 7000 people. The weather was fine and warm and the ground' in capital condition, despite the morning's rain. The Wellington men were arrayed in black, the visitors in their usual colours, and the men wore badges with numbers, though some of the Englishmen forgot to put them on. King captained the local team, and lost the toss. Warbrick was finally played at three-quarter and Gage at full back. The umpires were Williams and Nicholis; referee, Knapp.' It may be said at once that the match, especially to those who had witnessed the Southern games, was very disappointing, owing to the excellent collaring and interminable appeals to the umpires. Scrummages were so frequent as to obscure the better points of the game, added to which a number of delays occurred through men being hurt; thus play was far from being fast and exciting as anticipated. On the whole, the 1 match may be pronounced the pporest of the series, while it certainly exhibited the Englishmen in a worse light' than they have yet appeared. This is partly attri butable to the fact that they only landed'on the morning of the game, and partly no doubt to the fact of matches following in such quick succession. The local team were quite abroad in the first spell, and had their opponents been able or willing to push the advantage they early obtained the match would scarcely have ended in a draw. Haslam was very weakly allowed to obtain a tryj which the slightest exertion would have prevented, 1 and the forwards played without a particle of combination. After the'first goal had been kicked there was a vast improvera.ent, and they pushed the Englishmen very cloßely. Thomson equalised the score early in the second spell by a wonderfully clever piece of. play, and from that time out the black uniforms were often to he s.een in the vicinity of the others' goal. At times some excellent dribbling was exhibited by the Wellington men a but their passing bears no comparison to. the clean and accurate throwing of the strangers. There was some c^pita.l kicking on both sides. It Bhould be said that during the latter part of the ' game the Englishmen played one man short, Banks having to retire, and- at other periods Stuart, Haslam, and Bunaby got some hard knocks whioh temporarily disabled them. Warbriok and Moorhouse also suffered in the" same way, but though there was a disposition on the part of the Englishmen to accuse their opponents of rough play, it could not be said that there was any attempt at wil-ful-injury. - Most of tbe damage was caused by them throwing themselves at the feet of the charging forwards for the purpjosa of securing the ball, and from the boldness with-which some of the players did this it was not 'surprising ihat they occasionally got hurt. Naturally ] under 'such circumstances there was a surplusage of talk, and all through the match the umpires had a lively time of it. . The spectators showed great dislike to these constant appeals, and rather unfairly took it into their heads to reprehend the Englishmen for it all, ,' ■ Seddqn having won the toss chose the eastern end, from which a slight breege was'blowing. Bang kicked > off, and within five minutes the Colours were forced down, but Fairbrother then allowed himself, to be collared close to , bis goal; and' the Englishmen . returned., the compliment. Thomson with a cool kick stalled off a fine charge of tbe English forwards, but Bumby hy a dribble turned the scale once -more, andsa close did the Colours get to- the iline that Moore, having secured aimark, had no room to kick, and the Blacks were again forced down. At this stage the- local men seemed all at sea, and their opponents,, broke through them" again and again.i Fairbrother and Warbrick, both of whom were suspiciously unreliable at first, effected some .long) drips, but'each time the ball was driven back.. Every moment, so incoherent was Wellington's play, there was 1 danger of a score \'

but after an interval of siißpense,, chiefly n ocou» , pied in dull scrums, the backs broke away. . Moqrhouse kicked. the ball well up to the. goal,*' ,where Paul mulled it. The speedy Wellington skipper chased the ball, ' but luckily, for, Eng. • land, it rolled out, of bounds behind the goal, or ' a try would certainly have been scored. This was , only a flash in the pan, as a long kick but, helped , by much fumbling, saw the Colours once more . established in Wellington's quarters.. There they remained for some time.' Haslam .made a fine dash along the southern edge of the ground, but accidentally threw the ball forward at acritical moment. It did not matter, for verysoon a quick pass pnt him once more in posses* sion in front of goal. He safely passed thenearest men, escaped "Warbrick's clutches, anfl threw himself over the line before Gag© could get well hold of him. There was ample oppor- ' tunity to stop him, as he did not travel at any speed till the local men were- caught napping and.suflfered for^ it. Paul easily kicked a goal. This reverse, whioh happened just before' the interval, had a marked .effect on the local men, , and henceforward the play was much more effective.. The forwards made some pretty rushes, but England's backs were too smart- and always checked them. in time. After a. short respite, owing, i» Bumby receiving; a kick , on. the neck, the whistle sounded for the interval*. Score : England a goal to nil. „ , From the kick off Warbriak secured, the ball but failed to make good use of his kick, and, his comrades had some 'difficulty' in shifting the* play, away from their goal. Eventually the Englishmen were forced back through a seiies of scrummages, and Moorhouse cleverly' threw 1 the ball between his legs to JFairbrother, who in turn passed to , Thomson who wa& immediately grassed, but wriggled away. Seeing he could not get clear he rapidly turned and with a. side kick landed a beautiful goal, which wasloudly cheered and he thoroughly deserved it.. The scores were now equal and curiosity waskeen to see whether the Englishmen would put. on the pace they were reported to have done in* the latter part of ihe previous matches. Expectations were not realised, for though, there wasa perceptible rally, it was not of long duration,. King and Fairbrother exhibited a pretty turn of ! f oot,but Haslam vigorously responded/and ran to* within 20yds of the goal. He then had to retire* for a few minutes in consequence of a blow om the thigh received in rolling into touch. There were some snatches of passing among the English backs' whioh gave the onlookers an inkling 1 of what their play might be like under advantageous circumstance's ; but many efforts in this direction were nipped in the bud, and the -local men were equally . skilful in loose dribbling, which it took the others all their time to stop,. Through one of these skirmishes the ball found its way to the vicinity of the western goal, and a scrum was formed near, the line. ,P/aul, attempting to ran round the back, found himself shut in and only §aved the position by grounding the ball, A considerable interval of rather tame play followed, neither having any advantage. Stuart was hurt in the groin and had to be carried off the field. The visitors roused themselves for another effort, and again there was a short display of passing, but the Wellington, men we'redetermined, and their" collaring" and runnings were satisfactory. Then Moorhouse and Banks were.successively injured., The latter limped oft* the field just as Stuart slowly hobbled on again. Banks did not return. Bumby started on a run, and passing to Speakman the latter carried the ball past the Blacks' twenty-five, where Thomson obtained a free kick. From this time forward the local men confined thegame to the other 1 end of the ground. Paul, hard pressed, sent the ball out of touch, and Warbrick securing a well-judged mark, which the Englishmen seemed inclined dispute drove it down again. The Reds evidently felt the loss of their men, and from anxious remarks of the non-playing members o£ the team, who shouted directions from the side of the field, it was apparent they would be glad when time was called. The Blacks determinedly assailed their ranks with the intention of pressing the, advantage they felt they had secured, King claimed a mark v but no whistle sounding, started on a run and passed to Thomson l who had a shot at goal. Then for some reason not discemable the whistle did sound, and the ball was taken back, but as soon as it was dead time Was called. No further score having been obtained, the match was therefore drawn, each having obtained three points. , - For the reasons given above the game was scarcely a fair criterion' of the merits of, either team, but it was pretty evident the local men were somewhat stronger than was anticipated. Apart from the mistake of letting ' Haskm through the backs, the play was the strongest Wellington has shown for some seasons. The inclusion of Warbrick, whose kicking, by the," way, was somewhat wild* and placing of Gage as> full back, eliminated the weak spots. .Much . interest is npw taken ia the issue of Monday's match. ' May 13. Banks and Stuart, two of the English footballers, were hurt yesterday. The former received a kick on the knee, and it is doubtful whether he will amjia play during the present ' tour in New ZjealaHd 1 . Stuart was injured in the scrum,; but after a few minutes' spell re- . Burned play. The match combined Wellington and W?.irarapa Unions v. Englishmen for to-morrow hasfallen through. It appears Wairarapa had* agreed to provide six men, but last night found! only three men could come down, and one off these has not fully recovered from an accident. Under these circumstances the Wellington! Union met Messrs Lillywhite sad Shrewsbury this morning, when it was decided to lei the match fall through. The amount taken at the'gatea was £270* exclusive of the tickets sold throughout tiie town. Of tke local team Waxbriok and Moor; house weire a good deal braised and shaken. The Englishmen leave for New Plymonth on Tuesday. < , Later. The Wellington Rugby, Union having withdrawn from the match against the Englishmen a meeting of footballers was held at the, Empire* Hotel at 9 o'clock this evening, when it, waa< decided to choose a team to play to-morrow! 6. Campbell, A. Cooper, and E. Davy were elected . a Selection Committee, and they chose the following :— -Frill' back— Sim; three-quarters^-Fair-brother. Gage, and Thompson ; halves-^-Moore, and H.Roberts; forwards— Cockroft, M*Leary, Ellison, F. Moore, Hyland, Whatman, Storey, ,Crowell, and M'tntyre. Emergencies : BacksJohnston and D. Cooper; forwards — Malcolm and Welsh. 'The English team had not been selected this evening. The weather promises to be fine. , THE RETURN MATCH WITH WELLINGTON. Wellington, May 14. The second game with tbe Englishmen was played this afternoon. The Wellington team as telegraphed was not selected by thermion, and consequently the balance of proceeds above ex^ penses will be divided between the City Council, who control the Basm Reserve and 'Hospital. There were between 2000 and 3000 spectators* the small number being, due to the fact that asoutherly drizzle fell all day so densely as almost' tobeirain. 'The. grass was extremely wet,' but*

H*.

the ground remained firm underneath. The goglishmen changed their full back, putting Paul forward and Burnett in his place, but after the first try the former was sent to his old position. Brookes made his first appearance in the colony playing outside the scrummages. Wellington, who wore. red and black, were considered nearly as good as on Saturday, aud as it wa s known the wet ball would cripple the English passing, a close game was anticipated. So, no doubt, it would have been but for a most unfortunate mishap. The local team kept the strangers before them at the start and secured a try in less than 10 minutes. Dribbling versus passing on damp ground showed up a weak spot in the Englishmen,. whd were all at sea before the rapid following up and fine dribblingof their opponents. After the kick out the ball was at once sent back to England's goal, and a hard kick landed it iuto Speakman's hands. Watman, a fine forward from Wairarapa, and one of the best in the colony, rushed at him, but Speakman stooped before the charge, and Watman falling headlong over the Runcorn player, snapped his left leg above the ankle. No possible blame was attributable to the Englishman, and no one more deplored this accident, especially after the rather unfair way in which they had been made responsible for the whole of Saturday's rough play. Dr Gillon set the injured limb on the, spot, and Watman was carried off th.c ground on a gate and taken to the hospital. The fracture was clean, and will heal readily. After his los the Englishmen had the advantage for a while and levelled a series of assaults on the Wellington line. The resistance was, stout, and some exciting play was witnessed before the determined rushes and rapid following up of the Re3s transferred the scene up the ground. Another misfortune here befel them, Thomson having his shoulder hurt. At the interval he left the ground, and then it was only a question of how much England would win by. Playing thirteen against fifteen, nothing but defeat could be expected ; but no one was prepared for the splendid defence, and determined play exhibited, by Wellington. ' The collaring was perfect, and time after time Sim brought down the house by the accurate way in which he floored Haslam and Anderton when on the eve of scoring. This player was considered the weak spot of Saturday's team, and was displaced at the last moment in favour of Warbrick. Whatever may have been the reason for the action of the committee, his play to-day was of the fines^ description, and since the days of Braddon no better has been seen. The powerful attack of the Red, White, and Blue was bound to tell its tale in the end. With only two three-quarters, a gap was left through which the active Englishmen poured again and again, and at length from the throw out Eagles scrambled over the line,' upsetting the corner flag as he did so. After a littlu hesitation the referee awarded a try, but no goal was kicked. Dissatisfied with one poor try as the result of 20 minutes play, the visitors threw all their energy into the game, and showed more of their true form. So eager were they that they constantly lost ground by off-side play and throwing on, and it was really due to a player playing off side that they at length topped the score. Fairbrother mulled in front of the goal, and Eagles, who was yards in front of the man who kicked it, was placed on side by the accident, and made good use of the opportunity. Even then Fairbrother could have easily saved the game by kicking the ball to the back boundary a few yards away, but he tried to touch the' slippery ball down, missed it, and Eagles easily secured it. The try was between the posts, and Paul kicked a goal, making the score 4to 1. After this nothing further was scored. No ways disheartened, tho Wellingtons, though clearly overmatched and pressed sorely by the exultant Englishmen, kept up their defence wonderfully, and not only prevented their opponeuta getting through them again but more than once burst into the English lines. Once a beautiful charge carried them past everyone but the full back. Paul, usually very accurate, failed to get the ball, but kept cool, and with an expiring effort managed to direct the ball into touch near his own corner flag. The game ended in a victory for the visitors by & goal and a try to a try, the latter obtained by Wilson ; but all who witnessed the game felt it was a nominal 'victory only, and but for the handicap of losing two men, the tables would have been reversed. The game was much more interesting than Saturday's, being of a more open character and free from the constant appeals and delays that characterised the first match. The Englishmen played a harder game and lasted better than before, but their passing was crippled by the state of the ground. Their forwards' play was not up to their opponents', whose loose rushes and dribbling carried all before them till their ranks were thinned; but the spirited running of Haslam, Speakman, and Anderton was the conspicuous feature of the game. The collaring on both sides was of the finest description, standing out in bold relief from the beginning of the game. Moore, Roberts, and Gage also played capitally for their side. The Englishmen leave to-morrow for New Plymouth. The takings at the gate amounted to £102, exclusive of tickets sold.