NOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 28

NOTES BY FORWARD.

1 think it may be taken for granted that Jew of those who witnessed the match on Saturday between the Alhambra and Pirates Clubs went out to Oarisbrok with any other expectation than that they would aea the former team win with a comfortable majority. The warmest aupportera of the Pirates must have beenlhighly pleased with the excellent show that the olob made against their powerful opponents, and especiallyiwith the stubborn almost impregnable, defence whioh they set up when their lines were threatened. Granting that tbo slippery state of the ground was against the full development of the back play of the Alambra, and that the t home team were favoured on tbftt account, it has also to be remarked that the Alhambra were not the more unluckly t a am on this occasion. Viewing the game as a whole, after giving due weight to all the circumstances, the better players may have said to have won, but at the same time the Pirates have a vastly superior team to those which represented them for the last two years.

On both sides the forwards , did good work, with very little to pick between thorn, for while the Alhambra showed to more advantage in the first spell they were undoubtedly beaten during the second bout, I still place M'Cleary as the best on the Alhambra side, and regard him as one of the finest we have in Dunedin at the present time. Of the others Plank, who never seems to tire, was among the most prominent, but X feel inclined to put Rebertaon next to M'Cleary on Saturday's play, while Johnstons seemed to be one of the most useful of tbe scrummagers, As the Alhambra oaptain set a good example to bis men, so also did A, W. Morris, the Pirates' captain, who, especially in the second spell, showed that he is returning to his oidiform. Crosby (Morris also did exoellent service, and there wore some others— notably Beck, W. Farquaarson, and Drabble— who did less " showy " but not less valuable work.

Behind the scrum tbe performances of the two centre three- quarter-baoks were brilliant features of the game. Downes did $n immense amount of work, the real value of which It is difficult to estimate, while opposite him, Lang worked like a (horse. The ex-Cavereham player ia in grand form, and ho dodgy running— the sort of running that aots powerfully in winning the applause of a crowd of spectators— and clever kicking, not once, but many times, extricated bis aide from a nasty entanglement, while, like Downes, he rarely lets a man get past him. Noel did not show up very prominently, the heavy ground not being to his liking, and Baker, although he did some serviceable work in the second spell, shaped very queerly in the first spell, fumbling tbe ball, passing forward, and missing kicks in a way that would have called down severe condemnation on the head of a junior player. The Alhambra half backs, Resfcieaux and Crawfurd, may generally be relied on to do their share of the work. Bestioux was the more consistent player, as he generally id, and his passing was as unselfish and acourata as ever. Orawfurd played well throughout, with a few dashes of brilliancy. Fitchefct, the Alhambra full back, is wonderfully cool for a young player, and stopped several dangerous ruahes with a sangfroid that was most commendable. He waa particularly fortunate for a full back, however, in having tbe ball on most ocaasions go straight to his hands.

I have already alluded to Lang'3 play, which was the chiet feature of the work performed by the back division on the Pirates' eida. Cran, whose unfortunate tendenoy to take cramp interfered with bis play at one stage of the game, showed that he has nearly recovered laafc year's form. He was very quick on the opposing players — too quick on one occasion, when he jumped on Orawfurd befoe>the latter had the baJl— and he never missed a chance, when it presented itself, of getting away with the ball. Atkinson being engaged in a court case out of town, Sfcronach was played with Cran, and thoroughly justified hia selection. He always was a good defensive player, pluckily stopping rushes that many half backs would think twice about attempting to stop, but he proved himself to be also a good man in the offensive game, and bis all-round play, in which there was hardly a mistake noticeable, made him a worthy companion to Oran, At three-quarter back Macdonald was kept too idle apparently for his own fancy, but what he had to do waa satisfactorily discharged. It was unfortunate for hia side that it was E. O. Morris, and not ho, that was called upon to do the bulk of the wing play, for the former fumbled rather badly and played disappointingly. The full baok, Morley, was not vested with a sinecure by any means, for rather exacting demands were made upon him. These ho fulfilled creditably, although fte cannot expect to always escape so easily when he rutiß in front of his own goal, as he did on Saturday, The moat noteworthy occurrence in the match between the Kaikorai and Dunedin Clubs was the faot of nine tries being obtained without a single one of them being converted. The ball no doubt was greasy, but even when allowance is made for this the place kicking was much " off." There is something that ia almost unique in tha occurrence. 1 remember once seeing tba Pirates score seven tries against the old Zingari Club, and although the afternoon was fine Drabble, who bad bsen place kicking well during the season, failed on six occasions to get the goal, piloting the ball through the posts by a supreme effort at the eoventh shot, but thin achievement of the Kai' korai and Dunedin Clubs may well be allowed to stand as a record in senior matches in this part of the colony. The Dunedin were very weak behind the scrum— so weak that M. Rosa, who was believed to have renounced active participation in the game, is understood to be not indisposed to come forward — not to play forward — and give hia old club a helping hand. They need it, if Saturday's performance is any criterion of what their back play is to be during the Beason. The Blues' forwardß played a good game, but even they were overmatched, and thus it waa that the Dunedin had so many tries registered against them.

I cannot tbink. after deliberation on the matter, that the Kaikorai were a better team than the Alhambra in the opening match of tb.B Hoaaon. Next Saturday's match between tbe Kaikorai and Pirates Clubs should give some sort of clue to the position. If the lattßr play anything like as well as they did against the Alh&mbra I shall not joe ft bit surprised to sco a " boil over," while in any event I look for a gr<wl, game.

Tbote were «everi\l football warriora playing in a match at Napier on Saturday week batwesn the Town aad Country, Joe Warbrick, Ji»ck Taiaroa, Gag<\ Goldsmith (Taare), Wihapi, T.%ku, Lowrj. Friday, Le Quoane — these, who are well known in Otago, constitute a formidable s^ptott of b<\cks who were enpaged in the match. Gage ia reported to have beau the boat of tbo lot, and those who saw him pHy aftar the return of the Native team from England will admit, if he retains hiß form, fehe force of the following remarks about hia play, which "Offside" contributes to the

News :— " He gave his opponents no peace, for he played with a dash and vigour that elicited | loud expressions of approval from the onlookers. His exhibition of all round play was the best seen on the ground for many a day, and was the feature of the matoh. His tackling was sure, his kicking and running admirable, while his timely passing enabled his team to score on two occasions. The manner in whioh he followed up to put his men on side was a revelation to some of the players, who would do well to emulate so good an example." Taiaroa, I see it is said, got in several of his characteristic rushes, and proved a hard nut for his opponents to craok. He always was a hard nut, that same Taiaroa. Friday, whom the spectators of the Otago v, Hawke's Bay match last year will recollect as the clubfooted member of the visiting team, had hard lines in this match, as two attempts that be had at goal resulted in tbe ball striking the post. Smiler, the wel^fenown player, has developed symptoms of consumption, and has played bis last game of football. Monday's Preaa says :— " At the conclusion of the Linwood Cambridge football match on Saturday was witnessed a scene, a repetition of which the Rugby Union might try and prevent by tbe introduction of a Revere rule. In the match on Saturday Mr E. Gr. Hawkes was referee, and he was subjected to a deal of abuse from the Cambridge team, one member of which was very insulting. Beaidea that, he had to endure unpleasant remarks from the Cambridge supporters, and three groans from the team. All this happened because the referee is said to have wilfully ignored several appeals from the Cambridge for off-side play, handballing, and knocking-on by their opponents. Wherever the fault lay, the ground was not the place for the Cambridge men to exhibit such hostile feelings, nor was their conduct becoming. Their remedy was an appeal to the union, which body is now more than likely to have the whole dispute submitted to it by the referee' for consideration.

The 'following, whioh is from a Queensland paper would appear to refer to last year's captain of (the , Zingari-Riohmond Club : —An official inquiry has been made at Rookhainpton in conneotion with a charge of football professionalism, the verdict being that tbe secretary of the 'Central Queensland Rugby Union was guilty, 'with others, of entering into a contract with a player named Brodrick, of New Zealand, to accept a consideration for the pro.'s services to play with the Wanderer Football Club during last season. A special general meeting of the Otago Rugby Football Union was held on Friday afternoon, when the Clyde and Matakanui clubs were admitted to the union.

At a special meeting of the Dunedin Football Club on Tuesday evening, Mr G. Turton was elected' deputy-captain. An Auckland telegram states that during the course of the football matches on Saturday, at Epsom, two players (Madigan and Lecky) each had his collar bone broken.

Aa Auckland telegram states that at a meeting of the Management. Committee of the Rugby Union two members of the Grafton team — Lecky and Kiasling — were censured for having disputed the referee's decision, and for having used insulting language during a match on Saturday, and informed that a repetition of such conduct would result in their suspension from play for the remainder of the season. A similar 1 caution waa given to Gash, of the Selwyn team, for rough play. A complaint was made against one of the spectators of a match that he bad insulted the referee, and it was resolved that the offender be called upon to promptly send a featisfactory apology through the union, failing which he would be refused admission to the grounds in future. "The Otago Rugby Football Annual" for 1890 has been published, and we have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of it. The editor is still the hon. treasurer of the union, than whom it would be impossible to obtain an editor that would take more interest in his work, or more pains to see that the utmost accuracy is regarded. Tbe Annual, which seems to be irkoreasing in size as it increases ia years, is an invaluable companion to those who follow the winter pastime. The football match between the Milton and Lawrence First Fifteens was played at Milton on Thursday afternooni Play was nob commenced till 4 o'clook, and consequently it was rather 'dark at the finish. Lawrence obtained the kick off, and Roscoe sent the ball well into the Milton twenty* five. There the play centred for about 15 minutes, when Lawrence obtained a mark near the touch line. Although at a bad angle, Roscoe succeeded in registering a goal. Towards the end of the spell Lawrence gained a try, which was not converted. In the second spell Milton played up better, but could not prevent Lawrence scoring two more tries, neither of which was enhanced. There was no further score, and Lawrence consequently won by 6 points to nil. For the winners Curtin, Roscoe, Harrop (backs), Hart, Purdue, and Robertson (forwards) played well ; while for Milton, Porter, Parlane (backs), Turnbull, Daniels, and Murray (forwards) played a good losing game. The conspicuous feature of tbe winners' play wag their passing and running, but this was in a measure counteracted by the clever collaring exhibited by their opponents. Milton played very slow, and passed wretchedly, always passing too late, when the only resource was to kick. In this line Miltorj showed up, Porter, Newray, Parlane, and Welham giving some splendid long kicks. This beating should be a lesson to Milton, as all through the game bhey showed their want of practice and unity.

SATURDAY'S MATCHES.

The match Alhambra v. Pirates wa9 played on the Carisbrook ground before a large number of spectators. The heavy showers of rain had made the ground soft and slippery, and the knowing ones predicted that the wearers of the red and black would have to play all they knew to save their laurels against such formidable opponents as the wearers of the skull and crossbones are known to be on a wet ground. M'Cleary captained the Alhambra (red and black) and A. Morris the Pirates (black). The latter won the toss, and elected to play with the wind. Shortly after 3 o'clock M'Cleary kicked off, and for some time the play centred about the middle of the field, until tbe Blacks with a splendid rush carried the oval into touch near the corner flag, but Macdonald spoilt any chance of a score by kicking over the line. Downes kicked off, and the Reds, who followed up well, soon had their opponents penned in their twenty-five, wheu from a loose scrum M'Cleary dribbled over the line, but Restieaux failed after a good attempt to kick a goal. A. Morris kicked off, and Fifcchett returned nicely into touch. Shortly afterwards Robertson obtained a mark, when t.he ball was placed for Rtstieaux near the centre flag, who made a splendid attempt, the ball striking the crossbar and rebounding back into ; ptay. For tb.e rest of the speU the play -was i mostly in the Blacks' twenty-five, but owing to I the slippery state of the ball the half backs ! wpre unable to pick up smartly. Morris started j the second spell, and for the first quarter of an bonr gave tha Rpds a rather lively time of it in j keeping them from crossing, until Downes cut off a pass intended for Lang, and cleared hia

quarters with a good kick, which was followed '' up by M'Cleary. From this the game became very fast, the ball travelling up and down the field. On one occasion Arthur Morris came away from his owa Twenty-five with one of his well-known dribbles and nearly scored, but the ball waa a bit too slippery for him, while Crawford, Noel, and Baker were in hot pursuit, the latter kicking into touch in goal. Soon afterwards Plank dribbled across the Blacks' line, but lost possession of the ball in the same way as Morris, did, and the game ended after a very even and hard fought game by one try to nil. The umpires were Mr W, M'Laughlin (for Alhambra) and Me H. Rose (for Pirates), with Mr E. E. Morrison as referee.

The match between the Kaikorai First and Dunedin First was played on the Caledonian ground and was won by the former by 7 tries to 2, no goals being kicked. The Union Club played their last practice match on Saturday" with a Probable Team against the Club (27), the former winning, although they played three men short. Tries were obtained by Gordon (4), Forsyth, Croxiord, Grieve, and Robertson ; and Niven was the only one to score for the Club. Of the forwards, Gordon and M'Kinley were the pick, the fiwtmentioned player showing very good form ; the halves, Croxford and Davis, performed well together; Harris played best of the threequarters, showing much dash at times. The Zingari-Riohmond held their last practice match on Saturday, when the Probables succeeded in beating the Club by two goals and two tries to one try. There was an excellent muster, and the play showed considerable improvement ; the passing, however, might still be better, and the tendency among the forwards to play off side and handball was very strongly marked.

The match Ravensbourne v. Port Chalmers was played at Ravensbourne on Saturday, and resulted in a victory for the Port by two tries to nil. In the second spell Davidson, from a good pass by Bauchop, scored first blood for the Port. Anderson very aoon scored the second try, but neither was enhanced. For the winners Hunter, Holden, Strachan played best among the backs, while, Anderson, Bauchop, Platts, and Farley played well in the forward division ; and .Mosley, who put in some good kicking, Patterson, and Webber (backs), Callon, Moller, and Hoff (forwards) were most conspicuous for the losers.

The match Kaikorai Second v. Dunedin Second was played on the Kaikorai ground, and resulted in a victory for tho Kaikorai by five goals and eight tries (23 points) to nil. The following scored for the Kaikorai: — M'Laren, three tries ; Duncan, Warringfcon, and Simpson, two tries each; M'Guire, J. Thompson, M'Millan, and Don, one each. J. Thompson placed five goals. The Caversham and High School met oa the Asylum ground, when tbe former managed to defeat the School by one try to nothing. The School had the best of tbe game in the first spell, but lost some good ohancea owing to the greasy state of the ground. In the forward department the Caveiaham played much the better game, but the School had tbe best of the game in the baok department. Indeed, if the School had given their backs more to do the result would have been different. There was no soore in the first spell. In tbe Beoond spell the Caversham kept the ball among the forwards. About 10 minutes after tbe first spell Briggs dribbled the ball across the line and fell on it. The attempt at goal was a failure. This warmed the Sohool up, and they made things lively for the Caversham, but their efforts were of no avail. Time was called, tbua leaving Oaversbam victors by one point. Although the Caversham did win, yet they cannot Bay that it waa an easy one. Indeed, if the ground had been dry, in all probability the result would have been the reverse. For the Caversham Briggs, Emerson, Jefferson, Cunningham, and Lang played well ; while Haig, M'Brearfcy, Duncan, Owen, and Burt played well for the Sohool. The match Alhambra Second v. Pirates Second was played at Opoho, and resulted in a win for the Alhambra by six tries to nil. Tries were obtained by Williams (2), M'Laren (2), Aitken and M'Kenzt'e one each.

The Alhambra Third played the Pirates Third at Maori Hill nod defeated them, thus securing the treble for their club, by three goals and three tries (12 points) to nil. Tries were obtained by Gibb (2), T. Johnston (2), Lelliott, Wallace, and Robertson one each, the latter converting three into goals. The Pacific Second met the Union Third, and after an exciting game won by 6 points to nil. Brady, Butler, Hambleton, and Smith scored tries from one of which Brady kicked a goal. A Christfihurch telegram states that in Saturday's championship matches Cbristchurch beat Sydenham by three goals and a try to a goal and a try; Merivale beat East Ohristohurch by three goals and three tries to nil ; and Canterbury College defeated Addington by 16 points to nil.

At Wellington on Saturday in the championship matches, the Poneko defeated the Athletics by seven points to ml, and the Wellington defeated the Melroae by three points to one.

The Association match Northern v. Southern was played oa the Caledonian ground, resulting in a draw, each team scoring 2 goals. The Northern pressed for the first 10 minutes, but were never again dangerous throughout the first spell, the back play of Gibbs and J. Laing being too strong for them. By good passing between D, Laing and Carver the ball was quickly transferred to the Northern goal, where the latter scored. This seemed to put fresh spirit into the Southern forwards, who had hitherto been playing wretchedly, and a few minutes later Carver again scored by a shot beyond the goalkeeper's reach. In the second spell the Northern forwards played with more combination, Gardner and Crawford on the right wing getting away on some good dribbling rushes, whicu were hard to stop. A foul against the Southern gave Moncrieff a chance, which he was not slow to accept, and sending in a shot the ball appeared to glance off. Duncan, and passed between the posts. Shortly after the Northern again scored from a corner kick nicely placed by Munro, the ball being headed through by M'Donald. No further ecore bad been added when time was called.

The Roslyn team journeyed to Sawyer's Bay aud met the Thistle on their own ground, aud suffered defeat by five goals to nil. Vunng the first a pell the ball was kept in Roslyn's quarters the greater part of tbe time, and when the teams crossed over the score was : Thistle three goals, KasJyn nit. The second spell was merely a repetift'oti of the first, although tho Roslyu played a far better game, M'Biillan's dribbling aud pabsiug behip- splendiil. Goal? werf scored by W. Morris (2), J. Branston, T. Ross, and J. Orawforc*.