NOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 32

NOTES BY FORWARD.

The following tables show the results of the matches played to date by the various teams engaged in the flag competitions :—: — Senior Flag.

* Won one match by default. 1 1 ost one match by default. \ Lost two matches by default. The annual match between Canterbury College and the Otago University* which is this year to be pUyed iv Dunedin, has been fixed for July 6. As the result of the aocidenb he met with in the match between the Dunpdin and ZingariRichmond Clubs, P. Keogh had la*t week to undergo a serious and painful operation. The demonstration mada against Sullivan, on his appearance on the Caledonian ground last Saturday, play itig agatnsb his old club, was not creditable to the section of the Dunedin Club's supporters who were responsible for it. Thfj fact that G. St-pbenson, " our George," played with the M»nniugh»m Club when in Yorkchire causes many footballers in Otigo to take a languid sort of interest in that club, and it may for their benefit be mentioned that though during the past wii.ter in Bogland Manninghatn did not succeed in winning either tho Yorkshire Challfiige Cup or the Stnior Competition Shield, it had a very good season, as a record of 21 victories and fix defeats, out of a total of 33 matches played, shows. Its position in the Senior Competition is an enviable one, the club being second on tho list with 14 wins and four defeats, and a score of 170 points against 74 scored by their opuonent*. In all matches Manningh»m scored 307 poiats to 121 obtaiued by opposing teams. One of the Duce-iin Fifteen had to be cautioned on Saturday for rough play. The prcs box ab the Caledonian ground is regularly invaded now by a pack of howling " barrackers," no attempb being made to exclude them. The Southland Union has, I am pleated to see, recognised that it would bu unreasonable to ask the Otago team to visit Invercargill this season and have m match with Southland in Dunedin. Ib was not expected by me that the English Union would shirk — as it has done — the issue put toib Usb year by the 0.R.F.U., when the Utter drew the attention of the parent body to the unsportsmanlike action of the New Zealand Union iv boycotting Otago and Sou .bland. The Eugligh Uuion decided they would " take no further action iv the matter." They took no action at all. Their reply to the O.R.F.U is exneedingly weak. A correspondent of thexDaily Times expresses the opinion that "without exaggeration the Pirates Second backs are the fineit kickers in Dunedin." I should like that correspondent now to give us his opinion about the Pirates First, and particularly about the tackling of their forwards. In the senior contests at Christchurch on Saturday the match Christchurch v. Me;rivale ended in a dr&w, each Bide scoring 3 poiuts. Linwood beat Kaiapoi by 3 points to nothing, and North Canterbury best Sydenham by 12 points t i 3 points. Tke dabs (&»;« the Press)

now stand in the following positions : — Linwood 8 poiuts, Chri»t church 5^ points, Katapoi 5 points, Merivale 5 point*, North Canterbury £ print?, E«at Christchurch 2 points, Sydenham 1£ poiutß, Canterbury C allege nothiog. The last-named club has retired from the ccntesb. The weekly meating of the Committee of the Otago Rugby Union, held on Monday, was attended by Bl<ssrs Gallaway (in the chair), Duncan, Isaacs, Montgomery, Strong, Hutchison, Torranoe, and M'Laren. A letter from the Taieri Football Club, it.timating that if the High School Club did not play them the Junior Flag match arranged for a date in the fchool rcc-s< they would cJa^m a win by default, was re'erred to th« Fl*g Committed. The Southland Rugby Uuion wrote intimating that they proposed to send a representative team to Dunedin on tho 17th August. It was agreed to inform the Southland Union that the 31st August would probibly suit the Otago Union better for the nintch. A letter from the Melroso Club complaiuing of the action of the Flag Committee in cryiDg off the match en Saturday tetween it and the Union Second wao referred to the Flag Committee. The Euglish Rugby Union wco'e stating that they had decided to take no further action in the matter which was bast season in dispute between the New Zealand ! aud Otago Unions, and that they were plea'ed to know that the New Zealand Union had offered to send rulings on i.o'nts of law for their revision. It was agreed to direct the attention of the Kefereeß' Association to tha necessity for punctuality in sfcaiting flag matches. Since the 18th of Juno 1892— the Saturday three years ago corresponding to last Saturday — i when the Zingari-Richnaond drew with the Kaikorai, th-i latter enjoyed until Saturday an unbroken succcf sion of victories, winning everyone of the '5 matches played by thvm and scoring 52 goals and 128 ties as againf t only three goals scored by 0; poking teams. The victorious career of the Kaikorai Club has now received a check, for though its First F.fbeeu ; have not yeb been beaten, they were unable to defeat the Dunedin, who, it will be remembered, made a good fighfc with theca on the Caledonian ground last season. Tho Dunedin team was, on paper, a somewhat we\k one, Stwpbenson, Keogh, and Maclean being abi sentees, but the tubstitutes all did their work ably and the Blues as a whole played in first- rate form. As an exposition of the game, the match was the best that has been ueeu in interclub foolball in Dunediu for some time, and the play on boh sides frequently caused enthusiastic plaudits to ring round the enclosure. The tall n^ psobably three pads of the match on the Dnnediu side of the halfway flag, and ib is owing to the admirable defenoive play, developpd in their rectnb match against the Zingaci- Richmond Club and continued on Saturday, that the D«k Blues were enabled to e-scape defe it from their opponents, for the Kaikorai forwards, besir>o3 being superior in the line-out work, almost invariably secured the ball iv the scrums aud heeled ib oub, so that their back ccmb'.nation was abonce brought into play. The facl. that the K-»ikorai failed to jscore would indicate, therefore, that ib was behind the Bcrum that they were deficient, aud this was really the case, for, apart from the facb that tbo Dunedin tackling wsb singularly good, the Knikorai attack was weakened by Sinclair's frequent fumbling and by one or two of their backs sticking bo the ball too long. The individual pay on both sides behind the scrum was noticeably g<-od T. King, the I Kaikjrai full back, kicked Pplcnnidly all ! through. Cunningham, in the centre at thrceqimrtfr back, did not have many chances, bub ulilued thfm well ; and Armit played well, if without much dash. Sullivan had a nasty fall at the beginning of the game, but he also played servic^aMy. • Sinclair, as already stated, fnmbied a good deal and spoilt several pa?siDg rushes, bub Duncan played a dating game in his best sbyle, and Davis passed out corrf cfcly and quickly to him. On the Dunedin side Bojd played the safest game at full back that has been played for his club this season, aud Stobr's transference to thiv e-quarter back had a good effect on his play a'so. The honours among the backs were principally reaped, however, by Mackenzie, who was the bent three-quarter back in the match. He covered a great deal of ground, and did immense service for his side in defending. If h ; s play were always of such value as it was on Saturday he would be undoubtedly one of tbe firßt three players at tbree-quarber back in Otago. Richard-on also showed cipital form, and did better work than any other threequarter back, bar Mackenz'e, on the field. His long-kicking was a good feature in his play. M»sou was smart at half back, but his work was mostly of a defensive nature, as the bill eetdom c*me oub of the scrum to him, and W. King's tackling was of much te.vice to his side. Martin and Williams also both plajred out ot the scrum for tbeir side, find did n great d-ial of worfPin spoiling tbe play of the opposing backs. The forwards worked hard on both sides, and there was not one in either team who stood out superior to his colleagues. Throuph the courtesy of the Warehousemen and Pacific Clubs in cryini? off their Second Fifteen fixture, the Senior Flag match between the Cavereham and Pirates Clubs was played oa the Pacific ground at Tahuna Park. A close tussle resulted in a victory for last year's juniors, tor whom Lawry played capitally ab full back. Urqubart, the centre three-qu*rter ba'-k, showed capital defence, but neglect-jd his wings Both the hulves M'Kersey and Btirges, pluyed well, especially the former, who m^de some good runs and passed nicely. The Caversham forwards worked well, their dribbliug rushes being a feature of tbe game. M'Laren, M'Keiizie, Stalker, Whalen, Cavan»ga, and Briggs were perhaps the pick of them. Allan, the Piroti'S full back, played a splendid game. His pickiug up of the ball was well timed, and his kicking and collating were also good. Macanhur was the best of a rather weak set of three-qoaiters, and Caster and Thomson played well at half. 'Ihe format's defence was good, and at bimes he gave his other backs some good chance* through well jadged passes. Ttotnson made good openings, and once went near scoring tb/uigu ho made the mi-take if fryirg to pot a goal \vil,li a wel ball. Priest, Morrin, You ig, and Macdonald did the best work among tha forwards in the open, and Inder and Moller worked hard in the scrum. The greasy state of the ball and the exceedingly slippery Bt»te e>f the ground at Monti cillo had the effect of making the Zingiri and Alhambra teama play a very cautious g*uie. Pasßing wa3 aloa'sb out of tho qutblioii, arid consequently pl.sy was very close throughout. The pl*y of the Ueds was a great iin ir< v< m -ot on that exhibited by them of late, and t' eir defensive work was especially good. For tho Colours Isaac at deep half back played a good game. He took the ball well and secured some useful marks. Clarke and Pollock, at threequarter back, both did good w rk, while 11. Fordyce, back in his old jAitiou ab full btck, was seen to better advantage than at threequarter, where he has boeu pUying of lato. M'Farlano, Hobbs, and Delabunty were the pick of the forward*. There weie four Second Fifteen players in the Alhamb/ca team. LiMioii,

at full back instead of Rosa, played a safe game, while Currie and Gardener did yeoman service ab throe-quarters. Webber at times was conspicuou*, and good play was shown by Esquillant, Kennedy, and Given. Iv the Junior Flag match between the Second Fifteens of the University and Caversham CJubj Ling, of tho latter team, had the misfortune, when runniog with his head down, to collide with an opposing three-quarter back and fracture his cheek bone. Tho Alhambra Second wer« considerably weakened for thtir Junior Flajf match, owing to players being called upon to fill the places of Ross, Fitchett, Thomson, and M'Kewen in the senior team. O'Shea did all the scoring for the University Second in their Flag match, dropping two goals and obtaining a try. The Kaitißgita Club had good reason to be satisfied with the result of their visit to Dunedin to meet the Queen's Patk team. For the visitors C»r«on, Burns, Penman, Morrison played wrll, as did Arihnr*, Rodger, Scott, and Hamilton for the Park. After the game the vi«itors were eutertained at dinner, Mrs Silk catering in her usually good style. When ample justice bad been done to the good things they were escorted to the station when they returned by the 4.20 tr*in, cheers being exchanged as the train moved off. Tho game between the S:cond Elevens of the Castlo Hill (Ksitangftto) and Quhcii's Park Clubs proved very interesting. Tho grou&d had several pools of w*ter, which occasionally be filed the players when on a run by stopping the ball and giving the other team a benefit. The teams were very evenly matched, but the visitors scored the winning goal from a very dtßening passing ruo, which engaged all the forwards. On ai other occasion when a town team meets a visiting elcvo-i fo early in the afternoon it would be wt-ll for it to acquaint each member of the team as to the time of kick off, aa some of the Park team came unprepared, while others arrived too lata to be allowed to take pait. This was their club's loss and the visiting tram's gain. There was a disposition to "handle"— i c., players holding each other by their arms aud impeding the play, — but the referee promptly inflicted the penalty for the infringement. The back division of both taams have splendid young players who will yet m.\ke oames for themselves Tho forwards were mdd fferent, lacking combination, and particularly ca!ele3« at goal. ISach team lost possible opportunities of scoring by careless shooting. In their match with Koolyn, the Zealandia team showed a marked improvement on last year's play, but several of thtir men are rather inclined to back-chnrge and push with their bauds— a fault that should be remedied. Bennett, Cameron, K'rkwood, Butterfleld, Jay, Churchill, and O'Oonnell played well for Zealandia, and Hayward, Bunting, Watson, D. M'Milhn, Prentice, and Brown for Roslyn. Mr Findlay controlled the game. The Rangers (As ociabiou) Second reeb the Mornington Second on the latter's ground on_ Saturday. The Rangeis, playing one mnn" short, defeated the home team by 3 goa's to 2. The bad state of the ground preve»ted the scoring considerably. For the Mornington Anders m and Hill and for the Rangers Duncan, Fleming, and Pirie scored. A Wellington telegram states tfeat the proposed visit of a team of Asaooia'ion football players from New South Wales to New ZenUud tbis seasou hes beoa abandoned. The team is to go to Quensland instead.

Club. cj Jab :hes. ft 1 2 Poii i o Nts 4^ <n a 'a 42 a I Kaikoiai Dunoin Zingai i-Richin'iid Alhambra;.. • ... Cavershara Union :.. • ... University Piiates 5 5 5 « 5 4 5 5 a o ps 4 3 4 2 2 1 3 1 2 3 2 3 5 i 96 37 44 31 13 8 9 9 20 15 19 49 35 51 55 9 8 8 0 4 3 2 0 2 1 2 I — uniob Flag. Club. Matches. a p i i i i 3 2 Poi ints ■s .9 ' o5 ■s SP 5 I " "" "I •8 o I I Taieri Green Island Union f»econd ... Warehousemen ... Melrose University Second Port Cbalmera ... Phates Second ... Ciivershani Second Ziacari-Richin'nd Second Alfoambra Second Pacific High School Otakia Kaikorai Second Dunediu Second ; 6 6 5 6 5 6 5 5 6 5* 5 4* 3 3 4 3* 1 2 2 It 4 i 42 81 43 28 52 :i7 15 37 27 3 7 28 3 49 16 9 49 11 11 9 9 8 8 6 6 4 2 5 I 6 5 6 5 5 1 1 1 1 2 4 3 4 5 4 4J n 9 19 24 ?5 32 9 3 17 60 20 72 59 63 28 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 -