FOOTBALL

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 52

FOOTBALL

ALL BLACKS 7 TOUR. NORTH-EASTERN DISTRICTS MATCH. ' BURGHERSDORF, August 1. In a game in which the All Blacks showed themselves in a scoring mood New Zealand beat North-eastern Districts by three converted tries, two tries, and two penalty goals (27 points) to nil before an attendance of 3000 at Burghersdorf to-day. The ground was sandy, with patches of parched grass. The game was a comparatively tame affair, but there were several sparkling incidents, especially the scoring movements of the All Blacks. The match contained several interesting incidents as far as the New Zealanders were concerned. Burrows, fully recovered from his damaged ribs, played his third game. G. T. Alley was rested, Ward capably acting as lock in the scrums. Strang played in place of Dailey, and turned out to be an excellent substitute. The New Zealand team was:— FULL-BACK : IL Lilburne (Canterbury, 11.2). THREE-QUARTERS : A. C. C. Robilliard (Canterbury, 11.8). F. W. Lucas (Auckland, 11.6). C. E. Rushbrook (Wellington, 12.3). FIVE-EIGHTHS: ?.L I*’. Nicholls (Wellington), 11.10. L. M. Johnson (Wellington, 12.3). HALF-BACK: W. A. Strang (South Canterbury, 11.4). WING FORWARD: R. J. Stewart (South Canterbury, 15.1). FORWARDS: J. Hore (Otago, 12.12). J. T. Burrows (Canterbury, 12.10). M. Brownlie (Hawke's Bay, 14.3.). I*. Ward (Taranaki, 14.10). B. Finlayson (North Auckland, 15.4). E. Snow (Nelson, 13.1 O». W. Hazlett (Southland, 14.7).

THE FIRST SPELL. New Zealand went to the attack as soon as the whistle was blown, Strang sending the backs away from a scrum. Nicholls was caught with the ball, but Rushbrook raced across the field and opened up play, and again a pretty movement followed, Robilliard being tackled near the line. Offside play by the local men gave the All Blacks a penalty, and Strang landed a.fine goal from well out. NEW ZEALAND . . . . 3 NORTH-EASTERN . . . . nil

The New Zealanders started throwing the ball about accurately, and the Northeasterns were kept busy defending, "Eight minutes from tho start the New Zealanders’ first try came from a scrum. Stewart sent to Strang, Johnson, Nicholls, Lucas, and Robilliard handling in turn,’ The last named finished the movement with a fine dash and scored behind the posts. Strang converted. NEW ZEALAND .. .. 8 NORTH-EASTERN .. .. nil

With a sucession of good line kicks the North-easterns put themselves on attack, but their reign was a short one, for they were quickly driven back by the All Black forwards. The latter , were playing good football, pushing their opponents off the ball, and the backs were running in fine style, their handling being perfect. Another penalty came to New Zealand, from which Nicholls kicked a fine goal from 40 yards out.

NEW ZEALAND .. ..11 NORTH-EASTERN .. .. nil Van Ilccrdcn led the Eastern forwards in a good movement, which reached Lilburne before it was stopped. The Northeastern backs had a couple of attempts at passing rushes, but their handling was weak, and the opposing backs broke through. From a line out in the twenty five Burrows shot out and passed to M. Brownlie, who scored an easy try under the posts. Nicholls converted. NEW ZEALAND .. . . 16 NORTH-EASTERN .. .. nil Play had scarcely started when Strang worked the blind side, and Johnson beat his man and sent Rushbrook over near the posts. Nicholls just missed kicking a goal. NEW ZEALAND .. ..19. NORTH-EASTERN . . . . nil Half time came without further score. THE SECOND SPELL. A minute after resuming Nicholls opened up the game from a clearing kick by Wakeford. The ball was handled by Snow, Stewart, Brownlie, and Lucas, and finally by Robilliard, who swerved over at the corner. Strang’s kick missed.

NEW ZEALAND . . . . 22 NORTH-EASTERN .. .. nil

There was only one side in the picture now, the All Blacks dominating the game both in the forwards and the backs. Nicholls next showed up in one of his characteristic dashes by cutting in, but his pass went astray. There was a fine rally by the North-eastern forwards, which had the All Blacks in a tangle They stormed the New Zealand citadel for a time, and their backs had a run, but Nel dropped his pass. The New Zealand backs then broke clear away. Nicholls made a fine run of 40 yards, and then passed to Lucas, who raced past the full-back and scored under the posts, Strang converting.

NEW ZEALAND ~ .. 27 NORTH-EASTERN .. .. nil

The New Zealand backs were combining in run after run, and at this stage Strang, Johnson, Nicholls, and Lucas were showing splendid form. A clever blind-side movement saw Strang, Johnson, and Rushbrook go well down the line, and .the forwards carried on with a pretty piece of dribbling. From a scrum Strang cut through to send Stewart and Robilliard away, but the movement broke down within inches of the line.

At this stage the referee took exception to talking on the field, and warned both sides. Later it appeared that Stewart

had been ordered <4l for" answering th? referee back, but Nicholls and Brownlie

intervened, and the incident was passed over.

Several good runs by the All Blacks backs had the home side puzzled, and two of them just missed ending in a score. The game then ended :— NEW ZEALAND . . .. 27 NORTH-EASTERN . . . . nil It is now definitely known that Sheen will not play during the rest of the tour. He was limping on a walking stick today. Cyril Brownlie's injury to his knee on Saturday 'is more serious than was at first thought to be the case, and it will probably be some weeks before he can play again. THE FINAL TEST. ALL SEATS BOOKED UP. CAPETOWN, August 1. Hundreds formed a queue all night to book seats for the All Blacks’ final test All the seats were sold within an hour, with hundreds still waiting. MATCH AGAINST BORDER. EAST LONDON, August 4. With an exhibition of true New Zealand football the All Blacks beat the Border provinces by 22 points (two converted tries, *hrce tries, and one penalty goal) to 3 points (one penalty goal) at East London to-day. It was -easily the" best exhibition the All Blacks have given on the tour, the forwards playing with fine combination, and the backs giving a dazzling display. Unfortunttely the play degenerated somewhat in the second spell. There was some unsavoury mixing in the tight, and the referee, after warning the players of both sides, told Brownlie that if the rough play did not stop he would order off the first man caught. Finlayson has influenza. His place in the side was taken by M'Williams, Stewart going back to the scrum. The teams were as follows: —

NEW ZEALAND. FULL BACK. D. F. Lindsay (Otago, 13.6). THREE-QUARTERS. F. W. Lucas (Auckland, 11.6). S. R. Carleton (Canterbury, 11.5). B. Grcnside (Hawke’s Bay, 13.6). FIVE-EIGHTHS. M. F. Nicholls (Wellington, 11.10). H. Lilburne (Canterbury, 11.2). HALF-BACK. W. A. Strang (South Canterbury, 11.4). WING FORWARD: G. Scrimshaw (Canterbury, 12.6). FORWARDS. J. Hore (Otago, 12.12). J. T. Burrows (Canterbury, 12.10). M. Brownlie (Hawke’s Bay, 14.3). G. T. Alley (Canterbury, 15.7). R. F. Stewart (South Canterbury, 15.1). W. Hazlett (Southland, 14.7). R G. M’Williams (Auckland, 14.5). - BORDER. Decordeur, Hoare, Duffy, Southwood, Klemp, Cheshire, Daniels, Tainton, Stutter, Jenkins, J. Landman, EL . Landman, Schnell, Seymour, Pretorius.

The Border side was regarded as fairly strong, and was expected to run the All Blacks close.

There were 10,000 people present. The ground was one of the best on. which the All Blacks have played in South Africa, and the day was fine with an overcast sky.. THE PLAY. After an exchange of kicks from the kick off the New Zealand backs opened out in a movement, but faltered. 'A run by the Border backs saw Duffy dazzle the opposition with a brilliant run, which was stopped by Lindsay. Three clever kicks by Daniels put Border on attack at the corner. There were some fireworks among the forwards, but the New Zealand defence could not be penetrated. Securing the ball from a scrum at halt-

way away went the New Zealand backs. The ball travelled out to Grcnside, who put in a great run before his path was blocked. Carleton came up for the pass, but lost the ball when over the line. Scrimshaw and Decordeur had a race for it, but the New Zealander was beaten by a dive. There w:as a spell of fluctuating play, in which the New Zealanders had the better of the exchanges. Then Lilburne cut in smartly and sent to Nicholls, to Carleton, who raced over. Lindsay missed the kick. New Zealand ’ ... 3 Border Nil The New Zealand forwards attacked from the resumption, Strang sending the

backs away. The ball was handled by Lilburne and Nicholls, the last' named bewildering the' defence with a nippy cut

in to send Hazlett over. Nicholls missed the kick. New Zealand 6 Border INil The All Blacks backs started to give an exhibition of fine football at this stage, and took play back to the Border twenty-five, where Nicholls lander a goal from a penalty. New Zealand 9 Border Nil Then Nicholls engineered another brilliant movement from halfway. Cutting clean through the defence, he sent the ball back to Lilburne, to Strang, who raced over near th e posts. Nicholls converted. New Zealand 14 Border Nil A penalty came to Border a minute later, Daniels kicking a good goal. New Zealand 14 Border 3 The next try came when Brownlie picked up in the loose and ran over between the posts. Nicholls converted. New Zealand 19 Border 3

The All Blacks went to the attack again from the kick off. The forwards wheeled the scrum cleverly and let Hazlett score his second try. Nicholls’s kick failed. The final whistle went with the All Blacks still holding the upper hand. New Zealand 22 Border 3

SPECTACULAR PLAY.

It was a match full of spectacular play, particularly by the New Zealanders. Time after time they moved up into perfect alignment, their clever, attacks being a pretty puzzle for the Border backs. The game revealed the New Zealanders football at its best. The biggest feature of the match w'as the fact that Mark Nicholls staged a spectacular come back.” It was his finest exhibition of the tour, and he gave a taste of hi s own true form. All the New Zealand backs played up to standard, Strang giving a useful display, and Lilburne proved himself to be very effective at first five-eighths. The three-quarter line ■was deadly both in attack and defence. Lindsay made his usual sound showing. The forwards worked with beautiful combination, the shining lights, perhaps, being Hazlett, M’Williams, Hore, and Stewart. The outstanding Border players were Duffy, -Southwood, and Cheshire among the backs, and Tainton, Stutter, and Jenkins among the forwards.

HARVEY FIT AGAIN.

JOHNSON AS A MARKSMAN.

EAST ajONDON, August 3. Harvey has joined up with the team, and says he is feeling fit again. To-day he turned out to train, having a quiet work-out. It was his first run since before the first test. Johnson is a great man in the team at the moment, not because of his prowess on the football field, but because of his marksmanship at Burghersdorp. He shot a wild ostrich at a shoot arranged for a small party of All Blacks. The bird.was said to be travelling at a speed of 70 miles an hour when it was shot at 1000

yards—at least, that was the story. The party cannot vouch for the speed, but are definite about the distance, because they paced it. Swain hit an ostrich in the leg, but the bird got away. After spending most of the time chasing ostriches the party finished off the day on another farm, where they shot a springbok. It was a great day, spent 40 miles from Burghersdorp on the open veldt, and the party regarded it as easily the best experience they have had in South Africa. RESULTS TO DATE. Points

THE REMAINING FIXTURES. August 8. —v. Eorder, at Kingwilliamstown. August 11.—v. Eastern Province, at Port Elizabeth. August 18. —v. SOUTH AFRICA (Third Test), at Port Elizabeth. August 22.—v. South Western Districts at Oudtshoorn. August 25.—v. Western Province, at Capetown. September I.— v. SOUTH AFRICA (Fourth Test), at Capetown.

For Agst v. Western Province .. 11 3 v. Combined Capetown Clubs o 7 v. Griqualand West .. Id 10 v. Transvaal 0 6 v. Orange Free State 20 0 v. Western Transvaal 19 8 v. Natal 31 3 v. South Africa 0 17 v. Northern Districts . . 18 18 v. Rhodesia 44 8 v. South Africa 7 G v. Pretoria 13 6 v. Orange Free State . . 15 11 v. North-Eastern Districts 27 0 v. Border 22 3