“ALL STARS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 142, 6 September 1927, Page 13

“ALL STARS”

N.Z. HOCKEY TEAM CAPTAIN’S OPINIONS (Written for THE SUN.) SYDNEY, Sept. 2. In the opinion of Mr. Bob Lusty, captain of the New Zealand hockey team, the game is undergoing a great revival in Australia, and it will not be long before the Australians will be as good as any New Zealand team. In view of • this encouraging state of affairs, an effort will be made to have an Australian team in New Zealand I next year. | Mr. Lusty said that the Victorians played the man rather than the ball. It was a surprise to New Zealanders to meet with this style of play, which involves a good deal of obstruction. The New South Wales game is a different one, and if more combination was secured very doughty teams would be fielded. In Queensland very fast teams were met, and the players were confident of victory, but again lack of combination caused their hopes to be dashed. The grounds at Brisbane were very hard and dustdy, a factor which handicapped the New Zealanders. The fine points of the game were neglected in Queensland, but soon there would be a vast improvement. The play in the test at Brisbane was disappointing. Both teams were stale, and there was much hitting and chopping. The tournament was run well. Mr. Lusty holds great hopes of seeing a better style of hockey in Victoria when the next New Zealand team visits there, and throughout Australia he thinks a surprising change will result from the visit of the New Zealand team and holding of the tournament, when all States had a chance of comparing their play. Of the New Zealanders he said he could not pick out any stars, because they were all stars. The New Zealand team was unbeaten in Australia, the results of the matches being as follow: v. Melbourne University, won, 11 —1. v. Victoria, drawn, 3—3. v. Duntroon Cadets, won, 12—0. V. Duntroon Staff, won, 12—0. v. Goulburn, won, 4—o. v. Kenmore Hospital, won, lQm-0. v. Crookwell District, won, 9—l. v. New South Wales, won, 4—2. v. Australian Universities, won, 10—2. v. Queensland, won, 9—l. v. Victoria, won, B—o.8 —0. v. Queensland second eleven, won, 11—0. v. Australia, test match, drawn, 3—3. v. Metropolitan, Sydney, won, 3—2. In all, 14 matches were played, of which New Zealand won 12 and two were drawn. The team scored 109 goals and only 15 were registered against it.