FOOTBALL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 3472, 29 July 1899, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

CANTERBURY v. SOUTH CANTERBURY. Christchurch, July 27 Canterbury beat South Canterbury by 2G points to 3 points. The ground at Lancaster Park was very heavy. The attendance was fair, and the sun hot. Play was chiefly among the forwards, but South Canterbury, in spite of their weight, were beaten by the Canterbury forwards. There -was a large amount of touch-line play and penalty kicking, and tho ball was hardly ever out of the South Canterbury half, except for a few good forward rushes, one of which carried the ball close to the Canterbury line. Roddick, wing forward, was disabled iu the middle of the first spell, and tho team played short till the end. In the first spell two good passing rushes between Palcb, Phillips, and Menzies let the latter score twice. One try was converted, and Frost scored from a loose forward rush. In tho second spell Shirtclifl'e picked up in a loose forward rush, and a good run between him and Fox ended in a score. From a throw in near the corner Fisher scored for Canterbury, and soon after Price passed out from a scrum to Menzies, who passed to Orchard, who scored. South Canterbury was awarded a penalty-. Fisher returned the kick, followed it up. and scored from a scrum under the goal. Price passed to Phillips who scored. Balch picked up from a loose rush, but lost the ball, and Farquhar kicked over the line and added tho final score. Roddick had, before misfortune overtook him, been playing the best game on the ground. He collided with Balch, and had the ill-luck to split one of his ribs. lie is now at Dr Jennings’ private hospital. His absence was severely felt, and the Canterbury backs benefitted by it. Shirteliffo played the host game amongst the South Canterbury backs. Some of the Canterbury Rugby Union officials expressed great admiration at bis work. Fox was the best forward, and Niall was an excellent second. Mendelson played with pluck, and stopped many rushes in a fearless manner. O’Mallej- performed splendidly-, although ho had a most difficult task set him.

Dunn is to be congratulated upon his good play iu bis first rep. match. The South Canterbury backs did very little passing amongst themselves, and what they did was poor. They could not handle the greasy ball to advantage. The Canterbury players were continually penalised for their glaring oil-side play. Any player who stopped a rush was smothered in mud beneath his opponents, who were unable to pull themselves up in time.

Wellington. July 27

At a meeting of the managing committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union to-night a letter was read from the secretary of the English team stating that the team could not give a definite reply to the New Zealand Union’s offer of matches until it had received fuller details. At time of writing he feared that a visit to New Zealand was not very feasible. The Union will cable to Australia for a definite reply.

Brisbane, July 28. The English footballers defeated New England by (1 points to 4 points.

On Thursday afternoon a very exciting contest took place on the Waibi ground, Winchester, between Waihi 2nd and Temuka 2nd. The ground was covered .with a good three inches of snow, but beyond making tho ball very dead, it did not spoil the play in the least. Mr B. Campbell, of the Maori Football Club, acted as referee, Messrs Tipa and Mahaka acted as line umpires respectively. Temuka barrackers were present in great numbers, but, beyond a good deal of good natured chaff, nothing occurred to cause any unpleasantness during the game. Snowballing was freely indulged in by the spectators. The - match resulted in a drawn game, neither side scoring, although in both spells the homo team had rather the best of a very good game. Temuka were forced down in each half, but the ball never crossed the Waibi Hue. The game was chiefly made up of dribbling rushes, and both sides played with right goodwill. For tho home team Scott (2), Donnithorno (2), Webster, Gibson, Hart, South, and Connelly played a grand game, while for the visitors, Connolly (2), Opie, Demuth, Stewart, McPratney, Cuunard, and Hope were most conspicuous. The game was played under protest—-Waihi playing four senior men.