FOOTBALL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13655, 25 July 1908, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

THE THIRD TEST MATCH. Per Tress Association. AUCKLAND, July 24. The British team will not be finally -picked till to-morrow, but will be chosen irom. tie following:-Jacket-t, Dyke, 31cEvedy, Vassal, J. P- Jones, J. h. Williams, F. Chapman, Morgan, Tuan Jones, Uavev, Harding, Down, Hind, Dibble, •\reher, Smith and Williams. The weather is showery , bub . shows sicms of clearing. Considerable interest as b£ng taken in the game. The members of the New Zealand team are in the best of health, and confident of victory.

THE RUGBY UNION. The management committee of the Sout.i Canterbury Rngby Union held a meeting yeswday, six members being presnt. Mr J:* C. Watson presided. A. pfoyer appeared before the committee to* answer a charge of rough play made , by Mr Glover, referee in the last Celtic v Zingari junior match.—lfc was decided in tbw case to disqualify for one week from date, an amendment that the disqualification be for two weeks being lost. The Waimate Sub-Union wrote that they were trying to arrange a match m Timara with the Mackenzie Sub-Union, on a, date about a month hence. They applied for travelling expenses for bati. ii earns.—M was agreed to reply that July 20th, August 6th or 13th were available for the match, and that £5 per team -would be allotted for expenses, tlhe Union to take the gate money. . The Ashburton. Union wrote confirming the representative fixture in Ashburtion on August 13th. and also asking that a junior representative-team be sent to Ashburton on some suitable date.-The commute re--rretled that,, owing to the expense of the A'orth Island tour, they could not send tb* juniors to Ashburton this year. Jhe manager of the team going on tour wa.S given sole charge.

Juranoements for the tour of the South team are about completed, and players who have not already done so are iwraested to leave their deposits with the secretary of the Union to-day. Joe ltodtlick (Tenrflka) a not going north, rind G Fitzgerald U'irate*), who is now able to make the trip, goes in his place. J. ltodd : ck has been appointed captain ot tiie team, and E. Horgan vice-captain.

TOUCHLINE TOPIC'S. (Br C.E.H.) The curtain will be rung down on the British tour, so far as the New Zealand programme is concerned, at Auckland this afternoon, when the final test- game comes up for decision. The result of the second jnatch against New Zealand, though it was played under conditions which prevented any conclusion being drawn as to the merits of the respective sides, leftroom for belief that, the Britishers had made the improvement promised when they had gob into better condition. Their j*rformane*s in the last three matches, however, indicate that they are now little better as a team than they were in their eecoml game of the tour in Wellington, and it is difficult to see how they cm defeat the colonial fifteen to-day. The New Zealand side which is to take the field this afternoon is not much i£ any, inferior to the combination which mesmerised the visitors at Danedin, and a dry ground should enable the New Zealanders to register a comfortable win. The crushing defeat inflicted on the Anglo-Welshmen in the first test caused them> to be held rather cheaply, and the colonial players were not even given a sight of each othtrr before the second match, though eight new men -\ir-re introduced into the fitteen. This (mistake has not been repeated and the New Zealanders have been assembled for

tiom-e days'. The South. Canterbury fcam leaves for the north on Monday by the 1.30 express, l'almerston North is the lirst stopping jdace, and Manawatu will be played there «>n Wednesday. Auckland will then be ■visited, the match there being set down for Saturday next. The team will not f-et out. with any inflated ideas as to the resniis of its games, but its encounters with the formidable North Island combinations should prove of lasting benefit to local football, and if any victories are secured—hffw many I am not prepartKl to prophesy—they will be creditable ones. Good luck to the Green and Black. The South Canterbury team to go on tour is a good one, yet men like A. Scott, Kodgers, Harvey, Mbllijion, O'Leary, Hardin, Grant are left, behind. There is half a. fine team here, and . 'his indicates that the number of decent players is increasing, and that any t*am which tak« on our " B" will have no easy thing. A good deal of curiosity ic being evinced »s to how Glasgow will shape in the test

match. He has not played in big company for two years, and did not play for either Southland or the South Island this season. There must be some special virtue in his play which led to his inclusion iu the 1 iont row to-day. The Auckland team for the match with South Canterbury next week is certain to be a much stronger one than was defeated here last year, hut in estimating the chances of the local reps, putting up a decent fight against the cracks too much reliance should not be placed on the form against the Britishers. This would appear to foreshadow a heavy score by Auckland, but it should be remembeted that the team that represented Britain in Timaru was a better one than played last Saturday.

The poor and needy Unionu usually try to secure local referees for their rep. g,;mes, in order to save t.tie expense of importing nj--:n from other centres. South Canterbury in most ca.ve-s has had its suggestions in this respect given weight to, and I do not imagine that any visiting team lu*> had jea.son to complain of its treatment by members of the S.O. Referees' Association. Hather have 1 in mind two or thiee games in which visiting n-iims have been treated ifi a most chivalrows fashion. Touring teams which have come here driving the last two years, however, via Christchiirch, appear to be chary of playing under local men. This may be "due to partisan feeling running high in the North Island, but there is an uneasy feeling here that the travellers have been bi ought under sinister influences on their -way down. In dealing with the North Otago game last week 1 refrained from giving expiesa'on to a thought that some of the " big guns" of the South Canterbury pack were reserving some of their powder. This was certainly the case in one or two or the easier games last year—notabiy a&.u'ns' the Kangiora team—and the Green pack did not display the same vim la=t voik as they did against the Britishers. The state ot the ground was against fast play against the Uatnaru men, and it seemed only fair to suspgnd judgment in regard to the winning team. After the maUh fhio week against WairaTapa, I am conringed there was some unexpended energy the pwions Thursday, as well as this one. It B7f.s .a remarkable thing that the three forwards who were playing for their places were t[>a Jhree honestest grafters in the game, this proving thai the top-notchers were taking no chances of disablement before the tour. Coming to the game iteelf, it must be said that it was rather a- lifeless display of football, the back play not being &bvays effective, and the characteristic loose rushes of the focal men were seldom, displayed, Bout|j Canterbury deserved their win, though they had not much the better of the actual play, for the Wairarapa try was due to a distinct blundeF by the referee. O'Leary and Darvill weie the Irgst pair of the visiting backs, though Adams jj.nd McKeny.ie played very well in the eecojid spell, McKenzie failed badly when Carlton soured his try. •Jury .and Groube ruined a lot of promising play, and after three ineffectual attempts to jump Bradley Groube became very inconspicuous, Jjrenchley was the pick of the Wairarapa. pack, which contained some gooil *erummers ant) line men- For the winners R, iSpotf' was very safe, h's one bad mistake being rectified. by Bradley, who shaped much better on account of his avoidance of the intercepting habit, ,Some of his tackling was really good. Co1«e and Horgan played nicely, the former being and showing promise of 4eyfcl#p?ng g, useful kick, and the latter doing .a lot of clever work. Priest was in the doldrunis in the early part of the game, but improved perceptibly as the play wentf on. Mayo shaped promisingly, and Spillane decently. It will be necessary to get the three quarters to take up more defined positions, however. Roddick did fifl.t pJ a J'» and tin's was bad luck for Rodgfirs, wfjo went on in his place, an injury to his knee putting- Eodgers out of the northern trip. Budd awl W. Scott alternated at wing after his retirsiognt. O'Brien was working hard all thiongh, and Smith was about as consistent as any forward excep:ing perhaps Carlton. Meiviii mi WScott were brilliant at times, but were not always doing what they are capable of, the Kojith Island rep. being much too anxious to break away during his spell in the scrum. Some of his following up, however, atoned for any other remissness, and a disregard of the advantage rule by the referee robbed him of a weH-deseryed try once. Budd was one of the stars who did not go easy at. times, and Robertson, who came on after Rodgers left, did his utmost to justify his selection for the

"northern twenty," and may be sajd 'o have succeeded. The South Canterbury team's victory should put themi in good heart for the big games in the next few weeks, and when the backs eettle down, and the pack are called upon to do their best, I am sanguine they will improve considerably on Thursday's performance. And they will need to!

THE BRITISH TEAM. I -;. Though.:' the ■ Anglo-Welsh .team have ' another" engagement to fulfil, enough has been seen-of-them,, to enable one to gain a, pretty accurate idea of their form. When the "names, of' the players ". were announced at Home,.widely divergent opinions were • expressed as to the strength of the-party, but 'the more sober writers pronounced" the team to be a. good one. and a combination .which included eleven internationals and two first reserves must have been fairly representative of English and Welsh Rugby. On their arrival in New Zealand the visitors were at once said to be carrying d.OO much' condition, and as they barely had time to recover their land-legs before they were asked to line up at Masterton, their substantial score in their opening essay was looked upon as satisfactory. They were subjected to a pretty severe test in being called upon to oppose the powerful Wellington team a few days later, and though defeated their performance was a meritorious one; to play half the game with four-

Teen men, nine days after their long sea voyage, and to run up 13 points when faced with a. large, score against them, could only be regarded as promise of better thinoe (o come. But ignoring the unsatisfactory mud scramble at Wellington

which goes down on the records as a, " test," one is forced to the conclusion that the Britishers to-day are just about where they were two months ago. Even if they should effect a surprise at Auckland this afternoon, their record indicates that they are not above the calibre of the provincial teams. In analysing the results of the team, the inii:ur gumes may be discarded, and comparisons drawn on their play against the six shongest football constituencies in the colony—Auckland Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, and Wanganui. Three of these places were visited in the early part, of 'he trip, and three in the concluding stages, and the scores show that so far from making the wonderful improvement popularly attributed to them after the second .New Zealand match, the. visitors have, about maintained Hie standard set in the second game. They were defeated in the three earlier provincial contests, though they should have notched a win in the Canterbury match; and thpy have secured only one narrow victory in the three lately played. In fact, the margins of points may be said to have borne out last season's provincial form with wonderful consistency. This afternoon's game may prove a surprise packet, but even if the Anglo-Welshmen prevailed. I should still adhere to the conclusion which the chief provincial games have forced upon me. I have no hesitation in saying, however, that Harding's men have not done all that lay in their power to fulfil their unwritten" contract with the New Zealand Union, and if any future reams from the Old Country are invited to the Dominion it would be well to have it' thoroughly understood that a larger proportion of conscientious footballers is desirable, and that the New Zealand public expects more for its money than the provision of a " roaring time" for a portion of its guests. There is an old saying that outsiders see most of the game, and this has been borne out in one way during the present tour. The Britishers made a huge mistake in their estimate of the conditions under which they were likely to show their best form against the New Zealanders. The night before the first test match they expressed a decided preference for a dry ground, and went so far as. to prophesy a ""'in for themselves under tine weather conditions, There was not much to find fault with in this respect for the Dnnedin game, but the colonials proved conclusively that the visitors were no match for them. . At Wellington, though according to their previously-ex-pressed convictions they could have expected to have little chance of reversing the positions, the British team secured a draw, a result that quite bears out the football axiom that weight tells miost iu the mud. One of the peculiarities of the tourists, by the way,, was their extreme reticence in the matter of their weights,- which were never officially announced, I doubt if many teams' have been seen in the colony with more avoirdupois than this one, especially in the forward division.

The two most noticeable points about the play of the Britishers have been the speed of their backs and the footwork of tjje forwards. In the more important games fhe pace, of tjie visitors' rearguard has been counteracted by the straighter running of the colonials, who jiave also appeared to better advantage in their use of the touchline. Though nearly all of the backs of the British team are able io kick p. ball a very long distance, they did not—with two pj> three notable exceptions—show the precision usually expected of a. g°od New Zealand line tinder. The forwards, however, have proved themselves capable of holding their own with the best of our scrum divisions. Jij. but three games have the British vanguard been outplayed. One was the first test, another was the Auckland game, and it in pardonable to mention that the third was the South Canterbury match. The outstanding feature of the work of the visitors' forwards has been (heir success in obtaining possession of the ball in the scrum, and it must be admitted: that our hitherto invincible scrum formation has proved inferior to thai adopted by the opposition. It is extremely doubtful whether the tactics adopted by the tourists to lessen the well-known proficiency of the New Zealand hooking specialist will be permitted in future, as a more definite description, of the ba]l in in sure to be asked for before another year's play is commenced, A certain country has been described as a grave of mikiary reputations, and New Zealand has proved the resting-place (if pne or two football reputations during this tour, Qn the other h.i-nil, .hree or four players who were looked upon as "reserves" have played themselves'into the front rank. Chapman, who iiis„ came into prominence in Timaru, has proved one of the Ijest three-quarters in the team. Archer, who sprained' into t)»e firefc test owing to some pf th'e big guns feeing injured, has easily retained Jiis' place, and kniith is nnotltsV forward who has rapidjy come to the front since his game againsf. South Canterbury. Hind, the last. «iv,u cflosen for the team, has also not altogether belied Jiis name in the matter of speed.

The tour has been punctuated -with one or two unpleasant incidents, and the"British " spirit has npfc been aJwnVB conspicuous in the receptipn pf pplpnial interpretations and fpntßail pusjqms, put the. Anglo-Welshmen have furnished np little amusement by their resource, in avoiding the vile term "wing forward." In one game where they actually played the fltfrtpiflus f.wp-wihg game, one man was designated A •'•' r(?yeF: ;! nft ill anpther the winger was represented' fts {(■ "half." P the South Canterbury team finds it necessary to play two wings at any time during its northern trip, one will certainly be classified as a "rover." Then the susccpfijjiliries of nobody will l>e offended