FOOTBALL

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 14003, 11 September 1909, Page 7

FOOTBALL

i CLUB SYSTEM. l'er I'rcss Association. DUXEDLV, Sept. 10. At a special meeting of delegates of the Otago Rugby Union tlio motion previously carried in favour of _ a district- scheme was rescinded by nineteen votes to eight, so that the x>resent- club system remains in vogue. THE CANTERBURY MATCH. * Tho South Canterbury team to play against North Canterbury on Thursday, at tlio Athletic Grounds is as follows: Full—D.- Scott) threequarters—L. H'ardie, G. Bradley, G- "Wall; five-eighths— G. SpiUane, G. Coles; half—J. Coke; hookers—C. Hagertj, A- Ker; lock—. R. Campbell; Jones, G. Fitzgerald; back row—.T. Scott, M. Horgan; wing—R. Itodgers (captain). Reserves —M. Darcy. H. Manning. A practice will ho held at tho _ Stone - Stables at 7.30 on Tuesday, evening. THE RUGBY UNION. The weekly meeting of the committee of tho South Canterbury RugbyUnioii was held yesterday. l'rcsent —Father Kerlev. (chairman), aud Messrs C. F. Collim,- W. Drake, "W. T. Maben, C. 1.. Maslin, and H. H.. Fraser (sccrtaiy). • ■ Mr TV. J. TYilson of Dunedin was approved of as referee for : the Northr.»Sooth ■ representative match next WCCfc. . Permission was grante<l to the.Zingari fourth. toplay a combined Celtic and Star team on.tho Athletic Grounds on Thursday, . providing -• each player; pays 6d admission. A denial was received from J. Cunnard, of the charge of using insulting' languageat tho recent Ashburton tournament.—lt, was - decided to write to tho Temuka Club and ask for thefnll name of the B team which* went to Ashburton.

TOUCHLINE TOPICS

(By C.K.H.)

Canterbury v. South Canterbury ' ttext Thursday. 1 Auckland and .Taranaki meet at Auckland tp-day.. Otago and Wellington plav tt)-day. ■Otago"won last year by t.»o pouits. r Tha Marist Scliool visit Oainafu toi day, ta play the South School, the pnnlary premiers of North Otago. ShanKs, . thowing, .forward whose claims for inclusion in the island team : were championed by a Christchurch writer r haa been unable-to keep his placc in "the i Canterbnry team. . ; * Canterbury - having asked for a fo^ - reign referee for next" Thursday, Mr; J. W. Wilson, of Duncdin," who coiir trolled the British match, has been ap- — 'pointed'.- 1 _ V:... "Wall strained ■ a ■ muscle- in the AshLurton match, and did not play against North Otago, it being deemed wfse to take no'risks in view of the Canterbury match, v >His ■ scoring abilities were -sadly missed. ./ ■ - -The Talue of goaI« , kicking, was exemplified at' Oamaru on Thursday. :V5 'G- Spillane had but three shots aiid larided thrcc goals, and Boss out ofhalFadpzenftriesnotcbed thred long-distance: goals. u n South • Canterbury arp to win next •week, thaJfoUowrng:"Jessons: from- the Oamaru 'game m(Bt;be taken to heart : The hnnch on tlie; line at-the the t wing v delivers the ball, and'must follow?up not singly but in a bodjft; .the .hicks:must use the line and not|kidE into ctho hands of the 1 -- . .< Tho iodnaanent offered to the «aK labies to playnthe ; Northern game in Sydney was. £IOO, per. man. The - money was*iiot;. offered by .tlje League, but by privateZspeculators,? and unless football is more'virile than other forms-, of sport whfch havp .bctnr exploited .by - the " promoter," a> tliort life , may be predicted -for* . -The B team"which went to \\ aimate bad no conabmatkm and contained 'seve- ■, ral out oF' Conditioil players, nevertheless Waima& ~beat'it. handsomely, and showed - improvement on the i form displayed sgamst Mackenzie, vln view- of rfcent- Waimatc's return game -with , North Utago • next week- is interest.. v The referwi on Thursday -put the with • varying success-T-sometimes : itbowled right through, and 'sometimes it went iir between the hookers and the lock He also indicated with his hand when the ball was down on a kick at goal being taken, though he omittedto do so on the occasion when a '•no charge" . gaye Boss a second, opportunity* to .turn the scales in .NorthOtago's -favour. Tlie ' South Canterbur- team returned with a poor, impression of /the referee. On the other hand there is'good ground for believing that the dissatisfaction evinced by the Oamaru."spectators with the South Canterbury fhne umpiro was not without reason.- _ The B games this year have not been unqualified successes and unless better support is forthcoming from players in future, tho Union might as well drop them and allow the juniors or the A team to fulfil tho fixtures'. Ihe fiasco at Fairlie was perhaps excusable, but the difficulty experienced in get*linc st fifteen away to Wainiatc was not at all encouraging to the officialsof tho players who went had not Jiau a game for several weeks, while much stronger® and fitter players staved at home —«omo of them apparently because they- did not win rep. honours. This is twor sport, and makes poorer football.-' 'Tho losing of the games >s a. comparatively small matter, but the primary object of these sub-union matches—the educating ol countj hwitballers—is not likely to bo attained when teams are sent- that they arc able to show to. i The list, and biggest, match of the season is to ho played ue , x J' n^ k against-North "Canterbury. After tlie performance of tho backs in the island game many people jumped to the inclusion that tho Bed and Blacks.--would win easily at Timarus hut in the island game tlie forwards made the way easy for them, and if the

South Canterbury park do their best on •Thursday the visiting forwards will havo all their -work rut out to hold their own. The result will turn upon the nbilitv of the South Canterbury pack to worry the opposition, and it the Greens take the field in good heart their chances aro not altogether hopeless. No match was played last year, the date suggested by South Canterbury not being suitable, and at lemuka in 1907, when Canterbury won by 9 to 3, the match resolved itsel) into a duel between the l?>"d backs and' the Green forwards. Whatever the result is on Thursday, the play will not be so lopsided, as this year i. local rearguard .i* sounder and more aggressive than that of two years ago. The .South. Canterbury team which visited Oainaru in 1907 was a very uneven. one. The. .forwards were very strong, and tlio backs'were about the poorest lot sent away for a long time. Scoit, Bradley and L»arcy were making their debut.-m rep. gaiius, and all »uifercd from nerves, and tlie rest oi die rearguard were very-weaH.' ' ..Xortii Utago opposed. theni with .a racy set of back's, and before South Canterbury "quite realised tlie game had- begun the jellows had two tries' and ! a goal lrom a mark to their credit. Alter cliaugmg ends the South Canterbury' pacK waded in aud astounded tho spectators bv rattling up tour* tries m a quarter oV-ah hour, and wun tlio game.. ' Last senson the game at.Timaru was playedon the heels of a downpour, .and tnoiigh South Canterbury had a accent * lot-, oi. backs, the forwards police- more had to win-the game. 'i'hjs year.South Canterbury .appeared to be superior both back and forward, but'lost the match'.- .

It must bo wmftisscd. ;that, the result of the North Otago" match was disappointing to .South Canterbury suj)potters, us siiK.e thuir game witu. \\aiiiiat- tlic Qamaruvians were not rated s«j; highly as usual. ' After seeing the gamo I am convinced that South Canterbury would uiii three times out ol they did iiot win.on Thursday. • Xliey were letter both forward and back, tlie only [joints in which the North ..Otago men Held an advantage being in liife play, and in following by the forwards. -Nearly all the home team's forward rushes started from the line out. The Oaniaru bucks were mostly good fielders and sound taeklers, but they did not show any of the fireworks 011 attack which we have copii to associate with. North Otago teanis. .They; made several attempts to set rushes going both inside -ana outside <}f .their'2s; but G v Coles accounted for most of them in the incipient stage. J{oss's splendid goal-kicking won • the game for North Otago, who were not in South Canterbury's territory for moro than a fourtn of the playing- time; When "they were in they inado good use -of their opportunities, "and the nine points which were rattled lip in ten-minutes at the beginning of the .second -spc-ll ctjhipletely altered tlie aspect. of- the game, r South Canterbury, who had Jiad mucJi, the best of the-first half and had eight point? on /regarded the*, game as won and "were undoubtedly caught' nappii)g. : ■ After that, though .the" visitors- wereoften xinugcro'usj ' they - could score . only .once;-'- -But if--.they did not win they ha'tl the satisfaction _ of. showing 'tjie Oamaru. public that; we have some de,cent backseat last,'even tliough some of them .failed to reproduce their best fornix The Green forwards were heavier and faster, than.their'opponents and except for' their,line out work—which iv'as in. vcr organibeu—mux tliei.r slacKiiLSsin lullon ing tip jiot. n.ucn \fauit coiilu >xi iouna wjth "tiicir piav, ; tiioug.'i tjieir iiught Jia»e oeeir iiKiuig«.u m' a bit6ttcuer. • liiu team phiyiu a fairly good game, .anu nail iK.-tter.of fhe, play, out there was spinetumg. lacKnig. at the end of tlio eitorts, and perliaps the social of tlie premier cliib. the previous niglit Iran üboorinju some, ol their energy. It wiis: evident that they were' not ail oilt rign t; through, as after losing .lloffett uiey pla.Neu rather better tliau before.- .- Ot tn<j winners' •backs K. Curraii . was quite the best, and ha§ improved greatly tins fast couple of years. His brother is - a .very sound tackier, but is u poor attacking player. • Dutliie, the Vsiitaki school rep., was accurate in fielding and kicked- well.. , Boss iv'as' main ly ' not ice a ble for- Jus- goal shooting, • anu - McCalliim, -the half, was smarter at snapping marks tliau at getting the. ball away. Brenton, I'errv, . and -Clarko wero< the bust of an cveiipack of-hard-working forwards. _ Of tho South Canterbury men, . J). Scott waS" not at Jiis best, . and playing against tho sun took the risk at -times T of waiting for the ball to - bounce, a proceeding- which- on the .rough; ground landed him in trouble. .Bradley also was not so dashing or so reliable as usual. Ue made only one of. his characteristic runs, and then when he should have gone on ho threw a high pass which was not taken. Hardie retrieved' some other men's - mistakes cleverly, and put in some fair runs, but ho is-still- incapable of giving a return pass. 'J'iio- half-back trio Was- Sonth Canterbury's stronghold in the rearguard. Spillaue kicked Ix-au-tifullv and played a clever game right through, and G. Coles was worth two men for his spoiling work alone. The younger C'oles was in great form behind the scrum, and made some line openings. With another season over his head this boy will be ;i topnotcher. The forwards did not exhibit the combination they have shown in previous 'matches,*, but with ouc exception they put in some good work —-that line play and lac'k of fast following alwavs excepted. Jones, Scott, and Campbell, and Fitzgerald, were nearly always working, and MofTett was playing well up-to the timo of his retirement. ' After losing to North Otago the local men's chances against Canterbury look less bright, but they plaved well enough on Thursday to make it unsafe to look on the next game as a foregone conclusion. They can plav still better, and with A\all back in* his place some of the bouts which on Thursday failed to earn points may meet a l>ctter fate.