National v. Wanderers II.

Thames Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 6896, 1 June 1891, Page 2

National v. Wanderers 11.

A good deal of interest was taken in the contest between the Nationals and Waader?r 11, which was pUyod in the Parawai Qarder>s. The g»*ound was in perfect order, and the weather all that could bo desired. Neither club was represented by its full strength, but nevertheless a fast and close contest took place, eventually ending in a win for the Wanderers by % points to 1. No score was obtained du?ing the first half, but shortly after the second qpsll was started, F- Johns by a dashing piece of play succeeded in crossing the Wanderers line, aad obtaining a try for the Nationals. H. Paterson made a splendid attempt at goal from near the touch line, the ball flying about si§ inc^ea wide. By a good rush of the forwards the ball was taljeq well into the maroon's B§i aod Wilsoa by a short dash crossed the Nationals line, and a try resulted. Bane kicked a neat goal, and no further score b 'ing obtained, the game resulted as above. Tup fmplay of scientific football was very poor, there being scarcely any running cr passing amongst the backs, whilst the kicking of some of the back division of both teams was also wea!r. The forwards played hayd, hot did do head work, kicking too hard and frying to pick up being a great fault. Io line out plgy th,e Nationals had somewhat the best of it, but never ODpe thought of passing to their backs. The weight of the Wanderers told considerably, and a.I Us+jes H took the maroons ull they ljuow to stop the rushes. Mokura, Brown, Wolff, and Hilton all played safe games, but at times were rather slow in taking their kicks. Bain's play at half was good, his following up being of great serrice, Cullen (capt), at centre-h^lf, stopped several rushes, but neve* attempted to feed his baoks, relying on his forwards to do the work. McCollum was fair. Wilson and Hasting both played dashing forward games, following up fast, the former's t?y being well earned. Qf the others, Quinn and Woods were the pick,

Arnongai; the National backs Barns, at full is far too slow, aud should put more life into his work. E. Moore, at centre threequarter played the bost back game on the field, his pioking op and kicking being excellent, and the manner in which he repeatedly stopped the rushes gained for him the applause of the onlookers. Short and Gibbons, the other three-quarters, were good men wasted, and were not fed at all, neither player hardly handling the bill the whole game, Paterson played a dashiug game, picked up cleanly, and kicked sure. J, Davies (capt.) was oufc of nis place nt half, his failure to pick up and attempts to kick rolling balls being very noticeable. Kerr was also decidedly out of his place at centre half, being a

good man amoDgst the forwards. During the whole game he hardly once thought of feeding the backs, which are the recognised mainstay of the team. Tbe forwards played with very little judgment, and no combination at ail. In line out play Limb, Otter, Phillips, aod Ball worked fair, tha former beia? the pick. Johns, Flett, and Eobertson were most conspicuous iv open work, each of them at times making some fine dashes, but the latter should pass more. The other man, Max* well, could well be improved upon, bis knowledge of tbe game being very vague. The team needs a lot of practice, and until they do this, their chances of success are somewhat remote. Messrs J. Lynch (Nationals) and T. Henderson (Wanderers) carried out the duties cf umpires in an impartial spirit, Mr T. Johnston giving every satisfaction as referee.