Out Door Sports.

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 861, 29 June 1895, Page 15

Out Door Sports.

By 'Harries.'

COMING EVENTS. September 9— Harding v. Sullivan, for Seedling Championship of England and £400 Thames course. FOOTBALL FIXTURES. July 20 -Auckland v. Poverty Bay. Cup Matches. First and Second Fifteens. June 29— North Shore v. City; Grafton v Parnell; Newton v. Ponsonby. Third Fifteens. June 29— Newton v. Parnell; Ponsonby v. Sub£.s,yurbs ; North Shore v. Grafton. July 6— Newton v. North Shore ; Ponsonby v Parnell; Grafton v. Suburbs. Franklin Rugby Union. June 29 -Bombay v. Tuakau, at Tuakau. July 6— Bombay v. Wairoa, at Wairoa; PnkeKohe v. Waiuku, at Pukekohe: Tuakau stand out.

The bright weather on Saturday, combined with the certainty of good football, were the means of attracting an unusually large attendance of spectators to Potter's," fully 2000 being present. The principal attraction was, of coarse, the match Grafton v Newton, the previous form of both clubs rendering it almost a foregone conclusion that their meeting would provide not only a stubborn contest, but a good display of football. And so the event proved. For although Grafton won by a respectable majority of points, it was not by any means an easy victory— in fact, so much was the contrary the case, that I have no hesitation in asserting that they found Newton the hardest nut they have yet been asked to •rack. During the first spell, the game was reasonably fast and fairly even, Grafton if anything claiming a slight advantage, but this chiefly because of the wretched form displayed by the Newton backs, to which cause alone the two extremely soft tries obtained bj Grafton may be attributed. At the commencement of the second spell, however, matters took a decided turn. The Newton vanguard started off with the evident intention of forcing the pace, and being better supported by their backs, were enabled by reason of their superiority in Hcrummaging power and line play, to work the ball into their opponents' territory and to keep it there almost continuously for quite two- thirds of the term. Had the Grafton backs not proved themselves veritable lions in defence, Newton must undoubtedly have scored heavily during this period, but, as it was, they were only enabled to score one try, which, being converted by Roberts, made their score at this stage 5 points as against Grafton's 6. As time wore on, the Newton attack appeared to weaken somewhat (probably from want of condition) and finally the Grafton backs got an opening, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. Dug Hay obtaining possession from a scrum, passed out smartly, thus inaugurating a splendid passing run, which terminated in Surman scoring near the corner flag. Shortly afterwards Surman again distinguished himself by cleverly potting a goal from the field. This was the final score in the match, which finished Grafton 13, Newton 5.

Arrangements have been made for Poverty Bay to play in Auckland on July 20th.

' Happy ' Freeman fumbled very badly at times, besides which his tackling was not nearly as good as usual.

Oliphant played his usual dashing game on the wing, as did also Ike Mills, who played in a similar capacity for Newton.

' Dug ' Hay put in a lot of useful work. He gets the ball away from the scrum quickly, and also kicks and tackles effectively.

The Newton three quarters, Siddle, Warnock and Webber, all played disappointingly in the first spell, but improved considerably as the game progressed.

Sunnan was in excellent form on Saturday. His run down the touch line, which ended in a score, reminded one strongly of Bob Whiteside ' in the good old days of yore.'

Heffernan, Eaton and Williamson were the most prominent of the Newton forwards, but there wasn't a single * waster ' in the lot of them.

Roberts was terribly off-colour on Saturday. Witli the exception of the try he converted, he did absolutely nothing worthy of favourable note.

Who is George Gilmer going to play for on Saturday, Grafton or Parnell ? He will be a big help to his side, anyhow, if he does not get too excited.

In St. Louis (America) the street watercarts only water one-half of the roadway, so that wheelmen may have a dry road journeying to and from the town.

No wonder cricket flourishes in Christchurch. W. Robertson, the wellknown Canterbury bowler, has opened a winter cricket pavilion in Gloucester-street, in that city.

Absolum played a rattling good game for Suburbs on Saturday, and if he had the good fortune to play for one of the leading clubs, would stand a good show for rep. honours.

Sutherland is still playing a splendid game, and when the Probables and Possibles meet, will doubtless stand a good show of letting the public see what he is made of.

If, as appears likely, the visit of the Queensland team is deferred until the end of August, the Auckland team will probably leave on its Southern tour about the end of July.

Smith, Grafton's full-back, again proved himself a most reliable man in the position. He had a lot of work to do, and came out of the ordeal in a most satisfactory manner.

Mr Parker officiated as referee in the -big match on Saturday, and acquitted himself remarkably well." He, however, appeared to me a bit too easy in dealing with wing players.

Dan Clayton played the best centre three-quarter back game I have seen at Potter's for a very long time. He had loads of work to do, and got through it without a single mistake.

Elliott and Ronayne's play at the Shore was Al. They are both playing as well as ever they did, and comparison between the two would be unfair. They are both good, indeed.

The Linwood Club are leading for the senior championship of the Canterbury Rugby Union. They have so far played 7 matches, won them all and scored 154 points as against 22 by their opponents.

Parnell journeyed to Devonport o n Saturday where they met and easily defeated the North Shore team by 19 points to nil. The chief feature of the game was the splendid passing of the Parnell backs, which completely nonplussed their opponents.

The Senior fixtures for next Saturday are North Shore v City, Grafton v Parnell, and Newton v Ponsonby. The two latter will be played at Potter's, and should both provide splendid contests. I favour the chances of Grafton, Ponsonby and City respectively.

Laurie (Suburbs), who sprained his ankle in the Grafton- Suburbs match about a month ago, isnot able to get about yet, and has had quite enough football for some time to come. It is highly improbable that he will be able to do anything in hurdle-racing again.

' Spectator ' writes complaining of the behaviour of certain ladieß at Potter's, who persist in jumping up from their seats in exciting parts of the game, and obstructing the view of the spectators behind. We don't believe ' Spectator.' We are sure no ladies would be guilty of such an offence.

The Ellerslie Football Club tried conclusions with the Clifton team on Saturday at Ellerslie, and succeeded in registering another win, with the large score of 24 points to nil. The game was a very fast, open one, and the passing of the backs was one of the features of the match. Amongst the Ellerslie team Holder, Field and Somerfield were particularly noticeable ; and Peek and Barry, of the forward division, played really well.

Very little interest was taken in the Suburbs-City match, which, contrary to expectation, resulted in a win for the former by 8 points to 4. This result is more surprising because a number of the Suburbs players failed to roll up, and their places had to be filled by Juniors. I understand, however, that Suburbs played a fairly good game all through, whilst City displayed absolutely no signa of that combination which enabled them to beat so strong a team as Newton only a few Saturdays back. Whatever the reason may be, however, I am pleased to be able to congratulate Suburbs on their first and only win of this season.

Canterbury, in addition to their trip to Otago, will journey to Invercargill this year, and so. return the visit of the Southland Union of 1893.

The English Rugby Union is not likely to accept the invitation of the New Zealand Rugby Union to send a team to the colony next year, the feeling being that preference should be given to a visit to Cape Colony.

Unless Evans Young mends his ways in the matter of loafing off-side for shows, he will yet get his side into serious trouble. He was fortunate enough on Saturday to dodge the eye of the referee, but this cannot always happen.

What in the world Webber was thinking about when he attempted to pot a gaol, instead of securing the try, which was an absolute cert&intv, had he gone for it, I can't for the life of me understand. Such mistakes as these are almost inexcusable.

Beck displayed bad judgment in attempting to pass near his own goal line, but otherwise filled the position of halfback satisfactorily. It certainly was not his fault that the Newton backs did not show to better advantage. He made lots of openings for them.

The Daily Telegraph Grace Fund now amounts to 21,000 shillings. Baron Rothschild subscribed 1000 shillings. The Duke of Cambridge, the Marquis of Salisbury and the Hon J. Chamberlain also subscribed freely, and there is a network of collectors in the chief centres throughout the country.

Owing to the fine weather that has been experienced in England this season, some enormous scores at cricket have been recorded, and already fifty centuries have been registered in first-class matches. . W. G. Grace knocked tip 125 against Kent, this making his fifth century this season. For Middlesex R. 8. Lucas made 185 and T. C. O'Brien 202 against Sussex. Abel, for Yorkshire, scored 157 against Lancashire.

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL. Jury is fast and keeps up well. F. Burgess passed much better. Harding is improving. He kicked weJL

Kallender is improving, his kicking being much better.

E Cave played well, but Laird has too much toe for him.

Dr. Magill works very hard, but his tackling is rather weak.

Martin has a good turn of speed, which he used well when he scored.

J. Waters must not get mixed up with the backs. He centres well.

Cowan plays a good game and is bard to get past. He uses his head well.

Grafton played well and will make a tough fight with United next Saturday.

Dr. Roberts played well as usual, but had to do the full-backs- work sometimes.

Cowan, in goal for Grafton, did not have much to do ; his backs looked after him too well.

North Shore have rather hard luck in not getting the same team every Saturday.

Bellamy plays a really good game, placing well to the forwards and being a good kick.

Alexander's passing was a &reat improvement, bat he must not shoot when too far off.

Pilkington played a very good game, but did not seem so confident as when playing with his own team.

J. Burgess wants more practice as a forward. His passing was good ; he did not get many opportunities to score.

McDougall is a splendid little player, and got past the opposing backs in great style. He learnt to play in Scotland.

Laird was the mainstay of the forwards, but he kicks too hard ; should slow down a bit when dribbling until he gets used to it.

S. Cave gets his foot too high to kick with accuracy. Should use his head more and try ana shield the goal-keeper when he is pressed.

Manfcon never missed the ball once, his kicking being splendid. But why did he kick the ball tiehind his own goal line ? Was it to waste time, as he was not pressed?

A. Dacre was off colour, his tackling being rather poor. He must get out of dribbling when -playing back. He loat the baU several times when the forwards were waiting for it.