A Door Sports.

Observer, Volume XVIII, Issue 1022, 30 July 1898, Page 11

A Door Sports.

By 'Haebiee.'

FOOTBALIi FIXTURES.

July 30 -Wellington v. Auckland, at Auckland. •• . August 6 — Canterbury v. Auckland, at Auckland.

Play in last Saturday's match against Ohinemuri was essentially different in character to that in the Thames match, being fast and open throughout. That this was the case I attribute entirely to the fact that the home vanguard rather more than held their own both in the packs and in the open, and were thus enabled to keep their fast and clever back division fully employed Besides being beaten forward, Ohinemuri were hopelessly outclassed behind the scram Both in attack and defence their backa were extremely weak, and on this account the brilliant work of the Auckland backs is open to considerable discount. It is easy to shine when the opposition is not strong.

The first few minutes of the jjame was almost a repetition of what occurred in the Thames match. Following the kick-off a loose rush of the visitors carried the ball over the line, and Glarkin scored between the posts, McLean converted, and the score within 5 minutes of the start read, Ofainemuri 5, Auckland nil. Here the resemblance to the Thames match ceased, however, as at thiß stage the home team took command, and, never giving their opponents a chance, pat on four trieß before the bell rang for half-time The second spell, like the first, opened with a score for the country team, Davis crossing the line as a sequel to a forward rash. This score was directly attributable to irresolution displayed by Abaolnm. For the rest of the term the Auckland team had matters much their own way, and at the finish the scores stood, Auckland 23 (six tries, one converted), Ohinemari 8 (two tries, one converted).

Six members of the Auckland team, viz , Asher, Laws, Hay, the two McGregors and Sampson, are representing the province for the first time. Gillett, one of the Ohinemuri three-quarters, possesses exceptional kicking power. Some of his ' drops ' against a strong wind in the first spell were equal to anything I have ever seen in the same line. The inclusion of Eiley at fiveeighths made a wonderful difference to the Auckland baok game- He played in quite his best form throughout, and both in attack and defence his display would be hard to find fault with. Laws and Absolum each lost a try on Saturday by unpardonable selfishness. It is always the game to paes to a comrade in a better position than oneself, and both the players mentioned have had sufficient experience to know this. As a body, the Auckland pack were & decided success, and it is abundantly manifest that the changes made after the Thames match were in the right direction. On Saturday we had a team of ' ahovera ' ; every man did his ' little bit ' with most gratifying results. Of the Auckland forwards on Saturday none pleased me better than Lewis. He got through a lot of solid work in the pack, followed up and tackled well, and generally displayed good form in the loose. I shall not be surprised to see him gain his cap before the season closes. The Auckland place -kicking on Saturday was of deplorably poor quality. Eaton, usually a most reliable goal-kicker, had four attempts and made a hash of the lot ; and Smith and Absolum' were each tried with like non-success. The only goal kicked was a straight shot negotiated by Laws. . - The Ohinemuri forwards were an extremely powerful, dashing lot, but somewhat deficient in combination. Had it been otherwise, the Auckland pack would have had a much stiffer task to face. Poland, Olarkin, arid Davia were the pick of a hardworking lot.

Harrison and F. Murray each sprained a knee whilst playing against Thames, and were unable to take part in laßt Saturday's game in consequence Both expect to be all right by Saturday, bnt the selector, presumably on the ' take, no risk ' principle, has paised them over in nominating his team for the Wellington match.

I was somewhat disappointed with D Hay at scrum-half, as in no respect did he play np to his club form. Certainly, his defence was always sound, and he made a i number of clever openings, bnt his passing was erratic. In the first half too low, and in the second term, evidently in an endeavour to correct this fault, too high and too slow. In hia defence, it may be .said that Biley plays rather wider than moßt fiveeighths, bnt this is a peculiarity of that player's for which he should be prepared. Laws took Renwick's place at centre -three-quarter after the latter's retirement, and displayed much better form than on any previous occasion this season. For the first time he appeared to grasp the requirements of his position in relation to the passing game. He made a number of excellent openings, kicked well, and bar once, when his failure to pass to Absolum lost a certain try, made no serioua mistakes. H. Smith's work at full back was not alogether satisfactory in several respects, the chief weakness noticeable being inability to find the touch-line with his kicks. On one occasion moreover, he displayed great want of judgment in electing to ' run out ' the ball when it had been kicked over the line under circumstances which made the attempt a very risky one indeed. A. Renwick received an injury to his collar- bone in the first few minutes of Saturday's game, and was compelled to retire. The accident, although not of itself a serious matter, will prevent his playing for some four weeks, and was particularly unfortunate, seeing that hia chance— an excellent one by the way — of playing himself into the representative team was thereby extinguished.

Time was when Hugh Poland was counted the best forward in Auckland, and despite his long retirement from the game, his form on Saturday was very little below that displayed in his palmiest days. He got through an immense amount of work, both in the pack and in the open, and had it not been for his determined tackling the Bcore against his side would have been much larger. Ohinemuri took two men out of the pack in the second term for the express purpose of watching Biley, and thus checking the Auckland passing attacks. That the player mentioned managed to break through so often constitutes, under such circumstances, an eloquent tribute to his resourcefulness, but even so, the Auckland skipper would have displayed sounder generalship had he for a time elected to keep the ball in the scrum and make a forward game of it. If this had been done the visitors would speedily have discovered that they conld not afford to spare two pack forwards. Asher- (or • Opai,' as the crowd have nicknamed him) was far and away the most brilliant of the Auckland threequarters. He made a number 'of dashing runs, kicked better than previously, and passed accurately and unselfishly. He is still, however, too much inclined to rush his men when tackling, and would, I think, do better if he endeavoured, when possible, to get his man sideways on, in which case it would be impossible to dodge him. And with his pace it would be a faßfc player who got away from him.

Mr G. H. Mason, one of the Canterbury Union's viee-presidentß,will accompany the Canterbury team as manager. The Wellington team includes a couple of ex • Wairarapa representatives, viz., Koss (three-quatter), and MoGuire (five-eighths.) The Thames Union are endeavouring to arrange for a match with the Taranaki representatives when the latter visit Auckland. It is worthy of note . that neither the Auckland nor Wellington representative fifteens contain a single member of last year's New Zealand team. Joe Ofcway gained his cap as far back as 1887, when he played against Taranaki, but has not had a place in a rep. team since, although playing continuously in various parts of the province. Wanganui must possess a- pretty strong team thiei season. Recently they defeated Manawatn by 12 points to 5, and on Saturday followed this np by . inflicting a reverse upon Taranaki, the scoring being a potted goal (4 points) to a try (3 points). ' Hard ' Kelly, who comes here as one of the Wellington wings, is an old Aucklander, and at one time played for the old Auckland Glnh. He has represented Wellington on numerous occasions, and is a dashing, clever player, a great tackier, and an adept in the art of shielding. Mr George Symes, of Hawera, has been appointed by the New Zealand Union to referee in the forthcoming Wellington and Canterbury matches. Mr Symes is an ex-Aucklander, and the writer well remembers his playing for the Newton Club some 13 or 14 years ago. , Our Wellington correspondent 'wireß regarding the Wellington team, that, speaking generally, the backs are above the average of Wellington teams, but the forwards, whilst quite as strong as the team which went unchecked through the South Island last year, cannot be said to be equal to either of the front divisions that visited Auckland in 1894 and 1896. A football match is being arranged between a combined team from the Auckland and Ponsonby Lodges of Druids, and one from the Faeroa and Waihi Lodges of the same order. Amongst the Auckland -representatives of the beard and gown will be included a number of well-known senior players, and as the Upper Thames lodges are similarly situated, the match, which is to be played at Faeroa, should prove an interesting one. •;■ Mr Arneil has selected the following team to play against Wellington : — Full-back, E. Smith ; three - quarters, Asher, Laws, and Absolum ; five-eighths, O'Biley ; half, D. Hay ; wings, S. Macgregor and Laing ; forwards, Gillett, Swindley, J. McGregor, Otway, Clarkin, McEenzie, and Sampson. Taken all round, the team strikes me as being a fairly strong combination. It is undoubtedly a strong aide forward, and, given ~ the opportunities, the backs are clever in attack. Where they are likely to fail is in defence, the three three-qaarter back line being especially weak in this reßpect. I have no hesitation in asserting that on his recent form Absolum is the weakest spot in the team chosen to do battle against Wellington. Certainly there is no gainsaying his wonderful faculty for scoring when forming the last link in a chain of paßßing-. His cleverness in gathering a pass when going at ' top,' and his great turn of - speed, make him extremely dangerous under such circumstances. Againßt this, however, has to be set his weak defence*, especially when opposed to a forward rush. This is all the more aggravating because he has on several notable occasions demonstrated Mb ability to ' stop ' aB well as the best of them, the match against the New Zealand team last ' season being a case in point. Against Wellington he will probably be called upon to do more stopping than attacking, and it is to be hoped that he will rise to the occasion and, by a display of his old-time form in this respect, redeem his reputation. Mr W. Coffey (of the Wellington Post literary staff) who accompanies the Wellington representative team to Auckland in the capacity of line-umpire, haa won a solid reputation down at the Empire City for his Saturday publication of all the football events in Wellington, as well as the results of senior cup matches in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Every Saturday night the whole shop-front of the Evening Post is placarded with printed posters giving the results from each centre under the name of its particular Bugby Union. And as a consequence, the entire street in front of the newspaper office is for several hours densely packed with the crowds who gather there to read of and discuss the contests s that have been waged that day all over the colony. The footballscribes of the Star and Herald had better lay themselves out to get a few wrinkles from Billie Coffey when he bobs up serenely in Queen-ateeet.