FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 750, 21 July 1904, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

(By

"Scrutator.”)

AUCKLAND V. THAMES. The first rep. match of the season was played at Alexandra Park, Epsom, on Saturday last, between teams representing the Thames and Auckland Unions. The attendance was something like eight thousand. The ground was in good order, and as the day was dull there was no sun to interfere with the backs taking the •ball from long high kicks. Morgan captairled the Thames team, and Woods filled the same position for Auckland. The teams lined out as under : r l hames.—Newdick, Kingham, Morgan, Keating; Winder, five-eighths; Price, half ; F. Hayward, McCollum, wings ; Smith, White, Autridge, Baker (lock), H. Hayward, Plant, and Newland, forwards. Auckland—Phillips, Asher, Renwick, W. McKenzie ; Wood, Ward (five-eighths) ; Gerrard (half), Gallagher (wing). Forwards : Tyler, McCluskie, Nicholson, Lewis (lock), Trevarthen, Seeling, Joyce. Thames won the toss, and elected to defend the eastern goal, having a strong wind at their backs. From the kick-off by Auckland a smart return by Thames sent the ball out at Auckland’s 25. The visitors got the ball from the line-out and pressed the Auckland men for a few minutes, when it was thought they would be sure to score. From a scrum just outside the 25 Gerrard secured the ball from the pack and passed to Wood, who on being tackled sent it on to Ward,and he to McKenzie, who scored near the corner flag, with Newdick hanging on to him. within seven minutes of play. Ward’s kick at goal failed Auckland 3, Thames 0. . From the kick out at the 25, a series of line play and scrums followed, and from a line-out Seeling secured the leather and sent it to Wood, who beat his man and transferred to Ward ; the latter being pressed passed to McKenzie, who raced ' hard towards the touch line —he here played a fine bit of football by kicling high across the field, which enabled Gallagher, who was well out on the . right, to snap the ball up and cross the line behind the posts quite unopposed. Ward •added to the score with a beautiful place hink : Auckland 8, Thames 0. Only thirteen minutes had elapsed of the spell. Auckland were penalised during a forward rush, and Winder had a shot, but the kick, although a good one, fell short. From loose play Morgan put in a good run on his own, and when pressed kicked out at the corner. From the line out a general scramble took place, the ball travelling towards touch at the centre, Auckland being penalised for obstruction by Asher. Winder took another shot, Auckland forcing. Uninteresting scrum work followed, when the Auckland hookers again got the ball, and Gerrard making a short run sent it to Renwick and a score looked •certain but for a bad pass by the latter to McKenzie. The Thames forwards replied with a smart rush nipped in the bud by Asher collaring and then kickingout. Half-time sounded shortly after. SECOND SPELL. ' It was easily seen that Thames had no •chance, and speculation ran high as to the score Auckland would make in the second spell, but none, I am sure, thought it would reach the tune of 42 to nil. From the kick off Phillips punted into Thames’ 25. From the throw in Morgan and Kingham put in a useful run, the latter kicking out at half-way. A passing run by Wood and McKenzie was nullified by the latter knocking on. Play was suspended here for a few minutes on account of Autridge (Thames) being winded. From a loose rush McKenzie secured a mark and placed the ball for Ward, who landed a neat goal : Auckland 12. The ball was no sooner in play again that McKenzie got a pass from Ward, and dodging through the pack on his ■own scored behind the posts. Ward added the required points : Auckland 17. Another fine bit of passing in which Asher was given a chance, although the ball was sent out too high, tne City three-quarter was’ off', and a score claimed ■only to find that Asher was grassed by Newdick right on the goal line. A scrum

was formed five yards out and the Auckland pack again got the ball. Gerrard sent it on to Ward, and he to McKenzie and the latter to Renwick, who crossed the line near the posts. Ward s kic * struck the post : Auckland 20. It was seen that the Thames mien were fast tiring. The ball came out to McKenzie, who passed to Wood, and the Auckland skipper did one of the finest bits of dodging seen for some time, for with men all round him he seemed to thread his way through almost behind the posts. The kick for goal failed : Auckland 23. , i w i No sooner had play started than uaid following the tactics of Wood, by feinting to pass, ran in behind the posts. lyler took the kick (the ball being placed flat) and landed a goal : Auckland 28. From a high kick by Seeling and fast following up by Nicholson the latter scored. Tyler’s attempt this time failed. Auckland 31. Notwithstanding the determined tackling of the Thames backs, the Auckland men kept up a constant attack, which ended in Gerrard adding another try, but the kick failed Auckland 34. At this stage the forwards as well as the backs were slinging the. ball about, and from a loose scramble McKenzie picked up and passed to Asher, who made for the line, and being tackled transferred again to McKenzie, who dropped over the line. Renwick took the kick, but failed . Auckland 37. The forwards then had a little go on their own, which ended in Joyce crossing the line. Wood took the kick and added to-the score : Auckland 42. Shortly after the kick out the bell sounded time, leaving Auckland winners by 42 to nil. NOTES. The game could not be called a fiistclass exhibition of football. It was easily seen a few minutes after play started that 'Thames were weak in attack, fox with the wind in their favour and with good attacking backs they should certainly have scored. As it was, frequently, owing to the over-anxiousness of the Auckland forwards who overran the ball too often, Thames had several openings to score. i i The tackling of Newdick, Kingham and Price (Thames) was good, and Winder put in some sound, useful work with Ins F. Hayward (wing) although playing a hard game, spoilt a good deal of his work by getting round the scrum too soon, thus being penalised. Amongst the Thames forwards all worked hard, the most noticeable being Smith. Autridge, Newland and Plant. There can be no question that Mr Murray was right in his selection of McKenzie for he appeared to be the .pick oi the threeiquarters as far as using his head was concerned. Gerrard, although a bit slow in getting the ball away in the first spell, certainly did much better in the second half. . “Wood and Ward were certainly the right men in the right place. Phillips did not have much to do, but fumbled rather too much. . Gallagher, on the wing, was a host in The forwards were a sound lot, the most noticeable in the open being Tyler, Nicholson, Seeling and Trevarthen. The passing of the Auckland backs at times was very erratic, no doubt due to over-anxiousness, but when put on their metal with a team worthy of their steel

1 have no doubt but what we shall see a better exposition of the game, even though the score be considerably less than on this occasion. SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMPETITION. St. John’s I. v. King’s College I. : St. John’s won by 20 points to nil. Grammar School I. v. Prince Albert I. : Grammar School won by 11 points to nil. , St. John’s H. v. King’s College IE : St. John’s won by 13 points to nil.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ MATCHES. Ponsonby v. Richmond Road : Ponsonby won by 14'points to nil. Remuera v. Epsom : Remuera won by 20 points to 3. Parnell v. Mount Eden : Parnell won by 6 poinfts to nil. . • Napier-street v. Newmarket : Napierstreet won by 5 points to nil. Newton East v. Nelson-street-: Newton East won by 15 points to nil. Bayfield v. Wellesley-street B : Bayfield won by 6 points to 3. Marist Brothers v. Newton West : Marist Brothers won-by 9 points to 5.

The football team to represent the Goldfields Union against Auckland next Saturday is as follows : —Fullback, Powdrill ; three-quarters, Johnson, McPike and Coote ; five-eighths, Ffynrt; halfback, Garvey ; • forwards J. Bramble, Fraser (wings), Capill, W. Sorensen, Rukutai, Cunningham, McDuff, Ansell, and J. Arns. * * * * At Wellington, on Saturday, Poneke beat Petone by 8 points to nil, Oriental and Wellington drew (five pohrts each), and Melrose beat Athletics by 12 points to nil. * * * * There was an attendance of 12,000 at Brisbane to witness the return match between the British team and Queensland on Saturday. Queensland won the toss, and during the first half played with a moderate wind in their favour. The passing of both sides was very good, and the feature of the play was the dribbling rushes by the British forwards. The local men played up in great style, getting a try. At halftime the score was : Queensland 3, Britain nil. In the second half the Britishers forced the play, and a couple of passing rushes by their three-quar-ters resulted;, in tries tjeing. scored, the. extra points being added in each case. Queensland added four points as the result of a kick from the field. The visitors, however, immediately afterwards scored, but failed to add the extra points, and then scored aJga.in and added the additional points, the match thus resulting : Great Britain, 18 ; Queensland, 7. * * * * A match between the employees of the “Herald” and “Star” newspaper offices was played at Ellerslie on Saturday, and after an interesting game resulted in a win for the “Herald team by 14 points to nil. Mackerall (2), Ninkey, and Bagnall scored tries forithe winners, one of which, was converted by Mackerall. ASSOCIATION. The following team has been selected to represent New Zealand against the New South Wales Association team next Saturday :—Goal, Smallbone (Otago) ; backs, right White (Wellington), left

Clapham (Wellington) ; halves, 'right Tavlor (Wellington), centre McKenzie (Southland), left Farquharson (Otago); forwards, outside right Riley (Otago), inside H. Morrison (Otago), centre D. Millan (Otago), inside left Stark (Canterbury), outside W. Morrison (Otago). Reserves : Goal, Haynes (Otago) ; backs, Cornish and Harrison (Otago) ; halves, Jones (Canterbury) and Kilgour (Otago) ; forwards, Brown and Chadwick (Otago). * * * * Otago defeated the N.S.W. team on Saturday at the Caledonian ground by 4 goals to 2. There were 3000 people present, the weather being fine. Morrison kicked all four goals for the winners. The visitors are said to have shown less combination than in their previous matches, which in a measure accounts for their defeat. * * * * Tabernacle beat North Shore on Saturday by 3 goals to 1. * * * * Grafton defeated Corinthians by 3 goals to nil on the Domain. * * * * St. John’s beat Ponsonby by 4 goals to 2. * * * * W.Y.M.I. beat Alexandra by 7 goals to nil. * * * ■* Ivanhoe outclassed North Shore B to the extent of 14 goals to nilNEW SOUTH WALES V. CANTERBURY. This match was played at Lapcaster Park, on Thursday, the teams being as follows : — New South Wales. — Goal, Spencer ; backs, Condon and McMahon ; halves, Byers, Hilder, and Harrison ; forwards, Wishart, Carey, Moore, Medcalfe and Rae. Canterbury. —Goal, Rawlinson ; backs, Cornish and Spong ; halves, Wilson, Perks and Jones ; forwards, Parsonson, Ward, Raeburn, Stark and Marshall. Soon after the start in a passing rush the visitors beat the Canterbury backs badly, and from a throw-in near the goalline Carey got possession and shot a fine goal. Canterbury rallied, and from a penalty in a good position Stark shot a goal, equalising the scores. Medcalfe was prominent in an attack on the home team’s line, but waited too long, and missed a shot at goal. The visitors came again, however, and from a kick by Carey the ball glanced off Cornish into Canterbury’s goal. 'The visitors opened the second spell with a series of strong- dashes, and Moore shot a goal. Plav remained near Canterbury’s goal, Parsonson, Rawlinson and J ones doing good defensive work, and the last-named eventually kicked well down the field. Marshall and Stark carried the ball to the visitors’ goal, but Spencer saved well, and another sweeping rush ended in Moore kicking his second goal. Rawlinson fielded the ball well, but Rae, Moore and Medcalfe following up, the latter pushed him. into the net, registering the fifth goal for the visitors. Rawlinson’s clever work saved twice, and Canterbury set up an attack, a shot by Stark just missing goal. McMahon put in some valuable kicking, which cleared the visitors’ lines, and a series of mistakes by Canterbury backs gave Rae an opening, from which he shot a goal. Time was called without any further score, New South Wales winning by six goals to one.