FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 824, 21 December 1905, Page 18

FOOTBALL.

At last, after playing twenty-eight matches, the New Zealanders have met with a reverse, having been beaten on Saturday by Wales by three points to nil There were 40,000 people on the Gardiff ■ground to see the macch, and one can well understand that there was a scene of tremendous excitement at the close. The one score was a try by Morgan, which was not converted, but there does not seem to have been much fluke about the win, for on the whole the Welshmen would appear to have had very slightly the best of the game. Reading between the lines, it would seem that the absence of Smith as centre three-quarter was severely felt, for the cabled account of the match says that several of Roberts’ passes were badly missed by the threequarters, and the offender would probably be Deans, at centre. Wallace got to within a yard of the line on one occasion, and later on the three-quarters got right down to the Welsh goal, but Bush saved the position and then nearly succeeded in dropping a goal. Just before time the defeat might have been averted but Deans passed forward and spoilt it. One can easily imagine the enthusiasm of the Taffies when the whistle finally sounded.