Australians Give Bright Exhibition Of Hockey As It Should Be Played

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 74, 28 July 1948, Page 5

Australians Give Bright Exhibition Of Hockey As It Should Be Played

— Australia defeated the Central Bay of Plenty Hockey Representative team 9—o on the Whakatane Domain on Monday, in one of the. fastest games ever seen in the Bay. Strict positional play and superb supporting from the h&lf line chopped Central Bay to pieces. Without the outstanding defensive work of Arrol and Waller the home side would have been defeated by a shaming score, for the Australians, from the first “bully,” went straight to the Bay goal and stayed there for most of the game hammering at the defence all the time. Over 2,000 attended. Teams were:— Australia E. Johnson D. Siggs, K. Thornton C. Morley (Capt), B. McNamara, B. Kennedy D. Wise, D. Cooper, F. Brown, J. Dick, A. Barnes. Central Bay of Plenty R. Arrol B. Hill, B. Waller T./ Ellis, K. Civil, A. Corbett T. Dodunski, N. Rigden, J. E. Wyatt M. Jensen, I. Stringer. Australia opened the match by winning the first bully and carried the play right into 'Bay’s goal, but the outstanding kicking and blocking by Arrol stopped the - scores from mounting too early in the game. At the beginning of the game Central Bay played a better standard of hockey than in the second half. Noticeable feature of the Australians’ game was the strict positional play and the support given the forwards by the halves. The defence in the Australian team was not taxed very much, but when play entered their section of the field, they put up a good showing. The Central Bay of Plenty’s team lacked the position and combination of the opposition, too many players trying to assist in the tussles instead of supporting when they lost the ball to their opponents. On the occasions the Bay went into the attack, their movements broke down' owing to the half line being too far back and allowing the Australians to run too far before attempting to tackle.

Despite this handicap, however, the Bay were able to hold the opposition to a two nil lead until halftime. Civil, in' the half, line, apart from his standing too far back, played a sound game when he moved into play. Wyatt played solid hockey in the first half, but was not anywhere near his normal form in the latter stages of the game. Stringer went.well/ and with a sound man inside should have gone better for he took opportunities when they offered but in making his own hockey he was a little weak. With the sun at their backs, the Australians gave displays that made their efforts in the first half appear slow, Wise, Browne and Dick playing beautiful hockey, their stick work being amazing. , The eagerness of the Australians caused them a bit of bother in this half, their forward line incurring a number of penalties for off-side. Despite this they always managed to come back to the attack. A feature of their play was scoring from penalty corners; stopping, passing and hitting. Rigden, in this half of the game, failed badly by not keeping in his position on defence. The game ended with the Australians still on the Bay’s goal line and the score at 9—o. Scorers:—. Australia (9 points); Dick 4, Browne 2, Sigg (from a penalty corner), Cooper 2.