MATCH AT MERTHYR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 71, 17 December 1907, Page 6

MATCH AT MERTHYR.

THE FIRST VICTORY IN WALES. (By A. H. Baskorvil'ie.) ( n Interest in the "All Blacks" lias not yet died out in Wales. Our reception in llerthyr Tydfil proved that. The day of the match turned out to bo a dull ;one. Ruin had fallen all the week, and mado the field vorv sloppy, v About 8000 people witnessed the match, the receipts being nearly £400. The New Zealand *team was: l Turtill, Messenger, Rowe, liavery, W. Wynyard, Todd, R. Wynyard, Gilchrist, K. Ross, Trevarthen, Byrne, Wright, Johnston. Merthyr had been preparing for us. They spent a week with a lew trainers at a health resort. They went out every day, and'when they returned for the match looked in the pink of condition. Besides being muddy and having poor crowd accommodation, the ground had a very decided slope. MERTHYR'S CHOICE OF POSITION. Merthyr won the toss and, strange to say, chose to play up the hill. At first this suited us very nicely. Now Zealand kicked off down the slope. Tho Merthyr forwards rushed back to our twenty-five. A penalty kick to tho Blacks saw Messenger find the line at half-way. Play hung there until' Gilphrist started an invasion with a fine run. He passed nicely to Lavery, who sprinted to touch at the homo twenty-five. New Zealand secured from two scrums in succession, and on the second occasion a passing rush— R.'Wynyard, Todd, and W. Wynyard — resulted, but the last-named was tackled in possession.. Lavery was obstructed, and Messenger failed with a goal kick from halfway, Merthyr forcing. Rowe broke through the defence, and Byrne failed to take • a pass, and thus lost a fine chance of scoring. Merthyr ' was penalised, but- Messenger again failed at goal, this time from a good position. The invasion was kept up until the Welshmen relieved witli a line forward rush. They came on until Messenger saved cleverly.' They'reached our twenty-five, but the New Zealand forwards worked back -to half-toy.' Merthyr made an unsuccessful attempt to put a penalty kick'over. A FINE TRY. The. Merthyr forwards reached our line, .but Rowq secured ' a. mark cleverly and' raised" the siege. Messenger secured in his own territory, and with a brilliant run reached the Merthyr twenty-five. Todd Wok a pass, and eloveriy beat two defenders before scoring a fine try. Turtill converted it. Byrne secured the ball from their kick-off and skied it. Gilchrist followed up fast and caught his comrade's punt, and with a fino l'lin lie almost got over. New Zealand received a free kick in a good position. Turtill'.took a place, which , hit the goal post, but bounced outside it. Trevarthen made a good run and transferred to Gilchrist at their twenty-five. The Wellingtonian ran strongly until lie was tackled; when ho was falling lie slightly injured his knee, hut though lie .was unable to play agiiin that day, ho has since recovered . completely. R. Wynyard and Rowe were both almost scorers in quick succession. By smart dashes they both reachedSSthe line, but could not put on the finishing touch. TWO GOOD TRIES. From a scrum on the Merthyr line, tho ball emerged on the New Zealand side. It neatly through the hands of R„ Wynyard, Todd, and AW Wynyard to Lave'ry. The Christchureli man ran and cut in beautifully, and scored well out; Turtill failed to convert. Messenger repeated the brilliant run which brought about our first score. He ran from his own ground through all opposition to their twenty-five. Rowe received a pass from him at* the twenty-five line, and swerved for the corner; then he cut. in and ran over betweon the posts'. Todd failed to convert an easy one. leaving the score 11 points to nil. The Merthyr backs' started a, passing rush, which ended in a try. The rctferee did not see ono of their passes, which was so palpably forward that sonio of tho "All Blacks" stopped; no goal resulted. Even play took place until Now Zealand, securing a free kick, started to invade again! Messenger punted high and raced after tho ball; he dribbled bctweon several defenders over their line, and scored, but failed to convert. Tho Welshmen pegged away gallantly for a while. Several times they looked dangerous. A touch-in-goal saved us once, and Todd, by resolute tackling, spoiled one fino attack. MERTHYR SCORES. A scrum ensued on our line; Merthyr heeled out and their half-back crawled ovcr^

tlie lino between the logs of both the forward teams. Their kick at goal failed to increase their' score. Morthyr still; invaded until a clever line, kick by Turtill sent them to the right about. R. Wynvard .secured two clever marks 011 the half-way line. Messenger took the second, and on tho half-way near touch, kicked a magnificent goal. They say it is the best kick ever seen in Wales. This made the score: Now Zealand 16 points. Alerthyr 6. Cross was mainly responsible for the next try. He ran well, kicked, followed up last, and charged down tlie return. W. Wynyard secured and scored a try. which Messenger failed to convert. Plav had just started when Todd ran in again and scored after a brilliant and individual effort. Messenger made another sensational hurdling run and gained ground. A New Zealander made a long kick which touched an opponent's hand m rising. This put Todd 011 side, and lie went after the ball and made a line run over under the posts. Turtill converted —New Zealand 27, Merthyr 6. Merthyr forwards rushed down to our. line, but were driven out. The Welsh six, playing down bill, were a bit superior to our five without Gilchrist, and at Inst their efforts were rewarded with a try, which was not converted. This, ended the. scoring—New Zealand 27, Alerthyr 9. Welsh critics admit that tile 'game was faster and more brilliant than their ordinary yearly ' internationals. ■'