ENGLISH FOOTBALL TEAM

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 203, 21 May 1908, Page 8

ENGLISH FOOTBALL TEAM

VISITORS AT PRACTICE. CAPTAIN HARDING SATISFIED. Tho Anglo-Welsh footballers, who are ..to commence operations on. Saturday, had an hour and a half's practice at the Athletic lark jesterday morning in pcrfcct weather. No strenuous work' was done j but' the visitors. opened out • sufficiently to give . spectators an idea of their calibro. At the end of the practice. it was evident that tho Englishmen are not in as good form as they might be, and tho general opinion of the small knot of critical spectators ivho had gathered to watch operations was that tho visitors are in need of hard work before they will be in a fit condition to stand two hard forty-fivo minute'spells against the piovincial representative, teams.. The manoeuvres were directed by Captain Harding, who can characterised as a hustler of tho first order, and lie gavo his men'plenty of advice. Harding, by tho way, took part in every game played by Bedeilbivnght s team in New Zealand, and was the ony member of tho team to'do so. I 1 or a start tho whole team set off for a gallop up_ the field, and after a spell tho backs and forwards were separated, and for some timo l three balls woro kept in almost perpetual motion. The forwards wero taken in hand by the captain,' who supervised lineout play for about a quarter -of an hour, i! irst tho ball was thrown in deep, and then .the men woro bunched, directions md advice being hurled at tho perspiring Englishmen the whole time. Practising lino-out work is not'inspiring at any time, ; '.and there was certainly no specially effective work r,'n the part br any of the visitors, either in taking tho ball or breaking away; Whilst tho forwards were kept at tho line the backs were practising the more ■ attractivework of kicking and passing. . Some excellent kicking was dono,. noticeably on the part of Jackott, whose drop-kicking was of a very high order. .✓ •' •A FLEET-FOOTED SET. The passing runs up and down ■ tho field showed tho visitors to be a fleet-footed set, but their handling of the ball was very •weak in some cases, tno same • men making mistakes . repeatedly. Subsequently the whole of the men woro formed into sides, and various. scrims were formed, the ball being lot out several times to the only side .which had its half, five-eighths, , and four: .threequarters lined out in proper order. ' ' The backs streaked away, up the. field repeatedly, but only on two occasions did the . ball reach the wing three-quarter without a mull. • Oil one occasion tho routine passing from the half |out to the wing in the stereotyped order was varied. The. half sent .the ball out to the five-eighths, who transferred to tte ' centre. % Instead of continuing out to tuo wing, the'centre sent the leather infield back to tho five-eighths, who, after a short run, passed over the head of the centre to tho wingj Tho wing put in his dash, and with a; nioely-judged centro. kick; landed tho'ball back in tho arms of the five-eighths, who was then straight in front of the posts. It was a prettily executed piece of work, and was done so. neatly that it'made up for previous' mistakes'-in straight-out passing, and gavo the .impression that tho visitors rnayy li'ayo a few things, up their sleeve which they are not-prepared to show in practice games. -The forwards were. afterwards lined up on the goal line, and'a back, taking the ball, set off iip rthe' tbuch-liim, tht> scrummoi;s following him, and waiting for hint to contro when near 'the line, the general jiinv thon being to ground the ball. Tho first charge was dashing;, but each succeeding dash saw some of the more weighty; ones lag further and further behind. Some cf thorn wore very tired. Tlie final brush was a run, round tho park by tho forwards, led for tho first half' by their captain. ■' • A noticeable'feature of tho kicking of tho backs was the facility with which thoy used both feet. ... ' . • The visitors were given a sample of the alacrity </f the youthful New' Zealarider. Ono of the balls was kicked over tho' grandstand and into the road.- When it was looked for if. was reported, perhaps with truth,-that a young colonial had been seen 'streaking dpwn the road with the ball tucked under his arm. The youth scored. "VERY WELL SATISFIED." Tho British forwards,.strip well;, and .parado a- sturdy, heavily-built brigade. Their captain, A. F. Harding; speaking to a representative of The Dominion yesterday, stated that lio was very..well satisfied, with the way tho men wero shaping. It was true that they might possibly bo a little on tho green sido as far as condition was concorned, but every day - would ; mako a big differenco in their form now: Personally, from his experience with • Bedell-Sivright's team, lie thought it augured well that "they should be in this condition, rather than iu the pink of condition on landing. "Oii".the last tour the men landed in Australia veryfit, but before tlie tour, was half over most of them were stale. He had-been against severe training on' the boat during the run out, but had no doubt the team would bar in. good going order when they turned out against Wairarapa. At any rate they, would meet Wellington in real good form. A couple of the players were still stiff from minor injuries .received on the boat, but with the exception of Vassall, who injured his shoulder whilst practising on Tuesday niorning, thero was not a man in'the team who could not come out and play tomorrow if necessary. • >~

In answer to a' question the captain said tlio team would play two half-backs, inside and outside,, equivalent to the'New'Zealand half and five-eighths, and four three-quarters. The scrum formation wouldi probably be the English style of three-two-three, but on occasions they might take a man out of the pack and play him on the wiiig. THE WELLINGTON TEAM.. ' Although it was stated locally that the Wellington selection committeo intended picking the team to play the visitors at once, we were informed by one of the selectors yesterday that the committee has no intention of departing from its original .idea of selecting the fifteen after next Saturday's championship fixtures. Tho committeo arc influenced by-several things in their decision and tlio final result will, doubtless be as sat isfactory as possible under tho conditions the selectors have to face. A. "good scrummaging pack will no doubt be picked in preference to a pack of smart,, looso forwards. In the first place every effort must be made to get tho" ball and give' the local backs their full share of work. The local rearguard, with its "All Black" trio—Wallace, Roberts and Thompson—will be one of the most powerful attacking combinations tho Englishmen will moot in the provinces. ENTERTAINMENT OF, THE VISITORS. The .New Zealand Union is leaving tho linglishnien free of any engagements ' this week, but- arrangements aro being' made for their ontertamment next week. On Monday evening a theatre party is being got up for them, and on Tuesday it is probable that they will be taken across to Day's Bay, where they will bo given an opportunity of holding a final practice before tho Wellington match. ' After. the practice they .will be entertained at afternoon tea by officials of tho Union and. others. IMPROVEMENT OF THE.GAME. On the return of tho Britishers from tho South, the manager of the team, Mr. G. H. Harnett, will probably meet tho Management Committee' of the Now Zealand Union m order to discuss certain suggestions. in referonce to tho improvement of the game. The idea is that Mr. Harnett, after seeing tho conditions in Now Zealand, will bo ablo to absorb tlio ideas of the New Zcalandors and place . them 1 dearly before tlio English Union. JOTTINGS. It is clear already that the Englishmen, do not take fclioir football as seriously as the New Zc-alauders do. The visitors will, 110 doubt, fight as hard for honours as any Now Zealand- team when it ooiv.es to tho actual play, but in tho meantime they do not appoar to havo tho same enthusiasm that wo have, or it may b<> they do not shew it in Vio way. From what some of tiie Visitors say, tho rulings of- referees in • tho.

Old Country aro by no means as stringent as they are in New Zealand. As the manager puts it, " we play more spirit of the game than by. the strictest reading of the rules,".. '. ' r According to a visitor from the Wairarapa, the. forward team which is. to-meet tho Englishmen on Saturday is one of the strongest placcd in the field in the Wairarapa for years ■past. The backs aro said to be a fine defensive combination, but are not supposed to be brilliant in attack. ' ; PROTEST FROM OTAGO. * (Ny TELEGRAPH.—FRKSS ASSOCIATION.). Dunedin, May 20. ■ At a committee meeting of tho Otago Rugby Union this morning it. was decided that the following telegram be-sent to tho Now Zealand Union "This committee-protests strongly against what it considers the'exorbitant" charges proposed to be imposed for tho Otago match against the British.team', -in view of the fact that no exception was taken to tlie committee's proposed charges when the Otago delegates were' in -Wellington." Ponding a'reply, the box plan has been closed. The local Union .had advertised a charge of half-a-crown for reserved'saats, hut the New Zealand Union has fixed the amount at fivo shillings. ... THE OTAGO.TEAM, .i , .v Dunedin, May 20. The following team have^been solected to represent Otago against the British team on May 30: —Full-back, Kindloy; thrc-e-quartcrs, D'tvyor, Bonnet, and O'Sullivan; five-eighths, M'Leod and Dansey; half-back, Eckhold ; forwards, Casey, Fitzpatrick, Ivimey, Paton, Patterson, M'Donald (captain),' M'Kenzio, Taiisey (wing). Eckhold;' Casey, Paton, and M Donald were members ,of the last New Zealand team that vsited Australia. MASTERTON ARRANGEMENTS. (bt telegraph.—srr'cr.l7, CORi!F.si'O>.'DKXT.) . Mastortan, May, 20. Mastertoii; has decided to welcome the Anglo-Welsh Rugby, footballers' here on Friday night as auspiciously as pjossible.. The visitors will bo met at the railway station'by the Municipal Brass Band, the I'ire Brigade, and. the Fire Police, and a torchlight procession will then make its way to the' Drill Hall, where speeches will ho delivered by the Mayor (Mi;. P. L. Hollings) and others.. A SUGGESTION. . . . A; correspondent, "A. Has-!'Been,"'!writes as follows:—" Seeing -the interest:taken'. by the,public and' all. true footballers, and tho support tendered on all hands .to the visiting British team, wo want to see the best team win, but I wish to bring under- the , notice of tho Union, a suggestion that such of those Wellington representatives, as can got away should bo allowed - to .travel to Mastertoii at the expense of our local Union in order to see tho play, of the-visitors." ' of. The Dominion made, an effort to get' the visitors', team for Saturday yesterday, but was assured; by the manager that it was going to bo an invariable rule Ciiroughout the tour to seloct the team on the morning before a ;match.., The names of the players would be posted on a» board in the hotel at which they were'staying, and would be open to anyone interested to 'inspect.' • It is stated that'owing-.to the injury- to Vassal]; will bo,-pressed -'into .sor.vico next Saturday.\ ' ■'i - A number of the visitors were tho guests of Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., .President of the Wellington Union, last night, and several others'.visited the- new' Y.M.C.A. rooms.'