FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1168, 1 July 1911, Page 18

FOOTBALL.

RUUBY.

[Bv AmsTODCixs.]

"Yei, It Was Great Going " Y«s, it was great going—that small unpleasantness at the I'ark between Oriental and I'etone. No ono would like to .-ay exactly which lot really seized the honours of Ills; day. The tenuis-differed greatly in the methods they pursued, and each had decidedly the. best of it in one spoil. In the first, Oriental, save for an occasional forward rush led by the. redoubtable M'Bain, were thrown back entirely on defence. Tetono, assisted by the light southerly, had the game well in -hand. They did not, however, develop their advantage to the utmost. They did not throw it all at Oriental in 'lump—backs, forwards, legs, resolution, skill, horso foot, guns, barrackers, and all. They certainly-threw great lumps of it at times, and a-consid-erable lump all the time. But they never threw the whole lot at once. The Big Match As It Might Have Been. In the second spell it was different. Then they had "sold (ho goods"— lock, flock, and barrel—in ono piece. Unfortunately for them, the wind,.had ordained that "the goods" could be nothing other than defence. If they could only have handed as much attack over the counter in the first half, when the wind was behind them—well, they might have ,"got there" by twenty points. All this, j'of course, is cheap after the event. 'What is really meant is that one would like to sec the Petoue judgment, and the Petone tactics brought up to a stage when they would compare with the valiant Tetone doggedness and "legs." But, aflcr all, "legs" arc the main thing, and long may Pctone keep them. . . ■ ' lu some ways, however,' it must be admitted that-Petone shou'ed a more original turn ' than their opponents,. and greater brilliancy, but a good'deal of their quick- and clever work went tor nothing, becauso (as hinted) weight and concentration were la ' some extent-' neglected. Oriental took the, game very seriously. The team was no doubt assisted to this attitude by the- tribulations of the first spell, when it was peppered and pestered unendingly. It excelled throughout in massed movements. The backs failed to attain distineton in attack, but the forwards laboured tirelessly, and were on the ] highway of success -when time was colled. As to the scoring result, it is obvious that, Oriental owed their victory to a majority of'points from penalty goals, but to set in opposition the number of tries scored by either team would by no moans indicate the merits of play. . The Match As It Was. The rough and ready fact is that the power of the respective teams was remarkably evenly balanced. With the Oriental backs restored to fighting form, and the Petone forwards a little more alive to their responsibilities, there should be e contest worth going a long way to' see when these teams next meet. College Between Upper and Nether Millstones. There -is really nothing to bo said abput the match, in which tit. James very naturally pulverised Victoria College on Saturday last. It. is true that College gave their veteran • opponents a little trouble in the opening phase of the game, but the fact stands unaltered that the victors are,'• and were, miles, ahead in form, playing power, and anything else that one cares to mention.- The gaiue as a whole.threw into a clear light the folly of setting a strong team to smash one that is about as weak as ?. senior team can well be. The thing seems awfully unnecessary, and the situation created, is i comparable to that, arising on a tenuis lawn, when the champion of the club is set to play the very latest and newest lady member.. Idiotic amenities of this nature, to call them by no less .kindly name, should, be sternly cut away from the rugged, hurly-burly of Rugby football. There is a good deal of point in the time-worn suggestion that the sen-or teams should be divided into two grades, and a. match like that between St. James and Victoria College, of which the result I is as certain as the orderly succession of i!ny and night, drives the point home forcibly. Two Absentees and Alleged Humour. Two good men who will .be absent from the games to' be plavcd to-day are F. Roberts and C. Carrad. The latter hurt his arm in a recent match, and has not recovered.its use sufficiently to justify his taking the field. Roberts is, the victim of a more, painful. experience. About a week ago he accidentally cut off the top of his thumb. There is a tale floating around in the backwash of football gossip about a man who signalised Coronation Day by erecting a homo for feathered bipeds.. Commonplace narrators state simply that' the person in question, applied himself to building a fowlhouse.'and further allege that in handling a chopper with misplaced zeal he was unfortunate enough to decapitate one of his own degits. AVhether this drifting story has any application to the misfortune of the popular Oriental half-back, and whether the moral is that it pays to cheer safely with tho crowd on occasions of public rejoicing, this writer will not pretend to say. In any case, both Roberts and Carrad will be missed in their absence from tho familiar-Saturday tussles, and J welcomed on their return- to active participation therein. Athletic and Wellington. Athletic seem, to have been playing much below forpi on the last couple of weej.s, and anyone, that had seen them p'<ny against St. James in the first round would not have recognised them as rcpresevitatives'of the same club that defeated Wellington in a very half-hearted fashion last Saturday. Indeed, Ihe only members of the team, last' Saturday. that played in anything like respectable form were Bell, A. Wilson, Evenson, and Cunningham. The Wellington team dees not appear to have improved much, and last week they mustered a couple of men short, besides having one or two new men among those who did roll up. A word of credit, however, might bo passed to Lambert and Bridge, win both played useful games and did some capital line-kicking. But the team is very weak. The Championship Ladder. The position of teams on the championship ladder and in respect of other interesting details, now that the opening games'of the second round have been played, is as shown in the following table:- ...

Just One Man Singled Out, I Among (he lil.fie sound of anile backs who curried Tetone Blue, there was not one Ihnt mnclr more spirited use of his opportunities than Daly. He was guilty of nn occasional mistake when savin;; was the order nf Hie day, but these lapses were easily forgiven ill a player willi so fine n turn for 'enterprise. "He was well to the fore in every attack, and several limes, by a bit nf clever folding against odds, drew the sting from the heavy massed attacks in which Oriental Vlacctl their main reliance. ]hly all hut i repeated this feat as Orienial gathered | for their final successful dash at the Pofono line. He got sa far as to bring down the Oriental man who held the ball at the moment, but the effort, was an isolated one, and went (o waste. ITnd Daly's plucky attempt been well r.ccmuM. Oriental might, ham left the field without i scoring a single try. The Right Individuality of one Man, It's a very good thing to play to rule in football—as in any game—but individuality makes the great player. Indi- I viduality doesn't' mean *clfisliuoss; it i means brains. Thus in the. Old Boys— l'oneke scramble on Saturday a clever bit J nf unexpected, feinting on the part ol n i Pjmeke uack. a little esamcle of how to!

do the unexpected when the expected—the regulation pass—was anticipated, stamped the player as out of the ordinary. His name, unfortunately, has gone, but he got his reward in the applause nf (he lew attending spectators. \Vhen football comes to be played by rule o' thumb, the brainy man, the man whose name is to last, longer than his football years, will think out horn to cut into the unexpected. The ru!e-o'-thumb is nil very well in its way, but individuality should be more encouraged and forgiven where a player, indulging, fails sometimes in his idea. Individuality is distinct from the "individual game." In the match itself there is iittlo to write about. Old Boys' pack were on even terms with Poneke, but their backs neither took the ball as well nor passed as accurately as the Reds. Old Boys' fullback had a bad time of it with the ball. The game was poor, and the cold, searching, wind froze up all the enthusiasm in the spectators. Notes. A. Morris,- who has done yeoman service in the back division of the Poneke senior tram this season, and who played in the B representative team on Coronation Dav; has-gone to work in' Blenheim, and will therefore. be missing from the Poneke ranks for the remainder of tnc season. A. Bowie,, who was unable to play in the last match for Poneke owing to indisposition, .will b'c,in .his. place among the Poneke forwards again to-day. Mention of b'owic brings to mind-the fact that both he and Clark (St..James) have been granted permission to play for the Tramwavs team on Wednesday. Gillespie, of the, Oriental team, has been granted permission to play for Artillery cu Wednesday, the Rugby Union deciding that although the Oriental and Athletic Clubs have a team in the Wednesday competition, a player, who plays for cither of those' clubs on Saturday, may play for a different club on Wednesday without infringing the by-laws of the union.

■ . ~ -* r, » » ft./ -5 *? G O O 3 il J j Z4 £ *z. pit-- c<: oi St. James 10 0 1 (1 120 2S 18 Pctonc 10 S 2 0 121 5t • If, Oriental 10 8 2 0 1M 11 16 Athletic ifl 7 n o ' sw m u T'ouoko 10 fi .1 1 1.10 52 1.1 'Southern 10 5 3 0 .'il fif in Jiclro-o ..' 10 .1 7 0. 7.7 <M c OM Bors ID 1 7 2 IB 112 ) WelJincrmi ... 10 0 S 2 32 132 ' Vic. College ... 10 0 9 1 35 192 1 I