FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1180, 15 July 1911, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

RUIiBY. [Br Amstodulus-I Poneke and Athletic. There 'wis action and movement in plenty in tho battle between Athletio and Poneke, but, apart from tho general strenuousness, there was not much of interest. Leaving tho undesirable - vigour of the game out of 1 tho question, the most striking feature was the weaknesses displayed by individuals who aspiro to rank as senior players. For the present, tho shortcomings in this respect will bo overlooked with one exception, which was xcally too glaring to be passed 011 for a further trial. This exception is the ease of Edwards, who filled' a place in the Poneke threequarter line. This player has, no doubt, shown the club selectors something to justify liis promotion to senior ranks, but, on his showing to date the newcomer has failed. Taken as a whole, the Poneke rearguard js n mixed lot as at present constituted. With men like Tilyard, Jlitchinson, and Gardner in tho backs, tho combination should be fairly good, but the weakness is in the links which join these men together. . They Seem to Fly at Walsh. Walsh was a lion in the' early stages of the fight, but he was severely handled, and his play consequently lost its sting. Such was the gruelling lie received that it is possible that ho will be unable to face the music to-day. Mitchinson is reported to be in a similar condition. He played a good, useful game, some of his individual efforts being really fine. Counting heads in tho Athletic forward rushes invariably meant taking into account the ruddy hair of Levick, who played with an impressive, and consistent ■.dash, second only to that of the übiquitous "Unnji" Wilson. Bell was another Athletic scrummer who would not be denied. Evensen, and the two M'Donnlds were the outstanding men in tho Athletic • rearguard, Evensen and E. M'Donnld doing sorao particularly good; work. C. Cunningham, at full-back, brought trouble to his side 011 several oc- :■ casions by waiting for the ball to bounce, ' instead of taking it on the full. 1 A Record Goal-Kicker, During the past English season, Alfred ' Carinichael. full-back of-the .Hull-King-ston Hovers, kicked 13S goals. The Rovers' ground is somewhat short, but it is well within the minimum size, so that Carmichael'M performance is a remark- . able one. He can place-kick with either foot, and is a particularly good punt. . Northern Union Team for England.

According to the Sydney "Referee" of Julv 5 the eight certainties chosen by Messrs. D. A. Lutge, C. J. B. White, and IT. I'legg for the English tour—ll. Messenger, A. Broomham, A. Hallett, C. It. jM'Kivat, P. A. H'Cue, E. Courtney, C. O'Sullivan, and S. l'earce—are men who would be picked by 99 out of every 100 League followers in Sydney. A few more (says tho "Referee")might be added, such as C.. Russell, W. Farnsworth, D. Frawley, A. J. M'Cabe, 11. Gilbert, V. Farnsworth, ;H, R. Francis, C. Savoury, W. Noble, W. Cann, CvJl'Murtrie, and Stariaway, and some of the younger ones in C. Fraser and L. Cubitt. A Hopeless Affair. One of the poorest matches played this season was that between Victoria College mid Old Boys. at, Karori on Saturday. College, played _ more attractively thai} they--usually dOi'/hUt still tho game'iijfts a hopeless affair. With a very much junior team in the field the Greens, had Old Boys well'extended, but it can hardly bo said that tho better team lost. Old Boys' exhibition was awful. Their tackling was ludicrous, and -as for combination, it seems to bo only a rumour that there over .was. such a, thing. Old Boys mistook Karori for Arcad.v, and the Collegians for tho Arcadians; they refused to believe that a Collegian running with the ball would do otherwise than mi, into the arms of the Old Boy awaiting him; they could not imagine the man with the bill deceiving them. Nothing is more sickening than to see men who go on the field to play a jjame in which collaring means "going low" substituting the accepted method for' a high, and not very courageous, grab. ■ Tfio Wearers of the White. It was interesting to note the play of Grace, of the Old Boys team, iu view of the fact that ho sometimes catches the eye of the representative selectors. Grace played a very ordinary game. Ho put no dash into what he did; he did not Ecem anxious to, er—hurt anybody; and he did not look for work. Dawson was full of dash and shirked nothing; but the toiler of the Old Boys' backs was Poole. Poole managed to keep the game hovering about him most of the afternoon; he got in tho midst of everything that was going on; and. hq scored ono of the trios, after a finfe run, and was partly responsible for one of tho others. I The College Players, The individual play of the College representatives was very creditablo on the whole. The nuisance of tho College backs is Ponanga. If they stuffed him in the forwards or elected him line-umpire, they might get some value out of him. Ho played first five-eighths on Saturday, am", during tho first spell, had a number of opportunities of opening up the game. What annoyance tho mutilation of those chances caused, the men immediately behind Ponanga know best. Ponanga's chief work in tho second spell was frequently neatly eluding his opponents, making a great show of what was now about to occur, and then doing nothing of practical value.

Stainton bore tho brunt of the battle. Ho played half, and was more than a match for tho Old Boys'- forwards, who attempted the spoiling ; work. His wovlc at breaking through was splendid, but, on occasions, it was partly due to the ridiculous collaring of the Whites that he was so successful. Had their been combination in the College team, or had a few of tho other backs been as alert as Stain■ton, Old Boys would have gone under. Some Oriental Absentees. Oriental on Saturday next will bo minus the services of Carrad, who used to play at full-back, but has lately, during tho absence of Roberts, been playing as halfback. Carrad is to have an operation performed on one of his arms. Another temporary loss to tho team will bo that of Tyrrel, a forward, who; is going away on annual leave to-day, and will bo absent for about a month. Supporters of the team will be rejoiced to hear that "Fred" Roberts is likely to bo playing again this day week. Oriental have got a little out of hand during the absence o£ their skipper, and a little paternal attention may restore them to fighting trim again. Short Appreciation of E. Roberts. An outstanding feature of tho St. .TamosWellington match at I'etono on Saturday was tho excellent all-round display given by 11. Roberts. The little half has been blamed before to-day for hanging on to the ball too milch, but, when' he goes alone, it is generally for some sound reason. No Rugby player ever yet excelled unless ho was an individualist to some extent, and it is due to the fact that E. Roberts knows when to go alone and when to use his other backs that ho is so superior to any other half in Wellington, excepting his namesake of the Oriental Club. The Iry which ho scored in the first spell on Saturday last was a capital effort, and so was the rim which he inado in the second spell, when ho broke away from his own goal-line, and, with the aid of H- Roberts and Wright, took play rijjht to the opposing goal. King and Wright played capital games in the SI. James vanguard, the former being very conspicuous in the absence of Mollitt. No words are adequate to describe the play of the Wellington men. Silence alone is adequate. Tho five-yards throw-iu line, which was marked in white on the senior ground at Ketone on Saturday, again proved greatly

confusing both to players and lino umpires. Anything liko consistent good linekicking is out of the question while the lino is marked in the same fashion as tho touch-line.

Sydney 'Varsity, Form, At tho present time with all Metropolitan clubs suffering from defections (says the Sydney "Heferee") one would naturally expect tho 'Varsity, t eam '° ' J0 we "* uigli invincible, but it is fur from that, as has been shown. The reason for this lies not so much with the present players as with those who are not playing. One could not help noticing a sturdy three-quarter of a year or two back, one who was picked in the second fifteen of the State in 11)07, and who also has played 011 the Western Lino in many matches, carrying a .hockey stick about with him after his game on tho University square. This inclines one to tho belief that a number of the undergraduates arc playing other sports instead of "bucking in" to tho gome now when it wants fflicir assistance. However, let it be hoped that better times will appear, and that the past deeds of the 'Varsity team will be repeated in tho near future. The Intercolonial 'Varsity match was thus summed up by the last "Bulletin":— Union Rugby's following in Sydney on a recent Saturday centred its attention 011. tho Inter-'Varsity match at Camperdown, whero the local students met a team from Maoriland. . The Jlaorilanders showed their super- • iority at once, and scored tho first ; try within a fow.tiuinutes.i The • borne team 'pulled itself together; and replied with- a series of rather fine passing charges. But they failed to materialise, and the Jlaorilanders followed up each repulsd with- n furious countercharge; so the game became spectacular. In the second spell there was a business-like method about the visitors' : attack that broke up the local defence, and when the whistle blew, the Jlaorilanders had scored five unconverted tries to the two converted tries of the Sydney team, and thus won by 15 points to 10.

The "Arrow's" comment on one of the New Zealand University three-quarters:— Faire, a lino type of " wing-three-quarter, is clever at making ground along the touch-line with the soaked ball, his catching and running were excellent. One looks for something good from him if it be fine. Southern and Pefone. Jlany-'closo followers of the game wero .surprised ac last Saturday's result in l'ne Southern-Petono fixture, but-anybody who saw the game would express'tuo opinion that tho much-improved iMnroons played the better game, and wero too strong altogether for tho suburban boys. Tho play was not conspicuous for brilliant work (save, perhaps, for the effort ot' tho invincible Bradley), but it was a "go" from start to finish, that showed determination and an "out-to-win spirit." Petone's passing was pretty when it came off, but "that was seldom, this being owing to tho extra back and wing-forward played by Southern. That clever arrangement nipped every Blue movement in the bud. ;

Uu tho other hand, Southern always had an extra man ready, and did not suffer to any great extent through having only six forwards in the scrum.

A lot of hard kicking wa3 indulged in by both sides, promising-looking movements being spoiled in consequence. In Wellington we do not seem to have many forwards who will nurse the leather where a score is looming in the short distance. A great many of our forwards seem to have only one object, and that is to uso their boots, and uso them hard, when near an opponent's line. Some of Southern's passing bouts were neat and nippy, especially Bradley's-first try which went three-parts of the field, and was handled by six players. :... . Bradley's secmd'tpuwpli was worthy, of any back in the competition, and his general play should earn him a placo in any representative team. Johnson, M ! Donald, Gallagher, W. Houlihan, "Les" Campbell in fact, all the Southern men—played with great spirit and dash. The absence of Dent on Petone's side made a wonderful difference, although Davies, who replaced him at half-time, played well. The changing of tho scrum to 3—2—l did a lot of good, but the Maroons were tackling in deadly fashion. Daley, Ramsden, M'Kenzie, and Parker were the best backs, and Lindsay. M'Farlane, and E. Price were a good trio of forwards.