THE LADIES' HOCKEY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1543, 12 September 1912, Page 4

THE LADIES' HOCKEY.

* FOURTH DAY'S PLAYi THE RESULTS AND POSITIONS. Canterbury A ... 4 Buller / 8 Auckland 2 Wellington J Wannanul 4 West Coast 1 Canterbury B ... 2 Taranakl 0 Wairarapa 1 Nelson 0 Poverty Bay 2 Manawatu 1 (By Telegraph.—Pr««» A6»ociatlon.i Christchurch, September 11. Tho Now Zealand Ladies' Hockey Tour, nanient was continued to-day in fine weather, tho matches being played at St. Albans Park. The grounds on this park wcro not so good as thoso at Sydenham Park, the grass being much too long in places. Tho attendance of spectators was, however, again good. ■ Canterbury A—»Buller. The Canterbury A-Bnller match resulted in a win for tho former by 4 goals to nil. Tho play of the Canterbury team was much superior to that shown by thcra on I tho previous day, this being no doubt due largely to (ho fact that they were meeting a weaker team. Tho Buller girls were weak in tackling and in marking, and their stick work wns indifforent. Canterbury B—Taranakl.! The Canterbury B-Tnranaki match was on the whole marked by oven piny, and up till a certain stage it seemed likely Co result in a draw. Taranaki were tho faster team, but Canterbury B were 6uporior in passing and placing, Their circle work, however, was anything but good. They were very lucky, towards the Intter part of the second spell, in scoring two goals. Auckland-Wellington, " Tha Auckland-Wellington matoh provided an interesting contest. Auckland missed chances on several occasions through their wings keeping the ball too long before centring. The prominent players on one sido were Miss Cooke and Miss Wylie, and on tho other 6ide, Miss M'Donnell and Miss Harris. Walrarapa-Nelson. Tho gamo between Wairarapa and Nelson was disappointing. Wairarapa attacked consistently, and frequently reached striking distance, but only ono goal' resulted. Wannanui-West Coast, Wanganui got the better of West Coast by i goals to one. The gamo wns a fast nnd interesting one, the forwards' work of both teams being very good. Miss Ivy PeiTott (Wanganui) was .particularly prominent both at dribbling and driving. One of the players (Miss Kirkoski) was hurt, but recovered sufficiently to continue tho game. Manawatu-Poverty Bay, Manawatu put up a good fight against Poverty Bay which team, however, was faster and more powerful, i Tho game was full of movement and incident, nnd the resulting score was only 2 to 1. There wore numerous rushes up and down the field and tho Poverty Bay team showed that it had some good runners among its members, while Manawatu (though its tactics wcro perhaps less brilliant) shone at defensive work. Goals were scored bv Misses Tairlio and Penrco for Poverty Bay, and by Miss W. Holder for Manawatu. ' Championship Points. Tho championship points to date are as follow:— A section—Wairarapa, 3 points; Canterbury B, 2J points; Otago, 2 pointsi Poverty Bay, 2 points: Nelson, lj pointsi Manawatu, j point; Taranaki, \ point. B section—Hawke's Bay, 3 points; Wellington,' 2} points; Canterbury A, 2J points; Wanganui, 2} points; Auckland, 1J points; West Coast, nil; Buller, nil. NOTES ON-THE PLAY.. (By TeleeraDli.—SDeeial Oorresoondent.) , Christchurch, September 11. : It was not a day of sensations, and all, the teams steadied down considerably. Auckland has improved out of sight silica Saturday, and its drawn game with Wellington—which was expected after yesterday—turned out to be an easier affair than' anticipated. Once more the Auckland players made their, opportunities, but did not avail themselves of them. If they had been able to scoro whenever they were within striking distance the total would have lieen very big indeed. Auckland suffered also from tho fact that they did not gauge the distance to the centre and often went too far up. Wei* lington, playing often on tho defensive, were cool and strong in keeping off assaults. They also attacked frequently, but ran .into strong back players, and were forced back into their own territory again. ' Miss Wylie, of Auckland, was at her best. Miss Cooke, on tho right wing, was a trifle patchy, but got in as much work as nnyonc ill the match. In tho defensive'work Mi6ses Gear, Payton, and Davie* kept their heads, riicJ worked their side out of light positions. For Wellington Miss M'Donnell was first class, her opening and runs being conspicuous features of the play, Miss Tinnev nnd Misses Harris also showed up brightly and often.. That the gamo ended as a draw was due largely to the \\cllington players' refusal to admit that they had met a stronger side. The NolsonTWairarnpa match was not great hockey, and did not impress the spectators at all. Tho ■ ox-champions wont to pieces, and appeared to have insufficient energy to fight off their moro active opponents. Their attacks were patchy, and often little more than individual. Indeed, both sides seemed to consist of individualists. There was a good deal of innccurnto passing, and some hard and rather pointless hitting that led nowhere. Despite tho faults of both sides, however, the gamo was a fairly fast one, nnd by no means easy for thoso engaged in it. The first half passod without a scoro though Nelson were always defending. Miss Witworth, of Nelson, was not in very good form, and Miss Ingram and Miss Smith, who are generally considered fast nnd accurate workers, seemed nonplussed. The winners kept up a hard mine all through, and it was by 6heer keeping at it that they won. Miss Z. Humphries was fast and clover, showing much initiative. Misses B. Humphries, Orr, and O'Lcarv also did solid work. With the skill that should coma by practice, Wairarapa should soon rank The Wanganui-West Coast match wns a good one to watch. Both teams were really in' earnest, and the piny was fast and very up and down, with,a p>od deal of scrambling effort jn the circles. Miss I'errit, for Wanganui, did solid work. Tor the winners, Miss Herrick's dribbling wns a feature of the game. Miss Kishoski played a good game for the losers, both before and after her temporary disablement, for which the gamo had to be, stopped. ' Poverty Bay scored only two goals to Manawatu's ono, lint had all the best of an interesting game. Owing to the vigorous dashes of the forwards, play was fast. Manawatu, however, wcro at a disadvantage most of the time, but they kept their end up well and provided some of the most exciting moments of the day. Towards the closr, of the match, when nearly all the player* wcro jammed nlmost in (he mouth of the net, Hint they wore not scored against says much for the pluckv way in which they played. Canterbury A showed up Ix'tfer than on the previous days, its members putting mnro heart into the game, and incidentally showing belter combination. PosKib'lv tho fact ilinfc they were meeting a much weaker learn may have had something lo do wilh this. Buller are a phvslrallv strong team, but tho placing and passing of tho local girls were so much superior as to discount. I his very largely. In addition the visitors seemed lo have only an elemenlnry knowledge of slick work, and tho long grass troubled them. , ,„ i • J-, Canterbury 11 and Taranaki dirt not mnke a great game, though it was even nnd fairly fast. Tho Taranaki girls, though unquestionably faster tho.ii Cantermirv, could not get there, though' they often went .perilously close. Canterbury ■wined lo lack scoring ability, and could not shoot, when tho tall wns actually be. foro their click, and the goal was not difficult. Towards tho end of the second half the exchangos wore very solid, and play vent «p and down the field at' a great rate. It seemed rather regrettable that so much energy should he expended pointlesslT.