HOCKEY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1800, 12 July 1913, Page 12

HOCKEY.

* BRIGHT PLAY ON A GLOOMY DAY. [Br "Bully-off."] Insurance do Well. Last Saturday's hockey was interesting. On one ground tho great improvement that has been noticeable for some Satm 1 -■ days past iu Insurance told in their match against the accepted champions for this season, Victoria College. The latter, asin their match with Karori, when they took a beating, experienced one of their hardest clash-is, and at the finish Insurance can be written down as a team with great possibilities. Strackand company engineered the same tactics as in than- previous matches, but the policy team had littb difficulty. in meeting them with a defence that was sound and consistent. The Insurance interceptions were a feature also, and College were often left in open-mouthed amazement at some of their opponents' sallies. It was a great game, and those who watched must always refer to it as one in which College had the hardest of tussles to keep ou top. Hunter, the coach of Insurance, must bo pleased at his team's showing. A' few changes have had to be effected, but the eleven seems to be well placed at present. Itobbie is a new man in the team, and his general dashing operations have had a lot to do with tho team's recent creditable displays. It was a Good Karori. No. 2 saw United and Karori at grips. Taking it all through, the game was good enough to warrant one standing in- the biting southerly that roared through from tho Straits. From their rehearsal in the first spell, United, who were one ahead at the spell, were spoken of as the winning team, but how Karori upset these calculations can best be understood when remembering that the score at the final was 6—3, and it was Karori who had scored the six. Well done, Murphy! Well done, Daviesl It was when' the clash had reached the first quarter of the second term that Karori arose to tilings great and mighty. It will bo a lesion to tho Blucks' executive, after recognising what the team did with combination on Saturday. .Thero have been too mauy solos in Karori's performances during the season and "Bully-oft" is convinced that it is this chiefly which has had to do with the one-time champions' succession of defeats. What was it that beat the Green whirlwind, Karori? Combination 1 And it was combination that put down United on Saturday. , , .. There was a junior playing in M Killop's place on tho wing and this lad was doing tho right thing always. His centres came as from a tried senior and he should bo given a chance of continuing the good work. But Karori were lucky in tho brilliancy of Murphy end Davies when these centres were given to them.' These two players were nt theil zenith, and, understanding each other's play, they feinted and forced in splendid fashion. And another forward who should bo mentioned is Henderson. Among Karori's rearguard CampMll, of was, iu a class by himself, but the set generally were taking a lesson from the men in front and played in hotter concert as the game progressed. Metropolitan Run Up Seven Goals. Tho affair between Wellington and Metropolitan saw the latter come out ahead by seven goals. From its onesidedness tho game could not be interesting, excepting, of course, the good individual work by some of tho winners' team. Shceran was in his usual scoring mood and his consistency in this most valuable department must still be remembered when the last placo in the representative team has to be filled. To Help His Younger Brethren. Morpeth is taking such an interest in his third-grade team (Wellington) which is one of the top elevens, that he finds it necessary to. put On a substitute to fill tho placo under the posts, Morpeth is to be seen each Saturday cheering the younger generation along the path to victory and the veteran's advice generally is having tho desired effect. The Play of the Ladies. Last'week's games were a tamo lot, and the heavy ground did not tend to improve matters. Tho principal match' was that between Rambler A and Girls'. Collego which resulted in a win for the Rambler girls. The winners' forward lino played with better combination than their opponents. The College girls played a Willing enough game, but trhey invariably found a stumbling-block in Miss Tinney, who repeatedly drove them back. The weakness of this team appears to lie the lack of hard hitting by the backs, particularly when on defence. An exception was Miss Williamson, who cleared the circle on several occasions by hard hitting. Miss Stubbs, in goal, played a great game, sending back shot after shot from the redoubtable Rambler forward line. Miss Ilicks played a fair game at centre-half, but sho should endeavour to feed her forward line better. It is a good plan to hit hard at times, but on several occasions tho ball, instead of going to tho forwards, was sent straight into an opposing back's hands who promptly set her own forwards in motion. The forward line played with good combination, but wero handicapped by the lack of help from tho backs. Misses Laurensou, Mellor, and Andrews made some pretty dashes, and had hard luck at times in not scoring. For the winners, Miss Tinney played her usual safe game at full-back, and the way she fed her forwards was an object lesson to the other players. Tho halves wore a very oven lot, but there were times when they seemed inclined to bunch. The forward line all played well, and it would be hard to individualise them. "Bully-off" has seen this team in action on several occasions, and has noticed the advantage gained by aver their opponents, inasmuch as their forwards keep well up tho field and depend on their backs to send tho ball up to them. This was particularly noticeable in the match last week, when their forwards broko away always from about the half-way line while the opposing forwards had to go back to their twenty-five line to get the ball. Tho Syrens v. Sain bier B match did not produce" anything of the exciting order, and the final whistle showed Syrens tho winners by five goals to two. The Ramblor team, playing without a goal-keeper, managed to keep their goal intact in the first half, but before tho second spell was very long in progress the Syrens opened their account, which was soon made up to five goals. From this out Syrens seemed to go to pieces, and their opponents scored a couple of goals in quick succession. Tho shooting of the Syren forwards m this game was very weak, and "Bully-off" would suggest that Miss Young should bo brought in to one of the inside positions, where her shooting powers could be mndo'inoro use of. The only other gamo played in this competition was between St. Augustine's and College Old Girls, who met at l'etone, and the St. Augustine's won by two goals to nil. _______