SKETCHES OF TWO FLYERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1866, 27 September 1913, Page 21

SKETCHES OF TWO FLYERS.

Harold Norman Horder. Swift as a shooting star Harold Norman 'Horder was the big man in tlio 'Test Hatch last Saturday. Some of tlio old hands who watched from the bank found it difficult to recall any wing three-quarter like him ill the last twenty years. Side-stepper, jinker, and lleet foot, ho is indeed a pretty sort of armful to tackle. How would an ordinary tackier "set'ab'otit it so as to mako'sure of him overy time? Or even two ordinary tacklers? It is-a hard question. Tlio New Zealalidel's solved .'it'by not tackling him at all. Ho simply flow through them. No sooner .had ho gathered tho ball than the patriotic crowd gasped: " Ah, Jhim again! Another try for sure! " And it frequently v.-as. '

. Harold Hordcr. is only about 19 years of age.' He was born at Surrey Hills, near Sydney, on February 23, 189.4. . He..is.'no formidable-man-as. far as weight goes. In New' Zealand ho lias been playing at about' 71b., but, ill the warmer Sydney climate his fighting- weight—such as it is—seldom reaches lOst. . His rise in football lias beon rapid' enough. He ■ commenced in 1908, and played for three seasons with the Albion Street Public School fifteen. In 1911 ho was in the ranks of t|io South Sydney ICinkora third (equal to about' fifth claS3 Ne.v Zealand football). In 1912 lie moved up into the club's fourth grade team. It was the premier team in the grade, and Hordcr scored 58 points out of the team's total which, strangely enough foi; a premier team, was only 97. During the years 1911-12 ho also represented South Sydney district in the President's Cup—a competition for representative teams from each of the half-dozen junior leagues. On August 17j 1912—the day that the ; New Sout'i Wales team left Sydney for. New Zealand—Holder was called up by the. South Sydney District selectors to represent the district and played against Glebe. His style u'as at once recognised as wonderful. In tho City Cup (dr knock-out competition) which lis contested at tho end of the ordinary* competition, he was' a big factor ill lelping his club to win tlio medals, hiring the present Sydney season he as scored 13 tries and'kicked 13 goals n club fpo.tball. This is .a club record or the season. Tries, of course, are larder to get in Svdney Ulan they seem oiietin New Zealand..' ." " ' : rawley—League - Filer.. : ; It's : a double-barrelled affair, howver, this New South Wales thrce[uarter line. Hordcr iff one barrel, I'rawley is tho'other. -Daniel ..Frawley ras horn, at .Paddipgton, Sydney, on December 15, 1884. His. weight is 12st. lb. ,He 'firs# played-in.; school 'football i'ith St, Josoph's\.CoUss<S/;;ihen with lift St.- Heart's callid " The Tykes," lie play■d. for Eastern Suburfe;.(Jtiniors, and or the Sydney District'--up to 1007, vhen ho joined the league; In 1908 lie oured England with the- " Kangaroos " -tho first league team to'.visit'England -and in 1909 : 10 nlaytfd" for Wa-rring-on,.England, revisiting Ciiglaud with the 1911-12, " Kangaroo " earn. He toured New Zealand in. 1912, M has played in every big-fixture during he'past few years. While in England iccording to the " Athletic News," he vas the fastest footballer, who,,lnul ever 'isited the Homeland. / , , Slack Saturday. Of the isplendid match last Saturday I lo not intend to say much, but . what vill be said seems—to the writer at east —to be very miicli. to the point, .b is about our own New Zealanders. rho superficial critics followed the way >f the superficial critic all the world >vcr—they blamed the effect, instead of liscovering the cause. In short, they ilamed the New Zealand backs for facility. to taclclo or otherwise stop, tho lying Blues. These. critics saw the ;dge' of things and missed the centre. That stylo of blame is all right so far is it goes. What is all wrong about it s that the failure to realise that, when ;lic strain of the attack is formidable ind maintained . all the time, there :omes, at last, a limit to tho stress vhich-any set of backs can stand lip.to. What happened in the Test match was jriofly-this : the New ; Zealand forwards lad neither the wight nor the science ;o get tho ball in: the scrums, and, as ;hc scrum is probably the foundation of :he .whole game,'they were continually in tiio defensive. Such attacking machinery as they had never got a chance. Rvcry scrum spelled trouble for New Zealand, and sometimes the Welshmen poured through it and over. it .in such 1 fashion that tho halves bad armfuls tackling and stopping. to undertake under the most embarrassing conditions. By and by the halves were swamped bv the Blue torrent (small wonder), and theirthc wash of tho attack swept on the three-quarter line. Standing on a Foundation of sand (tbc forwards), they battled to stem the tide, battled scores of times—sometimes successfully,- more often not—-and they, too, iVere done with. .More and'more the Blue r\hW K<nded to- strke the full-back. "Rangi" Finlavsoii; Towards tIW end he had plainly had enough.. No full-back can sto" a The failure of the forwards is the Alpha•and Omegn of the Test, match, New Zealand v. New South Wales. "Never Let Up." "Never let up" is the motto of theNew .South . Wales • coaches, and managers. It is the right motto. A slack game against a siack team is all very well as a matter of sentiment, but it is no good for tho morale and dash of the team. The Blues carried this fully into effect by running up that big score at Nelson, and, though.our Nelson friends may not quite have liked it. they ..can find a silver lining to tho black cloud by consoling themselves that tlidv. aw only in the same hox as laxger centres. Over on this side of the Strait we did not like the result of the Test match much. but we all realised that what we had seen had 'been a great educatien. and, perhaps, some day our turn will come. To good Leaguers there has been one consoling thought! Everybody is now talking League.