NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALLERS

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1591, 1 November 1905, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALLERS

COMMENTS BY THE LONDON SPORTSMAN. ! , » There is nothing l : ke getting well ofi tbo mark,” says the speoial correspondent of the Sportsman, “ and the New Zealanders may bo said to have set the seal of tho suocess of their tour, at least finanoi* ally, by so handsomely beating Devon in the first match of the toor. Nine goals and four tries to one dropped goal spells sometbiog sensational in the way of a viotory. Bui Devon wore beaten in pace aud outclassed in football. It was reputed to be Devon’s best Bids that went under eo badly at Exttor. The men failed utterly at every turn and at every point. Forward they wero hopeless, for they never got the ball out-id?, whai chances came to them were oast away by indis criminate passing aod poor kicking ; and the general defence was weak and, after the first few minutes, demoralised;

> "As a body of football players, tho Now Zealanders have superb physique. They put into the field for tho first matoh what is considered by thorn, perhaps, their best mon, all of whom looked particularly fit, for a week’s training had rid them of their sea logs, and they had kept pretty fit by gymnastics and running during tho long voyage. Then, taking the olde as wo found them on Thursday, they showed

wonderful paoe, and in quite a summer afternoon they stayed aplondidly through the two 1 forties.' As had beon expected , their great strength is forward. Getting

I command of the ball, thoy heel swiftly, I and thon in the loose use their feet well fn I dribbling, and follow up at o. terrifio paoo. I The disposition of the baobs, when all Is I said and done, is not dissimilar from the Welsh system. Thore is one orthodox I half to work tho sorummago, and ono inside stand-off half, while the second standI off half is virtually a fourth throo-qnarter, but the great innovation in their game is I tho winning forward. As a matter of faot ho is not a forward, and is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Ho makes no pretence to do sotummage work, but claims tbo

privilege of a torwara. apparouiiy u» position has beon invented to obstruot tbo opposing half, and the only thing that Eng* lish clubs will have to do over here now is to play 'diamond out diamond,’ and throw out from the sorammuga a player to fulfil the same duties. From Saturday we can only eoho tbo general oommtnt on tbe stand—- " Poor little Jago.’ The plucky Devon half was overawed by tbo strange taotles, and was praotloolly non eßt as an attack* ing half for Devon. " Apart from this, wo have only praises tL. VT.m 7.nntanJnt>a mltalllA tflA

to Slug 01 BUO nuw ÜBBIBUUDIU uuna.-w sotummige. Their legitimate halfbaoks did superb work in fieldiog the ball) in passing, and running. There was no finality to the resource of tbe three-, quarters cither in attack or defenoe. Stead and Hnntor, who were to all and pnrposes tbreequarters, although colored on the card as five-eighths, were very great, bnl the outside right wing was a revelation'in the matter of passiog (receiving or returning) and pace. We-refer to n WalltAa. ohn hnsidna - his wealth -in all

| vj, tYSIIbuo) WUU uuoiuua [ these accomplishments, is a great placekick. He scored the whole of the goals. Now and again the man wore a little nervous in their movemants, but the general impression was tbat they possess all tbo elements tbat spell greatness, and their pace and their splendid quickness on the ball, and iu knowing the right thing to do, and in doing it qniokly, will, we fear, be the undoing oi the bulk of the clubs whioh they meet. We congratulate the New Zealanders on their splendid viotory in the first match of their tour.’’

Giving the views of a Devon man on the colonials, a London correspondent saysAs I stood on the platform of the Plymouth North Road Station—through which the expresses from London to Cornwall pass—the carriage reserved for the New Zealanders was being shunted for attachment to the train which stops at Redruth, where the expresses do not call. A big, burly, old Devonshire man, evidently a doughty footballer in his day, was standing near watching the smart athletic young colonials as they strolled about the platform during their « wait." He gazed half-admiringly. halfsadly. At last, turning to me, he spake ; —" Us Devon men used to be thought pretty good at this here game,!’ he said. " But, Lor’blessyer! them oolonials just walked right over us on Saturday—we was nowhere. Wo could no more get through their scrum than we could through a ten foot thick stone wall. But when it came to getting through our scrum, why, bless-your-’eart alive, they walked straight through us as if we was a sheet of paper. A regler asthmatic fellers-real good ’uns they are, to be sure! ’’ I was puzzled at first by his description of the New Zealanders as “ asthmatic,” which did not seem at all a desirable qualification for football, when suddenly light broke upon me I kept it’ “ unddr a bushel ” however. I could not be so unkind as to suggest to the old fellow that “athletic” was the word he was aiming at. And, indeed, I thought “ asthmatic ” in the circumstances distinctly good!

Mrs Howie, the New Zealand singer, is reported to be organising a Maori musical party in London