FOOTBALL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3769, 20 July 1907, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

The AD Blacks tour. Notes on the recent Match. Sydney, July 18. The Herald says the Welshmen fought like men possessed, but all the time played consummate football. They invariably got the maximum of effect. To the forwards belongs the honor of lowering the historic banner of the silver fern. Describing the New Zealanders’ efforts to retrieve their position, the Herald says that if they played strenuously before they did so doubly now, when they not only realised' the task ahead, but also realised that the game had to be won. With all their glorious traditions to back them, they bent every ounce of muscle and every iota of brainpower, but they counted without their hosts. The crowd went well nigh frantic when it realised that the Blues were showing themselves to be a better team, and that the dreaded second-half runaway of the mighty AllBlacks was not to be, and thence forward the match went _on amid continuous cheering. There, perhaps, has never been seen on a ground such enthusiasm as when the conquerors of the great All-Blacks returned to the pavilion. The Telegraph says it was a sweeping victory. The Blues raked the enemy fore and aft. It was a contest in which the strong man at last tound his hold on his reputation weakening and the grip of confidence weakening as against his adversary, and the end ot it all was that the spoils went the opposite way. The game, contested in an admirable spirit from the out-set, slowly but surely went the way of the home team, whose combination, sound tackling, deadly line finding, and and acurate judgment were excellent, of the losers ? They showed as much skill as on the previous Saturday, and played as vigorously up to a certain point as ever, but were out-geueralled even as thev had previously outgeneraled others in the past, and were outplayed in all departments of the game. The one thing that stood on the visitors’ play was the grit they showed in face of adverse circumstances. That they lost was due to no want of energy or perseverance. Murrain, the New South Wales captain, attributed the victory to their line kicking. Speaking subsequent to the reunion of the teams, Wylie, the New Zealand manager, congratulated the Welshmen on their victory, which they honestly deserved.

Hunter, the New Zealand captain, declared every New Zealander would admit that the better team had won.

Mr Wylie, on being interviewed, admitted'that the New Zealanders were fairly” and squarely beaten at their own game. He had never seen such an exhibition of back play by New Zealand or interprovincial teams. The New Zealand backs were at sixes and sevens, while the forwards did not last as long as those of New South Wales, and their backs did not support them.