MATCH v. MIDLAND COUNTIES, At Leicester, Saturday, Oct. 28th.

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 286, 23 December 1905, Page 5

MATCH v. MIDLAND COUNTIES, At Leicester, Saturday, Oct. 28th.

We had a fine day far this match, and) the ground! was xn excellent order. Quite a relief after the hard, rough grounds the team had been recently playing on. Attendance of over 17,000 and the gross gate total about £770. New Zealand) team: Full, Gillett; three-quarters, Smith, Stead, McGregor ; five^eighths, Hunter, Mynott • half, Roberts ; forwards, Tyler, Glenn, Cunningham, O'Sullivan, Newton, Seeling, Johnston, GaUaher. This .was another hard, willing game, in which the general scheme was attack by New Zealand, and defence by the Home side, with occasional flashes of attack by the Homesters.

The black forwards held an advantage right through, and secured the ball in the majority of scrums, but the attack behind was frequently nullified! by th« tendency of the five-eighths *md threequarters to cut rather much. Still, the tactics of the Home backs in playing right on top of _our men were very disconcerting. The game was only a few minutes old when New Zealand' secured the first try, and before the interval two other* were notched. The first two were converted, and the score at half-time was 13 to nil. Early in the second spell, and following a period of pressure by New Zealand, a long kick located play at the New Zealand 25 line. From thence th& ball was kicked across in front of the goal, and Gillett misjudging the take, a scramble resulted! in Russell securing a try, which Cooper converted. Following this score, the Midlands pressed for a few minutes, but the blacks reasserted themselves, and held an advantage to the finish, two more tries (one converted) being secured. Final score, 21 to 5. Our forwardls again put up a big game. The backs also did well, barring the tendency previously mentioned of the insides to cut rather much. McGregor played his first game of the tour, and shaped really well. Rob* crts, at half, got through] an immense amount of work, and played one of hie Dest games, which is saying a good deal. We have not yet so far met a half nearly his equal. Gillett, at full, made a couple of mistakes, * in each case fisjudging the flight of the ball, but otherwise put up an excellent performance, his kicking and tackling beinsr all that could be d>esired. The Midland forwards were a hardu working set, led by the English captain, Cartwright, but our lot were always a bit better. The backs, as before stated, confined themselves in the main to defensive work. The be^b of the three-quarters was Cooper, whose powerful and accurate kicking was of great service to his side. Miles also played* a sound game, and Hind, one of the fastest sprinters in England, used his pace to advantage on occasions, and generally showed up better^ than when. playing aginst us in the Leicester Club match. The tries were obtained! as follows : — 1, from scrum, Roberts, Mvnott, Hunter, Stead, Smith try, Cunningham converted, 5 points ; 2, from scrum, Roberts, jjjmter try, Cunningham converted, 5 ; 3, Seeling kicked high across the field and Stead charged down fullback's kick and secured! a try, Gillett failed 3 : 4, from scrum, Roberts, Mynott, Roberts try, Cunningham failed, 3 ; 5, from scrum, Roberts, Mynott try, Cunningham converted, 5 ; total, ' 21 points. (To be continued.)