TERRITORIAL ADVANTAGE

NZ Truth, Issue 1179, 5 July 1928, Page 14

TERRITORIAL ADVANTAGE

Territorially, Waikato certainly had the better of it during the .first twenty minutes. Their passing bouts were superior to those of the home side, but want of knowledge m topping off these movements, plus . the fine tackling of the . Auckland backs, nullified their efforts. . •Butler was altogether too slow m his movements and did little anticipating of the flight. of the ball. Too frequently he waited for a few bounces before getting possession and with nippier opposing backs would have had the home team m serious difficulties. Falwasser played some nice stuff, but had two serious defects; He endeavored to go too far and failed badly m following up either his own or other players' work. His tackling was also too high, though' he always smothered any chance of the player m possession getting rid of the' ball. His couple of speculators looked bad business. However, on the whole, he acquitted himself well. _ou. Hook has played better games. He was also one of those with the bad habit of trying to do too' much when m possession, being frequently caught so. Where he did shine was m the following up tactics which frequently led to Auckland making some strong at tacking movements. Every roving ball finds Hook after its possession. In attack work and pace, Minns did excellently, but his defence was very disappointing. There was too much inclination to wait for the intercept rather than tackle the player. Cec. Badeley, as stated earlier, had a very bad tendency to hang on too long. It is true that this player . has not had a game for practically a month, but with his long experience such tactics should have been absent. Paewai has been seen to better, advantage than last week. His passes were not so crisp as usual, whilst he also hung on more than once when the ball should have been travelling among the other backs. Undoubtedly Paewai's real place is full-back and m this position he has no peer m the Dominion. Jeffires was * disappointing. Early last season he played half for Taranaki and came to Auckland with a good reputation. Joining the Marist club" m which Billy Wright has been half for some years Jeffires was tried out at five-eighths and has remained m that position since.