MAORIS DOWN AUSSIES

NZ Truth, Issue 1191, 27 September 1928, Page 16

MAORIS DOWN AUSSIES

Stirring Wet Weather Rugby In Last International ■..'.' -. ■ *. ' ■ ■ ■ -. ■> . (From "N.Z. Truth's". Special Wellington* Representative.) In spite of the fact that weather conditions, at Rugby headquarters were worse than awful on Saturday, tihe representative match between, the Maoris and New South Wales at Athletiic Park was as good a wet weather game as has been seen for years.

THE Maoris won by one point, but .with a shade of luck they would ; have scored at . least two tries. The win was well deserved and it was no fluke. So far as the scores went, the Waratahs have only themselves to blame. . 1 Even after : seyen matches they have not learned' the lesson o£ penalty kicks, and m the case of each match lost — the two tests, and the Southland and Maori matches— the continued infringing of the. very elementary rules' of the game turned what looked like victory into defeat. ' Athletic Park has not been worse than it was on Saturday for some time. Showers of rain towards the end of the week gave the playing area a good soaking, while the rain and' hail on Saturday turned the ground into a quagmire. Things were not improved by the playing of a curtain-raiser, and the big match had not been long m progress before practically all of the players had been through their baptism of mud. Tlie Maoris fielded a. very even team, there being no tall forwards. From the kick-off they adopted their own inimitable style of attack — spectacular and jinky running and short passing. The Waratahs did the same, and the handling of an elusive and greasy ball was remarkably, good. Certainly there were slips, but -they were expected. Had it been a fine day the match would/ no doubt, have been highly spectacular. • Very early m the game it became apparent that the natives would have to make their own play. The Waratahs hooked four out of every six scrums, and through lack of the ball the native side-rankers' had to break away quickly m order .to harass the visiting backs.. This method, was fairly successful until the Waratah forwards hung to the ball. Then the Maori backs had to contend with some dribbling rushes which gained half the length of the field on^ many occasions. But try as they would, neither team could break through the other by orthodox methods. Malcolm, the everwatchful, tactician behind the scrum, iiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiniiiiiiumiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiimuiiiimiimiiiiiimiiiimiiiiii

aiiitiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii noticed that Nepia was playing rather casually, so he started high punting. From midfleld . the little Waratah skipper punted through Just behind the three-quarters, and ploughed through the mud after the ball. Nepia was a bit late and attempted to retrieve with a speculator. He missed badly, however, and the Waratah half snapped up the ball, ran ;down the line and passed infield .for Rosenblum, who scored. It Was a fine movement, cleverly thought out arid deliberately executed by a player who has proved quite the equal of Bert Cooke as a brilliant opportunist and a tactician of high class. This try, and. the only other try iscpredin the game, was the result of consistent following up backed by opportunism. ■Malcolm' carried out a similar move m the last ten minutes of the game. He fielded the greasy ball cleverly,- weaved through a maze . of Maori forwards; and passed to White. The winger kicked and Towers foli lowed. through and touched down. The conversion, Was a; beauty.-.

As. a set-off/ to .these- movements Nepia showed some of his wonderful goal-kicking skill. Out of four attenipts he steered; three beauties over from seas of mud. .

One kick was taken forty yards out and looked 1 an impossible . proposition, but • the baii sailed ■ over the bar ' dead m the centre di the 'goal. Taking them by. and large, the Waratah forwards; had the .wood' on -the Maoris, who were inclined to wing just a little bit.' Occasionally the visitors would break through m a bunched dribbling 'rush; a move which /they varied .by ..packing : arid pushing the natives back. ■...."• In theaoose ; the Maoris adopted pass r ing' rushes with more or- less success, ■while they, preferred hard kicking arid fast folio wing up to the more orthodox dribbling.; ' . ••■ .: . The native backs passed, kicked and passed. Always .they were- .0n..--' the move; and right through the game they harried the Welshmen. ■ -I The inside trio— r Shor.tland, Rata and Paewai— were, very sound on.both defence and attack, buf Pelharri, although he played better than he has for .'some time. past,, was not quite; up to Paewai's masterly standard. Consequently the wings were not. fed quite so well as 'they might have 'been. " The Waratah backs surprised everyone'by their remarkable Their. handling was first-class and their kicking was sure arid:* safe.: Their defence, too, was 'ot the soundest order: ) '. It \yas: onlyt natural, considering the slippery. state of the. ground, that there would be accidents. . ■ : Bull collided, with .Paewai m the first few 'minutes and ' ' sustained : a broken nose. Then O'Connor twisted a leg m ; d retired, and just, before halftime Paewai was injured- and retired. /Late m the second spell, Rata received a bad knock, and Malcolm ; gave evidence ; of' his sporting . qualitiesby calling' the next emergency, Jparata, on to the fieldi i ' His action -was, cheered by • the'spec- ,' tatOFS.i •':•■ : •'..■■■ '.'.-;■ '.;•„; ' , ■''' ." , .'■ ■ ;' ; ';; .■^•; •■■-;-: Chief interest centred round -the play of George Nepia and Lou Paewai, two of the linyincible. 1924 ,All flacks. ; ,-, ,■ : . ;

Nepia, who has fined down at least a stone, was inclined to play casually during stages of the game, but he gave ample evidence of his former quality by his powerful ground- gaining linekicking and his wonderful goal-kick-ing. In those two departments he was the George of old, the idol of the football; public. . And how refreshing it was to see the line found time and again with everconsistent accuracy. What a change it j was from the line-kicking of the New Zealand teams m the test matches. Nepia would once again have been a worthy wearer of the fernleaf had he played m the tests against the Waratahs. ' , -. ' The three-quarters, Falwasser, Pelham and Jury; did not combine quite as well as was expected, but each showed individual brilliance. Falwasser proved one of the fastest men on the ground. He handled the ball and the going m excellent manner. Rata and Paewai m the five-eighths line' combined excellently with Shortland. Their attack was snappy, even though the crispness was marred by the state of the ball. Paewai was the tactician. Right through his play displayed quality and reliability. Versatile player that he is, Paewai would have made a great partner for Cooke m the tests. In representative games this season he has played full-back, centre threequarter, and five-eighths with marked success. Shortland, behind the Maori scrum, exploded the opinion that the Maoris would not be able to win without the inspiration of Jimmy Mill, the great 1924 half. Shortland Avas m every attacking move. His passing was very accurate, | taken right through, while he made judicious use of the blind side fbr gaining ground. His defence also was very sound. • , Shortland showed that he would make a very worthy successor to Jimmy Mill. ' The forwards were a very even crowd throughout. Leach stood out Tor consistent following up and solid tackiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiimiiiiiiiiiniiiimiiiiiiuiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiimitt,

iiiitiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimiwimi ling, while Sam Gemmell, Reside, Tatana and Wilson worked hard all the time. Wellington critics had two opportunities of watching Malcolm play, and most agreed that he is as good a half as has been seen m New Zealand for years. "Truth" would go as far as to say that Sid. Malcolm is about the best half m the world to-day. A born tactician, a clever opportunist and a wonderful defender, he has all the attributes of a brilliant half. Wet weather or fine, it is all the same to, Sid. He is a sterling footballer, a real sport and a gentleman. Next to Malcolm on the day came VYestfield, the young full-back, who . at the last minute, took' the place of Ross. - Westfield kicked with length and accuracy and his fielding. was above reprbachi His tackling was , deadly, while his method of stopping loose dribbling rushes was reminiscent of Kingston, the clever 1921 full-back.

Towers, too, played a fine game on the day. . The experience of many wet weather games while m England stood to him, and he was a powerful . factor m both attack and defence.

The forwards were an even., bunch right through, ■ though Louden, Cerutti and Rosenblum shone but for general all-round excellence. '

■ O'Donriell, too, did more than his share' when he beat l the Maori hookers so consistently m scrum after scrum.

; The ' Waratah forwards appeared to play a shade below their form of the first test. They were a trifle jaded, the effect of two-matches a week, including three tests, apparently having ; its effect upon them. /

■ The tour should do Rugby football 'in both New Zealand and Australia a lot of .good. The visitors were sportsmen through and through, both on and off the field, ' and' they proved worthy Rugby foem en. • :

■ [When the side returns home special attention will have to be ' given to a study of the elementary rules of offside and obstruction. Once these are mastered, the Waratahs will give a fright to the .best All .Black side.