THEY CAME AND CONQUERED

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 14

TH EY CAME AND CONQUERED

Rhodes -Williams Is Bright Star

In Tennis Firmament

(From- ' ■ N.Z. -Truth V- Special Christcliurcli Representative) . : The significance 'of the Wilding 1 Memorial Shield changing hands at Christchurch last week-end was entirely obscured by the lessons derived from the. match between the two provinces.

■'.•. ■ ■ ■•. •/■'■. /^ANTBJRBURY were .- resigned to deV feat ■^'week. before i hie mat ?h was played; and defeated, they were. But there were happenings m the course of that defeat which will prove valuable guidance for the immediate future of tennis so far as it concerns Canterbury and Wellington. Though Wellington won by the overwhelming margin of ten matches to two, Ivan Seay's,. defeats of Don. France and Malfrdy being the only wins scored by Canterbury, the disparity m scoring belied the actual prowess of the defenders. . Seay's match with Malfroy was a triumph for studied and superior tactics, backed with an uncanny sense ofar)ticipation and machinelike stroking. •-.-; '%'.,'■. . In his ,i 'match against Seay, Don. Stance struck : a very dull patch, nothing like the form he* displayed later. in the tournament. - ■■' • But it. says something for Seay's. tenacity that he stuck to Don. m a twenty-four 'game first set, and then put him through m the second set with the loss of t>vp games. Charlie Aftgas was showing signs of wear on the/second day, and, after his match with "Malfroy on the first day, was not m cipjhdition to show"; his best form. ■ •-■ , ; '> i;v r-' : \ ■-. ' '■'/'::. ■, Cantabs had hopes, of Charlie pulling off his match—a brilliant exliibitio'n — • against Malfroy when he led three —

love m the third set, but at that stage Cam. woke up to the fact that. Angas was his equal on attack at- close quarters, and changed his tactics.

Canterbury's second pair, Dan. Glanvilie and Tom Patterson, were not the equal of the Wellington pair, Len. France and Rhodes-Williams.

In the latter player, Wellington has found a man who has only_ to get sufficient practice m the right quarter to put him among the notabilities of New Zealand tennis. Except an occasional weakness overhead, Williams has a faultless style. He makes the court look tidy when stroking at his best, and is about the nearest .approach m the Dominion's men players to the poetry of motion. ■