HOCKEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 57

HOCKEY.

CANTERBURY DEFEATS AUCKLAND. i CHRISTCHURCH, August 19. ' The hockey match between Auckland and Canterbury was played at Lancaster Park ; this afternoon before about 1500 people, j From the bully-off the Canterbury forwards ' broke away,- but Sheriff- retained. The Beds (Canterbury) kept up -the attack, and; after some give-and-take J>l*y Campbell his * well up the field. Snell -hit into tibe circle,^ and -hit the post, from which Green, who fdllowed up xast/ scored. Auckland* then kept the Canterbury'' backs busy;. and after, some good p'.ay Mather found the net*. On starting again Auckland 'kept up *hei % attack, but after good play " by Campbell Hulbert passed to Green, who again jscored for the home team. '"W-hen half-time was called there was no alteration in the score. Both sides played up well in -the second . spell, but Canterbury got another goal, scored by Harrington, and'ihe match resulted: Canterbury 3 goals. Auckland „.. 1 goal. WAIRARAPA v. MANAWATU. * MASTERTON, August 19. . Wairarapa defeated Manawatu this after- ' noon -by 1 goal to nil, scoring on the call of time. The wjn was a lucky one, as Manawatu jfeve repeatedly attacking 'and I several times narrowly mitesd scoring SOUTHLAND v SOUTH CANTERBURY. TIMARU, August 19. In the representative hockey match Southland beat South Canterbury by 2 goals (shot by Uren) to 1 (penalty) goal. | NORTH OTAGO v. SOUTHLAND. OAMARU, August 17. A match was played to-day between the , North Otago and Southland hockey teams,. j resulting in a win for Southland by 2 goals to nil. Gijal# were obtained' by Wall and j Uren.- The ground was rough and combination was spoilt. NEW ZEALAND^ LADIES' TOURNAMENT HASTINGS, August 20. The New "Zealand > ladies' hockey tournament opened at Hastings- this afternoon in id«al weather. The first" round resulted as follows : — Nelson beat Wairarapa B by 4 goals to nil. Taranaki beat Horowhenua by 3 goals to • nil. , Hawke's Bay B beat Wellington by 2 goals to 1. ' Auckland beat Wairarapa A by 2 goals to 1 after a very good game. Hawke's Bay A beat Wanganui by 4 goals , to nil. ' August 23. 1 The New Zealand Ladies' Championship Hockey Tournament was N continued this afternoon at Hastings in beautiful weather. Results : — _ ■ Hawke's Bay B beat Wanganui by- 3 goals to 2. i - Wairarapa A bea^t Horowhenua by 4 goals to nil. Hawke's Bay A beat Auckland •by 3 goals to nil. Nelson beat Taranaki by 3 goals to 1. Wellington beat Wairarapa B by 1 goal to nil • j The tournament will* be continued in Napier to-morrow. j AUCKLAND v. OTAGO. i The attendance at Carisbrook on Satur- , day to witness the match between Auckland j and Otago was limited to about 4CO people. ! The ground" was heavy, particularly at the town end. whjch had a detrimental effect on the shooting, but the "game was an exceptionally fast one, and the expectations of a fine exhibition of keen and scientific hockey were fully realised. It waS easily the best hockey match yet seen in Dunedin, and indicated a marked improvement on the form shown- in 1906. when teams from these two provinces met at the, Caledonian' Ground. The score on that occasion — 3 to 2 — represented, as iv Saturday's match, a. difforeneo of 1 goal in favour of Auckland. In 1907. at Auckland, Otago were defeated by four goals to cne. The teams were as follow : — 1 Auckland. - Goal, W. R. Bloomfield ; j full backs-F. Sheriffs and J. H. Baker; I lialvws— J. R. Badham. D. K. Porter, and V. Kavanagh ; forwards — R. B. Young. R. i Barry. Smvth. 11. Mather, A. Murdoch. j I Otago.— Goal, G. Austin; full backs— r. ] W. Johnson and J. A Ryburn ; halves — ; B. Fell, 11. Slater, and R. Chalmers; for- ] wards -A. Moody, E. CakW, H. G. Siede- j here. G. Gower. and R. M. Rutherford. : . Referee, Mr H. E. Hellyer. ; Sheriffs won the toss for Auckland, and < elected to defend the town go^l. The , game opened with an Auckland attack, j which was well met by Rvburn and Austin, an<l the ball went over the line off Barry's stick. Another rush by the yieitors ended in a corner, from which Siedeberg and Cakler got away and passed over to Gower, 'j who. with Rutherford, took the hall down \ tho left wing to Auckland's territory. The i heavy -ground at this end prevented accurate centriner, and Sheriffs hit back^ j Chalmers, who returned to Gower. The ' latf-ar smote hard into the circle, where it 1 rebounded off Siedeberg into the net. No 1 goal was given, the referee evidently bein^t < of opinion that tho ball had r.ot touched I Siceteborg's stick. Bullying off at the * twentv-ftve, Smyth fed his left wing, and J the Auckland forwards raced for Otago's ) goal. Ryburn allowed Smyth to beat him i rather softly, and a pass to Mather (rave i the latter a chance which he seized j promptly and drove hard into the net. J Auckland 1 goal. < Otago NiL i The Auckland forwards continued to at- ] tack, and gave a nice exhibition, of stick J

work, in which important factor they outshone th© local -team. Johnson repearedlyt got his side out of difficulties, and soon set Moody going down the right wing,' where the ball was transferred ly pretty passing to Calder, Siedeberg, and then to Gower. Sheriffs relieved the pressure temporarily, and after some exchanges between the backs Chalmers fed Rutherford, but the state of the ground prevented his centring, and the ball went over Auckland's line. Fine play by Porter set the Auckland forwards going, and Ryburn got his side into difficulties by a bad mishit, but smartly covered it up by hitting over his line. The Otago forwards took the ball clear from the circle, but the visitors were insistent and soon had Austin in difficulties, from which he only escaped) by having a penalty bully given against him for carrying. He beat Smyth cleverly in the bally, and. an over-anxious man gave Otago a free hit by encroaching 1 in the circle. The ball went well down the field, where Moody centred beautifully, .but Siedeberg and Gower lost a. fine chance by dwelling too long. Immediately, afterwards Gower had another opportunity, but a very good shot just missed the net. Auckland again rushed Otago's circle, where Austin made a brilliant save.' The relief was only temporary, _ Fine play by j. B»«4ar.-J^pt «fn«r;vb*fi up ttK.hts».fgrwai-d6, ' '&bd -Mather put «T IkhxT shot be£ween th« p^ste.-* " ' * %- Auckland . ,»*- -..- ... . 2 goals* - ' Otago .; ;. .. ,Nil. jU"\ The forwards on hath sides made th« pace very hot, and the ball travelled from .eikl to end- yrith- great rapidity*. ' Austin saved a hard shot almost on the line, and he and Johnson sent- Moody away on attack. He and Calder gave Bloomfield a> few anxious - moments, but the Auckland goalkeeper Aeared well, and play was in neutral territory when the whistle announced half time. A brief Auckland attack, -which was stopoed by Ryburn, a rush by Otago forwards, and some nice passing between the latter occupied the opening few minutes of "the second spell. For a moment Siedeberg looked like scoring, but failed for lack of support, and Bloomfield conceded a corner, which brought nothing. Kavanagh passed to Mather^ who carried play, to Otago twenty-five and passed to Murdoch. ' Johnson's beautiful defensive play removed danger, and the ball went to Moody, who, with Calder and Siedeberg, nearly beat the visitors' rear guarcL Porter cleared, and Auckland'^ right wing was soon causing trouble to Ryburn. Hard 1 cross passing shower the combination of the i Auckland forwards to advantage, and after a few smart interchanges an front of Otago's goal Barry, netted the third scor» for the Northerners. Auckland 3 goals. Otago .., - Nil .The play of Otago improved as the gama went on, and at this stage the .local forwards' were playing with more dash than their opponents. The passing was a-eat and effective, and Bloomneld, Sheriffs, and Baker were kept busy dealing with the .persistent attacks which threatened their goal time and again The defence was very sound, but such attacks could not l>3 staved off for ever. Slater was sendingthe ball .ujp to his forwards -and giving them every chance, and eventually Gower got possession and hit herd and " eharjr into the net. Auckland ... ... 3 goals. Otago , 1 goal. Auckland , then played vigorously, . aJid were soon on Otago's line. Kava.nayh, got the ball into the net, but was penalisedfor "sticks." An ugly looking trip by an Auckland man earned a penalty, and! , was loudly resentecT by a section of the ' onlookers. Ryburn and Johnson directed I play to Otago's left, where Chalmers fed Gower. a short passing run between the latter and Rutherford exciting the spectators to loud applause, which doubled bh 1 Rutherford shot bard past Bloomfield and scored. Auckland ... »~. ... ~ 3 goals i Otago 2 goats. Anything finer than the play from thi« out could hardly be' hoped for. Auckland were tiring as Ojtago came on, but e%'ery inch waa stubSbrniy contested, _ Two corner hits against Otago proved fruitless, ! and Calder got away with a fast sprint. Porter returned to Murdoch,, who hit havd , into the circle, where it rebounded off' Austin between the posts. At the time of his stroke Murdoch was yards outside , the circle, but Mr Hellyer surprised everyone by awarding a goal. Auckland - ... — 4 goab. , Otago 2 goals. - Otago then made splendid efforts ta equalise matters, and the desperate rushes of the forwards seemed likely to bring success. CaAder, Moody, and Siedeherg were doing great bustling work, and Gower and Rutherford were equally effective with rather neater methods. She; i!fs twice got his side out of ugly difficulties, but Staler and Fell transferred <pky to Otazo's right wing, where Moody parsed! to Siedeberg. The latter hit past Baker, and a great race ensued between Siedeberg and the hall. The man won, steadied the ball, ar»«t shot in one -of tile fincfifc of coals. , , Auckland . — ♦ goals. Otago 3 goals. The sting had now gor.e 'out of Auckland's play, but there were only thrc* minutes to go. Otago's supporter called loudly for another effort, and the.y got it. Fell provided a chance for Mocdy, and he and Calder made a final effort to equalise the score. Siedeberg joined tlvj movement, and a goal looked ccirtain, but Bloomfield saved in cool fashion, and the whistle brought relief that "was very welcome to the Auckland men; the game ending : Auckland -. 4 goals Otago 3 goals. Some of the possibilities of hockey, when , played on level grounds, wore made apparent by the play of the visitors. Passas were given and taken by their forwards with an accuracy that was good to see, . and the manner in which they played the ball while travelling at top speed, gently tapping it into position when it v^ent away, was an eye opener to local players, acouetomed to" the lumpy and uncertain grounds .of Forbury -In this respect the , visitors had a marked - superiority. In other departments of the game Otago held their own; indeed, during most of the second spell the home " team made the better showing, but taking it from start to finish (the only fair test) Auckland were- certainly a sfoal better than Otago. Bloomfield, in goal for Auokland, wtas cool and safe. Had Austin not been playing Bloomfield's goal keeping wouJd hg,va appeared as an outstanding feature

M the game. Porter gave a fine exhibition of judicious centre half play, and may be "fejeld accountable for most of the chances ibe forwards had. He might have been penalised a few times for turning on the ball, but apart from tKie his play was a * treat- Barry, Murdoch, and Mather were the besE of a good set of forwards, and would have appeared to greater advantage but for the state of the ground in the trircles, which made both passing and jhoofcing a matter of difficulty. Austin and Johnson were the best backs in either team, which is saying a lot. Tsme after time they saved their side, •ad Otago would have been .in a bad plight without them. The' halves w<-re a better set than in the Southland match. Slater in the centre was useful all through, and Fell and Chalmers did well. The forwards played with nice combination. Moody did grand work, and should have •>een given more to do; Siedeberg, though ?ocf*sonally slow to get rid of the ball, played a good game, and his goal was > splendid effort. The unfortunate incident in the game was the referee's decision as to Auckland's iast goal It was generally admitted that SMOKE CONCERT - " The tcame^etaA-tte Criterion Hotel on . Saturday evening, «nd ip cn t a couple o{ ,W S , n an agreeable mfn-ner wiS Xusio Jfc j'J^'t °! th *™* 1 compliments! BrU a " k - ( P r - esid * n * <>t the Otago 55? hLa A6S^ la *-v On) <*P™**d Himself L «at«fied with its result. Local pTaye™ e-vJ dentlj had to improve a little bit vet before taejr could defeat the champions of New Zealand, but he could see promise of that improvement, and hoped that the aext mat-eh between the two provinces would have a different result. Mr Park ?_!? rG^ osc<i **» |»ast of the Auckland Hockey Association, which body had treated him and the members of the Otago *cam with every kindness and hospitality •wten. thoy visited the northern city two years ago. Mr Sheriffs responded, and expressed the hope that an Otago team would again visit A-ucklamd next year. They could be -sure of a. good reception and a good game. " The Auckland Team," proposed by Mr Hobbs, was received en*husiasticalJy. In proposing tho toast Mr Hobbs referred to the good qualities of* the players, off as well as on the field, and said that he wonld like nothing . batter than to accompany a team to Auckland in an attempt to bring back the Challenge Shield. Mr Barry replied on behalf of the visiting team. Mr Mather proposed " The Otago Hockey Association," to which Mr G. R. Ritchie replied. Amongst other toasts wore those of "The Referees," proposed by Mr Adams and responded to by Mr Barry on behalf of "that much abueed person, whose lot is generally curses to rigtat of him, black looks to left of him, howling all round him"; "The Otago Team," and "The President" (Mr Park). Messrs Woodward. Smyth, Mao Lean, Sheriffs, and Siedeberg contributed to an excellent musical programme.