Football.

Southland Times, Issue 18816, 8 May 1920, Page 9

Football.

(By “Onlooker”. I >ate starts again. vfisnes finish in dusk. Saturday's games spectacular. Forward games on Wednesday. Banks and Law bocks handle well. Star missed N. Stead from near the jjp aikiwi unfortunate with casualties that oiwWd the team. Wednesday backs passed without direction and without any system of attack. St. George is improving and before the ywwmi finwhi-i should be & fast, nippy back. Stead near the scrum played a solid game for Banks and Law on Saturday. Displaying glimpses of his old form. L. Cockrnft, a member of the N-ZJS.F. team which toured South Africa last-season, Heads Union'a pack. Dykes behind the Banka and Law acxnm gave a good exhibition and fed his backs vreQ and was not afraid to go down to forward rushes. Bsdd led the Bluff forwartfe well, but •was not sufficiently supported, having to plzy a lone hand on many occasions. Whyte for Waikiwi still retains his form and was responsible for some good forward play on Wednesday that was lost by hard Jacking by same of bis cmiqianiona. Knight played a sound gsme for Waikian at first five-eighths, and when he settles down will be an ae fuisitaem to the Bed real guard that has Lceu lacking in strong players of late. The game put up by the Basils and Law forwards again? t their heavier opponents on Saturday showed that a willing light temn that gets down to its work can mstn a big impression on a heavier pack. In the tight they had the advantage and pawhed the Bhifl pack about on moay occasioos, aeeui’ins the bell from the majority of the scrams. In the open they gave their backs every opportunity to irmkr use of the dry ball, arid the play was fast trKveflrng up and dov. n the field at a groat jpacaL Prytte and Broughton ployed their usual solid pmwi, and Pope was seen to odviHttags in many of the loose forward rattae budolyd in by the peck. DeLurgey when, he obtains a little move condition will develop into a good forward, while Tvnox is also an acquisition to the Banka’s pack. Of the younger pfeyvrs Irving and hurtixad showed op well, tha latter’s effort in opening op to allow Pnin to scare bang a good piece of play. Shnold Rmb> and Low go after the banner in a serious manner it waQ be a hard team to beat, bot without training, there will boa time when an uma is wasted mti the team will to to supply it, and perhaps tore an important match. The rearguard of the Ranks and Lew tram gave s good display of psaang on Sataxxfoy and many of its movements were of a high standard. The try tint Psrum scored in the dosing ntn> u of the gome was tha result of a passing rush in which, all the backs took port. It was a fins piece of work. Dykes behind the sermn coated op the game whenever opportunity offered, and vaned hia game nicely. Many of his short kicks ur field and into tooeh fined much ground and were invaluable en defence. Steed at inside fr>a-f»jgliths Srod a solid gome, and much of the good k work: of the Blues was attributable to his judgment. He waa ahiy supported by St. George, whose cutting in was well toned and his tries were all the result of dashing Tuna. Gihnour at centre played a great afrarkriig game, but on ni r awannn was. Sable to lore his attendant winger by ligfateibtg out ins, that gave hia supporting Km*« no opportunity of foSowlng him. Ha made Vise of every opening that came his way. and when, he hemmg more eacroesaant with liis new posifoaai will be a dangerous man On attack Pram and Ixipdall on the wings gave good displays and did whatever work that came thsir way cleanly. Gibbs at full back waa evid.-ntly suffering from ttexves, and his kicking was neither stioug fear well directed. The Bhdl vanguard great uflucte lo serve the game only to see their efforts toasted by faulty handling by the rear(guard. Potter and Bndd headed many dangerous rrjfhep, and the former is a flayer that as the season pregnssreß should develop into a fast scoring forward. He ie a useful kick and as a winger eexaed Whatever chances that come his way. Bodri ffo usual was a tower of strength sod held %be pack together in good style, but he will hsve to see that oil toe members use their weight in the I'ght, as on Saturday the fighter Banks and Law forwards pushed the Bluff rearguard i boct in no uncertain manner. The rerum was pomly packed and when the hookers did get passereton, the ball alwnys hrmg in the back Vow giving the opposing forwards a chance to break with the bail st their toes. Hie Bluff vanguard will bare to play hotter football if the club is to retain its name npoo the Sports Prcfeetirm Banner. The Ehiff reargue; .1, that took the field m Saturday was a poor combination, and vheoever they attempted a passing rush : ihvxyy Last ground. That, however, was ;ot the worse side of the play and on Starry occasions they nullified the good play of their forwards by faulty handling and bad fielding. They worked their forwards to a finish, and gave than no aamateace whatever, their main object being wsparentfy to see how much running the forwards coold utaod. On several oceanone easy eatehea were missed, aad hacks tackled in possession, A course of instruction in the finer arts of back play is wanted badly by the Bhxfl rearguard. The opening matches on Wednesday commenced 15 minutes late and finished in the dusk With 45 minute spells the starting hour will have to be altered to allow of the games, as the winter advanco, befog played full time. In fixing the starting hoar no allowances wore apparently made for stoppages, sad those accounted 'for the games bong played in a fading fight. The Union should enforce tha hour ml starting from the commencement of tho season, to ensure that oo ifafkiwig creeps fe as the mason advances. Starting st 3.15 pan. wdl be almost impossible when the days shorten. The Star-Waikiwi match on Wednesday did not produce any good football, the forwards dominating the .situation throughout. Tho packs were about evenly matched as regard to weight and the close tussles were evenly contented In the open, however, the advantage rested with the Star men who followed better and seldom left one man to make a solo effort. It was in that department of the game that the Star gained most ground and continually homed the Waftdwi backs. One thing tha Star forwards will have to learn is to keep oa side, aod oo Wednesday they had a number of free kick* given against them that spoilt a coneideraUe amount of attacking work, and allowed Waikiwi to dear its Hae. The Star backs did not teaoo well aad the aehd work of Stead near the seism was missed. Ooghton, at hall, put in some good work, but some of his trausfais were badly directed and without pace, giving fas supporting backs little opportunity to make use of than, Jenkins at fivteeigfaths pat in some good week, and bfo goal was a nest effort. The rest of the backs with the exception of Lilley at foil were poor, and apparently did not 'ully understand their positions. When i pareing rash was attempted they were never moving when they took the baD, and had always to try aad beat their op-

pooents from a stoirnling pcerfion. The baO travelling actons field without gaining any ground. Kelley, at full pot in some gaod work, aad his line kicking helped his side oat of many tight comer*. When Union and Pdfie Service stripped for their first same of the 1930 aeaeon ft waa evident that than were meaner changes in the teams, partieolsty so in the cans of Pobfic Service. That good combination of last season, Dalgleiab—Hadett—Webber is broken op and only the former player remains. CTCaUagfaan was aloo miming from file backs, and the forwards were without Sellars and Sproat. Union were not affected to the some extent and their pack to as good as ever. The Union-Public Service match was always intorestin& both sidea pfaying clean, open football. The No. 2 ground was playing well, although shgfoffy wet in places. Union, as usnuil, relied on their forwards, with rm iMM iiml iiadividnal work by their bucks. Their wemd tty was prartimfly the only combined back pixy attempted and ita ancones shnold encourage them to open cut more in the future. Staplcy was the best of their backs-rod-should make agoad scoring man it given opyortmtftftn Bored seemed to be oat ct place in the hacks but hto tiwciifiil punting troriifed Borneo freon start to fiwfth He has the knack s i varying the bright, length, sad directaao of hia locks asrihft opponents were alamys kepi gimwiag whore the nurt one resold land. llnfttt’s hrwanto aresned to have a string to the ball and by breaking op qriekfy from aamm and line carta, they gave the Service backs tear chorees to get away. Pofilic Service did mock better than was expected, firenrlrffog that many of the players hud wwdy seen eucb other before. Tbo forwards played well ipriwt a more cxpwrianred side hot were usually beaten for the bafi in the aexom. Whoa they did get it, it did not come last enough, (or Stewart and Cockrnft had usually poraval on L. DddriA before be coufai get it array. The backs planned a sound game and the movemeat from whack they nud waa wefl carried oak Hula, wtia found hrmwelf in the Uipurd mrnaaat adapted himself quick - iy to has new poatoxa and wiaen he pawed to Fortune the latter had little difficulty ia getting across. The Thdeftodi brothers work-. Ed with perfect uadhretaadiag aad their, abort line kicks stopped auqjr a il«igummii forward rush; J. Drigjrito hoaevci gave fhnrrnn some troobfo with hie p miring wfaidt at times was erratic. Fortune, a new player, kirired strongly and accurately. After the bright display of football on the opmrrg day of the season, the miteh Afhjwrrr t. Invercargill was a disappointing one to the spectates*. Although the ground was in fnbrfy good enter, the beck play attempted was cmrfiwrd to one or two individual efforts at long intervals aad on no oecawoa did live ball go through the backs of either side from half to wing. The game, theixfere, became a battle of farwarda aad in this department seme good football was played. Both set* of farwarda ware evenly matched and if the la-vereorgiß backs weld have stopped the Qreen forwards when they broke sany in tine out mad lease play the score against them would have been smaller. The Athletic, forwsrde played a hard game ■ and gamed reach ground in loose rashes. fjwtni was prominent in tine out work aad his fine hacking was always sofa. Tfaa Athlrtte backs had little work to do; Oaoka and Shepherd showed Op in fodnrkfool efforta. The fonacr kicked and tackled weß. J. Ooafcfoy and Soaßy were not pfaying wad when these two phonon turn out ■ wiQ have a roach ttretign team. Gthay at fufl bock played a fairly sound game, finding the fine well op, but he mode one bod mintyVti when he speculated at an easy kick from Vial uad albiwrd Odand to gte within an ace of acoiing. Cbqgreve fid wefl what tittle work came his way and his try waa the result of good foUowrog up. The. young Invercargill pack played a firm game and stuck to their opponents right to the end. Garrett aad O’Byrne brake aaray often hut were usually unsupported by the reel of the team The hacks with one or two exceptions would not go down to rushre, and aeady always speculated even in there eww twenty-five. Vtai and CJehuad withstood the brant of the attack, stopping forward rushes aad tackfiug wefl. defend had hard luck in not scoring on two Oceanian once from a serum near the Hi and again in a good run down the line when he was beaten for pore in the run to force. Sutton played brftw at fall bock than when in Kin first positron, his fine kwVrng being fairly good. A junior game that attracted a geod number of spectators on Saturday w*u the match Union v. Collegiate on the rc—uva near the sooth gate of Rugby Park Both teams phyed bright, open football and sent their hacks sway on every f email hi rui inmitin The try Wefibnun scored toe Union in the wreond half was a very fine effort, and reflected credit not only on WeOtam who ■oared but in a greater degree em the Union first five-eight end the not «f the backs. Irwadmrtafly, the try was an example of bow the cot-in should be worked. The Union first fitve-ergfat receiving the ball from his half out of a scrum, eat in, and—tim is aekfom done oven in the best of teams—was followed by sll his h*Hb When tlw player had beaten bis man, he came acmes again to the rest of the backs and, with a man to the geod, Union scored in the esrossc. Last year Public Service used tactics an the line out which wocked well at tasaea; tliis year they do sot work well. When the forwards receive the ball in the line out they warty all turn round and throw the bell to the hail On Saturday Union “ware to the dodge” and when a Service forward turned to throw the ball back be usually found bis ams imprisoned and himself bexrw backwards into a Union scram. The ody maa who can use there tactics is the mag forward. There are two uwuiws apeo oo the line out. One is to take the hall cloudy bathe arms and go down with the head facing the opponents' goai-hne, just as a frost row man goes ilown in a serum, and with the ball placed at hia feel The rest of the forwnrda come round the man with the hall in ocrtßn formation and tbe ball ia to the haK. This comae protects the half and gras him a chance to get the ball away to his backs or kick for the lisa. The other, which has often been found useful by a light pack is to knock the ball back with the hands above the head to the half, a thing hard to do, and quite different from the method described above. The Waaldwi pack did not work together and left the following to one ■»«» with the result that he was invariably beaten by the eppasmg hacks. Whyte played his usual danhing game, text ea maay nrraaiinne was a tone-hander aad on ah Is to compete with the opposing raasgward. Brenvhirr aad the Pay brothers played aofid games, but failed to handle with effeetivaoere when approaching the opposing lino. The Waikiwi backs did not Aov to any advantageuhwiilji owing to lack «f ball. Knight at five-eighths played a solid game and fee fine kicking was well judged and effective. He uses his head whao the occasion warrants, but on Wednesday when trying a short wtracking kick misjudged his distent and last his aids a good position. He ia a good rcah stopper and did not flinch when called upon to go down to some of the Stew's open forward dashes. All the forwards an Wednesday toot many good opportunities by hard that allowed tha defending side to force when a score seemed certain. No daub* a considerable amount of this was due-to lack of practice, aad should duoppaor in

{atom bat ii i& eertamly annoying to a hoed working forward to sew all his work go lor nothing ..Uuiw|h the tfaoagfatfosßßesß ot a feßmriag aaßwgw. Control of the ball W; the torwonft ft difficult to obtain, and . can only be secured by eooataat driLbiuc practice. The first team to inquire control will find its score considerably enhanced it the close at a game. On No. 1 am cat Wednesday the ground behind the One had been opened to allow ot the piping that supples the Cricket 'Association with water for its wickets remowi, and the aods hit on the ploying ana haying a, dheh about a foot deep which maned the aideoe behind the goal linen at the western wad. Fortunately play did net at mg tame sppeeweb toft spot, hot if H hod the referee wwofaJ haw been freed with a dffieok problem m H m weft within the dead bag finrit. The sods dhaU km ban replaced hhn the gum eemmeneed, and it ia hfd that the Gremadft Chwiiiniltm will not in More allow the same thing to wcer agree. The playing area hae benefited iin whirrably with the aammrr attention it received while in the heads of the Ofthti Association «ed was faat and not too hard for the opening gmw; the neent mm having had a softening effect that nab it an ideal football surfaee. It eoedd do with a little more turf, bat the Bpsirenere of the grain waa no doubt doe to the dry sped experienced in the late autumn. With the drain ploughing that is to be done the ground shooM play mweh better than laai year and ahedd help to improve the back play daring the lie Mean. That Rugby ft st® bazag pNped to —nn oxtent in the pi rati, rn part of the Itaited States, ia borne ant by (he report el a match tstama an “AB-BriSiab” fifteen and an '‘Att-Amcrican*’ fifteen that waa played in San FVauefteo recently, aad whsah was wen by the former aide by 8 to ft. The game was played with the object of srlwliog on American team to the Olympic Gamas at Antwerp. The Mew Sooth Veto Sehaahf AAA some tins ago decided to phqr League football in the mhaafo, hat | m meaii n haa been refaaed that hady to carry ant ito wdboeae brearee the Lea«xcs noMteafa pimlmarwil f r^tw>H school sxxjisauu. The seeand mad of the eehaafo competition produced (has nwttuttct hath ftreaes being Oasn. TVr.hinir.ai sad EE|t art the latter's ground, aad after a koeo cawtest the scare waa them priori each. Sewth aad St George played on the Beggar Mmet ground, and in the first apefl _ fbnlk attacked atumgfy, having see pniatß op st batt tiwr In the aeamd spefl Bt Gmege ravened the order of the gmws, sad free* [nMog luabea maned to seen two trite, making the aoctr even. The junior matches raonlted as loflew*; — Wasbepai 8 v. North Bd. Sewth 3 v. St Qscscga ad. g t. Bind ad.