FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 182, 5 August 1904, Page 2

FOOTBALL

BRITAIN v. NEW ZEALAND. ' (Per Press Association.) ' VVKUjIXOTON. August 3. I[ Should M. Wood, oi Auckland, be j 1 unu,blc' (.0 play in the New Vjealund | , team ugaj'nst the Englishmen, his I place will bo taken -by J. Hunter. I of Taranaki. Should there bo u| vacancy among t.ho forwards, Alex. McMinn, of Palmers-ton, will play. TUB CANTEKItI KY MATCH. CIIU1STC)1I'UC!I1, August iSleet and snow luive continued to | fall at intervals throughout the day i und to-night the storm has come 011 j with fresh vigour, and at present ' thereSs little prospect of it stopping. I Great elTorts have been made to] clear Lancaster I'nrk of snow for 1 Saturday's inalch against the Britishers-. but the ground is very sod-! den, and must be sloppy on Saturday. KIUTAIN* v. TAKAN.YKI MATCH. Sir,—Kindly giant inn space to reply to "One of the Common Herd," in your issue of I lie 2nd inst., and to say that the matter he speaks of has lvwd attention. I have already written to ihe ehaini;a;,i of tuo Itu,.;by Union, ami no doubt the arrangements to lie made will suit the spectators!.—l am, etv., C. 11. ARNDT, Hon. Secretary T.11.1'. MORE ABOUT THE " REP." TEAM. " Jlr.itisher " writvs as follows • " Seeing 1 hut the repivsewtative team is sorely -in -need of reliable men in the three-quart »t line owing to various causes cropping up. ! would strongly urge upon the selector the claims of T. Smith, the speedy Tukapa three-quarter. Smith hat played a sterling game right through out the foason, nml possesses every qualification needed. Moreover, he imp .gained repiv.soituttoe experience in the past, luid has well earned the claim to rep. honours again and now is the time to stvure tho kind of man the reps, ain needing. I trust that the player named will be given a chance to justify ltis inclusion in the team " TUKAPA n. v. WAIMATETT. Pine, but cold, weather prevail**! at Manaia yesterday for the match 'l\ikapa 11. v. Waimutc 11, to decide the junior championship of Taranaki, which wus in favour of the southerners by live points to nil. The home men had the benefit oi a plight breeze in the first spell, having won the toss, and the ground was in faiir onder, though somewhat slippery in places. The game was principally confined to the forwards, and though in the lirst spell neither side had a great advantage, the superior weight of the Plains men told in tho second half, the Tukapas being kept 011 the defensive till close on tho call of time, when for a few minutes they made things lively—to no purpose, however. In the lirst spoil the ■southerners got on a forward rush, with the ball at the toe, which resulted in a try being obtained under the pool,from which a goal was kicked. In the same sjrell Morey and White both crossed the line for Tukapa, but tho tries wore disallowed. This was the only score. The forward division of the winning team \wis too heavy for t-he northerners, though the latter could beat them it) ( getting the ball from the scrum. Tukapa's back division was on the whole the better, .but tho mon , were nearly always smothered 'before they got a chance to get to business. Mr Kivell was in charge of the game, giving general satisfaction. Oneo or twice he had to stop the game on account of the spectators crowding over tho lin». BRITISH TEAM'S FIXTURES. August 6—v. Canterbury at Christchurch. August 10—v. Otago, at Dunedln. August 13—v. New Zealand, at Wellington. August 17—v. Taranaki, at New Plymouth. • August 20—v. Auckland, at AuckI land. Mr C. Symo has picked the following Taranaki team to play against Wellington Glasgow, Wilson, Douglas, O'Sullivan, Ilurko, McKay, Thomas, Hamblyn, Guy, Frewin, Myaott, Abbott, Fookesi, Myth, and another to be picked. (Hunter and Glenn will not he available, in 'view oi tho New Zealand match, and Burke is injured.) A very interesting game was playe<l on Thursday afternoon on the High School ground, between the l'ust and Present High School Boys, which ended in the Present Hoys winning by 12 points to nil after a .hurd-fougiht game. In the first spell •the Present Boys jmt up seven points, Stanley scoring a try and potting a. beautiful goal from the quarter-way. From "tho kick-off in the second spell the Old Boys made ■a determined attnek upon tlKf.'r opponents, but were lieaten back by the good defence of the Present Boys, of whom Ilroadmore and Stohr were the most conspicuous. Near the end 0! thospell Stanley again scored, Stolu registering the major Scoro. For the . winners Stohr, Ilro'udmort. and Mad- . <!er were theorist conspicuous in tho backs forwards were an even h) j ~laying „ hard game. jpr the losers, Coiur, ttl fulllback, r T'luycd a solid game, und of the other hacks Ainhury and Osborne, s.iiior, were conspicuous. The forwards were outclassed by their opponents, but Avery and Perry were the best.

Mr O'Loughlin, stationmaster at New Plymouth, has handed list,» to the secretaries or the local football ihe v?, Ul . ink ;i (l ? I,ladn K copies at the Criterion Hotel, and at Messrs Avery and Hunter's, tobacconists' •wtablishments in order to gain u „ $f «' the iiumlK,- of people who .v. 11 patronise a special train leavn« here on Friday night next for the big football match at Well'naton returning the same night,' or next mormmg. All those who are d" «rous of going are asked to intiAuckland last night where they will Play the northern men for the ittn lurly Shield. Mr Stevens, the "- agcr mI rined « News reporter that uchar i W , r* J, ; 1 ' 1< ' ml ' idCo ''' Wnill ' o ' tea s " t ' llm K' t '»> 'His not had for J urn,. He expects u great «„,„ w P.make a good stand. Jn turnher con versa ti™, \t- o, -«d tho team wouhi'V .rs^l, rnmtch SafllSl A^wVt mnwiuves. Mct.'regor U'niln,.,. , C«w. Talking fc ,', "" l0 '„ an " naki players M «, 10 Inru"""■pr * th a , L ?» jessed include in th^CVX™'r J""" last C S n USO ' " n " « l «'elli„g, on m, rp, " ra °" (V.nam in \ cw Plymouth untii Tuesday a.ternoon, leaving for ttnwora by the .l.jo p. m . (1 . lU „, p,. u w,l be indulged in both on Monday and Tues<lay on tho local ground M -Nine members ( >r this ve a,"s \'„w Zealand team were members of 'the Maoriland combination lh„t toured Australia l«st season. 'Phev are - Wood Mcfi.vgor, Wallace, i'orteous fanning, Cooke, ftullahor. and Ty-' It Is stated that jdenty of Anstrnk»m coin is finding its way to New I Zealand to bock tho colonials in the test match at Wellington. More than one New Zoalander who has been on a visit to Sydney has returned wlthj tidy sums from Australian backors to support tin New Zealandwa' | chanct,

In more than one of the mutches played in Australia by tin.- present Dritish team the man in charge of the whistle caught the visitors puttine the ball in the wnun sideways, ami allowing it to lie kicked out again. In a tetter to a. Southern scribe, ■■Kx-Dimediiute" winds up hi« remarks on trie British town as un= der : "Summed up my opinion Is that ii Ihe New Zealand forwards play the rushing, Inning, 'dovil-nmy-care ' giiine and worry u\e life out of the MS.Uirs' vunguurd, and have a good winger to watch Hush from the serum l hen lam sure the hnglish team ! will have to look further than New //■aland for victory."

It struck me in the match, Australia v. Knglund, that most oi tin passing rushes by the visiting back: were started from what we in New Zealand have been taught to call "unfairly put in the scrum" (says an ex-New Ziealander in a letter to a Christchurch paper). The way it wan worked appeared-to be when the English half, who always puts' the bull ill for them, stood at the blind wide in' the pack, and threw it hard a.gainut i... Ib'st forward's leg, from winch it at once came out to him again, when he, with one motion, passed to the live-eighth, Hush, who stood well back, and made straight for the opposing eectre-throe-auar-. tors, and tlun passed to Ins own lirst centre, leaving three Englishmen to two opponents. You can imagine the result. 1 think that u lot of their play will be stopped by our referees, and a free kick given to their opponents for this little trick. Mr Arndt, secretary of the Tarannki ltugi/y I'nion, is in communicalion with Sir Joseph Wurd with a view of securing a special train from New Plymouth to Wellington for the llritish-Ncw Zealand match, returning on Saturday night. Arrangements have been made for a special tram from Napier, returning on Sunday. Duncan has accepted the offer to coach the New Zealand team. Two emergencies—l'. McMinn, forward (Munnwatu), and J. Hunter, buck (Taranaki) have been requested to go to Wellington. It is understood if l'orteous cannot play, of which there seems some doubt, Gallagher will be wing forwards. The Eltham Argus dealt it out strongly to Uio Taranoki Hugby I'nion in its Tuesday's issue. Says the paper :—"While a governing body, composed of conijictent men animated by the best motrws, may raise the standard and morality of sport, a body composed of incompetents, animated only by parochialisms, will speedily bring the sport which it governs into disrepute. The latter, we rogret to say, is the goal to which the Taranaki Hugby Union is

opccdily bringing the. sport of footbull in this province. We have, on' more than one occasion during the past season, had reason to expose the insompetcnco of a number ol those in whom the control of the game is vested. Hopelessly biased, wanting in business ability und devoid of a knowledge of the lino points of the game on which they havo been called upon from time to time to adjudicate, some of the members of the Union would be far more at home bossing a skittle-alley than in their present positions. That, however, is all ancient history, and we thought was likely to remain so. Yesterday we were disillusioned, and now find that the season is not to l>e allowed to close without a llnal kick at the local football club by some of tho Union members. A football match is to played at Hawera to-morrow between a probable Taranakl rep. team and a combined South. Tho selectors, Messrs Jury and Slattery, have liicked a team comprising twenty-six players, from whom, it is presumed, n linal selection will be made on the ground. Hawera have five men chosen. Paten two, Okaiawa eight, Waimate eleven, Eltham "none." The inference is obvious, and comment would he superfluous." Seeing that Eltham Club has some fine men in its ranks, such ns the Moir trio, Dp Launay, Glasgow, and Hamblyn, tho two latter !>eing rep. men, the southorn selectors have treated them with p.-ant courtesy. Tho comment so needless now will probably bo made at the next meeting of the management Committee. A correspondent signing himself "Taranaki" strongly objects' to the suggested inclusion of a Wanganui back in tho Taranakl team, and wants to know if the management committee authorised tho selection. If so, he asks what the I'nion is thinking of, and reckons "Taranakl can stand alone." "Old Hop." has a word of advice for the forwards in our representative team. Ho says :—"lt may not lm out of place for mo, as nn old player, to remark on the football as played by the forwards in the Taranaki team. In nearly every scrum the ball came out badly to the half In the Wafrnrnpo match, shooting out somewhere near the comer of the scrum, und in such a way as to make It extremely difficult for tho hoy-half to send it cm to the backs. Some of the pack kicked the hall back into the scrum instead' of letting the back department have a hand in the gair-. . »;, mt are the bucks for? ('.. ,|,o Wairarapa sHe UK' hj„ ..un.rf let the mill out splendidly, though it was not very often that they got the chance. I hopo the forwards will note this, and then they will be just as near perfect as a Pack can be."

It would soem that the seven New Zealand forwards in the team to play tlu- IMliHwr. average in weight more tJmn the eight English ones, heven ol England's best fall In aggV watc mlioiit two Mtoue short, but of course, thoiv is an extra man. Here arc the reputed, weight* :_\ew Zealand : Tyler 13.2, Oallaher 13, Fanning M Cookel3.fi. Aiross 18.8, t"" l ' 1 '. «J*lhWlß.B. llritain Melell-Sivrwit 13,1, Crowther 14, Swnnnelll2.4, jlobson 13.4, Hardl "JK 3.2 Itevan 12, Edwards 18.0. J i ail 11, or M'Saunders IS porteous, about 12j stone, will not lie rajuired to lend weight to the pack unless the Britishers are dociS wSer •„ V^^Ttjli he H S V OU,KI h "* v,w Own light !!i;. 1 "*" Who a '° «» ""-"ally