OUR FOOTBALLERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7995, 5 December 1905, Page 2

OUR FOOTBALLERS.

BANQUETTED IN LONDON, J.oxmj.N, December 4. lhc ]{ityljy Union banquettcd the New Zea landers at the Trocadero. Tlie English loiim, Jjoi'tl.s Ranfurly and hinnaird, and the Hon. W. P. Reeveg (Ni« Zealand High Commissioner)! ""d " lil "- v ulll «'s were present. Mr Rowland Hill, of t]lc Eng . <sh Rugby Union, presided, and conyatul.itcd New Zealand 011 its pure amateurism. Euglaud , v;ls gl . ut , ilied a( . bemg awakened from her slackness' br her colonial sons.

THE LEICESTER MATCH. Sydney, December 4 (Received December i, 10 p.m.) The London Daily Mail, referring to tbe Midland match, states all roads and nil railway lines seemed to lead to Leicester when the "all blacks" met the chosen team from the Midlands. The visitors may have felt tlio effects of the hard game on "the herd ground at Dcvoi)port, for they scarcely tripped on the field witli their usual jauntiness. An epidemic of boils is affecting many of the team, attributed to change o£ climate and diet. Although tlio New Zealauders were not scon at .their best,, 'be game was an intensely exciting one. One well-known Association International said': "If all Rugby matches were generally more like this sort "of thing, I should go to few "soccer games, Gallagher's opinion of Braith. waitc and Braithwaitc's opinion, of Gallagher, if they could be obtained, ought to be north reading. The NewZealand captain came oil the field look, ing as though lie had gone through a severe ordeal. Braithwaitc, whose nose was harked and his features' suffused with a rosy flush, seemed as though be had been dragged through a® pond feet foremost. Braithwaitc is a sturdy little half-back and the pet of all the Midlands. For once in a way Gallagher, whose mission in life is to spoil the tactics ol such meuas Braithwaitc, scarcely seemed to know what to do with this artl'ul dodger, who darted Imm one side oi the scrum lo the other . with lightning rapidity. This battle between, the New Zealand wing and the Midland half was worth going many miles to sec. It was a ease of the eat and Ihe mouse. 011 the other side ol the scrum there was a different, tale to tell. This may have been due to (he fact that the Eaglishmon liadno Gallagher to pounce on Roberts as Gallagher pounced on Braithwaite.

in the Ihnonporl match, one reaspn given lor the defeat -was that the Hlin-ks were tluve ynrd i faster in the I<W than the locals. Ths could hardly lie said (o lie the ease at Leicester, as tile _\ew have 110 one who « rfi-aii l"ir an old Cambridge lllOyds blue. Ho was expected to do something brilliant, and he n,se to Iho occasion. Thoso who know McGregor's Marvellous burst of speed settled themselves in their seals when they saw him in full career with ih: 1 bail under his arm and with no one between him anil a try bilfc Hind, who was raring along a yard or ' so behind, both going like the wind. Like a Hash from a gun Hind, with 1 a supreme elVort, Hung himself at full speed at McGregor's ligure. He missed his head and shoulders, but just caught his 1,i.-i fiint, an I brought him safely

cirih. 11iintei* ili.l iiol sliine so brilliantly us usual, Mynolt making most „l' 1 1,,. , u(s. Smith tilled the oyo ill the crowd most, not only for speed, lint lui' extreme cleverness in evasion, tiillcl seemed a Irillr nervous, unci » niiule one bad mistake, through wliioli (lie Midlander.s .scored, but did somo very tine work. Onec lie had hard luck in not having a try added to his mime, ILe charged one of Hind's kicks and down went ("lie ball rebound* ing, Jle dashed on, picked it up, and threaded his way over tile line, but tile rclcrce, who evidently thought tho "eorer was some other player, whistled '■offside, to everyone s astonishment, ATTKX HA XCK AT *AT Hi DAY'S MATCH. Iteceived December a, 1,11 a.m. Lon uux, December i. The attendance at the Crystal I'alaee M as 15,110(1.