FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 324, 10 June 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL

POSITION* OF TEAMS. THURSDAY COMPETITION*. +2 ' i . .& a i L! g*E 11 * i te" £■ ? u ° P 9 1 »PH £ >3 A PH Stratford 4 3 1 0 45 20 0 Clifton 3 2 1 0 30 3 4 Tukapa 3 2 1 0 23 11 4 Inglewood 3 1 2 0 '2O 47 2 Eltham 3 0 3 0 10 53 0 SATURDAY COMPETITION*. Star 3 3 0 0 50 3 0 Okato 3 "2 I 0 2*2 10 4 Rovers 3 1 2, 0 27 "28 2 United 3 0 3 0 0 58 0 (By "Old Stager.") The matches for to-day are: Star n, Okato, at Western Park (Mr. W. Bock referee); Rovers v. United, at the Recreation Grounds (Mr. A. K. Smart referee). The Star-Okato match at Western Park should prove very interesting, and should draw a. good attendance. Last round a hard iought game .resulted in a win for Star by 14 points. Since then the country team has been con- • siderably strengthened, and should give a good account of itself. Star also hae improved very much in combination, so that a good contest can be confidently 1 looked forward to. * Inglewood showed a distinct reversal < of form on Thursday; indeed for far ] less many a racehorse owner has beqn < hauled up before the stewards. After being run over by Clifton the previous i week, the Maroons put up d marvellous « f%.ht against Stratford, and for some i time it looked as if they were going to win* Even after Stratford had scored tho two tries which gave them the victory, Inglewood kept plugging away, and with a little bit of luck might hav* stayed off defeat. The Maroon forwards played a great game. They got all over their heavier opponents in the loose, obtained the ball from the scrum as often as Stratford did, and, in fact, generally kept their end up. Their combination was good, and all did their bit. Hopkinson, Karalus and Russell, however, were per- i haps most conspicuous, the latter scoring i a very heady try. i ; Geo. Nicholls on the wing did a < tremendous amount of work, both on attack and defence. He should develop , into a first-class winger, but is a little j on the light side, , F. Nicholls at half played a solid , j game, passing well, and doing a lot | of stopping. , E. Allen, five-eighths, played a fair ( [ game. This, however, is the weak spot j iof the Inglewood team. With an ex- , perienced man in this position, Inglewood would be more successful. Smith and Brown were the pick of the three-quarters, the former on the wing , getting in some nice kicks. Brown , also kicked and collared well. He has. a. tendency to hang on to the ball too much. Jury opened the jgame at full-back ponchalantly puffing a cigarette. The smoke from this must have affected him, as he let his side down badly on two occasions in quick succession. He was then Shifted to the forwards, where he did better work. Miles, who ' relieved him at full, got through a lot of work successfully, though he was out of his place when Stratford scored their first try. Burgess and Cameron were prominent on the wings, the latter scoring two nice tries. The former also played well, making the openings that led to his confrere's tries. Time and again, however, he was penalised for off-side play, and on a dry day might have cost his side several point*. Boon, James and Melville were prominent iu the van. None of the Stratford ■ forwards played with the dash of their

opponents. ) The Stratford backs all handled the ball well, but it was to Don Cameron's generalship they owed their victory. He played a fine heady game, kicking and passing at the right time. The younger Cameron also played a fine game at five-eighths, and gives promise of outshining his brother. The wings, Anderson and Jones, also did their share. Woods, half-back, threw the ball about nicely, and also secured some clever marks. Du Blois, Loveridge and Bernstein are working in the Mokau district in connection with the opening up of the Mokau estate, and will not, it is understood, be available for Clifton. The following will represent Star against Okato at Western Park today:—Pike, Ward, Hill, Mace, Pfankuch, Gleeson;, McAUum. Dewar, Pilcher, Evans, Hawkins, Richards, Simmers, Okey and Woods. Rovers will be represented bv the following against United on the Recreation Sports Ground this afternoon: — Pott, Grant' (2), Thompson, Webster, Reid, Ryder, Jennings, Cokcr (2), O'Neill, Gray, Baker, Blvde, and Ellis. Commenting on the recent Rugby matches in England this season, a London writer says: —In all the games I have watched this season.there has been obvious in the tactics of the backs the influence of the New Zealanders, and I have wondered whether any of the teams I have seen have nearly approached their standard. CouUl the English team of this rear, for instance, against a similar colonial team, put. up a much better fight than did the English side at the Crystal Palace? Have the lessons taught by the New Zealanders been thoroughly learnt? There is no doubt that, our hacks now know how to make use of the cross kick and a few other arts, and it. is recognised. too. that backs are meant for scoring purposes as well as for stopping forward rushes. They are given llic hall three times where they used to get it once, and one seldom sees a half-back stopping the ball with his ioor. in the back row of his own pack, because he thinks this position an unfavorable one for getting it out to his three-quarters. But was it onl.v by cross-kicking and similar artifices that the New Zealanders won their games? It' .they hail depended on such means only, one could have understood their running up a big score; but one would have looked to see their line crossed not infrequently by moderately skilled opponents. Yet how many men can say they grounded the ball behind the New Zealand line? I met one iu Africa who had done so —lie was one of the Cheltenham half-backs---and he regarded the feat a.s the event of his life. 1 make no apology for stating a truth which will be no news to anyone, but which has apparently been forgotten, namely, that the defence of the New Zealanders was even more remarkable (ban the attack. The same thing—genius, intelligence, or whatever you may call it—made them unique in both departments. We here have devoted, since we saw them, a. great amount of thought ] lo developing attack, and a correspond- ' ingly small amount to improving defence. | coring every Saturday shows this 1 dearly enough. The maxim. "The best I defence is attack," is an excellent one; but its application is limited. You cannot attack when von cannot get the ball. And so a team which has perfected the art of scoring, but whose deience has

been neglected, may be badly beaten U the forwards fail to get possession. Not only so, but even when they are getting possession, the backs may blunder unaccountably and turn attack into defence. The gate receipts in the international match Wales v. Scotland, at Cardiff, totalled £2813, which is a record for a liugby game in Great Britain.