FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 73, 16 September 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

THURSDAY'S MATCH. Thursday's match is not a pleasant subject for discussion. Taranaki people reckon they can take a beating, but they're pretly sore about this defeat. To their credit let it he said that few have endeavored to make excuse. "If so-and-so had happened" is the usual, but we don't hear much of it. The man-in-the-street and the old footballer are pretty well at one in the opinion that the better team won, and that Taranaki was lucky to escape with a three points' defeat. The question is, Was Taranaki up to its touring lorm ? If so, the standard of South Island football must be low, unless the teams down south were playing against luck. Thursday's match wasn't an ordinary defeat. It was a debacle. It was a trouncing for Taranaki. "Donkeylicked," one disgusted Taranaki man said, "and on our own dunghill!" Analysis of the cause is simple enough. The local forwards couldn't get the ball in the scrum, and no variation of tactics was tried. One remembers that in the Chris tchurch senior competition one year the Linwood forwards were light and unable to "hook." The scrums were disastrous to them. So the skipper told his men not to try to hook, but to fall on the ball. It generally worked all right. Another trick in use then was for the beaten pack to play one man short, this man being used as a "rover half" to worry the attacking half. These tactics may not have suited Thursday's match, but they're merely mentioned to show that a variation of methods can be made under certain circumstances. On this occasion Taranaki blundered on. Scrums were no good to them, but they kept on trying to hook the ball. They might as well have tried to eat it. What would have happened if our pack had been instructed to "break up" as soon as the ball was put in? There's no law, so far as the writer knows, to compel seven men to stand there shoulder to shoulder, with heads down, until the "biff" of a big boot on the ball just beyond gives them the signal to rise and shine. They look terribly silly, pushing and bunting and heaving away when there's no ball in the scrum. Better to ignore the other fellows altogether, Better not to stand there as a leaning post for the clever hookers of the other side, just to enable them to | heel the ball out. They couldn't heel it ! out unless they had Cain, Osborne, ' Young, and those other brawny forwards to lean and shove against. So if our men had broken up smartly they'd have had as big a chance of getting the ball as the others had. It may not be correct form to break up a scrum without the usual shoving tactics, but it wouldn't be bad business for a pack having men like Tamu, Young, Hawkins, and Whittington or Taylor to kick ■ things along. Anyhow, it would have been worth trying, anil it would have given the forwards a more satisfying job than acting as leaning-posts for the Auckland hookers. You know how Tamu and Co. can get along when they are given the opportunity.

The Press Association has told us lots' about the Taranaki line-finders in the 9outh. Their ability in that direction was apparently left in the parcels rack of the railway carriage down near Packakariki. Taranaki hasn't failed so miserably for years in kicking to the line, and one heard the fervent wish, "Lord, if only 'Shaver were here!" But Shaver wasn't. So the backs kept on kicking down to the Auckland rearguard, and the Taranaki forwards tumbled headlong down the field after the ball. The Blues rarely missed, and the attacking forwards arrived there in time to find the ball hurtling back over their heads —to the full-back? no—to the touch-line. Anil they grew tired, of course, and must have been thinking hard thoughts about the men who kept tliem"running about for nothing.

' . And when they were tired, and got to know that the ball would of a surety come back, they just waited, which was ■worse still.

The wet ground is no excuse. The ground was as wet for Auckland as it was for Taranaki, and wo get just as many wet football days as the northern men get. The local men couldn't catch the ball most times, and if they caught •they didn't seem to hold. ]f they neld -they didn't run. But why rub it in? Tho local men were beaten everywhere, and : no wise-after-the-event criticism will do any good. The Auckland forwards were keen, active, heavier, and faster than ours. They went on the field determined to play ohe kind of game—and they played it. Their tactics were to use the line for attack, and they used it almost unerringly. Their securing of the ball in the scrum was superb, but a hotter wingforward than Colman would have snapped up the ball frequently before Thomas. One saw the ball lying there sometimes for three or four seconds before Thomas got hold of it. He wasn't nippy enough for a half, but he was well protected, which acted as a compensating advantage.

The Auckland pack had this pull over ours, that half a dozen of them seemed to be hookers. AVe had two, and whilst they were as good as the average, they were up against two hookers of more than the average ability, and then there were 'the others. Cunningham and Tyler ahd Herring have to be reckoned with. O'JJrien, at full, and O'Leary and Geddes, the live-eighths, were very safe backs.- (live them a pair of wings like Sto'fir and Cameron to feed! !

limit's possible for Colman to change his game at this late day, he should 'lea-rtr to kick with his left foot. He stood in great need of this useful little accomplishment on Thursday. Mr. MeKenzie is a splendid referee. When one writes that he controlled the the words are correct. He did. Meanwhile, Taranaki plays second fiddle to Auckland in the Rugby world, n-iul every fair-minded man who saw Thursday's match will say that, on the day; Auckland easily merited their position at the top of the tree.

THE HECOED TO DATE. Following is a list of the results of matches played between Taranaki and Auckland to date: — 1887—At Auckland; Taranaki won, l 1 point to nil. ISSO—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, (i points to nil. 1801—At llawera; drawn, 3 points each. 1892—At Auckland; Auckland won, 5 points to 4. 1898—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 4 points to 2. IS94—At Auckland; Taranaki won, 14 points to nil. ISO,)—At New Plymouth; drawn, no score. 189G—At Auckland; Taranaki won, 15 ■points to nil. 181)7—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 23 points to 3. M 98 —At Auckland; drawn, no score. IS99—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 18 points to 3. 1900—At Auckland; Auckland won, 19 points to 3. 1901—-At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 5 points to nil. 1902—At Auckland; Auckland won. 21 j points to 3'. i New Plymouth; Taranaki won, I 0 points to 3.

1904—At Auckland; Taranaki won, 3 points to nil. 1905—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 0 points to 5. 11)00—At Auckland; Auckland won. 18 points to 5. 1907—At New Plymouth; Taranaki won, 5 points to 3. 1007—At Auckland; Auckland won, 12 points to 8. 1908—At Auckland; Auckland won, 9 points to nil. 1909. —At New Plymouth; Taranaki won, U points 3. 1909—At Auckland; Auckland won, 18 points t# 5. 1910—At Auckland; Auckland won, 16 points to 9. 19111—At New Plymouth; Auckland won, 0 points to 3. Summary.—Auckland won 10, Taranaki won 7; drawn 3.

VALEDTCTOE V.

In making the presentation to Mr. H. J. ("Simon") Mynott on Thursday evening, Mr. P. T. Bellringer, president of the Taranaki Rugby Union, said that Mr. Mynott had been associated with football for übout sixteen years, had been a member of the famous All-Black team to visit England, and had been a member of the Taranaki representative team for about twelve years. He had always played clean football, and had done much to help the amateur game along, and it was mainly due to his influence that the Tukapa Club held such a prominent position. Now that Mr. Mynott was retiring from the game, lie (Mr. Bellringer) felt sure that he was voicing the keen regret of the football enthusiasts in Taranaki and that the amateur game had lost one of its greatest players. The presentation consisted of a gold-mounted case of pipes, a gold sovereign case and chain, and an illuminated address, beautifully framed, the work of the Hooker Printing Company. The inscription on the address was as follows:

"New Plymouth, Sept. 10. "To Mr. H. J. Mynott. "Dear Sir,- j Understanding that you have finally decided to retire from the football field, your many friends and admirers throughout the province of Taranaki feel that they cannot let the occasion pass without expressing to you their appreciation of the great services you have rendered both to the province and to the Dominion on the football Held. For the past sixteen years you have played for the Tnkapa senior team, and for the past twelve years you have been a member of the Taranaki representative team. You were a member of the famous All Black New Zealand representative team which toured Great Britain with such great success in 1905, aud you have played for the Dominion in its intercolonial matches since. As you have resided among us from childhood, we have followed your football career with the keenest interest, and it has afforded us the greatest of pleasure to see the sportsmanlike way in which you have always played the game. Conduct on the field; such as yours must, we feel, surely be a great inlluence for good on footballers, and an example to be emulated by the youuger players throughout New Zealand. "We ask you to accept the accompanying present as a small token of our great esteem and of our best wishes for your future welfare. Although you may no longer take an active part in the Add, we feel sure that you will retain a keen interest in the game, a;id that your great experience will be readily available for the assistance and guidance of younger players. "Signed on behalf of the subscribers: F. T. Rellringer, president T.R.U.; K. Faber Fookes, president Tukapa F.C.; D. J. Malone, hon. treas. subscribers' committee; Wilfred D. Webster, hon. sec. subscribers' committee."

Mr. Mynott, replying in his modest way, said he did not expect any reward for the services which he had always been willing to give to the Ijngby game. He wishes especially to thank his employers, who had always willingly allowed him time oil" Ui go on the'various football tours. Although he would no longer play on the field lie would always attend matches, and would always try to help along the amateur game.

On Thursday morning the chairman of the Taranaki Rugby Union was /ohintarily handed a, cheque for £2 2s by Mr. ('. Young, and one of £ 1 by Mr. C. Bayly, old Taranaki representatives, as a donation to the Union's funds. Needless to say, the spirit that prempted the action was much appreciated by the Union.