FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 301, 17 June 1912, Page 7

FOOTBALL

TARANAKI 6 v. WANGANUI 0. A MEDIOCRE DISPLAY. Those who witnessed the WellingtonTaranaki fixture last week were disappointed with the match which was played at Haw era on Saturday afternoon between Taranaki and Wanganui. For the greater part of the time the game resolved itself into a monotonous forward scramble, parsing rushes being lamentably few. 80. a sets of backs, however, gave a poor <\\ splay; indeed, there was only one really brilliant piece of work the whole afternoon. It was on the side of Wanganui, and came when Ongley took a difficult pass, and, after putting in a dash, transferred to Anderson with a magnificent effort. It was a peerless pass and an equally brilliant catch, and a score looked, imminent, when Anderson was well collared by Roberts. The high wind doubtless had a lot to do with the quality of the back play. By a strange paradox Taranaki seemed to .play better in the first spell with the wind against them than later on when it was in their favor. Undoubtedly the Taranaki backs missed Stohr. On the day's play it would be difficult to say which fifteen gave the better display. The home team secured six points—a try and a penalty goal —but one could not overlook tohefact that on several occasions Wanganuiwere within an ace of scoring. AJI things considered, it was an off day for Rugby. There was an attendance of 1300. The teams were as follows; TARANAKI (amber and black). Prince. Loveridge, S. Cameron. Kupe. Roberts, McLeod. Brown. McAllum. Dewar, Pini. Hawkins, Young, Kissick. Cain, Burke. -WANGANUI (blue). L. Meuli. C. Meuli, Coutts, Anderson.. Tilyard, Ongley. , Atkins.

Dustin. R. Leahy, T. Leahy. Takarangi, Brownlie, palrhVeU. Lynch, Batley. ' < ,■ , Taranaki kicked off with wind against them. Anderson niujiediin the return, and the line-out, .saw .Wanganui in difficulties. Shortly wards Kupe let his side down. ; From, the- | scrum the leather came to but;' he hung on-ftoo.longi audi was esßct,ijV;ely'. smothered. The Taranaki forwards <qon- i tinued to press: dangerously, and..* Jf ree«_. j kick was awarded against pWapgapui: i Roberts took ,the kick an,d J attempt. Relief came ..for } '.Wanganui' J when Tilyard found the line'.well,.over: 1 1 the half-way mark. Aided hy the.',w ( ind; Wanganui forwards now began,-£0 take.: a hand in the, game, but tyq, opposition was soon again in evidence.!-;Twty;free-, kicks to ../Wanganui we're 1/: ,n»sficd t through , "man; in -front-.''', .ipncp -.when j Taranaki were-in an excelie'nlj.. portion J Loveridge 'got, away, but, j ignominiously to .take the ball,,.and- : ari; j almost certain try went begging., mendous.boo.st by a Wanganui, forward 1 resulted ih„ a,, touch-in-goal-. ; ..,So ■j'fa-r. J Taranaki were having the biggfir.isajr.in 1 matters. A. temporary, attac,k flfl' the l ! part of Wanganui was~ Roberts marking. Tilyard cut in nicely, i but spoilt by passing forward' wilfl)y,. Dewar stemmed the tide, anttHawkinß, | following up,'relieved matters,'' j was now largely of the give and "take 1 order. From'the 25 Coutts was;'pr6niinent with a splendid line-kick.'', 'Roberts returned with a magnificent ,:l effq;rt. Kupe, failing to take a pass from Dewar, let Taranaki down, enabling Tilyard to cut in. His successor almost got ihome, being up-ended just in time : 'by Love--ridge. From a long way out L., Meuli : took a pot at goal from a • J -'r,'; :l :\ v;!:iclin just missed opening up a scoring account. Then Taranaki were responsible- for a spectacular effoTt. Roberts cut in beautifully, and passed to Dewar. The lat-' ter passed to' Young, who in turn trans* ferred to McAlhmiv and the latter player, put in a magnificent sprint; eventually running into toiich. A line-out ensued,, and the Taranaki forwards pressed hard, Pini falling over the line. Hawkins failed with the kick. ■ Taranaki '■' ' 3 ] Wanganui ■•-..'. 0 - i Wanganui then came down with aj spirited Tush, and glaring offside play" by Hawkins gave Coutts a.likely-looking shot at goal. He failed in the attempt, however. Prince mulling, saw the Wa-.. nganui forwards literally swarm over Taranaki's line, but a lucky force saved the situation. At half-time the score was- unaltered.

On. resumption the general opinion was that, as Taranaki now had a strong wind behind them, there would be only one team in it. As things turned out, however, quite the opposite happened, play for 25 minutes on end king largely in Wanganui's favor. This was in some measure due to the nippy play of Tilyard, and the failure .of Taranaki to make the game close. Takarangi initiated a hefty Wanganui attack, and wound-up by transferring to Atkins, who found the line in a dangerous position. Lynch got the ball from a scrum, and crossed the line, but the ball was torn from his grasp before he could touch it down. The Blues swarmed down again, and it was left for McAllum to save the situation with a timely punt. Brown finally raised the s.iege with an effective piece of foot-work. A short-lived but promising sprint by McAllum served to liven up a game that was -■ow fast developing into an unint< '■'■ sting and ragged tussle. At this stn tc L. Meiili replaced F. Meuli, owing to the latter being temporarily incapacitated. Wanganui still held sway, and a bout of passing saw the ball travel from Coutts to Ongley, to Tilyard, the last-named player being eventually grassed. Then ensued the best piece of play seen during the afternoon in the shape of a brilliant i passing rush between Ongley and Anderson, followed by an unsuccessful pot at I goal by Tilyard. Headed by Hawkins, Taranaki forwards invaded foreign territory, and Cameron gained still more ground with a good line-kick. A scrum ensued, and Atkins saved with great eclat. Taranaki returned to the attack, and thence onward had the better of the game. Tt was not long, however, before a free-kick was awarded Taranaki. and Roberts landed a beautiful goal from about quarter-way.

Taranaki R Wanganui 0 There was no further score. Mr. Nalder had the game under the best of control. NEWS AND NOTES. The back play in the match between Taranaki * and Wellington was simply brilliant, the Wellington backs holding the t spectators spellbound with the marvellous dexterity with which they bandied the ball. Apparently thrown at haphazard, some one was in position ready to take the ball, and hand it on. Checked in one direction, the leather would be shot across the field and some black-jerseyed individual would be on the spot. Roberts is a great general, and a marvellous halfback. He picks "up the. ball and passes it in one motion, a kind of scooping action, and the result is that his five-eights ia under way almost before his opponents know he has the ball. McKenzie and Ramsden, at five-eights, harmonise

well. . T'hey are both active and tricky, the former particularly cutting in and side-stepping in a manner most demoralising to his opponents.The three-quarter line is also good. Kirivig, who notched three tries, was the shining ■ star. Lambert on the other wing failed to take several passes—some rather diffisult ones certainly,—otherwise Wellington's score would have been larger. Murray, the ex-Aucklander, played a solid game at centre, whilst Capper at full made few mistakes. Among the forwards Eangi Wilson, Paton, and Elliot were possibly the best of a fine bunch, though the first on one occasion at least displayed too much vigor. Skinner at wing also did much good work. All the Taranaki forwards worked well, with the exception perhaps of Pink Still there was too much individual effort and not sufficient combination. It was no unusual thing to see one or perhaps two out on their own, unsupported. Still, they are a great pack, and with a little more concerted practice will do well. McAllum, on the wing, quite justified his inclusion. The throwing in on both sides left much to be desired. Brown, at half, stopped a lot of rushes. He also picked up the ball nicely, but seemed afraid to let it out to his backs. So also did his skipper, McLeod, who, moreover, was lacking in generalship, in not bringing his men up to block the cutting in by his vis-a-vis. Had these been blocked, a lot of the pretty passing rushes would have been nipped in the bud. Roberts, the other five-eighth, also did a lot of defensive work. It was a fine opening on his part that led to Taranaki's first trv.

The tkree-quarter line was not given too many chances. It Was a brilliant individual effort on the part of Stohr that led to his try. Blocking a transfer from one of his opponents to the other, he gathered up the ball and, beating two or three men, shook off the fullback, and scored. He was in good kicking form also, converting both tries and narrowly missing from a mark. Loveridge came through the ordeal of his first rep. fixture very well. He had a lot of work to do, and most of it he did all right. Certainly he was out of place when some of the' tries were scored, but he was not the only offender in this respect. Prince, at full-back, played a solid game, and time and again stopped almost certain, scores. His kicking also was welljudged. The Rover-Okato match last week proved a repetition of the previous encounter at Okato, inasmuch as the country boys had all the better of the earlier stages, whilst the lighter town team were easily to the fore in the later stages. There was this difference, however, that at home Okato managed to stave off defeat. Here they could not. Okato can set down this defeat to want of condition, failure on the part of the full-back, and lack of knowledge by some players. It was glaring obstruction by a native player that ended attackingmpvement and gave the op'Tp6rifents; if, free kick, whilst the full back ''mulled'and; the nippy Rover backs ; scored, Webster just beating the ball to the -'deadline, and notching the win;nwg .points;; i A! contrast to his exhibition was that of Newell, the Rover fullback. Grant Bros played their usual fine game, lan making a nice opening ! when Webster scored his first try. Ryder MuUoy, and .Thomson headed some fine -forward, rushes.' For Okato, Carey, as 'usual,, pjayed a good dashing game, and footballers wiH all hope to see him back on the field again early, as he is a clean, keen player that can ill be spared. His ; elbow came in contact with an opponent's jaw, with disastrous results to the I elbow. Ma'cKay, Eustace, and Andrews were also, .prqipipent in the country vaangiiard;" Tiirn'er at half, Malone at five-eighth, Rua"and Corbett at threel quarters did good work among their [ backs.