FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 313, 1 July 1912, Page 7

FOOTBALL

'' hlgii schools matches.-" NEW FLXMOUTH (17) v. STRATFORD 1- < (Of.

The outstanding superiority of the l local fifteen robbed the annual match: between the New Plymouth and Stratfortl Hig|i Schools of much of its inter-', esf. tt took place on the Racecourse, considerably. : The it' Were, nevertheless; several compensatingfeatures. The game was very cl'eatt^-aiidi •during .fjlws, first half was pretty/fast,. ■/The., N ( ew, Plymouth contingent, in pa.ran expert knowledge rQtEugbr,(an4 some of their tactics would [gracet-any- senior team. They plg,ypd r!tvitjr; remarkably good combination, soma of, .their:-pissing bouts being a treat, to rwatth. 'The on both, sides •was also 'highly creditable. The local 'boys' 1 lave; 1 hciwever, one bad fault which should be cheeked before it becomes •chronic. Time ;md again the ball swept alofrk the wliole chain of backs without one foot of ground being gained, the players standing as if rooted to the ground wiiile passing ,the leather from one to | another. There were some really bril- j liant. pieces of individual work by the | New Plymouth team, notably when Bruce j repeatedly- ran through the opposing I .side with a magnificent swerving run. In him may be-divined a future candidate for representative honors. New Plymouth .attacked right from the start, Stratford.liavihg to seek relief in a freekick and a force-down. It was not long before Goss had a free-kick at goal, and ftiade a very . poor attempt. This was followed by. a scrum, but the resultant, passing rush was promptly smothered by Stratford forwards. Then came a splendid individual effort on the part of ftnice. He secured from TTaniblyn and put in a brilliant swerving run; and, beating off the opposition, scored in a good position. When he started off ho had several men with him to whom he might have passed, but he took the chance, and it turned out all right. Colson made a feeble attempt to convert. Xew Plymouth 3, Stratford 0. A bout of good line-kicking saw Stratford in tho ascendant, 'but Crone saved twice in succession, once by charging -right through the opposing pack, and ending up by, kicking to.line." Shortly afterwards tho ball travelled from Bruce to Colson to X. Little, who threw away an almost certain 'try by passing on the line to an opponent. Then Colson broke away with a lone-hand rush, and when within a short distance of the line picked up and j scored. Richards landed a beautiful goal. I Xew Plymouth 8, Stratford 0. The next ' try was a very tame affair, and was duo to the inadvertent failure of the lineumpire ,to put his flag up when Tlamblvn stepped out of touch, and. without stopping, made for tho line and scored. The try was unconverted. Xew Plymouth 11, Stratford 0. In the second half, tho game lost most of its fast, open character. and play was largely confined tc» tile forwards. Although leading in points New Plymouth by no means had the game all their own way, the Stratford forward* —their backs were of very little account —often sweeping down the field. Once Gibson had a shot at goal, and narrowly missed opening a scoring account. When the Xew Plymouth backs got going, Bruce passed to X T . Lyttlc, who transferred to Hirst, the last-men-tioned player scoring. Richards made a poor attempt with the kick. New Plymouth 14. Stratford 0. The. last try was the best piece of play of the whole afternoon. It came when Ham blvu passed to Bruce, who swerved ii| . and brought New Plymouth's tally ml to 17. 'Nothing came of the kick. Jlij W. l'voch ftj'-ret ik

Til the morning the juiiiofJ-itiatrh «•:>!= played, the New Plymouth Jfli»h bea'tinjf a team from the Stratford institution by 28 points to nil.