THE BRISTOL MATCH.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12644, 3 November 1905, Page 7

THE BRISTOL MATCH.

FINEST EXHIBITION EVER SEEN

ON THE GROUND

GAME WON BY SPEED AND

SYSTEM

Of the Bristol match, won by the New Zealand team by 41 points to nil, the " Western Daily Piress" says: —" Any douibts that might [have been entertained as to the New Zealanders' remarkaible form were dispelled before the play had run (half dtß course. No Rugby team, even locally bad possessed such elements of attraction as this one, and it was not alt all surprising to learn that for a club engagement tihe receipts exceeded previous records. The exhibition given by the New Zealanders surpassed in individual -amd ooHLective •merit (anything previously seen at the county ground, and expectations formed as a result of the crushing defeat of Devon and Cornwall were fully realised. Their play, in fact, was a revelation to the majority of those present. We have for many yearns past been accustomed to exceptional skill in (handling the ball when Swansea, Newport, or Cardiff have appeared on the ground, but in many respects even these famous Welsh teams ■have yet much to learn before their play reaches the standard of the New Zealand fifteen. The colonials have realised the possibilities of Open play as it has never yet been realised by British footballers. Their all-pervading idea is to (handle the ball and make full • use of tiheir speed. Whenever possible the ball was fielded and thrown to the nearest player in a position to take the pass, and the remarkable feature of their efforts was that no matter how or where tihe ball was tihrown there was a colleague in position for acceptance. Foot play has no part in the visitors' eohemo of attack, except as regards high punting. And it was curious to note that the touch-line was- generally ignored. The ball was either kicked high for a follow-up or right across the field foathe outside men to gather. These tactics had the effect of making tihe game tremendously fast, and one can only admire the Bristol men for the way . in which they kept the r< paee going right '•; up to the end. There^^av^si difference between the skill of the two^ teams, but in stamina, pliick; t ond perseverance the placers of the Old Country fully foeldjtheif own.;svith the representatives : of tn^*far-»^y*,'colony. Their efforts to curtail tine scoring never for an^nsfcant slackened, ancf &p one point im the second half they overcame the visfe tors' defence, but failed to cross the line through over-anxiety. The 'arrangement of the New. Zealand team was, of course, a matter of close scrutiny by those who follow the Rngby code witih more than a casual interest, and its advantage over the Home country system impressed everyone. To the unobservant much of the play of the visitors must have eeemed haphazard. But this was not co. Every point in the elaborate scheme of attack has been well though out, and it was this formation in fractions, as their system has been described, which enabled players to dash up alongside the man with the ball, and so carry on the attack. The value of the wing forward did not impress the spectator so much as it impressed the Bristol players. His mission seemed to be to hamper the movements of the rival halves, but this was only a part of his work. As a matter of fact his presence at the side of the scrum was the chief factor in the free movements of his own half."