FOOTBALL NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 24, 27 August 1920, Page 9

FOOTBALL NOTES.

(Toi • ' OTAGO (11) v. SOUTHLAND (9). inti'j (Blue) (Maroon). V,/ The following were tlie teams 4:V Otago — Backs : Watson, Owles, Mackitok'ith, Ward, Hartley, Perry, Begg. ForJoyce, Bain, Duncan, Turnbull, iteu chardson, McKenzie, Patterson and EdSouthland — Backs — Ldley, Fortune, jlmes, Grilmour, MacGibbon, Stead, J. oi,j. ilgleisli. Forwards : Baird, Smith, irry, Miliar, Langbein, Whyte, Roche "nsjiid Sparks. The features of this game were: ihe ,,ail"t( igh wind, which spoilt much of the foot,etl0' iJl character of the play, the number of ' a ee kicks awarded to Otago on their a-1- , "^ost unanimous appeals, the clever'ness id resourcefulness of the visiting for- ' |Jiards, eoup.led with the man-handling of veral of their players, and the evident v,wness of the Southland forwards, who, >en grauting the disconcerting wind, ,^iver looked comfortable or workmanlike,\ his last is, in some measure, due to their ot being coached efficiently. Indeed, ountry and town alike are disgusted with le childish "game" they play in the Tay ■reet gymnasium on so-ca-lled practice ghts. Our forwards had a thin red le to oppose the Otago solid blue, the •st-spell line weakness of the Canterbury ,niile®atch being reinforced by a slowness and 1 kkmsiness which was painful. There is a rong feeling nearly everywher.e that a ® : odginess has set in to Southland football, id the forward play of the Maroon pack • 'iil cause this idea to become more tha-n suspicion. Again, N. Stead is "too quiet >r a captain, his forwards being lef't to heir own devices for ninety minutes of • '"ery match. Representative men of this :ason uave voiced this opinion, and from ie two representative games, it has been . "oved to be a sound judgment. That the •rwards ne.ed the lash to pack r:; : ,es without saying. Everybody nearly — was disappointed in them. coui'se, Ctago.and their numerous suprters were not. The Otago forwards ve been trained, private advice from medin and the showing they made prove They adopt a crouch position in at"c«:k and in defence. Our poor raw lads

'Jct in: od up straight like lurid columns, their suc epp being iess concentrated and their id ^lriff defence not continual. Overkicking becAur men in the first spell was very lg leparent, and the clean-handling visiting m .cks took every advantage of it, finding ie line and using up time — or helping our adly-led side to consume the precious vind-spell. Otago were not a great tearn by 3ny means, and, even allowing for the irregular play produced by the wind, did not impress one as anything wonderful. With a well-packed line and clever breakers from the scrum, Southland could liave played at least as well in the second half when two or three bursts put them near scoring. The home backs tackled very well inleed, and Stead and Gilmour rnade up for uiy remissness of the Canterbury game. low thig is a ca.pital thing to be able o say. Southland showed no yellow treak — the ground work was magnificent ! irom the scrums and rucks of any imporance Southland got the ball 23 times and Itago 16, there oeing a fair number of leutial scrums. Otago's foot-work in :ontrolliug the ball at the back of the sC/um and in initiating screws and fooling die Maroon break-arounds to the tune of uunerous fre,e kicks would make Otago s ....nargin of gain be-tter than Southland's. Oie Blue scrummers have been carefully landled and coached by Mr Kavanagh, ornier New Zealand selector, and the re- . ult of his work was to be seen over the 'liole. pack : they played a game, e did not. On the line ltichardson pened out our weak parallel for Duncan o come through with the ball at his toe. >tago forwards smacked .the ball down ••,ui drove ^ off the boot past our half, with the wind behind them, this was (^iparticularly deadly style 0f attack. oc.u-oft and Potter were missed. Miller ad not the big Union man to break the k;e for him, so he was not seen to advanLangbien was more than good on ^ hne, but, as above stated, the j^iroons J not paciv well. Otago out-wefghted lem m tne forwards. Roche got two bad , rac and was not- sound during a great of the game. Barry was evidently ;J#t of condition, his play being below fair iub form. Sparks did not catch the eye o is advantage. Smith showed up well Q the opening stages of the game. Whyte ■ lattled very hard, but was not packed on. daird did not do well in the first half ; in ' e second he was more lively. A man >i Potter's style of play must be put into 'he team. Holmes had. a day off. He s®idom up for defence ; he seldom an--icipated and often speculated. Owles sidciWped him for the first Otago try, though 40 held Holmes later proved faster

than his beater. Of tlie backs generally it may be said that their defence was good. Numerous high tackles were rnade by forwards, but that is to be laid at the door of those who will not show them how to do it. It's no use talking to men : get the mats out and illustrate the dive, Ihe body clash, and the use of the rigid arni to protect the ribs, to t.ake the shock of impact and to give the bump additional force. Fortune was the best back in the Maroon s, though the standard set was a very low one in attack, tlie first-five not receiving much ball, and flashing across his second in running out. The cut-ins of the ga-me were numerous, and for a light man like Stead they must have been very wearing. The Southland backs«did not appear aggressive. They liave no bump, and Stead made no visible impression with all his dashing into the ironmuscled Blue forwards. His first pass to MacGibbon was sent when Stead was i'ree and the second was a yard off liis marker, the consequence being that MacGibbon was downed immediately on receipt of the ball. Dalgliesh put 011 as many passing rushes as Otago s half, his defence proving more than very good. Protection he had little. How about Potter's oritics in this respect? MacGibbon did not show up in passing, though if his centre had not gone solo in the last minute, he would have been in another try. Lijley did fairly well in the second spell. He was lucky in his corner free rebounding out of play. In his pass he did not emulate Brown, who found his man. Lilley's transfer was short. 0 Kane was first emergency back; but it appear s that only Baird and Dalgliesh are to he played out of their places. The S.R.F.U. has collected about £550 in two representative games. ■ It is the duty of the executive to see that the subcomraitt'ee it has chosen to pick teams does something to train them. The remissness should be remedied before September 8th., when Wanganui play here. Mr C. Purdue could be asked to pack the forwards and show them line work. it would not detfact from the dignity oi the j sub-committee oi- of the executive. As to the backs it might be pointed out that aggressive fives and centres are to he had. The others have had two games to show th'ey are not the men Southland needs to win matches or even to put up a showing which wfll satisfy the great body of the publio pat-ronising the game.