HOCKEY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 6, 6 July 1929, Page 22

HOCKEY

By "Stick*"

SHIELD MATCH

WELLINGTON'S FAILURE

.vBSENCE OF COMBINATION

i'lie high hopes held by many in Welngton that the local representatives mild be able to retain the Challenge shield for at least one season ivpro • iashed on Saturday when Canterbury • the first challenge match this year ■ the trophy soundly defeated Wei ■ uton 's team by a three-goal margin i tiere can be no excuse for Wellington V ■nilure. Certainly, when M'Leod bad v. leave the field early in the firs! spell, ihc team was without the services of ime who might, and probably would Mve done mueli to keep Canterbury in •lieck, but on the day the visitors were undoubtedly superior, especially iv the forwards. The Wellington front line ■ lia not impress as a combination, and (lie only conclusion the writer can come i<- is that insufficient , attention was sjiveu to the question of training, surely ••' vital matter in preparing for a hard lame such as that on Saturday promised to be. The selection could have been made earlier, it is suggested, and the players should, willy-nilly, have 'been asked to train under penalty of losing their places in the team. There is no denying the fact that the material was there, and that the selector had done his !<)b well. All that remained to be done was to mould the players into a sound combination by seeing to.it that proper training and practice were carried out The Canterbury men worked together much better than their opponents, and 'here were many instances where this -uperiority carried them through. Hard-hitting by the Wellington backs »st the forwards a number of opportunities of taking advantage of the visiting backs being out of position. Time and again the forwards raced up "• connect with the ball, but invariably Canterbury defender was in possession. This naturally had the effect of preventing Wellington from taking the ipgressive, and on at least one occasion the visitors were allowed to score through the ball travelling too far from he Wellington territory. But for the hard-working halves, Canterbury would probably have given Massey and Falconer, the two fullbacks, and Mooro, in goal, a much harder task. Perrin, who. moved to centre-h.-tlf when M'Leod went off, was always troublesome to the Canterbury attack, but once or twice he got out of position and played among the forwards. For all that, he kept up with the play admirably. With P. D. Wilson and 0 'Callaghan also playing soundly in the half-line, the visitors found it far from nasy to break through. Moore fully lived up to his reputation as a representative goalkcepor, especially in the opening 6tages. when he was responsible for some remarkable saves. 1 here was no stopping the shots which did beat him; all of them were welljudged and gavb him no chance. , A writer in an exchange praisos his showing, and says that he should be in the running for New ' Zealand honours, though the selectors will find it hard to pass by J. Fletcher, the crack Waikato custodian. H. Hore, the Canterbury contre-half, was probably the most consistent and certainly tho most improssivo player on the field. The manner in which he an ticipated the run of play was remark able, and it will be surprising if he does not ojico more gain New Zealand representative honours against the Australians. Tho Bell brothers in tho forward line contributed very largely to tho team's success, W. Bell boing particularly outstanding. Both the goals ho scored were tho result of clever play, in which the other forwards combined nicely and exploited the right wing attack. Challenges for tho Shield have boon sent to tho N.Z.11.A. by Nelson, Auckland, and Poverty Bay, but the writor anticipates that on Canterbury's showing on Saturday they will have little difficulty in retaining tho trophy for this season at least. Auckland may givo tho holders some trouble, and tho result of the match will be awaited with interest. Discussing tho Wellington team's showing at tho meeting of the Management Committee of tho W.H.A. on Monday evening, tho chairman (Mr. C. S Falconer) said he thought there was more combination in an ordinary club fixture. He bolieved the University tnam itself could put up a better showing. I Mr. N. J..Lewis (University): "I am sure it could." (Laughter.) Mr. A,'A. Kirk (Schools' Association) said that he would like to sco a crack club team play a representative'eleven. Mr. Falconer: "I believe a club team would beat a representative team thrown together for the first time with out practice." Tho meeting dealt with tho question vi challenging this season for the Shield, and decided that it was desirable to wait until next season before challenging again. Attractive Ladies' Hockey. The Ladies' curtain-raiser to the faluold game, provided by A and B trial teams, revealed some good form and also gave an indication that Ladies' hockey has reached a high standard in Wellington this season Tho teams wero well matched, and tho stickwork and combination were excellent. Mrs. Hendle and Misses M Wilkins, J. Harper, and P. Heiso wore the best of the" A players. In the B team, the stars were Mrs. Prince and Misses V. Stubbs, centre-forward and M. Huggins, goalkeeper. Scooping Into the Circle Barred. Tho question of scooping into tho circle has been considered by the New Zealand Hockey Referees' Association, atd by ,tha Interpretation Committee of that oody, and the New Zealand Hockey Association has now decided that the practice is illegal, although it is permissible in other parts of the fields. It is considered that tho ruling is most opportune, as 'cooping into the circle invariably leads to dangerous play. Playing to the Whistle. Players should rofrain entirely from comment or appeal, and ahould play strictly to the whistle. Many apparent breaches, have to be decided by the re feree according to the advantage rule, one of the most important rule? in <-he book.