RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 140, 20 July 1914, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

A GOOD, HARD GAME. Keen, open, and exciting from start to finish, the match between Old Boys and Christcliurch on Saturday last was easily the best that has been seen at Lancaster Park this season. The big crowd whieh surrounded the Oval was thrilled by good, hard Rugby, full of fncident, and capped by a fine example of the unexpectedness which is one of the great charms of Rugby. Three minutes before the call of time it was '' all Lombard Street to a China orange'' that Christchurch would win by 6 points to 3. So fast and strenuous had the game been that only their stubborn courage and the heat of battle kept the two teams going. They were battling out tlie game to the bitter end, but so rigorous had been the play that no one expected another score in the last few minutes. It seemed especially unlikely that the Old Boys' backs could score, for all their efforts in the first spell had! produced only one try, and in the second half they had suffered severely from the Christcliurch rushes. But then came that great death-bed rally in which G. Guthrie scored — : E. E. was the man really responsible for the try—and Crawshaw kicked a magnificent goal just as the bell went. It was a gre,9.t finish to a fine match.

HARD LUCK! A team thajt can rise to the occasion like that deserves victory, yet the Christchurch men were unlucky in not winning. Their defence in the first spell was excellent,' though the Old Boys' backs made many attempts to pierce it. Once only ih that spell did the defence snap under the strain, and that was when the Christchurch team was a man short, A. H. Guiney .having left the field for a couple of minutes to replace some damaged clothing.. In. the second spell Christchurch had much the better of the play. The red and .blacks were playing a winning game then, and they would have increased their score if Dame Fortune had been a little kinder to them. Their excellent play deserved a better reward. But, after all/ the turn of Fortune's wheel just evened up matters, for in their first match, when Christchurch won by 7 points to 6, Old Boys had rather the better of the play, but were beaten by the drop-kicking ability of one man, A. H. Guiney.' 1 a t SPOILING WORK.

In the first half of the game the Old Boys'.hookers, Seed and T. Crawshaw, goMthe ball in nearly every scrum, and half-back E. C. Taylor was able to set ■the wjiitfe backs going time after time. &ut though they were throwing the ball 4bolit well, the backs Were prevented from making their passing rushes as effective as usual. The Christchurch forwards breaking away fast from joining with tlieir backs 'closed#}' in, fine Spoiling work. Consequently, each of !the cfeptre usually forind himself so well marked that it was not & case of tryirig to beat oiie man before passing, but of trying to beat two or thr6s., In these circumstances the Old Boys strove to send the ball out to their as quipkly as pos-: 'bible. Here, again', the Christcliurch iline of four three-quarters presented' a |big obstacle —the-four three-quarters system is more, useful in defence than fin attaek. Further, G. ori the ■left wing of the attack, i was not always accurate in his handling of the ball, and he was inclined to run ahead of the attacking movemient.

OLD BOYS' FORWARDS MASTERED, The second spell showed up the weakness of the Old Boys' teain. The white [forwards are little more than- a machine for feeding their backs from the serums. They seeiii to have no powerooff f : tained dash, and as a scoring division they are a negligible quantity. In the first spell they made a good showing against the Christchurch pack. Gradually, but surely, however, the strain weakened them, and the red forwards mastered them. For a time the Christchurch forwards got the ball from the scrums, and their backs tested the defence with passing rushes. The superiority of the Cliristchurt'h forwards over the Old Boys' pack became more noticer able, and their gingery rushes smashed down on the white backs again and again. Full of "devil," but playing clean football, they outplayed the white forwards in the line-outs and the loosfy and their sweeping rushes tested the defending backs sorely. Indeed, those Christchurch forwards played splendidly! But the extra "pinch" of condition which Old Boys had just enabled them to weather the storm and make that final effort .which won the match ,TPor them. : CRAWSHAW'S FINE PLAY: As a division the Old Boys' backs played well,. considering the great amount of work that was thrust upon them. But. there were two who stood out as the heroes of the match. Tliey are E. E. Crawshaw and J. Bain. The writer of these notes overheard, during the game, some remarks that Crawshaw was not playing as well as usual. That view was wrong. Crawshaw was playing just as well as he was permitted to play. He was so. well.marked by his opponents that the only thing he could do, as a rule, j was to send the ball on to the next man immediately after he received it from

Taylor. But whenever lie saw an opportunity to gain ground himself he took it. Ilis defence was very solid, especially in the second spell. Crawshaw was then practically the first line of defence, for.E. C. Taylor had been hurt toward the end of the first spell, and was physically unable to do his full share Of the work, although lie made a gallant effort. This thrust extra responsibility upon Crawshaw, and. right well he shouldered it. . He received a severe gruelling from the Chriatchurch forwards, but he 1 did not flinch. And it was Crawshaw's brainy play, his well-judged cross-kick, that Jed to' (Juthrie scoring the winning try.

Until then Crawshaw had made several excellent placckicks at goal, but jluck had been against him. So when Guthrie's try turned defeat into a draw, there seemed to be a feeling that Crawshaw 7 would not succeed with the attempt to convert it and change a draw into a win, especially as the kick was ] from

barely a yard inside the touch-line. But Crawshaw made a great effort, and the ball soared fairly between the posts, just as the bell for full-time rang. At full-back, Bain was kept very busy, but he played finely. Cool and steady, he fielded the ball cleanly and kicked well, and his tackling was sound. During the game he did not make one real mistake, although some of the rushes he,had to stop were very hot. Occasionally he was in real trouble, but not through any fault of his. Bain hafs been consistently good during the season, and the position of full-back in the Canterbury representative team must be his.

LOSERS' FINE FORWARDS. All of the Christchurch forwards worked so well that scarcely one of them stood out much above his fellows in allround play. Each gave of the best that was in him, without shirking any of the 1 ' heavy stuff." If a choice had to be made, it would fall upon C. R. Murray, F. L. Sapsford, W. J. Morgan, and K. D. Henderson. But mention should also be made of the good play of H. Robinson, a junior forward who was substituted for T. L. Burns, the latter being absent on account, of an injury. It seems rather invidious, too, to pick out any of the backs for special mention; not one of them was a laggard. Judging them on their work all round, in both attack and defence, the best Wfere L. W, Mehrtens, who played .at half-back, and F. V. Robinson, three-quarter. But there really was veTy little td Choose between the backs, especially as they were playing behind the better set of forwards. Although the play was so hard, there were but few instances of players 'offending against the canons of good sportsmanship. Early in the gamie H. R. Simpson, one of the Old Boys' forwards, tackled, rather too often, opponents after they had kicked the ball, but there did not appear to be any malice in his methods; he seemed to be so intent on bringing down his man that he did not notice that the ball had gone, A similar excuse, however, could not be. offered for L. F. Parson, whose methods sometimes were not of the cleanest. • The game was excellently refereed. by Mr J. F. Peake, who kept up with the play well and did not spoil it by too much whistling. LINWOOD FORWARDS TIRE. . The defeat of Linwood by Merivale was only a further exemplification of the reason to which the wearers of the green and black jersey can attribute their continual lack of success this season. Time and time again, by theirsheer bulldog, neck-or-nothing, bustling methods, the Linwood pa,ck, ias in Saturday 's game, has completely outclassed the opposing vanguard and dealt havoc iiittong the backs. This With practically no support from its rearguard. And then, when the game is well advanced; tlie pack tires, while the better-balanced opposition piles up the points. Throughout most of the game with Merivale,' therefore, the forward elenierit predominated, it being a hard, close, but clean contest. Conspicuous among a pack of ''grafters,'/ the brothers E. and W. Cummings led rush after rush —rushes, too, that presented quite a problem at times in the stopping of them., In classing the youthful and light green baciis as a lot, one exception must be made in Pieycy, this Mayer's defensive Wbrk : being of an ex-i tremely high-class order. It was indeed fortunate for Linw'ood during the latter half of the second spell that Piercy was so reliable; otherwise the Merivale score would have been considerably higher. t . The first appearance this season ot "Don" Sandman in the Merivale rear, guard undoubtedly has strengthened that division. Sandman, who was playing half-back, in the first spell had little opportunity of distinguishing himself in attack', but behind a beaten pack he put in some solid and —heady" de-> fensive work. Later in the game/however, his opportunity came, and he was always in ; prominence by his tricky and dashing runs. In view of the approaching game against Old Boys, Sandman's inclusion in' the team should materially assist Merivale's chances. During the game, Linwood's diminutive half, G. Caldwell, received a kick which necessitated his retirement. As another Linwood player a few minutes before had been compelled /through cramp to seek the side-line, tlie greens for a short period had but 13 men on the field.

ALBION'S WIN. Albion and Sydenham contested a scrambling game on the western ground at Lancaster Park. Perhaps it was that match on the oval so much outclassed their exhibition that it seemed so poor. At anyrate, it was uninteresting, and in more than one respect mediocre. Armstrong, Gallivan, and Luke were occasionally responsible for some bright' patches, but they were only patches. The Albion forwards made hay of the Sydenham wen, and had they had any sort, of hifk they would have put on another 18 points, half of them in the first spell. Gray was a bright link on the line of Albion backs, and lie more than, once excelled himself. Once, in front of his own goal, he took a high kick njagnificQntlv. .'' Hot'' is not exaggeration, for it was a difficult ball to take. He was unsupported, however, and his subsequent run was therefore of only trffnporary value to his side. ; The Albi6n forwards worked well together, and more than once charged down field with a determination that certainly deserved some extra points as i>, reward.

The ground was heavy and so was the ball, an old one, like a pudding. This, perhaps, accounted for the bad kicking, both line and goal, for bad it certainly was. A monotonous succession of scruins made the game even more uninteresting than it might have been, ami very rarely did the ball come away cleanly from these. It looked very much as if each team was suspicious of the other, and dared not try the open game. 'VARSITY'S NARROW ESCAPE. After a lapse of nearly eight years the Albion Club has regained possession of its ground in South Haglev Park, and for the first time in those years a Rugby."Union competition match was played on it last Saturday. The first spell of the 'VarsityMarists game .calls for little comment. It was merely a forward combat; only once or twice did the maroon backs break the monotony by essaying passing rushes. Seabotfrne's brilliant goal, just after the commencement of the game, wave great impetus to his Marist clubmates, especially to the forward division. Amodco 'b neat <' pot'' seemed

to add still ' more " ginger to the greens' play, and for the' remainder of the spell the whole fifteen played a determined game. /Varsity had th© disadvantage or playing against the southerly breeze, and although the forwards played dashingly, the backs let them down badly. Those wild, lobby passes, as is often the case, gave the opponents a chance to break up the attack, and the greens soon found this out. Great credit is due to the 'Varsity hookers—Day, a promoted junior, and Dailey. They hooked the bail from every scrum but three during the whole game. With a little more practice in working together they should give the Sydney University front-rankers a good deal of trouble uext month. It - was extremely unfortunate that Parr had to retire early in the game, for his weight was sorely missed from the University scrum. However, Young, who was on the. line, took the field and "played five-eighths, while Simmers went into the' pack. This change seemed to prove beneficial in the back division, for in the second'spell the maroon rearguard worked like clockwork. Time after time the backs charged the diarists' goal-line, and it was only faulty passing that prevented them from rattling up a big score. It certaiuly showed- up the greens' great weakness in defence, for Marists' fell to pieces. They showed no combination in attempting'to stave off the attacks of their opponents, and it was a common sight to see backs and forwards mixed up in a scramble.

Although on the day's play they deserved to win, this University men can consider themselves lucky in going off the field victorious. Time was up, fully two or three., minutes, before they scored their last try, but the ball Was still in play, and, in the twinkling of an eye the tables were completely turned.