RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 158, 10 August 1914, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS. With fine, Bright weather, scarcely any .wind, and a dry ground, it was anticipated that the Canterbury representative team's match with South Canterbury on Saturday would afford a very good opportunity of estimating Canterbury's ehanees against the northern teams in the tour which is to start''to-morrow - [evening. But, alas for expectations! The game yielded nothing on which such an estimate as was desired could be based. What impressions were produced j by it were almost entirely of a negative | character. Judging the team solely on its form against South Canterbury, the only conclusion that could be drawn from "■■the play is that Canterbury has very little -hope of beating either Auckland,. Taranaki, or Wellington, and is likely to be hard put to it to hold its own against Wanganui and Wairarapa. Yet such a conclusion could not be advanced as really tenable, for the play left some little impression that the red-and-blacks were practically " non-triers." That does not imply, that the Canterbury men did not want to" beat the visitors—but", simply that- they had no desire .to-, make" any great efforts to secure a win. It has been stated—and "certainly the run of the play gives ■ nome weight to the statement —that several members of the home: team "were by n^' riieans eager'to play, as they wished to. avoid the risk of being injured' before the northern tour commences. ' ; A BAD POLICY, : From-the point of view v of the individual player, there may be a little to be said in favour of that attitude. From a broader point of view, however, the idea of taking things-somewhat easily in such a game is not a good one. In the first place, when players are en L trusted with the honour of representing their province, they should make every effort to win glory for that province. Individual welfare should be subordinated to that end. Secondly, "it was scarcely courteous to treat South Canterbury 's representatives as a team that can be trifled with, even if the trifling be of only a slight amount. There is often glory in defeat, and South' Can: terbury would- probablybe better:' fled if its team were beaten ; by one tha't /had striven with might and main. ■ [ Sb v much for. what may be termed the ethical standpoint;.. Lei.. us nw turn ,'tq.! the practical 'side. It would have been advantageous to Canterbury if the-team had played "all out" on Saturday.- That would have helped greatly: in the acquisition .of combination-:—a • quality of- which the team, will have more need' than it seema to,think at wilt—and it would 1 have materially assisted those who will : be responsible'for the selection of the <fifte"en during the tour to pick-out and try to j remedy the. weaknesses in the team and j iis arrangement. And -in doing ! sd the/ nien would not have"run any-, nvore .risk j of injury than by " easing off,V 'for'the general experience is that-players' j are hfurt even more .when-they take"'things ■ easily • than, when : they go> '■' f - all s -out.'' The harder a team plays ' the'' more it reduces the opposing side's 'aggTess'iyeFurthermore, when'' the' forwards slacken their efforts they throw more work on their own backs, and consequently increase the latter's risk of injury.' ■ .;•• •; . ■ . : \. : '.■'.,..; .. ;..,.:.. ; ..VISITORS' MORAL VICTORY. I TheH;vii<-:ition that the team was not doing its utmost has been" discussed' at'such length in order to dc : moiii-trato' that the policy was Unsound, and also to-'show that tbere was little eise in the game to cali for much comment. , Now let us turn to the actual "form" of the teams in this match. On the play, the moral victory belonged "to South Canterbury. Taking the game as a whole, the visitors had somewhat the 1 otter of the play, and if they had pressed just a little more, ability to make use of scoring opportunities they would have won. Three or four times they were within an ace of scoring, and only just failed through not realising what was the right thing to do at the critical moment. Their forwards were superior to Canterbury's in dash, combination, speed, and determination in following up the ball. Langford, Moore, and Burke were a little—but only a little —the most prominent members of a fairly even and good pack. -At wing-forward, Coles quite outplayed his opponent, Maxwell, and he was always a source of trouble to' the Canterbury" backs. •As a division, the South Canterbury backs were not quite as good as their opponents, but then they-. did not get as many chances to show what they could do, for Canterbury had the better of the '' hooking'' in the scrums. There was, however, one department in which the green backs were much superior, and that was in line-kicking. D. Scott, South Canterbury's full-back and skipper, gave a fine display of line-kicking. He ma.y not be as brilliant as of yore, but he has lost little, if anything, in steadiness and soundness on a dry ground and with a' dry. ball. Moore (centre three-quarter)' and McGrath | (wing three-quarter) were the best of the other backs. Unfortunately for the southerners, they were without their selected half-back. At the. last moment it was found t that Latimer was unable to come to Christchurch. In the first spell Monson played half, and in the second spell he changed places with; Henry, wing three-quarter.. UNCONCERNED FORWARDS. j As has been indicated, the bury forwards were not at their beat." Frequently several of them were to be seen walking leisurely and unconcern-' edly towards the spot to which the ball had gone. Their scrum work, too, was j defective—there was no proper application of power, and the ball'-'hung" in the scrum frequently. Maxwell was not nearly as much at'home on the wing as he is in thfe pack. The" backs were! much below the standard which, has been set by Canterbury rearguards .of the past. E. E. Crawshaw seemed to be out of - his element, at half-back.. His form was certainly a long remove from that he showed in the club championship final a week before. Certainly he was bothered by the attention? of Coles, .and also by the way in

which the ball remained in many of the scrums. But he did not-make sufficient use of his opportunities to get the ball away and open up the game. It should be remembered, however, that until a couple of weeks ago Crawshaw had not played as a half-back for many years, and then in his school, days. His proper place undoubtedly is at fiveeighths, and as such he will, it is most probable, play against Auckland and Taranaki, as it is expected that Amodeo's injured foot will be sound again in a day or two. However, Crawshaw was by no'means responsible for all of the failure of the Canterbury backs to make the most of their oportunities. Gray and Wsitson, the five-eighths, were much too slow and streotyped in their methods, and their passing was poor. Watson had an unhappy knack of being so collared that he -could not pass the ball; even though he was hot ."grassed." Boag, at centre three-quarter, was not up to representative form, although he made one or two fairly good dashes. Cade, on the right wing, did a few things well? but showed poor judgment in attack. Once he did a particularly foolish thing. With the ball in his sion he turned into the centre of the field and tried to dodge about among the southerners without gaining more than a yard or two of ground. In this foolish process he was hurt. McLeod, on the left wing, was the best of the red-and-black backs. He scored his two tries, in good style. At full-back, Bainwas very '' paichy..'' It,, was his poorqst gahie this season," particularly in his kicking for touch. ' A pleasing feature of the game was the excellent refereeing. Mr W. Meredith, of Wellington, kept up with the play well; showed a discrimination in the use of the whistle, and was thor- | bughly impartial and firm." •-

/ THE NORTHERN TOUR. C. R. Murray is unable to go north with the representative team. W. S. was asked to take his place, but he cannot go. So Richards, of the Merivale team, will fill the vacancy, as he-is a likely "hooker." Richards intended to travel with the team,- at his own expense. W. Menzies (Merivale) will also travel with the team.

A Canterbury B representative team will be sent to Little River next Saturdav, to meet the Peninsiila Sub-union's team.' It will be much the same as that originally 'selected for the game with Hurunui, except, of course, that the places of those men who will travel with the northern team will be filled. i ' THE -HURUNUI MATCH. - j Of the game between the'Hurunui sub-Union's representatives and the Canterbury "B" team little need be said. Hurunui was . unable to send down its best team, and; the players whe did represent the new sub-unioii did not show the' form that was expectied of them by good judges who had seen them in action -in their own district.' They'seemed to be suffering from something akin to - ' '-stage-fright,'' and tfieir- usual dash and vim were missing. However,: the scoring—3l to ■•& —does riot accurately reflect the play. The-Hurunui men played better tjiari-the. scores indicate, but,they lacked ability to finish off their efforts, except 0n the occasion of Merle's try. Tjheir '.b'acks'/;were.;-.'npt. speedy., apd 'Mnippy" enough' to' cope with the red.ai'dTblack rearguard. / The .latter, howeS'er, were uneven in quality. Henry, at fuli-back, was sound. 0 'Malley was the best of the B team's three-quarters, but the scoring chances did not happen to go his way. J- Mehrtens (liveeighths) and/L. W. Mehrtens (half) played well. G. Guthrie and C. R. Murray each scored', two tries for the Canterbury B team, and L. W. Mehrtens, .1. Mehrtens, W. P. Guiney, and Ward one each. Ward and Harvey converted.a try each, and Henry kicked a penalty goal. The ■kicking at goal was very poor. • ''; A BRIGHT EXHIBITION.

I The annual match between the Christchurch Boys' High School and the Timaru Bovs' High School provided a very bright exhibition of football. The Timaru boys were, if anything, the favourites, in view of the fact that they had, in the last two years, defeated the Waitaki boys. In consequence they had a great reputation to play up to, and it must be said that whatever they did, they did not disgrace themselves. Their opponents, though, were far too superior in the back division to allow them to take any liberties. The game itself, to say the least of it, was spectacular. The Christchurch boys never acquitted themselves so well before. Prom the outset they opened up the game, and showed the spectators how Rugby football should be played. C. Guiney, at five-eighths, was a treat to watch. He did not once make a mistake, and his brilliant "corkscrew" runs gained lumps of ground for his side. Taylor as. usual was at home behind a good pack, and he lost no time in letting the ball away to his comrades. Parker's powerful running .proved a tower of strength to his side. In fact, all the backs could not have played better. The forwards had plenty of work to do, and they did it well, to a man. As usual, Milliken, the captain, was always on the ball, thereby setting a good example to his fellows. His two successful shots at goal were the result of powerful kicking, for one was especially difficult, being near the touch line. southern team was subjected to a; slight alteration. N. Thomas, the half, had recently received an injury to his shoulder, and so he played fullback, while B. Thomas, his brother, took the place behind the pack. Whether it was this, alteration, that prevented the: white backs from "getting going" is hard to say. Badeliffe, on the wing, gave a good exhibition of three-quarter play, and in this he was ably supported by'Nicholls and Howell. N. Thomas got in some splendid line-kicks, and his "pot" from the twenty-five flag was a brainy pice of work. The forwards made things willing at the start, but they failed to keep it going. They appeared to lack condition, with the result that the opposing backs did what they liked with them, in the second spell. -One very pleasing feature of the game was the total absenee of rough or foul play. The referee, Mr Joe Weston, had on one occasion to penalise a Christchurch player for obstruction, and this he did by'awarding the Timaruvians a try. To do justice to the offending player, and also to the Boys' High School team, it must be stated tliat the obstruction was from all appearances unintentional. However, if tlie incident had not occurred Eadcliffe must- certainly have secured his try, for he had a elear ran.- The controlling of.

-the game was all that could be desired. There was not too much whistle, yet very little passed by unnoticed. PEIMAEY SCHOOLS' MATCH. As has been the case for the past six years, the match between the North Canterbury and South Canterbury primary schools' teams proved a very even game. The northern boys were, if anything, the heavier of the two teams, especially in the forward division; but they failed to use this extra weight to the utmost advantage. In fact,- in many of the scrums they were completely beaten for the ball. One good feature about them, though, was that they were willing and kept well up to the ball. This was especially evident when, just on the call of time, McDonald, accompanied by two or three mates, broke away from the half-way line, and carried the ball to the opponents' goal-line. The .North Canterbury backs did not acquit themselves as well as the forwards. , They played with little or no combination, with the consequences that their attempts at passing rushes soon broke down. ■The southern boys, on the day's play, deserved a win. As already stated, their forwards were lighter. Nevertheless, they stood their ground well, and were by no means disgraced. It was the backs, though, that won the admiration of the spectators, For boys, they worked together splendidly, and it was a common sight to see them cover half thie;field in a passing rush. Marshall, the captain, is especially deserving of a word of praise for the creditable manner in which he led these rushes. He "gives great promise of'developing into a fine type of player. As usual, the game throughout ' was played in' the best of spirit, and in addition it was clean and free from that excessive talk which i|>\. usually characteristic of 1 school-boys ' matches.