RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 185, 5 August 1913, Page 8

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. I'.-F.B.—Yes., it is the same player. The result;'of Saturday's games leaves IV'isjnby and Mxrls.t Bros, level for the fc::ior championship, with University as runners up. The sensational ending to tiip City-Marist Bros, match has yet ~ to come bnfo.r*: , the committee of the ■union, anil their action may yet have sum- V.'arinj-'bn thr matter, but as things are at jiresent the teams mentioned above are level. To decide the Ec.ison'= honour a play-ofF will be necesenry. but with every Saturday engaged with representative fixtures up to the tinifi of the departure of the New Zealand teem for America, the committee may decide to bracket the teams, as was •T-ope in lfiOG, when Newton, City, and Parnel! tied for the premiership. Of course, tlie tie could be played off on August 23, when the Auckland team visit the Thames, ..for a strong fifteen could be got together from the other oiahs to journey to the city of gold, without drawing on any of the MarLst | Uros. and I'on.-ouliy players, and the union may decide to take this line of action. A play-off would attract a large crowd, and would be more satisfactory than bracketing , the teams. UNTVTvRSITY BEATEN. The game between Ponsonby and University' does not call ior a great deal of comment, for the weather conditions i m:\rir spectacular football practically an impossibility, and the fast, nippy backs of the students did not get the opportunity ■to show their strength. Play for the , most part was confined to the forwards. , and both, packs worked hard for . supremacy, the blue and blacks, if anything, having the best of it. The Univcr- , f-ity vanguard showed a lot of p.ice in the loose, and were also strong on the ; [line-out, but with the exception of the dash in the open, the Ponsonbyitcs ■were always a little bit too good. The backs on both sides got very little chance in attack, and taken on the whole they were fairly evenly matched. In defence O'Leary for Ponsonby and Darby ( for the students were very strong, while , >lurra»- up to the time of his retirement played" well. Macky also played much Letter than he usually does with a greasy ball. Ross, the 'Varsity half, gave a good display, and. did a tremendous amount of stopping, but all round, in view of the conditions, no serious mistake could be debited against any of , the players. - As a game it fell short ( of that expected from a Cup final, but taking everything into consideration it ( ■was fairly interesting and fast. j On the Ponsonby side Dance played ; much better at full-back than against , IMarist Bros. Murray, -until he retired, j was good, but McGregor and Stewart s did not get many chances. McGregor nearly let his side down once by kick- , t ing across his own goal mouth in the ( second quarter. O'Leary was the blue j and blacks' mainstay, and played one ] ot his best games. Bater "was not pronii- ( vent. but Clarke behind the scrum was a big improvement on Sutton, who filled t'.ie position the previous week. Jn front Hall played a fine game on ( the wing, and appears to have got back j to his best form. Sellars and Avery ■ r.ere prominent throughout, bat the ; whole pack played well. s For the students Pearce and Lambert, t who alternately filled the position of 1 full-back, were decidedly I 'useful, although the former at times was a bit slow in ; getting the ball away. : Darby did a tremendous amount of . work in good style, and with O'Leary shared the honours of the day. Macky . ■was up to form, but Wilson did not play : ns well as usual. Wray was not suited liy the conditions, and was patchy, and it was left to Koss to do most of the slopping, which he did eplendidly. In front the whole pack kept at it all the time, and their work as a whole "was good. A STUBBORN FORWASD GAME. City and Mariet Bros, provided the ' sensation of the day on .Saturday, and "in<|iicst«s" con-ernimj it are still being lield daily among those most interes-ted. The verdict amongst enthusiaste who are not partisans of any particular team 5a that City met their Waterloo as the result of an accident, no blame being attachable to anybody, but there seems tn be a general desire to add a rider respec ting the ruldcn resurrection into •play at inconvenient moments of pl.iyere who. on account of injury, may '. li.ivu temporarily taken the role of ■ spectator. 1 hat, however, its apart from the general merit of the game, which was one of the hardest and most stubborn ; of thr season. Both teams played the ; forward game ac being the one beet ! suited in wet-day conditions, and the do-iir-dio determination of the. forwards ! on either tide was apparent from the ] jump. It was also apparent that the . '"h:irrackers" were al.-o out to do their " lin'.e bit, and after the first five minuter ' Jiad shown wJiat manner of game it \va* ' Koiag to be, nobody on the ground would Lnve willingly esi-hanged places with ififi referee. He indicated his appreciation of the position by Usuing a general -warning within the first ten minutes. The play iuelf was of a particularly even nature throughout, but the Marists gradually gained the upper ! hand, and. taking the garje from end to end, they might easily, with ordinary ! ]uck, have put on at least six points. Once a pass that war, just a, trifle high ] lost a try to Cornaga, and in a similar manner a score by Sheehan was thrown ] away: Callaplun kicked a, "poster," and ''• Downing and Barrett each missed the ( touth-down from; forward roshoa by the closest of margins.". Against this. Hogan \ was very unlucky in missing a try 'for . City. But tlfe hard luck of the Mariste . was more than compensated by the fluke , i:i the last minute that .gave 'Dcnnehy a ' try. and the the win.

Downing was the stur of the Marfct forwards throughout the crarae, but he wi- well supported by his colleagues. Similarly Fake stood cut above the rest <■■ the City pack. There was very little, however, between the two packs.".till the City men tired at the close of the game. Tin? Marist Hacks played an all-round, even jrume, and had Olsen been more re-i-fmieeful, and given his backs more chinees, it is quite probable that they would have won the game for the side. On the City side the back play was patchy. Moffttt played a great game from end to end, while R. Magee. Stewart and Barclay did a tremendous amount of individual defensive work but ontside of these the play wars' ordinary, and it was on-the forwards jk that City depended.

The try in the last minute that gave Marists the game -has already been fully described. It only remains to say that it is a pity, in the present state of feeling between the clu-bs, that the win depends on points which were gained in so unusual a manner. COLLEGE FJFLES V. PARNELL. Practically the only interest centred in the College Riflea v. Parnell match was due to the fact that it decided the ownership of tbe "wooden spoon" for the -season. From the outset the wearers of the red jerseys indicated that they were determined to give their opponents a go for the day's honours, and thus to escape whatever humiliation attaches to the bottom-of-thc-list team. It was a sharp pace the Parnell fifteen set, and College Rifles, if expecting an easy win, were somewhat surprised. Although College Rifles drew first blood, Parnell were leading at the end of the first spell, and were going strong right up to -the final quarter, and appeared to have a good Chance of bringing off their only win of the season. But quite a lot of chances were thrown away, and College Rifles managed to finish up with .a lead of three points. One or two incidents occurred in the course of tbe game that infringed the traditions of rrue sport. There was some wilful rough play, intentional bumps and hits and threats, but not sufficiently serious in individual cases to warrant drastic action by the referee. Owing to family reasons, there Is some doubt about J. O'Leary making the trip to America with the New Zealand team. One of the Southern selectors of the New Zealand team for America paid J. Hail, the Ponsonby winger, a high compliment recently. Writing to that player, be stated that he regretted that Hall's name had not been submitted for selection, for in his opinion he was the best wing player at present in the Dominion. A correspondent, under the name of " Sportsman," writes blaming the City Club for the mix-up that took piace on Saturday. " Sportsman " claims to be a member and supporter of the City Club, in which case he should voice his complaints to the committee of the club, who would probably take action.