RUGBY FOOTBALL

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 134, 6 June 1919, Page 7

RUGBY FOOTBALL

AUCKLAND V. MAORI PIONEERS

AT EDEN PARK TO-MORROW. THE TEAM THAT BEAT WALES. Tlie first Rugby representative match of the season will be played at Eden Park' to-morrow afternoon, when the Auckland' representatives will meet the Maori Pio-j neer team which .made a big name in Britain by beating several of the strongest Welsh club team, In addition to an All-Wales fifteen. Their only defeat in their itinerary at Home was a loss by. three points to the Llanely team. Since returning to New Zealand tha Maoris have played several games in the South.; They were slow to strike their form) again-after the voyage, and suffered two or three defeats, but at Wellington on, Tuesday they played the Wellington re-1 preventatives to a draw, so that it is safe j to expect that they will be about their, l>est against Auckland. The visitors ! play a characteristic Maori game—fast,! open, and full of surprises—consequently, | with the Aucklandere playing the ne\v| amendments instituted here during the | past few seasons for the purpose of open-' ing up the play, the public should have I some dazzling moments of excitements when the two teams meet. Captain Jack Hall, an ex-Aucklander, who is skipper of the Maoris, is an enthusiastic convert of the new rules, as they chime with '• his ideas of keeping the game attractive to the public without detracting from the merit of the game from the plaverv, point of view. Aβ most New Zealandcrs know, the Maoris have taken to Rugby 'football like an infant to milk, and invested their game with all sorts of dramatic characteristics which are absent from the pakeha style of play, and which delight spectators as no ordinarily scientific precision could. It is Captain Hall's endeavour to establish a recognised New Zealand Maori football party, with headquarters in Hawke's Bay, "drawing recruits from all parts and' playing in the rules and control of the New Zealand Union. The object is. incidentally, to foster the best sporting instincts among the natives, ami to develop and preserve tlie dramatic "Maori game," and. mainly, to provide a regular source of funds, by representative matches, for a Maori hostel for returned soldiers. In this latter respect the tour down South has proved successful. In far-away Southland, where the native in his original is a rare bird, the visit of the Pioneers attracted an attendance such as had never before been known at a football match in Invercargil], and the spectators went into ecstacies over the hakas and war songs with which the team prefaced their game. The collection of hakas and songs collated by the team is said to be an exceptionally fine one. which even the discriminating "public of Auckland, with a cultivated taste in haka rhythm, will receive with a glad "kapai." The game to-morrow will be controlled by Mr. A. Wetherilt. who can lie relied on to temper the rules with the discretion which contributes to fast play without unfair advantage to either side. The teams are: — Maori (black): Full-back, Pte. Hingston: three-quarters, Lieut. Wilkinson, Lieut. W. Barclay. Sergt. Mapu; fiveeighths, Sergt. R." Rogers, Sergt. F. Barclay; halves, Lieut. Jacobs. Corp. Edwards: forwards, Sergt. Carroll, Corp. Hingston, Captain Hall, Lieut. Ormond, Lieut. Gardiner, Lieut. Auhana, Corp.j Uiupu. Emergencies: Sergt. Turupu' and Lt. Apanui. i Auckland (blue and white) : Full-back, i Pruesinsr: three-qparters, Ni\on, Grier-' son, Wilson: five-eighths, Fisher, E. Gas-! parich; half. Rose: rover, .1. Gasparich; forwards, Molloy, Prentice. Thomas, Marshall, C. Fletcher, Peters, Boardman. MAORI TEAM'S RECORD. Jack Hall, well-known in Auckland.' who is skipper of the Maori team supplies some interesting details about his j team. The members of tlio team include two Main (Body men, and the majority of the others are 1815 men. Ever since'the days when the New Zealanders were in Egypt the team have kept together, and have endeavoured to cultivate a clem, style of Rugby football. While in En-,'-' land they played seven matches, and were victorious in every case. Tne men were very keen to keep Rugby alive among the Maoris, and discussions were held all the way home on the boat as to the best methods to be pursued towards this end It was eventually decided to I establish a Maori club in the moot central place i:i tlie North Island, and Hawke's Bay was decided upon. Letters were font to the various Rugby Unions, and also to the New Zealand Rugby Union, w" o expressed themselves las being very pleased with the idea, ana gave it their hearty support. Sir James Carroll. Ngata, and other prominent Maori supporters of the game were also in accord with the idea, and met tlie team with open arms. The promoters of the scheme have also studied economy, for the members of the team are travelling as a military body, and are all on their furlough passes, and still subject to military law. All they wanted was a small percentage of the profits over and above their expenses here. The profits of tlie whole tour will be forwarded to the -New Zealand Rugby Union to further the objects of the team. New Zealanders had had a great many "giants" of the game in Maori players. Some organisation was necessary, however, to keep the game alive among the race. Teams which were met and d<"f<uted in France by the Maoris were those of the Welsh Guards (one of the strongest combinations there), the South Wales Borderers, and the Royal Naval Division. The high score of 106 points to 0 was registered against the Borderers, and 30 to f> against the Welsh Guards. A tesin from the New Zealand Division beat the 4!) th Division by 2!) to .'!, and the Maoris came out two weeks later and beat the same team by 49 to 0. The class of p!ay they intended to develop was that which they got credit for on the other side of the world—a clean open game, with plenty of passing in the backs. Wales they beat by 10 points to 7 before an attendance of 17.0011 spectator-. They played at, Swansea, on tiie same ground as the famous All Blanks played, and also where the Maori team of ISSS played.