RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 21

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Xbc curtain-i j i .ers to the Iwo big Rugby mat'!!,- ~; hist week-end were contests between secondary school rep. teams and thi I'ii.M and Auckland junior fifteens. In tu-i'her game did the school boys show up a. well a. last year, ibut early scum-i form may be held partly regponsil'l" foi tins. The game \* ith the Squadron team on (Saturday »■_, a vrr\ even contest, though the schools won by M to nil. The local pack was always under difliculties due to the fact that the game was played under old rules and tho forwards were allowed to follow the ball through. The midshipmen, too. had an advantage in weight. It was the backs that- gave the schools the victory, and .Saturday's barks should prove an attractive lot to watch later on in tbp season. Malhesnn, at fullback, did not have very much work to do, but what he did stamped him as the best defensive player of the side. Neither of the wings were exceptionally good, though Hutchinson's try was a nice effort made possible by an opening from Jenkin. At centre, however. MaeMillan played a sterling game, scoring two splendid tries by swerving runs. The five-eighths. Moore and Horsley. though individually good, did not combine ton well. Ewen at rover played well and was a constant menace to the Navy halves. The forwards, though beaten in the tight, played ■well in the loose. MacMonaglo and ifcCarthy being conspicuous for good following up. The team underwent several chnnges for Monday when a game was played against a 'Varsity and Training College fifteen. The schools' backs were not as good as on Saturday, possibly because they were up against a stronger combination. Butler, who played full-back, did a lot of hi'vd work, and though be lacks the finesse of Matheson, yet he played n good game. The last-named at centre three-quarter was not a success. His defensive play and kicking weTe excellent, but be had a centre's greatest fault, running across field. Nor was •MaeMillan comfortable in the position of outside five-eighths. He kept tbe ball ton long and tried to do too much cutting in. Meredith, behind tbp scrum, played a sound game. Tn the forwards Mcfarthv and Mac. fonngle were ngnin conspicuous, while Massey and Sheen also did good work. Clarke used his weight to advantage when he scored a good try. The game was even but the •Tumors' victory by 11 to R was a deserved one. It is interesting to note that Dare, the Training College skipper, scored all his side's points. DON. WRIGHT. Don. Wright, the Grammar Schoo' Old Boys and Auckland representative half bsck, is a serious aspirant for the position behind the scrum in th. All Black team "Don" would stoj a steam roller, but apart from his gameness he ha; fed the Grammai and Auckland backs with sue! machine-like preci sion, that he is largely instrumental in bringing about the com - bination which the Auckland backhave perfected for tbe past couple ol — — — . most versatile and game half-back who ■ has represented Auckland since the days of Kiernan. j I The selection of tbe probable All Black | team to go to England forms the basis j of a competition by Wellington "Free | Lance." The names of those who have received the most votes so far are as I follow:— Backs: Sinclair, Lucas, McLean, H. E- Nicholls, Steel, Morgan, R. Stewart, and Paewai. Forwards: Bellis, j Pringle, Brownlie, McMecking, Cupples,; White, and Peterson. As Peterson is j playing the League game he is not eligible. I i The Maori backs in the Hawke's Bay team did not enhance their reputations generally with the Auckland followers of the game by their showing last Saturday. Mill at half-back showed out in flashes, but appears to be a one-dash i player who rarely shows up again in follow-up work once he has set his backs going, and is almost exclusively an attacking player. Despite the fact that he was heckled and hustled by M. Brownlie and Gemmell as Mill never was at any stage of the game, Don Wright, the Auckland half, was not overshadowed by the Hawke's Bay man in the matter of getting his backs away, was infinitely his superior as a stopper, and showed him points in follow-up attack md knowledge of team play. Mill was tried in the Maori match as a fiveeighth, and again made a brilliant run | or two, but spoilt their effect by mis- j timing his passes. Nepia as a five-eighth showed himself j » strong runner with a good cut-in. but I like both Mill nnd Paewai. failed to I time his passes so as to get his supports into swing. They all showed a lack of knowledge of how to work in with the other players tirkeep the attack swinging. When played at full-back in the Maori match Nepia made a much better impression, for he has fine hands, is j a strong runner and kicker, and a fair j amount of pace. i Wright. C. Badeley. Cooke and Kirfan, would always work up a combin- j ation that would heat the Bay backs. I given equal opportunity. Barclay had j little opportunity of showing his best j Ml account of the failure of Paewai and j Sepia, but there were occasions when . he showed some grasp of the team game, and he has pace and nippiness. (ironside j has pace and determination, but little | knowledge of return passing. With coaching he should be a fine winger. The Siiiehl holders (Hawke's Bay) hope to get at least nine men away with the All Blacks, remarks a critic in a Wanganui paper, but he does not give his authority for tbe statement. A caustic comment by a Maori bar- | racker during the Ratan'a-Knicrau game recently was more forcible than polite, md calling tbe referee "A plurry white scoundrel"* may possibly be misunder- j •tood if a ma_a in blue were around.

A io Badeley, of Grammar Old Jiovs. a member of the 1921 All Blacks team that visited Australia, and a candidate lor tins year's selection, is not likely to play football again in consequence of , ! the severe concussion be received in the . | trial match. About half a dozen years . ;ago he suffered a bad concussion "when •[playing for Auckland at. Palmerston [ I North, and since then has been accustomed to wear headgear when playing, • which gave rise to a tale that he* was j playing "with a silver plate in his head." I that, however, was an entirely false , i statement. He wore the headgear in l deference to the anxiety of hi_ people .after his first accident; and although he . j has now practically recovered from Sat- . I unlays injury, family feeling on the subject will keep him in future merely a I spectator at football. L. McLean, the Auckland forward, who .had to retire with an injured knee from I the trial match on Saturday, is reported , ias a minor casualty. The medical report. jis that the injury is not one of those I ""football knees" which crock a player I permanently- so far as the game is con-; Icerned. While on this point it may be ] mentioned that Ces. Badeley, who had |been troubled with a knee at recurrent, [intervals for several years, had an operation performed on the joint during the j off season, and he has not since been (troubled by it when playing football. He had to come off the field a fortnight jago as the result of a knock over the ; kidneys, but his once weak knee has ! stood the test of some very hard games, j including the All Blacks trial.