RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 282, 28 November 1925, Page 25

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

NOTES ON THE GAME,

Searching some pre-war files of illustrated papers, a northern Rugby writer came across some interesting Rugby photographs. Several showed 1913 and 1914 secondary school teams. Playing for Christchurch Boys' High School in 1913 was a slim youth, J. H. Parker, later to become an All Black wingforward. The same team was captained by H. Milliken, later a Canterbury representative. In the Otago High School team that year were W. R. Fea and J. G. MeNaught, the latter a member of the Services team, and the former the crack All Blacks' five-eighths.

The new captain of the London Scottish Rugby Club, D. J. MacMyn, is one of the best forwards now playing the Rugby game. It has always puzzled English writers to understand why the Scottish international selectors passed him over so often as they did. He played, it is true, against France, Wales, Ireland and England last season, but that was his fourth year in the Cambridge University pack, and he had been generally regarded as one of the best forwards in the game long before he was capped for Scotland. MacMyn learnt all about forward play at Fettes, and he will be an adornment to London Scottish as well as to London metropolitan Rugby generally.

[ Scotty went to the football final at : the Melbourne Cricket Ground (writes a Sydney "Bulletin" correspondent)-, but. drooping on his feet with the weight of the beer he had drunk, became so awkward to handle in mc dense crowd that his friends decided to let the game go on without him. They laboriously escorted him across to the Richmond ground to watch the cricket. Scotty promptly went to sleep, and his snores punctuated the dull music of bat striking ball. A burst of applause woke him up and he gaped groggily at the game being played before his eyes. "Goo' Lord!" he gurgled, "musht 'a been 'shleep f a week! 'Wash washin' a footba' matcsh when I wen' to 'shleep, and wake up to shoe 'em. playin crieketsh! Holy Moshcs!" His friends declined to enlighten him as to how it happened, and.Scotty is still going about obsessed by a Rip Van Winkle feeling..

j circumstances than from choice, each and every boat found its own water and nothing occurred to mar the occasion. From the wharf and other outlooks the various classes could be followed as they spread out fan-wise On their way down harbour and in a short space of time the whole distance to North Head and out into the channel beyond was filled with white-winged craft, forming a panorama, seldom equalled and certainly never excelled in the history of the sport in Auckland. The destination of the larger boat 3 and launches was Islington Bay, that old-time refuge of sailors from ships now long forgotten who made off with the long boat, stocked with a plentiful supply of grog, which' they consumed in this bay, waking the echoes on Rangitoto with their rollicking sea .songs and chanties. These wild orgies gave the bay its first name of "Drunken Bay," now happily re-christened "Islington Bay," after one who took a keen interest in the welfare of yachting here. This same bay sheltered a_ fine fleet of pleasure craft of all sorts and sizes on Saturday night, in spite of a fresh breeze, and once more justified the choice of the officials for the day.

After\ the big fellows had gone, the numerous classes of boats under 20 feet were sent off round a harbour course, and a very pretty sight they made as they sailed in close company for the Northcote mark. Sheets were then flattened in for the close haul to the Sandspit, and the classes still hung close together. The keenest sailing was seen in the M class, the restricted 18-footers. Six of these boats started, and there was seldom more than a minute between the lot of them. In the S class, those two keen rivals, Namu and Aratu, fought out every foot of the way, Aratu getting the better of her opponent at the finish by 23 seconds only. Marie, Ngaio, Kismet, Sheila and Meteor had a very close go in the T class, only one and a half minutes, separating them all at gunfire. Cupid led the V class home, but only by a small margin, while Rangi got the gun in the Jellicoe class in the absence of three or four of the crack boats. Surprise led the fleet /»f V boats home, by nearly two minutes, but there are several new boats in this class which have not yet got things shipshape, and they will do better later on. The seven little fellows in the Z class fluttered around like butterflies for a long time, but got away to a pretty start, and kept together, the first three finishing well inside a minute. Ola IV. had an easy win from Moa in the Star class, the third boat not being in the water yet.

On the whole, the prizes were pretty well distributed, but a few boats did exceptionally well. Mollie secured four firsts in her class and.well deserved her wins. Esther G did the same in the launch race. Rawene had three wins to her credit, and she also sailed a great race, leading all the way. Valdora