LEAGUERS IN BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Issue 242, 12 October 1926, Page 11

LEAGUERS IN BRITAIN.

DIFFERENCES IN RULES. APPOINTMENT OF WAGSTAFFE. DOWN TO SERIOUS WORK. (By E. H. MAIR, Coach and Teams Manager.) HARROGATE (England), Sept. 5. Our voyage across the Atlantic in the Minnedosa was as smooth as that from Auckland to Vancouver —like a billiard table. Daily exercise was indulged in by the team, for the journey across Canada did not tend to improve the position. The fpod was so daintily served and the appetites of the players so healthy that it was no wonder all were real anxious to feel real earth under them. Naturally everyone longed to reach Southampton, and" the only disappointment was to meet one of the worst fogs in ihe history of the English Channel, which delayed our berthing, the fog signals going every .two minutes all one day and night.

A Warm Welcome. The members ox the English Rugby League Council travelled down in a body some 300-odd miles- to meet the team at the wharf.» Several of them are well known to fans in Australia and Xew Zealand. Mr. Jack Wilson, the League secretary, who was secretary-manager of the 1920 Australian-New Zealand tour, Messrs. Harry Dannatt and E. Osborne (managers of the 1924 tour to Australia and New Zealand), J. W. Wood and J. B. Cook (the fathers of the Northern Uniorf game in England), W. Fillan (who acted as manager during Mr. Osborne's illness in 1924 in Queensland), and C. Preston (vice-chairman of the council this season). After the usual hearty handshakes, Mr. Osborne i council chairman) extended a typical English welcome on behalf of the E.R.F.L. to the New Zealanders. His happy gaiety could be summed up in two words

—"Welcome Home:" The two managers in returning thanks voiced the opinion that the All Blacks felt they had really come home, that England would see that Xew Zealand football had improved since their last visit in 1924, ohat the actions of the Xew Zealanders off, as well as on the field would be such that it would reflect credit on the Dominion that sent them and help to knit closer together the bonds of Empire.

The members of the council, after being entertained by the Xew Zealand managers, stayed on the Minnedosa ail night seeing the ship had arrived too late for Customs. The original intention of the English Rugby League Council was to entertain the Xew Zealanders at a banquet at the First Avenue Hotel in London the night of arrival, but one of the densest fogs jn the history of the Channel compelled a postponement of this function for another three weeks, on which occasion it will be held at Leeds. Council Chairman Osborne, who underwent a severe operation after his return from Australasia, is now fully recovered, which will be pleasing news to all Leagueites on the other side of the world. Popular Jactc Wilson has had a severe bereavement in the loss of his son, a wonderful athlete, holding English honours in sport. Wr. Wilson left, hosts of friends in Australia and Zealand when one of the managers the 1320 English team, and he has their sincere sympathy in his sore trial. ■ • Wagstafie's Appointment. Both Messrs. Wilson and Osborne have been untiring in their efforts to make the All Blacks feel quite at home. They acceded to a ,request to appoint Harold Wagstaffe (who skippered the 1914 and 1920 English teams to Australia and New Zealand) to point out the various differences in the English rule interpretations to those in vogue in the two countries on each side of the Tasman. At the present time England's greatest captain and centre quarter is coaching Halifax, having forsaken his old but wonderful club of years gone by—Huddersfield—when it included Welshmen, New Zealanders, Australians, South Africans, and only two Yorkshiremen in I their famous thirteen. Huddersfield is only a shadow of its former glory, it having paid the penalty of adhering to the same great side year after year, without bringing in the young material, and the stars dropping out in a bunch, they are now very loav on the table compared to former days. Harold is like Jim Bacon and Co. in business—the proprietor of a thriving hotel business in Halifax.

Difierences In Rulings. Yes' 'ay the Leeds directors invited the . . i icks to view the match between Lee;.: . . St. Helen' 3 Recs., two teams that _ .a places in the first eight positions of honour. The match—the third of the season—was valuable to the New Zealanders, in view of their games with these teams and the several differences in the interpretations. In Xew Zealand the referees give a free kick if a player is in front when receiving the pass. This is a rule that the Queenslanders and the Englishmen hold is wrongly interpreted by Xew Zealand. The English idea is that the first infringement—the forward pass—should be scrummed, whereas the Xew Zealanders combat that with the argument that the player in front initiates the trouble by being offside and that the offside is the first and it should be free kicked. There is something to be said for both sides of the case, but the Teal reason why England wants this breach scrummed always is that by free kicking the infringement it has a big tendency to discourage initiative and speed in the back attacking movements, whereas scrumming it acts as an incentive. This point is now definitely settled so far as this tour is concerned, as all the referees in England and Wales will serum it. Another point noted in this game was the knock-on rule, a scrum being ordered for misfielding of the ball. A certain amount of latitude has been allowed in Xew Zealand in this connection, and this game proved to the visitors that catching the leather cleanly is more important in England from a penalty aspect than it has been in their own country.

The Hooking Trouble. The hooking was another surprise packet. Before going to England it was given forth that the hooker must rake the ball cleanly, must stand un and do his rakingj and that it must come out of the tunnel always. The two hookers in this game were of the same type, and raked every way but the right way, and according to the official decision of raking should have been penalised in SO per cent of the scrums. The scrums resembled a dozen schoolboys scrambling for a penny, for the rakes going down on the ground the scrums continually caved in the centre. It was a relief when we were informed that the metliod of raking adopted that day was the wrong way. The English referee (my authority being Harold Wagstaffe) this season will allow the hooker to awing

with both feet, but he must not bend one knee in raking with the other foot, that the outside man must not do the raking, and that as soon as the ball passes the front row it is quite all right no matter which way it comes out. This will be interesting to New Zealanders as will also be the fact that it is not compulsory in England for the last man down to pack in the scrum, and that it is optional to pack tight or loose scrums.

Another feature was the play ball i rule. In Australia and New Zealand 1 bridging has been practically eliminated, { and the visitors were given to under- t stand that the English authorities were i against this method being continued, t Such is not the case for it is quite legiti- s mate for players to blend together , behind their comrade who is playing the l ball, who' is privileged to tap it forwards, backwards, or sideways, but he must keep both feet together, as they intend to penalise any player whose foot ' is in front when rising to play it. It i was interesting to Xew Zealanders in s this game to see the referee standing on ; the open side for all scrums. He stood ] a long way out, and as a result did not ] interfere with the attacking movements ! from the base. ; Other Novelties. j Other new conditions to the visitors | were that the referee always went behind j the goal posts for all goals being kicked ! from tries, and that in penalties one of the linesmen performed the duty—the ' one on the opposite side from where -the c ball is being kicked. Only one ball was ! used in each half compared to three in ] New Zealand—it certainly gave the teams more breathing time, but more time is ' wasted. In this game two of the last , 1924 English team were billed to play — ] Jim Bacon and Joe Thompson (Leeds). At the last minute the latter did not ( take the field owing to an injured arm, l and Leeds (beaten by 7 points) missed l his valuable services, for he is considered \ England's leading dribbling League for- ' ward. It seemed rather strange skipper- j ing for Leeds in the second spell, being in arrears, losing the ball, having a ' strong wind, to see them putting it out when receiving their penalties instead j of using their forwards with the ball in the air to the goal posts. In no match to date have I witnessed more running ' across field than in this match by the players barely gaining ground. c English Players in Action. c These two teams specialise in the , grubber kick to touch and the short ? kick over the heads of the opposition, 1 and did it well. They are both speedy, ' tacklo v- el. and do not hold the ball iong in attack. Leeds'had two converts l in their side—J. W. Brough (full-back) and A. C. Lloyd (centre three-quarter). ; j The former is a left foot kick, has a ' neat prop that gets him out of many difficulties, and represented England at I Rugby L'nion. Jim Bacon is etill signed * on for Leeds, controls a hotel there, and, '<■ I am given to understand, his club re- i' fused a fine offer for his servises last £ season. He seems even bigger than when '■■ ' in Australia and New Zealand in 1924, ; , but when in his stride on the wing was . ( always dangerous. Grenall, the skipper . of St. Helens Rec. and A. F. Binks { (Leeds) are considered likely candidates! 1 in the trial for the English Test side. j' The height of the goal posts at Leeds : j came as a surprise, they being about,' 50ft high. Towards the end of the son, when .the breeze-is stronger, it is | impossible to -make asmistake" as goal that shorter posftjghave been i£spi§h : j sfble .for in'soine caeejS. j proved to the English clubs that higher j posts are preferable from all stand- j' points. It certainly makes the cross- j: bar look smaller resembling a Soccer j : goal. The six-piece football is the most : ; popular football used this season, several clubs using eight-seam sphere 3. In recognition of his services to Leeds '' Club, the directors have decided to give Jim Bacon a benefit match during the ' present season. The ground at which j ' this match will be played, at Headingley, ■ has a capacity of 40.000. The record i gate at Headingley stands at 36,000, at j the Rugby League cup-tie match between j Leeds and Wigan last seaeon, and the • record gate receipts stand at £3891, j for the Test match between Aus- : tralia and England on October 1, 1921. ' Before the Fray. ' The first match of the tour is with Dewsbury next Saturday, September 11. It was originally intended to play Dewsbury on the Sth, but in view of the fact that it only gave the All Blacks the Saturday and the Monday to prepare for • their first game, it was put back a fur-' ther three days. i The New Zealand team for this initial game was chosen to-day, as follows:—! Fullback, C. Dufty; three-quarters, J. ■ Sanders, B. Davidson and G. Gardiner; second five-eighth, \V. L. Desmond; first five-eighth. H. Cole; half-back, A. W. Hall: forwards, A. Singe, A. Carroll, E. Herring. L Petersen, N. Mouat and B. Avery (captain). j The selectors are keen on seem? that the fittest men take the field, and, | although Dewsbury hit a reputation of | beating touring teams, I feel con- i dent that this spell will be ! broken next Saturday. We realise that the tour of 37 matches is a hard one, that we ■will be meeting much stronger opposition than the 1924 Union All Blacks, that many in Australia consider us not strong enough for an English tour on our own, but we are keen on proving to the English League that our football in the Dominion has improved greatly since their visit in 1924, - that we are sportsmen ■. off the field as well as on, that we can be just as modest in victory as we shall ', be congratulatory to our opponents in ! defeat and that we have helped to knit : closei those bonds of Empire that arc : so dear to everyone. j There are many pretty scenes from j the train from Southampton to London, I to Leeds, and thence to Harrogate by | motor, where we arrived at 8 in the i evening. We received a royal Yorkshire j welcome in Leeds, when we broke our ■ journey there, by Vice-chairman Pres- j ton. Our residence at Harrogate is j the West Park Hotel, the same as occu- ] pied by the Australians in 1921-22. We i have the hotel entirely to ourseives, and Harrogate is ideal as a headquarters, ' being conveniently situated for travel- j ling, healthy surroundings, and an invigorating atmosphere. i I WARRINGTON TOO GOOD. I

The defeat of the Xew Zealand | League team by Warrington on Saturday was not altogether unexpected. The j critics at Home'had prepared us for; the worst when the tourists met the' stronger clubs, and as Warrington nvas second on the list at the wind-up of last \ season, it was apparent that they i would be in a position to field a side! which would offer the strongest re- ' sistance to anything the tourists could launch. From the cabled com- ' ment on the game, it would seem clear j that the New Zealanders were beaten. all the way, and never really looked to hay» a winning chance. At the camel

time a perusal of the team suggests that | it was not the strongest that might have been fielded, and unless some of s the : New Zealanders are on the injured list, ; it is difficult to see why Gardiner. Bris-! bane, and Webb were included in the J backs, particularly as Warrington was ■ known to be as hard a proposition as ' would be encountered on the tour. The! game was played in heavy rain and a \ gale of wind, but the New Zealanders; would hardly stiller on that score as the records in the pasi show that all. our best performances a;_r;iinst overseas teams have been registered under wet weather conditions. It would appear, therefore, that New Zealand's poor. showing on Saturday was due only to the fact that they did not field their best side. j

Play Featherstone To-morrow. To-morrow the New Zealanders play Featherstone. The latter finished 16th in the final table at Home last season, and only won 15 to the 32 games played, r.nd in the Yorkshire 'League figured ninth of the 14 starters. From this it may be taken that Featherstone will not !>e a formidable side unless vastly strengthened since last year. SUOTH AUCKLAND'S VISIT. Despite rain the meeting of South Auckland and Auckland at Carlaw Park on Saturday attracted an attendance of over 3000, and a "gate"' that ran well into three figures, a striking tribute to the lure of the code, seeing that the majority of those present had to have their pleasure in the open. A general impression that the Auckland team would have an easy game was not borne out by facts, as the Waikato men put up a great fight, and only in team play and combination were they deficient. The ground was in splendid order, and considering that the ball was slippery, a good exposition of the code was given, both teams showing a commendable desire to make the play open. Although some of the best players were not available, Auckland fielded a wellbalanced side, and the! opportunity was taken to give some new aspirants to rep. honours a chance. Forward there was very little between the sides, and at times the Waikato men put more' dash into their work than their opponents. The real difference came when the Auckland team linked up in attacking movements, most of the scoring being the result of good combination. The South Auckland five-eighth line was frail and hesitant; it proved a quicksand which engulfed Waikato's fortunes, and the men behind them were given very little in the way of reasonable scoring chances. For South Auckland the outstanding player was H. McDonald, who played for the City club last season. Playing as the loose forward McDonald showed untiring dash, and was prominent in every attacking movement that the visitors launched ilason and Stevenson also went well, while Allen, prominent in the early stages, tired a lot towards the finish. Davies, behind the visiting pack, got the ball away well, but he had little in the way of support. Smith, 'at centre three-quarter played soundly, while Paki on the wing occasionally got into the picture by reason of his übiquity and unorthodox way of doing things. At fullback, South Auckland were splendidly served, Rayner's safe handling and powerful kicking being a fine feature. Hanlon made a successful debut as rep. fullback for Auckland, playing very soundly without rising to brilliant heights, and never once being at fault. List in the centre played at the top of his form, and has by now convinced everyone that he is a player of real class. The Kingsland centre has all the natural gifts that are needed for the position—physique, pace, safe hands and an intelligent appreciation of positional play. Had the rep. selectors a few months back showed just a little more perspicacity he would probably by now have been with the New Zealand team in England. Wade was the best of the wings, his big turn of speed being responsible for two of the home side's scores. Prentice and Seagar provided the most convincing five-eighth line thai has been seen on the park this season and were brilliant in attack. Prentice stood out with hard, straight running while Seagar with elusive tactics and the use of the dummy ad lib made soim wonderf i openings. It must b« said thtt he Waikato inside backs bil very obligingly at the dummy, anc their penchant for taking the shadow instead of the substance enabled th< Shore five-eighth to show up verj prominently. Davis, the Richmond halt" also made a convincing rep. debut and there was nothing in his play tr cavil at. The Auckland pack was "wel balanced, Scott, Dixon and Payne beinj perhaps a shade more prominent thai the others.