RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 194, 18 August 1931, Page 13

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

ALL BLACK MATERIAL

GOOD FORWARDS ABUNDANT.

FOR INSIDE BACKS

(By Telegraph.—Special to " Star.")

WELLINGTON, this day,

ffjje jnter-Lsland game dolefully proved for the benefit of all observers that New Zealand football is moving back to the tate of 192*' and that tlie quest must begin for inside backs. forwards there are in plenty and of good Me Cottrell, Hadley, Steere and Batty, Such farailia 1 names, spring into mmd, but ♦here are newcomers, McNeight and Purdue of the Southern team; Max, a mairnificent lock; Metcalfe, a second Son Whvte There is brawn, hooking ability and of the tireless All Black kind £ these men, and the confidence in their Lacks that comes to New Zealandera as Sally as approval of a 3-2-3 ecrum But Am tacks are sadly in need of overhaul. Nicholls, Saturday's game showed, is now at the end of his tether as a Wkfee rune fearlessly, kicks with skill and judgment and still practises the gentle irt of Wuff. The thing he lacks is brffli-"-JLthe quality which used to mark the tnrk of-Cooke, of Mill, of such men as ?Sai (at his best), 'Teddy" . Roberta J Dallev Lilburne suggests himself as Sβ E first five-eighth, but he should Ser? never play second. He has all the strength, the gameness and reliability of the first five-eighth, none of the m ckness of turn and swerve, speed off the mark and ability to cut men out, eye w the opening that Nicholls, for instance, bowed when he changed his direction yl wriggling his way through for his frrandhe runs across field far too much. 'Kβ Day, of the South Island team, he ban individualist first, and his best work £ai essentially solo work which just hapIned to fit into the cog of the machine. . And Cooke? Cooke took a severe shakini the effects of which were with him ot three-quarters of the match; he was closely attended by three or maybe four Sonents and he had an inside partner X rarelv left him room to move. But £, k not'the old Cooke .The old flashfee sprite, elusive, defying, clutching hand? shrewdly puntinß into gaps, hoverJSraW waiting for a f um'b e, going through to score alone like some bewitched thine He is a careful, rather tired, worker, fast still, but. not dazzling Iβ his rei?n over? It is the saddest of thini for us if it is so. There is hope in OTver, of the South leland; he has the Quality of fienius and the courage and frength to boot. He can develop a move-m-nt -faultlessly, and hae .youth and Son in attack, a thing in which he riembles the best of his .forerunners, Sthen is a useful array, but who B £ serve them. Not Strang definitely, far if he is a half-back, he disguises it Sefi He is rather a very useful fivedehth who succeeds in filling a gap behind the scrum; but in technique and inclination Knains a five-eighth and would be nS«ni B^^jS But £e is not always the slick, unruffled man in clearance that one expects behand Tn All Black pack, and even though he Blared behind a beaten vanguard, there $?,,$ be something better. Of the wing B« .^daSerSr^M is puzzled to a conclusion, ■ Sere » no doubt that in Bush the country will have a full-back of New Zealand Sdard. Not of the highest class, but not far short of it. His kicking and .tackling are above reproach, and Ms "of the ball is faultlessly done.

( REPRESENTATIVE MATCH.

WAIKATO AND THAMES VALLEY ; TEAMS. . A match between Waikato and Thames rVallcy will be played at Te Aroaa on Saturday. The teams are: — Waikato.—Full-back, Egan (Matamata); three-quarters, Carlson Fitzgerald (Hamilton), Hook (Hamilton); fiveeighths, Wilkes (Waipa), W. Cameron (Morrinsville); half-back, l>. Denz (Hamilton) ; rover, Story (Matamata); forwards, Eneor (Matamata), Robinson (Hamilton), A. Cameron (Morrinsville), Reynolds (Hamilton), C. Cameron (Morrinsville), Leeson (Morrinsville), Priscott (Hamilton). Reserves: Thompson (Waipa), Quin (Waipa). Thames Valley.—Full-back, Jacobs (Te Aroha); three-quarters, Pilkington (Tc Aroha), Lyeaght (Waihi), Walford (Waihi); five-eighths, Madgwick (Hanraki, Plains), Lipsey (Te Aroha); half-back, Moore (Paeroa); forwards, Mathers, Keary, Waif ord, Thomas, Riddle, Martin, Carrick, Palmers. Reserves: McLarn, Mulgrew, Goldsbury, Stewart.

AUCKLAND UNION.

REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES. The amended programme of representative fixtures for the balance of the Auckland Rugby Union's season is:— August 22.—V. Hawke's Bay, at Eden Part, August 29.—V. Thames, at Eden Park. September 5.—V. Otago, at Eden Park; T. Thames Valley, at Paeroa. September 12. —Australia v. New Zealand, at Eden Park; v. Northland, at Whangarei. SeptemDer 19.—V. Wellington, at Eden Park; y. Thames (return), at Thames.

OTAGO TOURING TEAM.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNBDIN, Monday. The following players have been chosen to represent Otago on the northern tour :— Backs.—Bush, Nicolson, McKenzle, Allan, Bobilliard, Proctor, Bathgate, Fookes, Smith, Simon, Francis. • Forwards. — Souter, Lucy, Finlayson, Hore, Allen, Hartnell, Miller, Clouston, I*ing, Cavanagh, Gifford.