A MEMORABLE TRY

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19724, 14 September 1929, Page 13

A MEMORABLE TRY

WALES V. ALL BLACKS, 1905. INCIDENTS OF HISTORIC MATCH. (SEOH OTTB OWH COEBBSPO3TDEST.) LONDON, July 18. Mr Trevor C. Wignall, writing in the "Daily Express," refers to the historical try which gave Wales the match against the All Blacks' Eugby team in 1905. Mr Wignall had been watching some cricket at Cardiff Arms Park, and he fell into reminiscent mood. "I was sitting on a bench watching some rather dull cricket," he says, "when it suddenly dawned on me that only a few yards away was the spot where I had witnessed the scoring of one of the greatest and most memorable tries the game of Eugby football has ever known. "It was between Wales and New Zealand, and I think the year was 1905. In the All Blacks' twenty-five Wales were pressing. The whistle went for a scrum, and as it was being formed, I distinctly saw Dicky Owen, the Welsh half-back; make a signal to his threequarters. Will Joseph, the leader of the pack, got his men well around him for the scrummage, but the heads of the forwards had hardly met when the ball was whipped out to Owen.

A Perfect Pass. "Instantaneously he made a bee-line for the nearest touch-line, known as the blind side, which was only a few yards away, but as he darted off the whole of the New Zealand baek division went chasing after him. When he was less than six yards from the touch line, little Owen swiftly turned completely round on his heel and threw out one of the most perfect reverse passes that can be imagined. "The defenders were not only compelled to pull themselves up short, but they were left floundering, and it was while they were vainly endeavouring to sort themselves out and get.back on the defensive that the ball was skimmed along the three-quarter line until it reached Teddy Morgan, who was playLj on the left wing. Like a snipe he plunged over the line to gain a try I that sent the crowd positively crazy, and as many will recollect, it was that score that made the first and only smudge in the All Blaeks' record. "There was another incident in the second half that was almost equally stirring. With defeat staring them in the face the New Zealanders made a desperate and gallant effort. Their biggest centre three-quarter, a man named Deans, scooped up the ball and went for the line like a steam engine. ]se was tackled by Dicky Owen, but to thousands it seemed that he had crossed and had scored. By the time the referee had rushed up, however, Deans was spreadeagled on the grass, with the ball beneath him, but unquestionably he was short of the line by at least two or three feet. A Rehearsed Movement. "A scrum was ordered, but to this' day all the surviving New Zealanders, as well as many others, swear that after he fell Deans was pulled back by his heels by Owen, who for all his smallness was one of the strongest and toughest men I ever knew. Owen has often denied that he did any pulling, but it has to be said onee more that if the try had been allowed, Wales would almost certainly have been beaten, for it was scored right under the posts, and the converting of it into a goal would have been a gift. "Owen these days sells eggs and chickens .in his. native. Swansea, while Teddy Morgan, the other hero of the day long ago', is a doctor in the outskirts of that town. They cannot ever come to Cardiff without visualising that tremendous afternoon when between them they beat New Zealand. "One of the facts not generally known is that the movement that gave Wales the winning try was carefully rehearsed for more than a week. That was not hearsay, for I witnessed one of the rehearsals."