A Notebook of Sport

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22466, 29 July 1938, Page 4

A Notebook of Sport

City Rugby Championship To-morrow's matches may decide the Canterbury Rugby Union's championship. Two games will be "key" contests for the teams on the top of the ladder. After to-morrow one team may be in an unassailable position—or the championship may be more "open" than ever. Linwood, which a few weeks ago had an effective lead of two and a half points, now leads by only a point and a half from Sydenham, and to-morrow it will meet a very stern challenge from Air Force, third equal in the competition. When these teams met at the end of the first round of matches Linwood scored one of its many very narrow victories. It will have to play at the top of its form to repeat the performance. Sydenham will meet Athletic, over which it has a half-point lead, Athletic being level with Air Force. Here again first-round results cannot be taken as an infallible guide. Athletic met Sydenham in the fourth match of the season and began its remarkable succession of seven victories. Sydenham has improved greatly since then, and Athletic's stocks have fallen since its unexpected defeat by Merivale two weeks ago. Athletic will have to win to-morrow to remain in the running for the championship. Auckland's League Coach B. Banham, the New South Wales coach for the backs in the Auckland Rugby League, is regarded as a real "find," and a reason for his success was soon evident when he played for Newton Rangers on Saturday. He was given plenty of chances by the brilliance of W. Brimble, but generally he went only far enough to run his next man into position, when, exactly at the right moment, he sent on bullet-like passes. If F. Sissons was marked Banham sent a short punt to an opening or a longer one to drop in the path of his centre. Hardly once in the game did Banham go on his own; he was always seeking team-work. Discipline! Few governing bodies of sports have the courage to take a strong line in the disciplining of players who cause inconvenience by late arrival at tournaments or otherwise upset the arrangements of committees. The Canterbury Table Tennis Association is an exception to the general rule, and there was a surprise for delinquents at the headquarters on the opening night of the provincial championships when some half-dozen players, including leaders in the sport in Canterbury were "scratched" by the committee either for late arrival or for refusal to remain in attendance all the evening The decision to scratch late-comers war not made until nearly an hour after the ! scheduled starting-time, so that the I "victims" had little cause for complaint. Two others announced that they would have to leave the tournament to fulfil other engagements and the committee ruled that as it was es sential for the senior championship events to be advanced to the finals in the one evening these players should also be scratched. Schoolboys' Association Tour The decision to send a schoolboys' Association football team to Australia in theory an excellent one, is regarded by officials of the two South Island schools most keenly interested in the sport—Otago Boys' High School and Christchurch Technical College—as f little premature. The paucity of interschool matches makes it very difflcull to obtain an accurate idea of the capabilities of the players and no doubt the task of a conscientious selector would be difficult indeed. Recently a team was formed at the Timaru Boys' High School, but so far other secondary schools have been slow to accept the sport. The code has made more progress in the North Island. New Plymouth Boys' High School, in its first year in Association football, har five teams. Auckland has 18 teams taking part in regular school games but the Technical College in Wellington and the Napier Boys' High School in Hawke's Bay are virtually the only schools interested in the respective districts. Auckland University College has recently interested itself in the Association code and there is a likelihood of Otago University and the Dunedin Teachers' Training College having teams next year. It is likely that in a few years there will be no lack of teachers capable of coaching school teams. Until then it will be very difficult to select a team thoroughly representative of the game in New Zealand schools or worthy of representing the Dominion overseas. Newton Rangers' Visit The visit by Newton Rangers showed that the main fault of the Canterbury Rugby League backs is in not passing fast enough. In the second spell of the match against the visitors they improved appreciably. Had the Canterbury players made the most of their chances they would have had a 10point win instead of a draw. A bad feature was a three-quarters' failure to pass when his wing man was almost certain to score. The goal-kicking—ex-cellent in recent club games—was unaccountably poor. These faults are easy to remedy.