FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 241, 4 July 1908, Page 9

FOOTBALL.

RUGBY. (Br .'Aristobclus.) THE BRITISH TEAM. . RESULTS OF MATCHES. • . •; ' s-a r • *+■< •(3 . • fl • • '« -p p: <!V 3i£- S 2 ■" p .Wairarapa. Bush , '17 3;1 —h~ Wellington ... ... 13: 19 • — 1 — Otago .'ii '• ... ... 6 9—l 1 — . Southland • ... 14 .8 1 —, —. Test Match; .... ... 5 32 — l-.-—-- ■ S.-Canterbury ~ ■ .:. , 12 . 6 1 — — Canterbury %8 13 ' — 1 — West Coast and .Bullor 22 3 1 — — Nelson and Marlborough 12 '0 I.— —, Second test • 3- 3 —' —' 1 Hawke's Bay ..; ,25 '3 1. —■■_■ — Totals • .;. 137 99 6'4 .1 •REMAINING NEW ZEALAND FIXTURES. To-day—Poverty Bay Union, at Gisborno. Wednesday,'.. Jiiiy B—Manawatu and Horowhenua Unions, at Palmerston , Saturday, Union,.'at Wanganui.," . , Wednesday, July 15 —Taranaki Union, at . Now Plymouth. , Saturday, July 38 —Auckland Union, at. Auckland;. ,• Saturday, J.iHy.>.2s— I Third Test Match, at Auckland. ; . , i • AUSTRALIAN FIXTURES. Wodnesday, .August s—New South Wales.. Saturday, August B—Team for England. Wodnesday,^August! 12—-Western District. Saturday,'/August 15-r-Slotropolitan Union.' Wednesday,-, 19—Northern District. Saturday,'-August 22 —Now South Wales.. Wednesday,' August 26—Queensland. .. .i' Saturday,,' August 29 —Queensland. 2 —Queensland. : Tho ;Newf'South Wales Rugby Union has agrecd'tortlje terms of Vancouver for matches there bty-tife way- home from England. Allah ./Adams, Otago University and Otago representative three-quarter,' was a spectator on tho ; occasion of the sccohd test. Ho was to leave,for England on Friday, and has been induced 'by Tuan Jones, captain of 'Guy's Hospital; team, to consider tho advisability of going to Guy's instead of to Loudon Hospital. . V . ... With.'a view of curtailing football, the Otago Rugby Union proposes to play its annual fixtures with Canterbury and Southland, but to cut out. home and home matches with'the latter,; and to -play "only bi- ; annual fixtures with. Wellington, Taranaki, Auckland, and Hawke's Bay, and to do away with tho annual match against Wellington.

Tho result of the : ; second -Test match has done a ■ great deal ,to revive, interest 1 in the British team's tour. Wbateyer may be the result of the. intervening provincial; gahies,. the final struggle at Auckland on : July 25 is oertain to arouse a lot of attention. . .

In stopping a.heavy rush in last Saturday's test match, Burns, the Blacks' half, received a severe injury to one,of his eyes. Wrigleyand Galium, two members of the late professional team, left Wellington last week for Sydney. The former is going Homo to?play_ fdr Runcorri, while Callum intends to settle'in Australia.

- ; Mr. James M'Mahon has. been: appointed manager of the Neiy South Wales R.U/team for. the Old hW had.% very wide experience, as:.playcr r captain,; selector. Sand member :b'f;'management. committees of tho M.R.TJ.'}-. and of tho New' South 'Wales: 11. F.U. - -vMr:; M'Mahon' played' full-back ■ for South -Wales against, the first English team iii 1888, and ..against New Zealand and ■ Queensland.-v'He'.'captained ' the'•'Ranwwick, Club in the'palmy days, and since his retirement has >J<ept ; closely in touch with the game. A team of this kind will naturally need a firm man at its head, and (says an exchanged the manager elect is known to possess the necessary firmness. It will be his second visit*.to the first having been - m.ade;aboutiten years ago as a member of- the New South' Wales Lancers; in which regiment ;ho was captain;'

As ' far as it. is.-possible to say at this: rtage, tho men likely to be selected for the Australian, Rugby Union's team for England are:—Backsi: Dix, Hickey; Mandible,' Booth; Russell. Wood, M'Kivatt, M'Cabe, Goddard, Daly, Shawj Matthews; forwards: darken, Griffen, Barnett, P. Burgo, M'Gue, Bullock, Middleton. Murnin, Dr. Moran, M'lntyre, Jib. Hughes, Row, Dibble. Others whose claims are: certain to be well'considered are Hirschberg " and _ Mortimer. Five' Queenslanders are Mentioned as having a chance— P. Carmichael, Parkinson, Flanagan, Lucas, and Oxlade. Everything will depend;'as far as they are concerned, upon'the showing* they, make in the' interstate matches. There' is a strong likelihood that nearly all University men chosen will decline because of their examinations." Though the combination will be representative .of: Australia, the tour, will bo, under the, control >arid management •of the New South' Wales Rugby Union. The governing body of the, game in this State: has made every effort to got'-together the strongest side, even to offering the Western Australian Union a:refund of expenses if it sent men, over hero for trial and any of them were' selected.—"Sydney Mail." ' . " '> The matter of amending th'e Laws of Rugby Union football with a view to improving the game is being discussed a good deal by men in Sydney, remarks the "Referee. It is believed by those who are not altogether blindly wedded 'to "old times" that there is.room for .improvement, and it is l quite clear that the . football' public thinks so too. One does not know/what'is the feeling in New Zealand, but there is an extending fooling in New South AVales that if the Rugby Unions/of Great Jlritain refuse t.o amend the laws,in certain directions, as they have refused in tho past when approached on the subject by Australia and New Zealand, it will-become necessary for tho Australasian Unions .to .Undertake tho work themselves. .

The New South Wales Rugby Union has decided that the name of the team to visit tho Old . Country shall be tho Australian Rugby team. They will play in the light bluo of New- South. Wales with the letter "A": embroidered'; onthe .breast. The hatband will ,be.dark. blue fronted by a Waratah (the Now South Wales emblem), with'"Aus- . tralia " .'worked; in , beneath ' it. It' is very pretty, yet not showy. Tho. blazer will, bo' dark ,bluo with'light blue edging, and a uraratali embroidered 011 tho breast; over the Word " Australia." It will be thus then •that: the kangaroo gives 'way to the beauti : ful New South Wales flower. This alteration in.tho name of tho' team will, scarcely bo understood in foreign parts, 'sinco "New South Wales", has been very freely advertised in this connection in the British Press. However, as the; party is sure to,: include Qticenslanclers. the New South''"Wales Union ia perhaps, when .all things aro fconsidercd, justified in making the change. It'will pick thi team and " pn.y the niper." / t r Tho/most apausing incident of the voyago of the British team was enacted oh Wednesday. April 15. /Father Neptune on that day, in the person of F. Jackson, ably assisted by Kdt'wr Morgan. Kyrko, and Green, 'demanded, the usual victims. As.the number of those crossing.for tho first, time was a lan;e one, lots v/ero drawn to see who should. bo sacrificed to the demands of the "God of tho Otvjan." Excitement ran.;liieh as each unwilling candidate drew forth his number. The 'unfortunates wero.Gibbs, Thomas, Vassall, Griffiths, Chapman, and J. L. Williams. At 12 noon all assembled on the lower deck. Here Father Neptune, tenderly fondling a butte wooden razor some two feet in length, cafsnly stood 'behind a chair awaiting his rictitns. His chief assistant, near by, bent over a large bucket containing a curious pink-looking lather, which proved to bo a mixture of treacle, flour, and cochineal, and, with a large paint-brush in his right hand,

gazed with fiendish delight upon his trembling, 'unfortunate victims. " Green," hose in hand, took up a position Jjcsidis' tho tub prepared to givo the finishing touch to tho work of his chiefs. To tho delight and cheers of the assembled multitude and the clicks of the numerous kodaks, one.by one tho chosen fow wero lathered, shiived,' and ' tubbed. J. L. Williams was tho last on the list, and suddenly, upon a given signal, the victimised turned upon .'their persecutors, and, to tho delight'of everybody, Father Noptuno and his assistants ,were quickly but surely put through the same performance, and then the hoso was rapidly turned upon tho interested spectators, who were scattered in all directions, whilst their roars of laughter soon gavo. way to shrieks. ■It is. very, probable that when the merits of Harding's team-are summed up, it will bo found ..that the forwards are superior to any other similar British combination which has .visited New Zealand, while the backs will be regarded as a fairly sound combination, but with nothing .of the brilliance in attack .which characterised the rearguards of Stoddart and Sivright. It may bo agreed upon that the three-quarters. of the present combination have suffered through the lack of initiative amongst .their halves. This was rectified in a degree by tho.play.of Morgan last. Saturday, but much 'more is required in order to allow "Polity" Jones, J. L. Williams, and company a fair cbancc of showing their aggressive powers. Williams and Gibbs'are no doubt very strong runners,. and wo havo not yqt. seen them at their, best,' still they aro hardly as responsible in attack as we should havo expected. They remind one in a way of the old Taranaki three-quarters, Bayloy, Hempton, and [Good, fast men, with plenty of strength, who ran hard and often,. and who had to be desperately tackled before they would stop. "Ponty" Jones is'the most picturesquo figure of tho British hicks, and he is a general public favourite. The nickname "Ponty" must have something to do with this partialityj but another reason is tho manful way in which he plays tho game. Ho always runs with his' shoulders woll back, head erect-, as if.his only hops-of salvation bvery • time was the goal-line, and thai is 'why he. is such a favourite.' It is very likely, too, that were Harding to play much, moro in tho larger centres, lie also would be a favourite. . His mannerisms. on tho field are of a laughter-raising kind, and ho may in fact bo set,down as a sort of classic "Jimmy" Duncan in that respect. , No offonce is meant to either Duncan or Harding by the simile. A largo amount of ridiculous'nonsense'has been talked about the New Zealand Unioiv holding an inquiry as to the rough play of last Saturday. There is no doubt that it was rough at times, but who is to know who commenced it, an<l wjiat led .to tho rough play which was noticed by the public? There is always somebody, who will start tho trouble, but it is not always that gentleman who' catches the eye'of. either tho spectator oi; the referee. The referee says that he. saw no' rough play, ho cautioned .nobody, and consequently his-state-ment must bo accepted. To • decide to hold an', inquiry would simply mean a vote of noconfidenco in the referee, a proceeding which would-be,grossly unfair'to him. • , Tho. representative,.match between Canter-' bury and South Canterbury has been abandoned'.owing, to the Canterbury Rugby Union's inability to arrange the match for July 25, as originally proposed. The v South Canterbury representatives will play Waimate sub-Union on July 9, North Otago on July 16, and Wairarapa on .July-23,' all in Timaru; On July 27 they will leave Timaru for their tour of the North 'Island, the itinerary of .which is as follows:—Manawatu, .at Palmerston North, July 29j Auckland, at Auckland, August 1;,-Taranaki, at New Plymouth, August 6; Wahganuvi at- Wanganui, August 8;' 'Wellington,, at Wellington, August 12; Ashburto%at Ashburton, August 13. "■ V; ' NOTES ON WEDNESDAY MATCHES., Weather conditions for the matches, oii Wednesday wero rather.,.unfavourable; and' ono match—the Bakers-Tramways—had to be postponed on account of the wet state of Newtown Park. ~ ■ ; .-, A little more interest than is usual centred in tho contest between Stars and Artillery, for if the latter had notched a victory, Stars would be loft with a lead of two poiuts instead of, as is now the case, ono of six. Some brilliant play was shown by tho- Star forwards. Their most conspicuous men were Osborn.and Gosling. The latter is cortainly a hustler, with a habit of being on the bail wherever it is. .' y ,

: The Artillery forwards; were not 'solid enough, and when they bunched in a loose straggling fashion offered little resistance to a determined rush of their opponents. • Whon the quostion of superiority was one of back'' play the odds fell to Stars. They spent most, of their time in attacking, and showed to good advantage in this respect. '•■iWhittaker, at five-eigliths, put. in some good solid runs, but spoilt some of the Chances ho created b.v hanging on too long. This fault was shared by , most of the rearguard. . I .' -. '. -

A new arrival' on the field for Stars, was Lynch. At full-back he gave a good display, .but his speed could be utilised to better advantage in some other position, . The defence of the Artillery backs■' was weak. only. Login .showing any. cleverness in ■this direction. He went, down to most rushes' and generally secured the ball, but when he got it made the mistake of kicking to centre instead of touch.

Much ground was lost to Artillery through almost all the hacks failing to mark kicks when they had tho opportunity; In tlin Butchers-Oriental contest, it was rather a' surprise to see the latter-team go under hv a margin of six points. On tho whole of tho ploy tho better team won; hut there was nothing brilliant in the display given.'. . ' Schultz and Bigby were the best of the Oriental rearguard, and Kelly, showed up well m^! v i forwards. .

' Killeen and Levy played the best games for tho Butchers.