TUB WORLD OF SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1144, 3 June 1911, Page 12

TUB WORLD OF SPORT.

FOOTBALL. '——-4 '•>-- ■ ' RUUBY. GREATEST GAME FOE YEARS* [Br AiusTOßr/ujg.l The Petone-St. James Whirlwind. Ah! At Last! Wo lmvo bad a gamo like the olden games—a gamo that moved! Tho centipede stylo that has reigned ,60 long has been broken into, and hero wo are 'shaking hands with our old friend .Eugby onco more. We have not seen him for years. It is like meeting an ! acquaintance returned from Klondyke, or the South Pole, or eomewhero away ("back of beyond." -And it is the good i agency of Petone and St. James wbo have brought him back. A health to them 'both! "- j 19 it possiblo that wo could persuade 1 this good, swift-limbed Rugby to stay qwith us? There is 110 reason why we should not, for tho "gym" and tho track ! can do it. Every club in tho competition lias the chance. Every fifteen caninot win, of course, but everyone can como .on tho field trained. That is,all that is wanted to counteract the droop in tho •game, and" to bump, tho "gate" up to-i • twice its present average number. For i spectators iovomotion, and, if Rugby can igive them it; "they' are not likely to go 'a-hankering after'.much else, let tho N.IT. 'iand tho League charm them never so i.wisely. / ■ . '. - Pace in the, : Petone-St. James match was "a cracker," and, if ono could take his eyes off it occasionally, it was even good to watch tho crowd. Hero was a "James" supporter with a broken heart pro tem, or, maybe, a wild gleam of exultation in ibis eye; over there was some Petone per;eon with his stick waving round his [head; and it was something like that all I round tho ring. \ It. was the full money's iworth every'way one viewed it. One authority stated that ho thought that it '•was the best game that had been seen in i.Wellington for twelve years. I,! Petone, of course, wcre-strong in front. : iTheir following up needs no word, but (what was very, admirable was their.screw-. I ing—a beautiful, natural wheel to the left, i'which was wise, for no 6crum ever did•much good yot by wTi&ding to the right. 'And, behind nil this, thero manoeuvred a 'powerful screen of backs. ' Aaton, Petono winger, quite convinced' »no that the abolition of. this important post would be a mistake. His play was perfect, and, on Saturday's form, he has no peer in Wellington. ' MTFarl-ane, too, ,is apparently a very valuable man. Hi 3 '•econd kick (by actual measurement) was fully 55 yards. » In open work, Dent, /Price, and Lindsay generally led the Petone pack. ~ James Ryan appeared to be quite, in his element' when'line-findng or. rush-stop-ping, while (as St. James found), M'Kenzie, .Ramsden, Nunn, and Miller had always to bo reckoned with.-' Moffat was the "star" man among the St. James forwards, and he did the work of two ordinary men. Ho was closely followed by;Wright and 'several others ' who battled grandly.' Manning, : however, :' was never comfortable', and. he was too much off-eide. ■ Cook, Roberts Bros., Crewes, and Thomas all played with plenty of dash, and bad luck 'was the only thing that stopped this nippy combination from scoring on two occasions. The referee (Mr. Atkinson) was thoroughly maste.r of tho situation, and nl; :;' ways had players under his control. : He '\ 'gave satisfaction to everybody. But it 1 .was the game.itself that gave -the great-' •! est satisfaction, and it will no doubt be" Temembered for years. Tht team that wins tho premiership this year of 1911 will havo to play nil tho way. -Let'us hope this style of play is coming in for - good. . The Match at Miramar. * The Melrose-Collego match was a peculiar contest in ono sense. One gained the impression, after play had proceeded a while, that Melrose would win, and yet tho quality of the College play was tho better. There must havo been extra poundage or extra musclo on tho Melrose . side. Melrose play very poor football for a ,' .senior team, and their chief stand-by is , the blind intrepidity of their forwards. Ppolejya small, youthful wing-three-quar- '.' tor, was the best of their backs, and 6hows the most promise. W. Marshall's full-back work was unreliable. Quilliam's work on behalf of College caused him to stand out as the pick of .the .thirty on the day. Another of the • . Victorians who deserves mention is Poangana, who may as well have taken an , arm-chair with hira, and havo watched '"■ the match from the side-line. He would at least'have been out of the way of tho players had he .been a spectator from tho touch-line instead of a spectator from tho field. If tho "City Fathers," who adorn the bowling greens could feel certain that every young person would play Rugby with as little desperation as Poa■ngana did on Saturday, bowls would havo 'a 6erious rival in Rugby. A Word to Genteel Players. The game was not ono which could havo increased anyone's good opinion of .the sport. It was not played quite as if ought to have been. One of the Melrose fifteen would be well advised not to play any more; his tomperament is not of tho . right brand. , Men who indulgo in needJess roughness; even though they calculate no harm, are a menace to tho other players, and a bad advertisement for Rugby. Then, just before' tho end of tho game a couple of players displayed their pugilistic tendencies. A College player collared a Melrose man somewhere about the ■ ueek,, aiid in such a fashion that ho had au excellent leverage. Making the most of it, the College player heaved his oppon-1 cut hard ucross the side-line. The opponent resented being pitched off the field, and retaliated, whereupon tho College player was roused to take a hand in the matter. There is a good market for pugnacious peoplo in America just now, but "white hopes" are not wanted at Miramar. Poor Wellington—Crushed Again. If tho Wellington senior team had contained a decent place-kick last Saturday, Poueke would not lmvo administered to it such an overwhelming defeat. In tho first quarter of an hour, Wellington had four shots at goal from marks and freekicks. AU were within fair range, and one at least was in quite an easy position, but tho ball never found its way between the posts. In tho second spell, Bridge managed to kick one goal, but not a difficult one. His line-kicking was good at times. Tho other Wellington backs distinguished themselves by failure rather than by success. Lambert was absent on Saturday, and Wilson, who played in his place, appeared to Ire very nervous and of little use to the team. The Wellington forwards were strengthened by the inclusion of M'K>llar, who has returned to Wellington prior to leaving for the south. The New Zealand representative played a hard game for his side, but he was not at the top of his form, and, even if he had beeu, his assistance would not have been powerful enough to save tho team from defeat. The Poneke Side of Things. To the Poneke team's total score of 30 points, Morris, who was filling Tilyard's place at half, contributed 16 points, made up of two tries, two goals from tries, and two penalty goals. In addition it must bo mentioned that Morris missed a couplo of vtrv easy kicks at goal, but, generally speaking, he played a capital gamo behind the scrum. The whole of tho Poneke backs played well, Mitchinson and Kelly being perhaps the best. The former showed dashes of brilliancy at times, and Kelly did a lot of good work during thß passing rushes. He is a strong runner, and always makes a lot of headway, his ono fault being that ho is inclined to hang on to tho ball a little too long. But a five-eighths, .who knows how to run as straight and hard as Kelly docs, has no doubt got brains enough to pick up tho rest of tho business. . Sotheran, Bowie, and B. Calcinai stood out prominently among the Poneke for-

R WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS AMD OTHER PASTIMES,

wards, whilo Jmld and Chapman were noticcnblo on occasions. Sotheran is in the front flight as a forward, though not quite such a finished player as Moffit. of tho St. James team. Bowie, an old \\ ednesday player, is well worth his place in tho team, while B. Calcinai, who took Gardiner's place at wing-forward, played splendidly. As a hooker, 11. Elliott is well known, and, in Saturday's match, when the opposition was weak, he appeared to get tho ball as often as ho desired to do so, and further proved his usefulness t by kicking a goal from a difficult angle in tho second spell. A Forward Rough and Tumble. The game between Southern and Old Boys was remarkable for movement, and for attacks that nearly got home. But the number that actually got home was fow, for both teams battled sternly in defence. Southern had decidedly the best of it in the opening spell, and it was at this period that tho game was lost and won. Tho Southern forwards butted manfully into their work, and, time and again, burst through the opposition vanguard.' Smart saving by the Old Boys backs negatived many of their efforts, but the Southern attack lost none.of its vigour. The try that was scored by L. Campbell, from a scrum on the line, had boon well earned by a lot of hard work. Southern have a handy Tearguard, in which -Bradley (centre-three-quarter) is undoubtedly the star. At saving, at starting a rush, or at carrying the ball downfield at foot, Bradley is equally at home. A 9 a tireless and versatile player, ho was second to none on the field. Tho Southern forwards, although' they performed their part honourably, seldom got tho breathing space that would have enabled them to give the backs good openings. In attack, the Southern backs were, to a great extent, out of it, but in the face of difficulties that included a wot ground and greasy ball, they made a number of good attempts, and generally developed their rather meagre opportunities to the best advantage. Among tho ■ Southern forwards, L. Campbell was prominent. He threw any amount of dash into his work, and was particularly good with tho ball at toe. Ho was at the head of nearly every forward rush that Southern started. Dwan, tho Southern full-back, deserves a word of credit for a great deal of steady j saving work, particularly in the second spell, against opponents a great deal heavier and nioro powerful than himself. A Battle in the Evening. A sturdy but ragged defence that -took a lot of piercing—at anyrate by lighter opponents—was the best that Old Boys could put up in tho opening spell. While it lasted, they wero often vigorous, but never dangerons. In the second spell Old Boys underwent something that looked like an awakening. Half-way through it, in the gathering dusk, they wero assaulting the Southern- line. It was a tough and desperate effort. That it was unattended by success is even more to the credit of Southern than their success in the opening spell. If one might tender a word of advice to Old Boys, it would bo that they should begin their next contest in as energetic a fashion as they concluded the match with Southern. A neat bit of work that stands out from tho background of a rough-and-tumblo game ;was the score obtained by Grace during tho second spell. He picked up-in mid-field, dashed past, rather than eluded, four or five oppnents,' and scored at leisure between the posts. Under ordinary circumstances the failure to stop this dash would have reflected on the defenders, but the fact is that Grace happened to bo at tho moment the ono cool man in that field of men. More About Line-Umpiring. -, It is necessary ,to "emphasise the point imadfl: last' week"'' with' regard to line"umpiring. The' line-umpiring at Miramar was not entirely satisfactory. No preparation had been made by anyone for tho filling of the positions to be occupied by the touch-judges. Just before tho start of the match someone called out across the paddock asking someone else to be one of tho officials. He refused, and another search was made. Then, flags were not used, and, on ono occasion, as a result of this, tho game had to bo stopped, and the ball thrown out afresh, because the line-umpire had "had his hand up all tho time." The referee .would have known tho true position had tho umpire carried a flag. Serious consequences could easily- arise out of these details. In any case, there is no reason why' a necessary branch of Rugby should be attended to in such a shoddy way. Another line-umpire, by the way, might bear in mind that it is not exactly discreet- or quite becoming, to demonstrate his feelings when a certain 6ide scores. G. Cook, tho St. James three-quarter, injured his shoulder in, the match against Petone last Saturday, and had to receive medical attention', but it is understood that he will bo able to take his place in. tho field to-day.