RUGBY TOURISTS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 291, 4 September 1931, Page 10

RUGBY TOURISTS

Wallabies Arrive in Wellington SATURDAY’S TEAMS The touring Australian Rugby footballers returned to Wellington yesterday after their games in the South Island, and soon after their arrival the team to meet Wellington at Athletic Park to-morrow was announced. Describing the tour so far as it has progressed, S. Malcolm, the captain, said his men were never much at home on wet grounds and had been handicapped a little by the rain at Dunedin and Invercargill. They had put up a much better showing at Christchurch. “Your forwards bring off some great dribbling rushes on the heavy grounds which they could not do on a hard dry ground ” he said. “There the ball would soon get away from them and into the hands of our backs.” Malcolm said the team hoped to put up a good showing here, particularly if the ground were dry. So far as the tour has progressed the team’s record is as follows:— v. Otago Drew 3- 8 v. Southland Lost 9-14 v. Canterbury Lost 13-18 v. Seddon Shield Districts . Lost 5-14 After the Wellington match the Australians will play the Maoris at Palmerston North on Wednesday. Then comes the Test match at Auckland, to be followed by matches against Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and Waikato. Th team to play Wellington to-mor-row is as follows: — Full-back: Ross. Three-quarters: Hemingway, Towers, Herd, Cowper. Five-eighth: Palmer. Half-back: Malcolm (captain). Front row: Ceruttl, Bonis, Blair. Middle row: Judd, White. Back row: Palfreyman, Perrin, Bridle. Emergencies—Baeks: Steggall, Primrose, Tolhurst, P. Clark; forwards, J. Clark, Whyatt and Ritter. Mr. B. G. Collins, of 1 Canterbury, will be the referee. Wellington Team. The following team hag been chosen by the sole selector, Mr. J. N. Millard, to represent Wellington against the Australian’s to-morrow:— Full-back: H. R. Pollock. Three-quarters: J. D. Mackay, J. R. Page, N. Ball. Five-eighths: M, F. Nicholls (captain), H. Lll-burne. Half-back: F. Kilby. Forwards: E. Coulston, E. Jessep, A. C. McPherson, E. Barry, McLean, E. Reid, R. E. Deldrich. The wing-forward will be either Price or Stiver. The final selection between these two will be made to-day. SUGGESTED ALL BRACKS Following a brief criticism of the New Zealand team chosen to play Australia on September 12, a correspondent, “Looker On,” suggests _ the following as a stronger combination than the one selected : Nepia; Mackay, Oliver, Ball; Lilburne, Strang; Kilby; Jessup, Cottrell, Max, Barry, McNeight, Purdue, Metcalf, Andrews.