WELLINGTON RUGBY CLUB

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 85, 13 April 1929, Page 23

WELLINGTON RUGBY CLUB

* '_The- chief difficulty facing the. AVelliugton Club will be the .final selection of the senior fifteen- from; the wealth of material offerings, ■•'■ In the back division the club will be without the services of Macken, who has retired, Falconer, who has shifted to Invercargill, Leckie, who will be playing for the Christchurch Club .under the Canterbury : Union, : Corkill, who is now Ideated in tho Wairarapa, and Kilby, who has temporarily shifted to Wanganui. .Kilby will not be playing at all this season owing to an operation he underwent recently. He has fully recovered from the ankle injury received in South Africa. Julian, who filled. Kilby's place with -credit last year, has transferred -his allegiance to the Poneke Club.... No appreciable loss has been experienced in the forwards. In the last few seasons the club has had a run of first-class , half-backs, Kilby, Julian, and Cprkill, each of whom has gained representative honours, having worn the amber and black jerseys. This "year the mantle, will probably fall on Jaggers, who played the,''donkeyman" with credit last year. Jaggers will haye a strong man outside him in.Lance Johnson, the team's captain this season, whose'ability and experience should make him an invaluable leader both'for the backs and the team as a whole. ..

Johnson's directing force will be particularly useful' with ■ regard to'W.-E. Webb, a five-eighth who has shown, great'promise and needs only the company ,of >a player of Johnson's calibre to bring 1 his capabilities out to the^full. For the remaining back positions/Corless, Wright, Hill, A. H. Campbell, and Morgan arc open for selection. Johansen will probably be the full-back. New men offering include Pryde,-a wing-three-iquarter, who 'played with tho team towards tlie close of last season, M'Cullough, centre, and Perkins, five-eighths, all former members of tho club, and M'Laren, a .five-eighth from tho_ Auckland Grammar School and University, who did not play last year. There is also plenty to picl? from in the forwards.. M'Lean, vice-captain' and wing-forward, ' Giles, Stanley, Thornton, and Rathgen are turning outagain, and there am also Laws, who met with 1 an injury which interfered with his play last year, Scrimgeour;' Humphrey, and Nicol. Voice is still about the city, but the necessity for carrying on his studies makes him a doubtful starter. Donnelly has gone back to Southland.

From other clubs there are Perssori (ex-Oriental), who played once for the .Wellington Club last year, Noakes, from Graf ton (Auckland), Harding, a country player from Southland, Insell, from Taranaki, Lewis, an ex-member of the Wellington Club who played last year in Christchurch and captained tho Canterbury junior, representatives, and A. H. Hines, a former "Wellington junior representative Svho spent the last season iv Sydney. ■;■;.' . Mi\ "Sandy" Weir is 'at present coaching the senior, team, but as ho is also club captain, it is -probable that ah endeavour will bq made to secure tho services of another coach and. thus leave him freo to spend more time with the other teams.