RUGBY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 71, 20 September 1930, Page 22

RUGBY

By "Oropkiok"

if- GAME IN AUSTRALIA

TALE TO RELATE"

MB. BAXTER'S RE-MARKS

- - ■• i The British Kugliy football team is c ■how en route to England, having left 1 !'. MelMurne .tln« weok by 'the Otranto. * Diufiig that steamer's call at Perth the j ( ' ftufcby tourists were to play a match j| there. On the return of the team to. /, England Mr. James Baxter, (ho mana- :. -:ger, will, furnish a report to iho Kugby • football Union, and that portion of it fiealinij with tho game in New Zea--SakuA is being awaited with keen in- ; terest. Mr. Baxter had little to say about play and players in this country when the team was here, but at times : . during the tour he stressed the point that New Zealand, in order to havo a voice oil the "International Board," ■ would have to fall wholly into line with the board's rules and rulings. New ■.-: -Zealand, however, does not claim represeutation on the International Board; : it hopes .to have representation on-an ■ Imperial Kugby Board, which it has : suggested 6hould be formed. Prior to the British team's departure from Wellington for Sydney Mr. Baxter was asked if ho had any comment to make . about the game in New Zealand, but he declined to make any statement - "whatever to the Press. Short Stay Regretted. > At the final farewell to the British team in Sydney, however, Mi-. Baxter gave ail indication as to what his report to the Bugby Football Union would bo like", bo far as the Australian section of the tour was concerned. "Our only ■ regret is that our stay in Australia •was so.short," he said. "We did our best to get here a fortnight earlier, but the fates were- against us. Wo loved to play against you and loved to mix 'with you after the game. There you have the essence of this great game. : I, shall have a very happy tal» to relate tovfche English Kugby Unioa, and it -is simply this: 'All is well with the game in Australia.' ."I have seen. for myself tho difficulties, with which you haye to contend. The magnificent fight which you ' ' have, put lip under very great handicaps .. has eventuated in a triumph, and your fath from now oh should be very easy. hope that'a British team will bo in - -Australia within at least ten years, •:-.and certainly, then, earlier in the -" season. In our games in Sydney, not ••■- r only'did-Australia play the game With '•'- virility, but a blind man could have .'seen that there was a carefully thought .-:■ oat plan of attack. Por this I award full marks. New South ■7 Wales has certain very natural aspira:tiona. She wants to have something to 7 say,: in the control of the game, but until she-agrees to play under Inter- ■': national Board rules she cannot share in control. The board has the power to dictate. There are the rules, and you must obey them before you can hope to share in control. Accept these rules is my advice, and then, if you have suggestions to make, I can assure you that they will be listened to patiently. Tho motto the International Board has always followed is 'festina iente.' One last suggestion is that •' .'• the New South Wales Union should have, an inner cabinet to control the game—call it a House of LoTds if you MUe— but a cabinet of trusted and true ;i .' -players.and. ex-players. !> ~."■ .: ;- It was mentioned by iir. H. D. v. Wood," president of the New .South ■ .J.Wales Kugby Union, that no finer band «f sportsmen than the visitors had visited Australia, and, moreover, they - vferff stfclra happy band. These visits could not be made too soon or too often. / Nothing was more likely to strengthen the ties between the Motherland and this dominion than sporting tours such as these. Mr. Wood wished to ask Mr. Baxter to convey to the English Kugby authorities the gratitude of the New South Wales Union for the consideration that had been shown throughout, the career of the latter organisation, and to convey the kindliest greetings from the New South Wales Union to the four Ilome ftugby Unions (England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales). Mr. D. Mnughan, Tv.C, chairman of the council of the New South Wales - "Rugby Union, said thai tho present team, "were the lineal successors of the £oor British teams that had come bcfate. It would be futile to compare ifeem, because styles of play differed go maeh from day to day. Yet he could iay-that this British team, had fully ; -UAtntained the high traditions -of Sportsmanship set up by its 'prcde^. lessor*. He would like to echo in re-. ; iard to It the remarks about the ■ " 'Wwfttfehs made by . Admiral Royds '{then president of the English Kugby, tfsioa), which werej "They are the etest band of sportsman we have had here." Mr. Maughan touched, «tt the great fight which Bugby Union i«d had to make in New South Wales. M one <rf the aftermaths of the war, A«4 laldt "In 1019 our grounds, our; pUywi, and our supporters were few. Fo-w wo can say 'Excelsior.' New &outh Wales Kugby Union footballfca« once again come into its own." Hawkes Bay v. Wellington; Few people at Athletic Park; last 1 Saturday would do otherwise than •iTedit Wellington with being lucky to flraw with Hawkes Bay. It was a case «f a draw in Hawkes Bay's favour. As ten attraction the game had nothing ■ Jike the appeal of that played at the ; Park some few years ago, when Hawkes ; Bay brought the Kanfurly Shield down ' .With them for the occasion—and took j M back. In recent times the trophy ' Sirs been in other hands, and is held 1 '«t present by Wellington. At this late ' stage of the season challenges are not i in order, according to the rules, and . *he fact that the Shield was not at. ' Wake no doubt had a big effect upon u ihe attendance. There were about seven \housand present. The game was of .a very stronuous nature, and very patchy. It had its ' interesting points, and there were occasions when efforts, individual and colJyeetive, reached a high standard, but •fftken all through the exhibition fell Has short of that expected of teams such , kfl Hawkes Bay and Wellington. .Mis--3pa4ling and other mistakes were frefent, so much so that there was not Httle "chipping" from sections of the spectators, and. the remarks—some of them, quite uncalled for—were dilected mainly at the local players. The spectators as a body were ever ready to show their appreciation of good play, »nd, as usual, gave the visiting team a good hearing; in fact the play of the visitors was more frequently applauded than that "of the local team, and it deserved to be. It would be hard to find a more impartial crowd than that ■w-hieh follows the football at Athletic Park. Visiting teams have often carried much more favour with the spectators than the local team. In the light tt experience at Athletic Park, the *»fter wa» amazed to hear the following remark by an onlooker last Sat•iwdayi "The Wellington crowd is the most one-eyed in New Zealand." The remark was made just after Wellington* £rst try was scored, and it was a, try "which aid not satisfy the parttoular onlooker. It is well for the game that there are aMttf people—and

plenty of them in Wellington—able to follow the. game with two eyes.

Wellington's team on Saturday appeared, to.bo right out of gear. The absence of Kilby, Heazlewood, Cookc, and Nieholls cut a big hole in the rearguard, but the team as a whole was off colour. Tho effects of the tour no doubt had something to do with the poor showing; quite a number of the players seemed to bo stale. There was little excuse, however, for tho exceptional amount of bad handling in the rearguard. Foley was a weak link at second five-eighths, and Page was at nothing like his best. Julian, however, played, really well, and had the fiveeighths functioned effectively .tho three-quarters would no doubt have given, a-very good account of them■frlves, as there was tho evidence of Oliver, Ball, and Mackay being a dangerous trio when given reasonable opportunities. Towards the close of the game. Pago made some characteristic clashes. Barrett) given the full-back position in place of Cuming, who was out of town, made some mistakes, but in the -main his display was quite sound.

Porter had a hard afternoon's work, and got through it very creditably. His task was more difficult than usual, in view of the fact that his men were not teaming satisfactorily. There was no harder worker in the pack than Jessup. This player has been a consistently good worker as a Wellington representative, and has been the most serviceable "forward in the pack this season. ' M'Pherson and Coulston were the best of the others, M'Lean, Barry, Beid, and Diederich being rather too much in the limelight when there was hard work to do in the tight. It was far from one of their best days. Hawkes Bay is still producing good Rugby material. The forwards^ last Saturday were- a solid lot, and it was no fault of theirs that the Bay did not win, except that a foolish effort to pick up the ball instead of dribbling the leather another yard or so cost them a try—a knock-on occurring near Wellington's line. ' Wanoa, the ex-Auck-land representative, who has occupied various positions in the pack, was in the front row with Pearson, a former Toneke player. ■" The Maori representative played a fine gamo, as did Campbell,- who appears to have developed into a really heady forward. Steere was also a solid worker, but the pack as a whole was solid. M'Kay played well as wing-forward, though no match for Porter. Except for Grenside, the Bay's inside backs were not a strong force. Grenside, however, played an outstanding game, making several fine penetrating . dashes. On a couple of occasions- he did the wrong thing whou Hawkes.-Bay were within reach of tries, but .otherwise his performance was good. Evans was a very serviceable fulVbaek. Of the two wing-three-quarters Bum was the better, Shirreifs lacking polish. '■ As pointed out in "The Post" on Monday!, Hawkes Bay's luck was out in. losing the tosa . which, settled the argument as to whether the game should be of two forty-minute or two forty-flve-minute - spells. Had tho visitors had their way time would have been up before Wellington's last try was scored. This try came from the best movement of the day. An idea'that Wellington wore penalised much more than Hawkes Bay during the. game is incorrect. There were sixteen penalties,' of wjiieh Hawkes Bay wero v awarded nine. It was rather unusual that there was only one attempt during the gamo to land a goal from a penalty kick. Neither side, however, was well supplied in the matter of place-kickers. The Marlborough Match. Not the most sanguine enthusiast would have picked Marlborough to; dofeat the Wellington B touring team m the representative- Eugby engagement at Lansdowne Park on Saturday afternoon,, but it happened when the local side 'snatched victory from tho visitors, right on the call of time, by the narrow margin of one point, the scoring being. 12 points (three penalty goals and an unconverted try) to 11 points (three tries, one converted), states the '^Marrlborongh• Express." - -It was a surprise win—a regular "boil over" — in view of the reputation with which the visitors arrived, for they were assessed by competent critics in the Capitalmas -only-a- few-points, below.the standard of the Wellington A's victory over .the British touring team and recent winners of the > Banf urly Shield. But while it was a totally unexpected result so far as anticipations based on paper form were concerned, the ultimate victory of the Maroons was no surprise to those who saw the game, for the local teamI.played above themselves against formidable-opposition to achieve a win which will go far towards restoring public confidence in Marlborough Bugby, i Th.c home team, had had more than-a fair share or! advantage through;out, iraM::tlie victory, was hard earned andfthoroilgtly well merited. ; ;It was the opening match Of a short ,t'6iuv.; being., made by Wellington em-braeing-MaTlbofough, Golden Bay, and Nelson; aad it was perhaps fortunate forilarlborough that they met the visitors ;be£&o; they had had an opportuu-•isy?';-of 'fining; combination. But against:this; ; in fairness to. the local representatives, it must be borne in mind thafefch.!?;winning teani included a big pro^oriiol.qf' new talent and in new p.ogitidift > °.rJu£d they also, had had little chance ;6f attaining cohesion and team understanding. ■On the score of combination^ therefore, the opposing sides had about -an even break. Ou the day Marlborough; .were the better team by a little-more than the difference in points. ?.;-.: .';• Fine Forwards.-: It was the. magnificent work of the fast}, youthfill: Marlborough forwards which was the deciding factor. They were as fit as racehorses, in thoroughly hardened condition, and they infused a sting into their game and an untiring energy that have been absent from the performances of the Marlborough team in the few previous rep, matches played this season, states the same paper. For the first fow minutes Wellington looked to be by far the better team; but then the Beds got up a full head of steam and set a pace which carried the opposition almost off their': feot. Packing solidly in the tights :-:and going particularly well in the loose, the Marlborough forwards delivered thrust after thrust which shook the opposition severely. Their swift smashing charges, though they were turned aside at the critical moment by a sterling defence, had a demoralising effect on the visitors, who did not appear to fully recover, from tho strain of the 'first torrid 15. or 20 minutes. Wellington had been expected to take a decisive victory by opening up the gam<; and utilising their fast, clever back division; but the home forwards got so completely on top o£ the visiting pack soon after the start that they commanded the utmost respect for the rest of the game. Wellington were reduced to tho necessity oil trying to fight the Maroons with their own weapons, and' in" this they'were compelled to submit to a superior force. , .Marlborough got..abput .equal possession from the sc-rums and line-outs while in all the loose forward play thej were definitely bdtter, The backs, while- not handling as quickly and surely as the opposing rearguard, nor pos sessing their penetration, played wel. above the standard produced in any prfi ceding game. Their defence was or most occasions very sound. Wher Wellington were getting tho ball thej sat well up on the attackers and spo cialised in prompt smothering tactics In their keenness they wore inclined ti get put of position rather badly, anc this let the quick-witted visiting backs pinrco their lines dangerously on numer ous occasions, Jtut determined tacklinj

at the. last moment frequently averted the inevitable result of this fault.

Play of the Backs.

With the forwards not in the picture a great deal of the time the Wellington backs wcre^ thrown on their own resources, • being forced to make their own opportunities, largely from the mistakes of- tho opposition. Only their clever opportunism and superior penetration enabled them to seize the points they registered. Though they crossed Marlborough's lino thrice and had their own crossed but onco it was simply lack of ability to finish off their attacks which prevented tho Eeds from putting on a higher score. "Daddy" Phillips was in very truth the "daddy" of the Marlborough team —the hero of the match. A player who has been noticeably on the down grade, ho staged a wonderful come-back on the day. His deFence was particularly solid; his attack had much of his old zest; but, best"of all, his eye was right in .for goal kicking. Per medium of his. boot he had the distinction of registering nine of his team's dozen points, turning every chance but one to good account. Thrilling Finish. The match produced one of the most sensational finishes seen on a local Eugby field. All through it was exceedingly fast and keenly fought. With the action, confined chiefly to the forwards it could not be described as spectacular nor brilliant.. But the run of the scoring made it undeniably exciting, and often decidedly- thrilling. Wellington drew first blood, with an undnvert:d try after Marlborough had had-tho-best of the exchanges territorially, but by -half-time, a penalty goal by Phillips had evened the tally. After resuming Wellington made tSe going rather more even, and with nearly half the spell gone gained a good lead with a converted try. Keeping the game open, Wellington put on another try in less than a minute, and the scores reading il-3 in. their favour they appeared to be in an established position. However, a penalty goal., encouraged the Maroons not to give up, and when, with another goal they again got within reach of their opponents' score, they unwound a groat burst over the last fivo minutes. Determined to hold their advantage, the tourists fought strenuously, and as tho minutes passed and they kept ■ the opposition at half-way, Marlborough's chances of winning began to fade. With a final desperate spurt, however, Marlborough threw off all restraint and rushed to the visitors' quarter. With the timekeeper's hand stretching for the bell the Wellington full-back looked like finding the line to rob the attackers of their due. His kick, however, was just short and Bartlett, the Bed winger, taking the ball on the full, burst through tho defence in a brilliant solo run which created an opening from which Patehett was able to score just as the time bell sounded; The attempt at goal was a sorry affair; but that mattered little, for the .'match,'most dramatically, had been won and lost. "According to Euclid." \ ••-' If the championship among the Eugby L Union Jiations were determined on the ; lines of-'Euclid, "the'honours" would go . to" ■ Australia (states tho Sydney [ "Referee"). That would bo a very . remarkable thing. Even the Waratahs, , with their wealth of talent '■ and the '_ record they won in Great Britain, j might smile at tho thought. New- Zea- [ laud and South Africa divided honours , in-their Tests'in South Africa. Ausl tralia, defeated. :J^ew.. Zealand in all three Tests last season. New Zealand took honours against Great Britain by winning three of the four recent Tests.' And now Australia has beaten Great j Britain in the only Test to be played. Euclid or no Euclid, the position is very happy, for the • Eugby Unionists of Australia to contemplate, seeing that [ no union in any other Bugger country has anything : like . the opposition presented by the Rugby League forces in New. South Wales and Queensland. ; If Eugby championships were really decided'"on the.-lines of Euclid" it ' would take n. clever mathematician to 1 decide the 1030 senior champions for > Wellington. . ' Notes. ' : ■■■_'■ ■■' : [ There were only', about 700 people present at the Wellington-Marlborough |.. Rugby match at Blenheim last Satur- . day. The gate takings were £65. 1 A statement made in "The Post" rei -eontly that W. J. ("Billy") Wallace - captained the. first Wellington team to -. .wiii the Banfurly Shield has been confc tradicted in another paper, which - states -that the .late'- W. J. Hardham, 1 V.C.','' was; the. •Wellington captain. t "The PostV^statemcnt, however, still t stands—"Billy" Wallace had the a honour. ;■•;■■ :;j; ' i During the visit of the Wellington - Rugby team to Marlborough last week--3 end, the tourists were the guests at a 7 dance after the match, and. we" i taken V for a launch/trip in tho Sounds on l Sunday. Though the weather was cold and squally the trip was thoroughly enjoyed. ' After lunch at Torea, a visit was paid to Double Bay. Though fishes ing was poor, a Maori string band s- helped to while away the time. When 7 the party reached Pieton Mr. A. J. i Griffiths, manager of the team, ex--1 pressed deep appreciation of the hose pitality extended to them. a. 'Welsh Rugby followers —and clubs — c are experiencing some unpleasant s shocks these days (states an English s paper). Following the recent announeev nient that' J; C. Morley, • the British r touring side Swinger," may possibly t remain in Australia at the end of c the tour, two internationals, Claude I Davey and Clifford Richards, have c taken decisions which must close their n connection with Welsh Rugby, while :- about a dozen players of the leading k clubs have left Wales to take up cmt ployment in various English towns. In c addition, John Roberts will shortly be y leaving the country to engage in misg sionary work, while there is a possiit bility'that J. D. Bartle'tt, tho intern national "winger," who is also dess. tined for a career, iv the church, may a have to accept a curacy outside Wales. ( . Tho reference made to Towers in i. last week's Rugby notes should have o been to Lawton, who, according to an k Australian claim, was ranked with i- Spong, of the British Rugby team, as it the world's, best five-eighths. Towers, i- however, was : reckoned to bo Aus't tralia's star back on attack.

Mr. Leonard Stokes, who has resigned from his position on the English Rugby Union on account of ill-health, made a name for himself as a dropkick when playing in the 'seventies and early 'eighties. His drop-kicking has been described as phenomenal (states an exchange). In one important match he dropped three goals; against Scotland in 1881 he dropped perhaps the1 finest goal ever seen, the ball travelling fully 80 yards from kick to pitch. During Stokes's five years' captaincy of Blackheath only six games wore lost. Besides dropping numerous goals for his club, Stokes scored 56 tries. As a three-quarter lie had no superior in his day, and he played for England for seven years. A free-hit-ting bat, he played cricknt occasionally for Kent.