SOUTH MEETS NORTH

Evening Star, Issue 19001, 24 July 1925, Page 8

SOUTH MEETS NORTH

INTEP.ISLAND MATCH TO-MORROW EVEN GAME ANTICIPATED. .[By Dark Blue.) To-morrow the classic Rugby event of the year will take place, at Invercargill, where the teams representing South and North Islands will meet on Rugby Park. Though considerable interest attached to the match last year because of the fact that it was the final trial before the selection of tbe New Zealand team that toured the Homeland, the interest which is being shown on this occasion in the encounter has not slackened. There will be great interest in the fact that members o! last, year’s great New Zealand combination are pitted against each other. For instance. the hall-backs of the respective sides are Mill and Dailey, the relative merits of whose play has olteu caused much discussion. Then, in the fiveeighth line, Coolie and M'Gregor arc playing opposite each oilier. Cooke was regarded in England as about the best attacking unit of the New Zealand team, while M'Gregor was regarded as the soundest on defence. In the North Island forwards arc such players as the stalwart Brownlies and Irvine, while in tbe South team there arc Richardson and Masters. Tbe loams to lake the field are as follow, a few alterations having been made since the original select ions : , ,

North Island.—l'nil-hack. N.epia ; three-quarters—Fnlwasser, B1:iko. ( oilier; five-eighths. Cooke and Bang-half-hack, Nidi; forwards —Porter, Irvine, Kilpatrick. NRBaren. N!. Brownlie, 0. Brownlie. W'alters, Kly. South Island.-—Full-back, Harris: three-quarters--Rohilliard, Reid, Steel; five-eighths, Bell and M'dregor: halfhack. Dailey; Forwards J. Stewart, 0, Knox, Nf'Cnnnaek, Burrows, Masters, Gerard. Richardson, Burl. One notices a good many New Zealand reps, in the. North. Island, .such its If. Nicholls, Svenson, Hart, and Cnpples. The Donald brothers are. not included, and one can only surmise that they were not available. While the South Island selectors have been criticised in some for fiJD.nyr the centre throe-quarter position with a practically untried man (Reid, oi Nelson), the' North Island selectors have included three or four players who have not been in big football before. As an all-round combination the South Island team appears the more solid of the two. The, North Island forwards, with tho redoubtable Brownlies, Irvine, and W’alters, are a formidable lot; but the Southern forwards are a lively lot, and they should bo more at home on a ground that is certain to be damp. Tt is unfortunate, however, that 1 wo_ forwards of such a. fine stamp as W illiams and Dickson were not able to go to Invercargill, particularly when thev are in tho nearest centre to that town. There will probably he a. battle royal between Irvine and Kilpatrick (North front row) and Knox and MThrmaek (South front row) for iho hall in the scrums. South should gel a lair sharp, of it. Everything considered, the match should he evenly contested.

Tliis is the first occasion on which a. North-South match has been staged at Invercargill. Thirteen games have boon played at. ’Wellington, four at Christchurch, two at Auckland, one at Dunedin (in 1.9(H), and one at Napier. North Island has won eleven games, South Island eight, and two have been drawn. Bv winning by 30 to 8 last year at Wellington’ North Island inflicted the heaviest defeat recorded since the contests were started in 1807.

The referee for to-morrow's game is the well-known Dunedin sportsman. Air R. Torrance, whn lias a. splendid record on both the cricket and football fields. Air Torrance can generally be relied upon to give a sound interpretation of the rules of Rugby. Great interest is being taken in Invercargill in tho match, as evidenced bv Ibe fact that all the’ reserved seals in the stand bad been taken three or four days ago.

INDIGNATION REPORTED

[Per United Press Association.J CHRISTCHURCH, July 24. It is stated that the members of the intensland Rugby team are indignant over the ■withdrawal of tliroe Otago players from the southern team, owing, it is said, to the fact of important chib games 1,1 Dunedin io-monow. It is also reported that the Otago Union refused to sanction, a special train to Invercargill because it might interfere with the club gates to-morrow. ALL “ NONSENSE.’ The above item was referred to a member of the committee of the 0.R.F.U., who stated that it had done all it possibly could to get the players away. Neither Williams, W>se, nor Dickson was able, for private and business reasons, to travel south. In regard to the suggested special train, the committee of the 0 R.F.U. went as far as it could It approached the railway anthoi itles, who did not think there would ho snflic.ient support to warrant the miming of the, special. There wa> absolutely no question of interference with chib gates to-morrow. As a matter of fact, the most important game will he player! to-morrow week or the 1 allowing week, the draw having been arranged in this way because of the North-South match. The whole statement was characterised as ‘‘nonsense.”