SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 21320, 26 January 1933, Page 14

SPORT IN BRITAIN

JFuoh Ouh English Corebspondbst.] LONDON, December 14. RUGBY. An important stage of the Rugby county championship was reached hist Saturday, The meeting of Somerset and Devon, for the leadership of the south-west group, attracted wide attention at Exeter. Heine; at home was expected to favour the Devon men, but the visiting team displayed allround superiority, and won even more decisively than the score of 12 points to 6 suggests. M. J. Turnbull, of Cardiff, playing under birth qualification, came in at scrum half for Somerset, and his clever work was the main plank in the win. The forwards were good and gave Turnbull many chances to set the Somerset three-quarter line in motion, and well they performed. Each team scored a penalty goal in. the first half, hut Somerset gradually got on top and may now go on to final honours. Lancashire also won when playing away from home at Newcastle, scoring 13 points to 5 by Northumberland. The men behind the scrum for Lancashire were more adept in handling the wet and greasy ball, and it was this which largely contributed to their success. East Midlands easily prevailed against the combined strength of Notts, Lines., and Derby, in the struggle at Derby, the score being 19 points to 0. It still remains for Hampshire, to ri.se to expectations and head the south-eastern group to complete the semi-finalists. Quite likely we shall see Lancashire and Somerset contesting the final. Turning to club matches, a desperate struggle was provided by the Blackheath and Leicester match at the Rectory Field. The visitors had a lead of 2 points at' the interval, but Blackheath did better later, and near the end scored a try, which being converted, enabled the home men to prevail by 14 points to 11. Another notable match saw Cardiff fail when at home to Penarth by 5 points to 3. Then there was the AVatsonians success when receiving Cambridge University. 13 points to 6, whilst Oxford also lost to North of Ireland. 18 points to 13, though the Oxford and Cambridge players seldom show their best, once the inter-’varsity match is over. SOCCER. Saturday was a notable date for the Arsenal Club. The Prince of Wales opened the new stand, which will enable upwards of 85,000 spectators to watch football inside the Arsenal ground. His Royal Highness spoke to Die Arsenal players, as well as the Chelsea men, who provided the opposition, and he seemed to enjoy the play. It was certainly sparkling and seldom have the Arsenal men shown to such advantage. A bitter east wind made matters uncomfortable. so that the attendance of 60,000 was good considering the conditions. The clever tactics of Jack played a big part in the success of Arsenal by 4 goals to 1, a win which has still further improved the championship prospects of'the club. Meanwhile, at Leeds, the United team managed to share the honours against Aston Villa, and the loss of another point means that Arsenal opened up a gap of 5 points, a very useful advantage. Soccer enthusiasts are thinking seriously over the performance of the Austrian footballers against England in the recent match at Stamford Bridge. To only go under by tho odd goal in 7 was a fine effort on the part;of the visitors. It was their style which impressed, they favouring the short passing game, once so well exploited by the Corinthians. Their ball control was brilliant, and it may be we shall seo a return to a style which used to be popular and certainly more attractive than modern methods, where players are not encouraged to gain ground bv dribbling. How good Austria is, was shown by the hollow victory over Belgium at Brussels on Sunday, the visitors prevailing by 6 goals to 1. BOXING. Followers of boxing in Britain had much to interest them during the weekend, The most important contest had Len Harvey' and J. Casey in opposition at Newcastle, the Sunderland man being bent on trying to wrest the middle-weight championship from Harvey. He made a gallant attempt and showed improvement on his form in a previous encounter. Harvey, however, was the more skillful, and ho won on points, after an interesting contest of fifteen rounds. , Reggie Meen regained a little prestige by again beating C. Smith, of Deptford, in a bout at Leicester. Tt was the fourth clash between the men, and Meen has prevailed in the last two. He was easily the better at Leicester, nearly putting Smith out in the opening round, whilst lie bad him so groggy in the eleventh that Smith’s seconds threw in the towel. Larry Gains had an easy task against M. Maurer, of Germany, in a bout at Manchester. The visitor was outclassed and beaten in the third round. The novice heavy-weight competition at the Crystal Palace was concluded on Monday. The winner proved to bo Rowles, a seaman from Chatham, who can box a bit and hit hard. Of others who did well more may b,e heard of a youth named Rice, a relative of Bandsman Rice, who made a good fight of it wlicn opposed to the winner. BILLIARDS. Tom Newman accomplished a notable performance at the close of his level match against Joe Davis. The latter led when the final session opened, but Newman found his best form and played out time with an unfinished break of 1,147, a very fine effort, which enabled 'him. to win by .1,390 points. Finishing off a match with an unfinished effort of four figures is becoming a habit with Newman, this being the second time he has accomplished it. A novel match is being decided in London under the imposing title, of England v. Australasia. Davis and Newman are in partnership against Lindnun and M'Conachy, the conditions being that there is a change-over of players after a given time. Lindrnm gained over 700 when playing Newman in the first relay, but Davis bad the best of the leg against M'Conachy. Newman played very well in the next session, having breaks of 573 and 300, which enabled the English players to assume tho lead. Tho match is to last two weeks, and, as Lindrum is the outstanding player, the result should end in a win for the dominion players. ATHLETICS. The Oxford University runnels set up a new record at Horton Kirby on Saturday when healing Cambridge in the annual cross-country race. All six of the Oxford team got home before the first Cantab, a feat never before accomplished, although the winning “ five ” to score have before reached the winning post before one of the competing team. Scoring five a side, Oxford prevailed by the greatest possible margin. 15 points against 40 by the Cambridge team. As expected, J, E. Lovelock and C. J. Mabey headed tho field. Tho latter cut out a fast pace,

and in the last ]ooyds Lovelock got into stride with his team-mate and so they crossed the line. It is idle to speculate whether Lovelock would have won had they raced out, both being fresh at the end, The time. 42m in 38see, sets up a new record, beating the previous nest by Jerry Cornea last year. The course was lighter on Saturday than twelve months ago, so again no" comparison is justified. It seems evident that Lovelock is a vastly improved man, and if all goes well the New Zealand crack is going to do some big tilings on the track during 1933.