RUGBY FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 21 May 1938, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

TO-DAY’S GAMES. Uobden and Kiwis will provide Die major attraction at Rugby Park today, both teams being unbeaten, so far this season. Both are well-train-ed sides, and in all their matches so far, have played a fast, open game, so that to-day’s match should draw (he best crowd of the season to the park. On the No. 2 ground, Celtic and Blaketown will provide another interesting match. United will meet Pirates at Hokitika, and Stars will also journey to Hokitika 1o meet Excelsiors. Te Kinga and Cobden juniors will provide a good curtain-raiser on the No 1 ground at the Park and Kotuku who have won their last t wo matches will play Blaketown juniors on the No. 2 ground at the Park at 1.30. Other matches will be played at Kumara, South Beach, Cobden and tho Technical School ground. TO-DAY’S TEAMS. Technical thirds v. Stars: J'arry 12), Lindbom, Penhale, Parsonage, Hodgkinson, Bunt. Shannon, Henderson, Hansen, Evans. Bellis, Garrard, Hooper, Kibble. Cobden v. Kiwi, at Park: Lindbom 12), Vaughan, Collins, Gilmour,1 Eggleton, Williams, Kiely, Kirkwood, Thomson, Watkins, Birchfield, Moss. King, Manning, Newton. Meet Australasian 2.30. Cobden juniors v. Te Kinga.—Clark, Vaughan, Murphy, Allan, Bennett, Gilmour, Morrish, Burn, Jackson, Morris, Moss, Nesbit, Kettelty, Owensworth, Griffiths, Barlow. Meet Australasian 1 p.m. Cobden thirds v. United at Cobden: Groufsky, Inglis, McGuire, McLean, Maskel, Knowles, Skeats, Culling, Baynes, Burrell, Jeffries, Brown, Marley, McMillan, Smith, Roach. Te Kinga v Cobden: Ryan, Willis, Gillanders, Birchfield, G. Beardsley, Becker, Penny, J. Beardsley, Southern, Hodgkinson, Powell, Richardson,' Ashly, Spicer, Bennett. Emerg.: Rankin, Delore, Robinson. Kotuku juniors v. Blaketown, at, Park.—Mears (2), Depse (2), But-i cher, O’Leary, Wilson, Evans, Me-: Combe, Gordon, Knight, Rowse, Honey, Kirkwood, Warren. CAPTAINS BY RULE OF THUMB. i .IT CAN’T BE DONE. | Pew people will quarrel with the oft-repeated statement that New Zealand Rugby teams of the last year orj two have Jacked leadership. But tnere isn’t very much that anyone can do) about it. The suggestion was made at the annual meeting of the New Zea-' land Union that the teaching of lead-' ership should be one of the essentials. 1 A Reluctance to Part with Old Friends: Reputations may not mean so much in the selection of New Zealand Rugby teams now as they once did, but there is still a tendency to cling to old representatives, even when they have started to lose form. There were one or two men in last year’s international sides who were sliding, not much, certainly, but. still they were not as good as they had been,' and one felt that past form was not entirely forgotten when their pros-, pects wore being reviewed by the selectors. I This reluctance to part with old friends is more apparent among the : forwards than the backs. Any mark- : ed loss of form is readily detected in a back because of the open nature' of his game, but not so with a tor- : ward. lie can cloak his deficiencies Io some extent. | It has always seemed to this observ- i er that there is a certain amount of gueswork in the selection of. forwards.''

One man can so easily carry another. The forward with the reputation wno may do an occasional spot of good work is too often regarded as being as good as ever. There is n tendency to say: "Tom Jones is all right; he must go Into the New Zealand side again.”

But Tom Jones may not appear so hot if his bad patches are taken with his good spells. If his work is viewed quite dispassionately, all thoughts of his past forgotten, then the reeling might be forced home that his days ot lirst-class efficiency arc over. The old and valued se>vant should be able to stand on his own feet. And it should be made very certain that he can before putting him back mto a New Zealand team. Better the up-and-coming player than the experienced man who is on the toboggan.

Perfect Rugby: In spite, of all the moaning—much of it al the bar—since the Springboks swept through New Zealand, perfect toot ball can occasionally be produced. It came in Dunedin a fortnight ago. when two second-grade teams, West Old Boys and Albion, met in a match on Barrington Park. In SO minute? ot lootball, no penalties were awarded. It is untrue that the referee, H. T. Coulter, .had Lo be removed from the ground on a stretcher suffering from shock of controlling such a game. But it is true that he was about the most delighted footballing man in Dunedin that day. ' But you can’t turn skippers out by I rule of thumb. A man either has the I gift for leadership or he hasn’t Certainly any flair he might have will be ■ nurtured by experience as a captain, but he won’t develop the gift from reading a book. As. a matter of fact the cnattbr about captaincy is rather overdone. Li a man happens to be skipper ot a fifteen it is generally assumed that he is something of a leader, though actually he might be an indifferent cap tain. On the other hand, if a side consistently on the losing end, sooner or later the captain is going to come under fire, though he might be a good leader backed by average material. There have been excellent skippers of excellent teams and poor skippers of poor teams, of course, out cap- ' taincy, to this observer anyway, does seem relative. There is no intention to suggest that there has been any leadership not worthy the name of New Zealand teams in recent seasons, but it does no harm to remember that success or defeat can mean so much to the reputation of a captain. To-day there does not appear to be a man, or at least a known skipper, who is likely to cut much ice in the international field, hut possibly there is a player, as yet unhonoured by cap-! taincy of any kind, who, given the! chance, might easily make the grade. The methods used in the selection of captains, whether club, provincial or international, seem altogether too loose. There is no reasonable certainty| that the right man gets the job. Perhaps there are no suitable selective tests that can be applied when appointing a captain, but the choice of an international leader at any rate seems to be very much a tottery at present. Any name might come out of the hat, as it were. t

Of course it might ire argued, and men supposedly representative of all with very considerable truth, that 15 men supposedly representative of all that is best in Rugby football, 15 men representative of the finest brain and brawn in the game, shouldn’t require much leadership, but the fact is, lamentable though it might be, that some international fifteens can be just as rudderless as the meanest club side. To repeat the view often expressed in this journal: A captain must be given the chance to exercise his own initiative, and he can’t if he is going to be hampered by sideline instructions. If a coach hasn’t confidence in) a captain', then there is something very much the matter all round, |

RULES WERE MINOR FACTOR IN RUGBY TEST DEFEATS.

Before Rugby as a game can make up lost, ground in New Zealand, Rugby administrators must make sure that they view the problem facing them in its proper light. Clear thinking is essential.

Consider the following arresting statements made by a leading delegate at the meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union:— Had the matches against the Springboks been played under rules familiar to New Zealand, the All Blacks would have won the rubber. Rules, amendments to the rules or interpretations of the rules had very little or nothing to do with the success o c the Springboks in the second and third Tests. The all-powerful factor, unfortunately for the All Blacks, was the superior vigor, skill, combination and alertness of their opponents. Until that is widely recognised, plans for the rehabilitation of the game in the Dominion will scarcely get anywhere. From the half-time in the second Test the Springboks were definitely the better side.

Take one phase of the rule question, kicking into touch. The All • Blacks were certainly accustomed to the restriction rule. The Springboks put a voluntary restriction on their own touch-finding—very evident at Auckland—kept play open, and won. ROLE OF HALF-BACKS. CIRCULAR FOR BRITISH RUGBY Scrum-conscious seem to sum up the season fast closing, and, as if to have the last word, the Rugby Union has issued “just one more” explanation of how to get the ball in the scrum and how to get it out again. Coming after England’s defeat at Twickenham by a side much inferior in scrummaging ability, this last piece of official information might seem to savour of locking the stable after the horse has gone. But, from quite another angle, the official circular is interesting. It shifts the onus of bad scrumming from forwards to scrum half-backs! That, to my mind, is just where the bother has arisen, but few referees have seen fit to penalise a scrum-half for non-compliance with the rule, writes Kenneth McMillan in the London “Daily Telegraph”. | As everyone knows, the object of! Law 15 is to restart the game by get-l ting the ball fairly into the scrum. 1 The present failure to do that is due,' in the opinion of the Rugby Union committee, to the following points:— (1) The player putting the ball in is not standing at least three feet away on a line midway between and parallel to the two front rows; (2) The ball is not being put in at “moderate speed" with both hands from below the knee; (3) The ball is not pitching on thel ground in the scrum beyond the first! foot of the nearest player of eachj front row; (4) Feet are being raised and advanced before the ball has pitched l on the giound in the scrum beyond a foot of the nearest player of each front row. MIS-TIMING AND FOOTWORK. Mis-timing and faulty footwork are, of course, responsible for a lot of the , trouble, but it is nothing compared] < with the infringements ’of scrum-, , halves such as detailed above. That ] is the canker that has to be got rid i of. | t

According to the wording of the law, the ball can be hooked on any foot once it has touched the ground and passed a foot on either side. But the Rugby Union go farther, and say that if the scrum-half adheres to the rules, 1 that is not possible until the ball reaches the fourth foot, i.e., the far foot of the middle man or hooker. And they are right, as they hope to

prove by a slow motion him of scrummaging. as it should be done.

A NECESSARY ADJUNCT. Of course, far too much emphasis has been placed on scrummaging in recent seasons, and forwards have gone on the field far too self-con-scious. Scotland tore to shreds the theory that all a side needs to win a match is a good scrummaging pack. Good back play is still possible, given the men.

I must admit, that everyone I come in contact with is sick and tired of this constant repetition of forwards faults; but that it has done a lot ot good is patent. And much of the spade work towards this end has been done by the English president, Major-General B. A. Hill. He, perhaps, more than anyone else on the rules committee, has clarified the issue.

Although the other countries may f not agree (just yet), they will soon - fall in line with the English interpretation. especially that, part which 1 places a greater onus on the scrumi half to play, not only by the rules, ■ but also by the spirit of the game. Unless that happens we shall not 1 get much farther in keeping Rugby > interesting for players and spectas tors. t A Bad Start: The Rugby season is very young yet, but already two prominent play-] ers have Been ordered off the Held—; E. Jackson, All Black forward (he was allowed to return on the plea of the opposing captain) and T. H. Peace i reserve front-row man in last year's i internationals. I i Almost every newspaper in the • countrv has made reference to the i rrequent warnings and penalties against tough play in games'played in : the different centres —a further indi- • cation that brawn still holds the up , ■ per hand. , No Boots: . When the Maori team visits Fiji ; this season it is anticipated that there will be some difficulty, since the na- ] t.ives are all reported to play in bare' feet, and bare feet, no matter now tough, are not going to take kindly To sprigged boots in the scrummages and rucks. The Maoris, of course might agree to waive boots —some

of them have done so in the past. ! Menace to Rugby: I The action of the referee in calling I off a senior Rugby match at Spring ! nurn because a spectator, after al- | legedly commenting on the referee’s I action in cautioning a player, refused. I to leave the ground when requested i I raises the question of the immoderate [ omooker who is to be found on alt grounds, particularly those where no admission is charged. No referee cavils at criticism! it ir one of the penalties of the job. But no man worth his salt will take, to'' long anyway, some of the abuse hurl ea at referees from the touchline Why should he? He’s not a paid ser vant; he’s a free agent. If more matches were called off as a result of insulting invective, then it would be brought home very forcibly that some action would have to be taken to curb the activities of irresnonsiblcs who think tne referee is more than fair game. Some of the spectators to be found on football grounds are a menace to sport. More than one match has developed into a brawl because players have been exhorted by their followers to “put the boot in” literally and told that their referee is a “so-and-so”.

Some of the comment heard, especially on suburban grounds, is disgust-, ing. How to prevent it might be a problem, but surely some police action could be taken.