RUGBY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 September 1924, Page 10

RUGBY.

An afternoon which will attract all the football enthusiasts from all over the province is that arranged for this - afternoon, when New Plymouth High School will reply to the challenge is- ; sued to them for possession of the Moascar Cup by Mt. Albert Grammar . School. This school is one of the leaders in secondary fqotball in the Dominion. The contest is certain to be a great tussle. "* / • As i a curtain-raiser Hawera Technical High School and New Plymouth High School meet for the final of the fourth grade. This is also' certain to - be full of interest and enthusiasm. Theqe will practically mark the close ■- of the season in the province. It ’//•-must?- .be acknowledged the High ,• rScl|pdl matches have provided.much of >•', /the'-best , 4 and most sparkling and sc-ien-a . tific seen during the season. It is : always of a high standard. . The All Blacks have so far main-

.v-tained theif record of successes, though none have been actually of the runaway order. They are •a. young team aud are getting _ better all the • * : tinie.il When comparing them with the 1905 All-Blacks—and this is certain,.to be done by most followers—it must always be remembered that ' Rugby has gone ahead, mainly due to . the.|[ll ip given by the team of twenty years ago, by leaps and bounds. It is probable therefore that a much higher standard and a much, improved game, and consequently a. much harder proposition is set our boys of to-day. The fixtures of the tour will ‘ befpilpwedwitii-very-keenenthusi- • asm. ' They are playing Swansea today and likely to.he given a hard nut • to crack.- The Welsh teams'are keen * and strong, though the game is said td be weaker this year than in the " other centres. A ported goal made history when Wanganui played Auckland t'other

day. “In the dying stages of play, when the light was fading, Wanganui were two points down and fighting hard fdjr the lead. A desperate sortie < by Wanganui hacks saw Hartley jambed out on the sideline. He passed infield, where M’Auliffe gathered the hall on the bounce. The hitter . swung out to evade two Auckland for- \ wards who charged on him, and then, '■ with an open goal, he potted. The ■ • direction, from a diagonal line, was good.; - The ball carried, floated, fell. Amid a scene of. great excitement Mr. R.. P. London—one 'of the fairest of . referees—raised his hand and signalled “Over!” It was a decision that bewildered the Aucklanders, robbed them of victory, and laid the foiindav. • tion stone of ’ a football controversy / -. .that will rage as long as the injatch is remembered, “It didn't go over; it fell short.’ 5 This was one. opinion ex- .' pressed. And it was the opinion of ;; * “Jo.e” M’Auliffe, who had kicked .the hall,* The incident was mentioned by Auckland players to the writer at •- » New Plymouth. \ > Writing in reference to some notes on old timers that appeared in the ;’•? Southland News,, an old player says: \ : ; “I’m pleased you mentioned Jimmy ' ' Duncan as being a great five-eighth. • .Hb was! Hunter was not a five-eighth beside nf ’Duncan —no comparison. • .Hunter; as Peter. Ward told me, wa& V - a sblo player. Ward liked Mynott ,- , better than Hunter, and- that’s la ■ funny thing, . .as Ward, "I after gettihg . .-'through the South African War, play- >. ed,in Taranaki one season. Of course, as I suppose you know, he did . a football season , in a ; different town each year.” -A • . ‘ THFJ ALL BLACKS. : • Tlie War Cry. v,' ’ , Maori. Haka. Leader: Kia whaka ngawari au ia hau. _ r • ' • Team: lau e Hei. Leader: Ko niu tireni>e haruru nei. / < ;T ea m: Au au fiue ha Hei. Leader: Ko niu tireni e haruru nei. •. ; Team Au au aue ha Hei. Leader: A haka."”' Team: Eatu te ihi i hi. Eatu te - wanawana. Kirunga te’.rangi. E - tu iho nei. Au! Au! Au! English Translation. Leader: Let us prepare ourselves for the fray. Team: We are ready. Leader: -..The New Zealand storm is ■ about to break. ; ' Team : ? The soupd of the breaking. Leader: The New Zealand storm waxes .fiercer. , . ' .Team: The height of the storm. .>, Leader: Arise! Ari se ! 1 “Team.: -We shall stand as the children; of the sun. We shall climb to j the. in oxaltution ! of spirit, ■ We /-shall' attain the zenith. The, Power! The Power!',' A FriemLof-1905. It iss interesting to .note '.hat Captain J.-'J. CameronJß..N.R., master of the Remuera, was one of those who took the. All . Blacks to England in 1905. fife; was then chief officer of the Rimutaka. . Who has...scqred most tries for Now Zealand in a 'single Rugby match? ■' ' . Answer:— ' 'v. British Columbia, 1905—H. D. • Thomson, six tries. / ; -- v. New England (N.S.W.), 1897 G, W. Smith, five tries. v. Northumberland, 1905 —J. Hunter, five tries. v. Oxford University, 1905—J. Hunter, five tries, • . ' v. Queensland, 1907—F. C. Fryer, five tries. v. Central and Western N.S.W., 1914 —H. M. Taylor, five tries. In the 1920 tour to New South Wales, P. W. Storey scored tries . in all seven matches. Most Goals in a match. ,v. New South Wales, 1922—M. Nicholl® converted ten out of eleven tries.

RUGBY MEMORIES

OLU-TTME STALWARTS

I , read with great pleasure and sadness your very interesting notes on great players, many of whom I have played with (wirfces “Good Wisher” to the football correspondent of the s Southland News). The notes will take pride of place in my scrap book. One little mistake I would like to point out to you, and I know you will not mind. The Rev. Mullineux’s team of British footballers, a very great team, including Gwen Nicholls and the baby of that then team, Swannell, never visited New Zealand. They played in Australia, and the Australian team was really a picked Australasian team, with Pauling from Wellington, New Zealand’s best forward; Hardcastle, a New Zealand crack forward; an Auckland for-

ward (I forget his name); Charlie Purdue (our Charlie), a great forward; and Pete Wa^rd, then in his prime. These; played in the tests against Mullineux’s team, except Charlie Purdue (he got his back hurt playing for the Metropolitan team, of Sydney, and could not get in the tests). j The first match that great team played against New South Wales they won by four points (a potted goal) to a try, Peter Ward scored that try. Jacobs, who played for Southland, and later for New Zealand (wing three-quarter), played in Sydney that year; but, so. Ward told me, he was not good enough to get in,- as the great Spragg and White (three-quar-ter backs) were then at their best. Ward always reckoned that team was the best he had ever played against, and he played first five-eighths in the five tests against them.

CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON

These teams are old rivals, the first match between these two provinces being played in 1876. Wellington have a far better record than Canterbury. Of the 36 matches played, Wellington have won 23, Canterbury 12, and one has been drawn. It is of recent years that Wellington have piled up - their big- balance of victories. Canterbury won in 1907, but then Wellington had a- run of six victories until 1914, when Canterbury gained the victory with two points to spare. On account of the war, no matches were played between Wellington and Canterbury until 1918. That, year two- games were played. Wellington won both. Two games -were played in 1919, and again ,in 1920. Wellington were victorious in all these four games, and they also won in 1921 and 1922. Last year at Wellington Canterbury beat Wellington by S points to 6.