RUGBY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 September 1926, Page 12

RUGBY

AS PLAYED IN FIJI,

AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY TOUR

After an enjoyable trip, which included .15 days in Fiji and four matches, three being test matches against the Rugby elect of the group, the Auckland University Rugby team returned to Auckland by the Tofua (says the Auckland Star). '‘lt was a wonderful trip,” sard Mr A. Craig, the manager of the team, and that opinion was shared by all the players.

During the time that they were in Fiji, the team played one match at Levuka, and three at Suva. The tourists won the game at Levuka. , The first- test match was drawn. The Aucklanders won the second match, but in the final game the Fiji players had a. victory.

Mr Craig said that they expected to have fairly easy games, but they found that the standard of play in the group was surprisingly good, and the best Fiji team was about up to the Auckland .senior standard. Several Fiji players above the average were met. Two exAucklanders were included in the island representative teams, T. Dyer, formerly a member of the Auckland Sacred Heart team, and Riemenseheneider, who used to play for King’s College. Mr Craig said that the first ground that the Aucklanders played on was very hard, and resulted in a number of minor casualties. They found, however, that the ground at Suva was a magnificent one. a stretch of beautiful, firm turf that was almost lige a big lawn in appearance. vfhe Fiji Rugby season is about the same length as in New Zealand, and the Auckland'rules are played, except that lifting in the scrummages is prohibited. There are four white teams at Suva, and one at Levuka, while the natives also have a number of teams. The whites and natives do not intermingle on the Rugby field, one reason being that the natives play in bare feet, and would be at a disadvantage ‘against a team playing with boots on. Another possible reason is that the Fijian native has not adopted the switch cut for his hair, and fuzzy locks nearly half a yard long wOuld give a very unkind advantage to an opposing tackier. In their own way the natives get a lot of fun out of their Rugby clashes, and the Aucklanders saw a game between Fiji and a visiting team from Tonga, which the latter won by 6 points to 3. One Tongan stalwart amazed the Aucklanders when he put a penalty goal over from the half-way line with his bare foot; and prior to that he had punched a hole in the hard ground with his heel to place the ball, a feat which the Aucklanders found most difficult with -the heel of a boot.

The Aucklanders spoke in glowing terpis of the hospitality that they met with on the tour. One of the chief tain of the group. The tourists paid a hosts was Katu Pope, the head chiefvisit to his island home at Bau, and found a great deal of interest there, as in his day the chief was a notable athlete, and a cricketer of repute. Mr Craig said that the Fiji Rugby authorities wore hopeful of being able to send a team to Auckland nest season to play several matches. They were very keen on the game, and the players for the test matches against the 'Varsity team had been carefully trained, . # I’herc was a big crowd of" friends to meet the players when the Tofua drew into the wharf, and from the steamer the ’Varsity war-cry was given with zest. The tourists came ashore well laden with Fijian trophies, which ranged from coral and clubs to picturesque island headgear.

' ADVICE TO WELLINGTON

Following on tlio disastrous defeat of Wellington by Hawke’s Bay, a correspondent suggests “the wisdom of enlisting men from the province’s country district just as Auckland, Hawke’s Bay anil Taranaki do. He quotes the wonderful success of Taranaki in the late ’nineties when they were the Dominion champions, ancl adds that, the union chose men from the centres as well as the country, and so formed ‘ ‘teams that combinpd both brawn and skill.” Training and coaching, too, he added, were esential.

The Free Lance has taken and published a series of photographs of incidents in the Hawke’s Bay-Wellington match for the Ranfurly Shield, which seem to bear out some of the allegations of rough play by the Bay men. If, as is assumed, these are taken from actual happenings, and it is hardly to be expected that the Free Lance would publish them otherwise, they contain a serious indictment of Rugby methods as shown in that match. It woiild seem that the governing authorities can hardly avoid taking notice of the publication. And one wonders what the referee was doing while the camera could record such incidents. There seems undoubtedly need for a general overhaul of the game, too good a game to be marred by such happenings. There were certain allegations as to undue talking and “squealing” made by Sydney critics against the All Blacks. Whether there was anything in these complaints, for the sake of the fair fame of the great Now Zealand national game the New Zealand Union should take cognizance of the reports as well as the frequent charge of playing the man made in practically every centre at times.