RUGBY PREPARATIONS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 April 1935, Page 8

RUGBY PREPARATIONS

SEASON OPENS ON SATURDAY THE VALUE OP COMBINATION SOUTH TARANAKI .PROSPECTS

(Notes by “Poster.”) The Rugby football season, insofar as the senior teams are concerned, will officially open' on Saturday. Th® scheme of play will be that adopted last year, the McLeod provincial scheme, and the end of the current season will see the completion ot home-and-home matches with each team in the competition. This week there will be matches at Hawera, Patea ,Okaiawa, Inglewood, New Plymouth,, Stratford and Opunake. The following Saturday, May 4, there will oe only one match, that being at New Plymouth. All the other matches are >t down to be played on Monday, May 6, the special holiday which has been declared on account of the silver jubilee of His Majesty King George, y. ', ~ As far as individual players are concerned, 'this year marks' an'ihipbrtant | epoch in the careers of some 29 players throughout the Dominion, for a side will be chosen to tour Great Britain. This is bound to have its effect upon club football, and it can quite safely be taken for granted that the effect will be felt two ways. While not wishing to sermonise on the sub“Poster” would advise those players with aspirations towards an ijnternatijpnal jersey that there are far more players in club than in international teams, and that these pljayers are deserving of consideration although thousands of them will never see an international match, let alone don such a jersey. They play for the love of the game, and in entertaining the public, • fulfil a very necessary part of our social and communal life. A player who wants to catch the eyes of the selectors will find that he has just as much chance of doing so should he fill his place in the team as a part of the team, and not as an individualist. This raises a very important issue, and although it is drummed into teams week after week by coaches, it always crops up at a crucial moment and perhaps spoils an otherwise brilliant movement. The point is individualism. A team of individualists, no matter how good they are, will never, or seldom, be successful against t team of inferior calibre which puts into practice, combination. Those who have followed Rugby football in New Zealand during the past thirty years will doubtless recall that even the best players owed their success to the manner in which they were moulded into a combination. One has only to take Cooke as an example. He was probably one of the most brilliant centres the Dominion has ever, had, yet he fitted perfectly into the rearguard combination. The club team which is the first to instil combination into it s members will be the first to receive the plaudits of the crowd on an improved standard of football, and will reap its own reward in competition points. Okaiaw'a are unlucky in losing their star: forward in Ray Clarke, who has gone to Stratford *to reside and this year will be seen wearing the red and black jersey of Stratford. Athletic are reported to have temporarily lost the services of Archer, one of their best forwards, through an accident, but should this be true, it is to be hoped that, the lay-off will be only temporary. Another rumour is being noised abroad with confidence in some quarters that another Athletic player who turned over is to return to the fold. The player in question is by no means the least of the Taranaki forwards and is well on the way to being a candidate for a representative jersey. The possibilities of Hawera being well up the ladder at' the end of the season appear to be particularly bright. On Saturday they have a reasonably easy match, and this should give them the opportunity to watch certain players under match conditions. Should Dymond be available this year the selectors would appear to be in a quandary, for the question will arise as to how the rearguard will be arranged. Guy proved at Manaia that he should be more than an ordinary halT-back before the season is very far advanced, particularly as he is opposed to heavy forwards. .

Okaiawa, in the tournament at Manaia, produced another half-back of more than usual ability in a Maori, Kara by name. At times his movements seemed to be absolutely uncanny, and he certainly understood football. He and Tui Ilobinson will be a source of annoyance to more than one team this year. The team, however, is lacking in' another fiveeighth, as they have lost the services of Ormond, who played there last year, and at the moment it looks as if this position will have to be suitably filled for the Okinawa baeU line to be as effective as usual. Wards played on the wing at Manaia, and scored several very fine tries, but here the team is faced with the eternal problem of weight in a winger. Wards is game and tackles everything in sight on the slightest provocation, but on the field he looks smaller than the average half-back, and this is not one of the attributes of a winger. However, he may prove to be the exception to the general rule and it is to be hoped he- does. Patea would appear to be having trouble with their rear division. Joe Crawford is uncertain whether he will turn out this year or not, and if not, this means a re-arrangement of in-side-backs. Pat Bourke was “all there” at Manaia, and was just the same as ever. Milliken will definite-

ly be on the wing again, and, judging from several flashes of brilliance, it would appear that this year he may strike a return of his Auckland form. Laurie Edwards may have to play centre owing to a team reconstruction on the absence of Crawford, and if se>, th ise will be a pity, not only for his own sake but also for the sake of the province. Laurie did much better last year on the wing than anywhere else, and if the Patea selectors are wise they will keep him there. “Baldy” is still playing, and doubtless will be on the ball as much as ever this season. Claude Gudgeon will be behind the blue scrum again, but no one would expect anyone else to be there.