RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 240, 23 September 1922, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

DOMINION DAY MATCHES. BANKS AND LAW v. PUBLIC SERVICE. The annual match between the Public Service and Banks and Law at Napier will be played at McLean Park on Monday afternoon, commencing at 2.30 o’clock. The Public Service will be represented by the following:—Richardson, Berry. Broderick, Fraser, Neal, Kirk, Von Rotter, Sim. Kennedy, Heffernan, Walker, Anderson, Dent, Brown, Aubin. Reserves: Gilbertson, Marsh, Johnson, Fullerton, Somerset-Smith, Dyer, Thompson, Folley. PETONE RAILWAYS v. NAPIER RAILWAYS. The following will constitute the Napier Railways and Petone Railway’s football teams on Monday at McLean Park:— Petone Team.—Harrington, Turner, Mahoney, Walton, Clarke, Elvy, Bomber, Barr, Butcher, Bennett, Baker, Gregory, Short, Lowe, Cairns, Flaws, Senior. Napier Team.—Hilson, Batchelor. Russell Berry, Mac Lea, Hayes, Dine, Dyett, Maroney, Smith, Lynam, Reid, Kearney, Fox, O’Connor, Lanning, Cameron, Cohen, Graham. (Notes by “Rugbyite.”) Last Saturday’s Ranfurly Shield match in Napier was not a particularly enlivening turn-out, and for this the weakness of the King Country team was chiefly responsible. For the first half-hour or so. before the home team had re-ally found their feet, the play was Interesting enough, but when once the weakness of the opposition was made apparent the Hawke’s Bay men play in a rather listless fashion, and the game fell away accordingly. The game showed the need of some process of weeding out, for as matters stand at present tne Shield-holders are liable to be challenged by “dud” teams from all over the country, and their gates and play will suffer accordingly. Save for the first quarter of an lidur or so, the King Country team did not snape at all well. With the excpetion of one man. Byrne, their Backs were very poor, without eitner combination or individual brilliancy, while their forwards, though hard working enough were little better. They got very little of the ball in the scrums until near the end of the game, when Hawke’s Bay were minus one of their front-rankers. Out or twenty-one set scrums Hawke’s Bay the ball cleanly twelve times. Kjug Country five, the rest being indecisive. Even when they hooked the ball, however, it as often as not came out on the side of the scrum. Their best work was done on the line Out. but even nere it was spoiled by persistent knocking on. The tackling of the whole team was poor. Byrne was easily the best oT the King Country backs, his handling and kicking being very neat. It is hard to see. however, how he ever came to be picked in a New Zealand team, for at least half the Hawke’s Bay backs were better. Macken is a fine place-kick, thqugh some of his attempts were a bit ambitious. Parrant, who came on when the full-liack was injured, handled the ball and kicked well. Of the the two Hartys .and Huon were the most conspicuous, the latter following up hard right to the end.

On the Hawke’s Bay side Yates played his usual good guine, though towards the finish he was inclined to take risks, getting a very heavy fall as a consequence. Grenside had a day out, getting decent openings for about the first time this season, and. making good use of hem. He got three very good tries, one being a most spectacular stunt. Blake was hardly as prominent as usual, and is possibly a bit etale. Barclay was well marked, and suffered accordingly, though he did what came his way like a tradesman. O’Donoghue more than justified his selection, and his headiness and clean handling and passing made a great difference to the combination. His place-kicking was very good indeed, and he took some rotten passes very cleanly. Kirwin ran strongly at times, but is too fond of going on his own, and spoilt some promising openings. Kingston was an improvement on Kivell at half, though his running tactics would probably land him trouble against a better tackling team. Batchelor was as busy as ever on the wing oT tli« scrum, and was never far away from the seat of trouble. Brownlie played another good game in the pack, and showed both pace and cleverness. He was well backed up by McNab, Gemmell, McGregor, and Kirkpatrick, the, forwards as a whole being much too good for thenopponents. Gemmell is developing a fondness for picking up when it would pay better to keep the ball at his feet. The crowd at last Saturday’s match were inclined to be sarcastic when Macken tried for goal from well over half way. There was no mistaking the power and accuracy of his kicking, however, and with a little hick he might easily have hoisted the points. Grenside matte use of a very powerful fend in some of his runs, and on one occasion left quite a trail of fallen “dry country” men behind himTe Ante got well hit to leg in their game with High School, played as a curtain-raiser to the Ranfurly Shield match. August, Potaka, and Beutli wore the shining lights among the High School backs, whose passing lias at times a very casual air. Te Auto played like a team in the last stages of staleness, and Akuira, usually so dependable, hardly took a ball cleanly all day. On the day’s play the School well deserved their win, hut Te Aute’s form was too bad to_ be true. The “loose head” has been a bugbear to Rugby in England during the last few seasons, and to cope with the evil it was resolved. a_t the recent annual meeting of the English R.U.. that not more than three men shall lie permitted in the front of the scrum next season. Hie ruling giving the non-offending side the right to put the ball in the scrum was confirmed, it being provided that in case of doubt the defending side shall put the ball in. English teams touring in France are to he permitted to play matches on Sunday should no ” other day .be available. Tn connection with the latter ruling it may he pointed x>ut that as there is no weekly half-holiday in France. Sundays and feast-days are the only days available for football. In any case. English teams have in the past frequently had to conform to French usage in this respect. Sydney University beat New Zealand Universities in the final test last Saturday by 22 to 19. New Zealand did not deserve to lose on the run of the play, though the visitors played very attractively and pulled the game out of the fire in the last minute by sheer determination. Fea gave a fine exhibition of typical New Zealand inside back play, which demands that the inside men shall make the openings. Sydnev, on the other hand, relied on the English and South African idea of the wings making the play. The Sydney Bulletin concludes it< notices of the week-end League games of a Saturday or two ago. when there were some truly surprising reversals of form, with the following“ The crowds at all the games were significantly small. Lumped together they would not equal the average attendance at an average match in Melbourne. But the Australian game exhibits a healthv and vigorous aspect, whereas Rugby League, as at present constituted, has the death-dew on its brow.” Taranaki had a disastrous tour south this season. Of the five games played they lost four, winning the game against Wellington. The points against them aggregated 65, while they scored only 37. Otago has had a record reason, winning every game, whilst the attendances have also been phenomenal. In this connection it may he ed that in the early 'nineties 12.000 attended a club match in Dunedin between Kaikorai and Alhambra. But there were giants in those days. How is this for hard luck ? A Scotchman is reported to have walked fifteen miles to see a foothall match, anti then found he could not see over the fence.