RUGBY NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 779, 8 August 1923, Page 12

RUGBY NOTES.

(By "Cross-Bar.") of the Rugby code' appear- fated this year to experience wretched conditions for their winter sport and Saturday has followed Saturday with few signs of improvement in the condition of the playing area. Despite several fine days during the week, Friday night's, rain left the oval at the showgrounds very heavy and with a certain amount of surface water which was quiokly turned into a quagmire' by the players. The return match, South Hawke's Bay versus Manawatu, was fated to be played under similar conditions to those experienced at Dannevirke and the contest resolved itself into a struggle between the opposing packs, ( rear-guard movements being almost impossible. Influenza exacted its toll on both teams and the visitors' back division suffered heavily, Kirwan being a prominent absentee. This player is declared to be one of the foremost backs .in the Hawke's Bay representative team and his absence was most unfortunate. King. Glendinning, Swainson, Cowio and Carroll were absent from the local ranks, but their substitutes very creditably filled the gaps. The combination of Brophy and Akuira is in the writer's opinion preferable to what was originally intended. The goal-kicking of the latter proved to be a big asset in the early stages of the game and it is difficult to see how he can be relegated to the emorgency ranks. Although the writer has advocated him being given a trial, at half, the conditions have suited the rugged play of Mair so that the latter's substitution could not be entertained.

Cowie also is a solid player who has made good in the outer five-eighth position and the problem presents difficulties. An inside five-eighth is urgently required, yet the filling of it provides the selectors witli a task. If Brophy could come in the difficulty would be easier, the line then being Mair, Brophy, Akuira, Cowie, Bailey and Glendinning. > The departure of King has provided Cockroft with an opportunity to make good and, although the conditions were against him on Saturday, he promises to bel the right man in the right place. Bailey (Feilding) made his first appearance locally for some time .and, although, the ground was against him, ho showed excellent dash and anticipation. Bailey (Wbodville) on the opposite wing, is very fast off the mark, and it was only by bad luck that he missed a score on one or more occasions. He has not the weight of Glendinning and in this he suffers, although in some respects he holds an advantage. The forwards are a pack who are worthy of the highest praise. McNeill has proved an excellent substitute for Carroll and the absence of a forward should make the readjustment of the serum an easy matter. On the south tour this will probably eventuate and if Carroll and McNeill could be partnered, Anderson could return to the look and Gothard to the side of the scrum. Practically every member showed up'in turn in the loose on Saturday and it will be indeed unfortunate if they all cannot go on tour.

Murie is improving rapidly with experience and promises to be one of the best for lie has command of a fair amount of pace. A fine raking trio in Sly, Murie and Gothard headed some great dashes. Hansen, Galpin and Anderson were ever where the fight was thickest. McDonald is proving an asset in the wing forward position for he endeavours to open up play at every opportunity. Saturday will witness a trial of strength when Horowhenua play their return visit and, judging by the first match, it will be necessary for Manawatu to be at their best to annex the victory. Linton have gained the honours in the sudden death competition. The final between Kia Toa and tho country team was a titanic struggle, and under the conditions, the faster Linton, forwards were _ instrumental in gaining the victory. Kia Toa would have preferred a dry area, but the fates decreed otherwise

Judging by their games in the open competition, Bunnythorpe promised to be the probable winners, but they went under to Feilding, who were in turn defeated by the ultimate winners.

An interesting photo of a bicycle stand outside Lancaster Park appears in an edition of the Christchurch Star. The occasion was the Maori-Canterbury match, and judging by the tiers of bicycles, a good percentage of the population of the "City of the Plains" must have journeyed to tho grounds per medium of this popular method of getting about. Tho attendance at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, on the occasion of the MaristMerivale final is estimated at 14,300. It was one of tho largest crowds ever seen at the Park, and was as large if not larger than that which witnessed the Canterbury v. Springboks match. Marists have now won the senior competition five years in succession. This equals the record of the Linwood Club, which won in 1895-6-7-8-9. In five years Marists have played sixty two games. Of these, they have, won fifty-eight, lost three, and have drawn once, scoring 880 points to 200. This constitutes one of the finest records ever established in New Zealand football.

Saturday, tho 28th ultimo, was a veritable jubilation day on tho West Coast. For the first time in the history of Rugby, tho Seddon Shield was won, and the crowds of enthusiasts who lined the streets awaiting the result was very demonstrative. "Varsity A" won the Dunedin championship by a margin of six points. They came through the season with an unbeaten record, although they had a close call against their old rivls, Kaikorai.

Those_ misguided Rugby. Leaguers who persist in maintaining that their professional game is m amateur one (says Bulletin writer) received shock when the New South Wale 3 Amateur Athletic Association warned its members against competing at the Rugby League sports if they wished to preserve their lily-white status. Tho same trouble has arisen in Melbourne University over the proposal to form a League club m that foundation. Nevertheless, the Sydney University League Club clings to tho belief that its members rank as amateurs, and annually applies in vain for admission to the University Sports Union. Within a' day of each other Mr James Bush, B.Se., and Mrs James Bush have passed away at Cardiff. Mr Bush was a playing member of the first Cardiff Rugby Club, and was the last survivor of the team that played in 1867. He was also a playing member of the Cardiff Cricket Club. Mr and Mrs Bush wero the parents of one of the finest Rugby players the Principality has produced—Percy Bush, the half-back, who is now British Consul at Nantes, and who visited New Zealand. Another son, Mr F. F. Bush, Inspector of Art under the West Riding Authority, used to play for Cardiff and Bristol. Wellington's two leading colleges will try each other out at Rugby this week. The Christchurch Sun, in making reference to the game, writes as under: Do not look for the wild whirl that Christchurch can muster when School and College meet. Staid old citizens do not hang yards of ribbon to their lapels, and whoop for joy in this town. They do it in Auckland,, where High School and Grammar can draw 8000 of the old boys and the womenfolk decked out with maypole streamers. Wellington shows little civic pride. This annual event does not raise a spark, except among the boys and their teachers. These two colleges, Wellington and St. Patrick's, have met annually since 1885. St. Pat's have won 19, Wellington 17, and two were drawn. It is always a worth-while match. If only Wellington would leave off its starched shirt for the day, deck itself out with some ribbon, and forget its hustle for commercial supremacy! ~.,-'•» When R. J. Bell, a five-eighth for the Maori Rugby side that met Canterbury, swept into attack, spectators were startled. They had heard reports of his fine play and they knew that he had been selected as a five-eighth for the South Island team, but they had not realised until they saw him that he is a champion. ' If any man could be regarded as a certainty for the All Black team, it is Bell. He looks the best thing in the five-eighth line New Zealand has seen for years. Since Hunter, Mynott. and Co. dropped out of the game, pairs of fiveeighths approaching their standard have been absent, and weak inside backs have been the trouble with All Black teams ever since. Bell s'eems the right stamp—the type that ,is wanted. He is ft burly fellow, with