THE RUGBY WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 253, 20 September 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE RUGBY WORLD.

Pars Atid Personalities.

Gulled From Various Sources.

{BY “CROSS BAR.”)

Australia’s Gain. J. C. Morley, the clever Welsh wing three-quarter of the British Rugby team, probably will remain in Australia. • . . Back Again. Ex-All Black G. Lawson turned out for South Canterbury against Canterbury last Saturday. It is five years since Lawson played for New Zealand on an Australian tour. Big Advantage. Southland and Wellington liave now met on 28 occasions, Wellington having 19 wins, Southland 5, while 4 were drawn. Hopeless Task. > The English Rugby League has decided to give up its invasion of Wales. It can make no progress there, and the continuance means iosiug money. Opportunists. Several of the Canterbury pack that played against Wellington were “shiners” pure and simple for the most part of the match. —Christchurch Star. Fine Form. Archie Strang continues to show fine form in representative games. For South Canterbury against North Otago he started swift attacks from all over the paddock. Cramped. That Lilburne got through any good work at all against Wellington was wonderful. Team mates cramped him and opponents lovingly clutched him whether he had the ball or nqt, says a Christchurch exchange. His Failing. Whatever else Charlie Olivpr is, he falls a long way short of being a clever wing three-quarter. As for keeping in the right position during either attack or defence— well, anywhere else but. —Christchurch Star. ' Maintaining Interest. Although W. W. Wakefield, England’s famous Rugger captain,. does not intend to play again, he will act as a referee, and, by . reason of his membership of the Rugby Union'Committee, will continue to take an active part in the administrative side of the game. Off the Field. At one period of the Rugby Test match between Australia and the British team J. Bassett was off .the field for 10 minutes, injured. For that period Ivor Jones dropped hack from the forwards to be the British team’s full-hack. Tall Figures. T The 86 points to six recently recorded in Christchurch Rugby would he quite a moderate score in comparison with some of the tallies in the Victorian brand of football. Some of the scores in Melbourne first-grade football on a recent Saturday were 135 to 40. 116 to 77, 108 to 97, 104 to 88, and 100 to 80.

A Good Record

One of the best interprovincial Rugby sides in New Zealand this season is Taranaki. To date they have had six wins and a draw and two losses, tho latter against Britain and Wellington. Safety First. When he retires from Rugby Mark Nicholls should be given a job with the traffic control squad (says a Rugby writer in satirical vein), “Safety First” seems to be his motto these days—“lf your team is in front kick for the line.” A Bad Period. Since 1910 the Otago men have not met with much success against Wellington, says the Otago Daily Times. Of the 15 games played since that date Otago have won but two, both wins being at Dunedin, the first in 1922, by 27 points to 18, and the other in 1926, by 15 points to 5. Good Innings.

'Wellington’s Shield record is a great one. Its representatives have contested 34 matches for the trophy, winning 24. losing eight, and drawing in two. Between 1914, when they took tho trophy from Taranaki, and 1920, when they left it in Invercargill, Wellington staved off 16 challenges, eventually going under to the maroons to the tune of 17 points to 6. Tables Turned. It was from Wellington that Southland first took possession of the Ranfurly Shield, in a great match at Rugby Park. That match was towards the close of the 1920 season, and the Maroons, it will be remembered, took the trophy on tour the next season, and left it in Wellington again. Still Going. Cliff Porter is not retiring after all. A Wellington paper says: —It is very satisfactory to know that C. G. Porter will be available for some if not all of the remaining representative fixtures. There is no wing-forward in Wellington with such a knowledge of the gnme and possessing such a sense of anticipation as Porter, though Price, of Eastbourne, is certainly a good wingforward. 11l Effects. Rugby enthusiasts will regret to hear that I. Finlavson, the All Black forward, who was recently discharged from the Auckland Hospital, will have to return to the institution later. Finlayson underwent two operations on his right hand, which turned septic from a football injury received in the second Rugby test against Britain at Christchurch. Finlavson cannot straighten one of his fingers and will return to hospital for another operation. Poor Support. Lack of weight in the scrums and poor back plav were responsible for Otago’s second defeat at the hands of Southland. Jack Hore, the All Black forward, played a consistently hard game for the losers and his hooking in the first spell was excellent. The second half, however, showed Otago in a poor light and they finished in sluggish fashion, despite the efforts of one or two.

Too Late. Evidently Taranaki anticipated that Wellington would have the Ranfurly Shield, for it telegraphed to the New Zealand Union asking that the match with Welington next Saturday should be a shield game, if the trophy happened to be in that city. It is one of the rules of the Ranfurly Shield contests, that no challenges shall be accepted after August 31 of each year, and while this rule may be unfortunate from Taranaki’s point of view, it is not difficult to see that some definite day must be named after which no challenges can be received. Close Struggle. A coincidence has marked tho Auckland Rugby Union’s senior and second grade competitions this season. In the senior grade Ponsonby had been leadin rr bv two points from Grammar, but by taking the honours at their meeting last Saturday Grammar were able to even up matters. In the second grade a similar position of affairs had existed, but a fortnight ago Grammar beat the leaders. A play-off will thus be necessitated in both divisions. Outstanding. lan Harvey, Wairarapa’s great lock, was the best forward on the ground against Auckland. He hurled himself into the tight stuff like a battering ram and led scores of fierce loose rushes, comments an exchange. At the same time, his judgment was never astrav and no chance was lost of sending the ball out to waiting backs. A little more support and the scores would have been much closer than they were. Malcolm Plays Well. When a New South Wales Rugby team visited New Zealand three seasons ago, their best back was Syd. Malcolm, scrum half. Malcolm evidently played a brilliant game for Australia in the Test at Sydney against Britain. He got well away once in tha first spell. Handing out a beautiful “dummy” to would-be tacklers after he had received the leather from the little Queensland winger, McGliie, Malcolm went over amid deafening roars from the crowd. Again for New South Wales, Malcolm outwitted the British defence time and again. Wellington’s Lock.

One of the most useful of the younger payers who have given excellent services to Wellington on the Rugby field this season is A. C. McPherson, who locks the blnck-jerseyed forwards in the scrums. He is well built for a lock —not too tall —and his weight, 15st 61b, is distributed well. He is very strong in the shoulders and against Canterbury he held very firmly two hookers ill-a c sorted in weight—E. Jessop 14.9 and E. Coulston 12.4. McPherson buries himself in the tight work, but he also has been a try-getter for Wellington this season. Like many other good footballers, he is an old bov of Timaru Boys’ High School. Waimate was his home when he was at that school. Opportunity for Minns. Oxford University will need a firstclass wing three-quarter in the new Rugbv season at Home, says A. L. Haslam, who has just returned from that centre of culture. So there is a great opportunity for P: C. Minns, the Auckland Rugby representative ■and new Rhodes Scholar, now on his way Home. With N. K. (“Butts”) Lamport, the Australian half-back, and South Africa’s famous _ Bennie Osier, besides previous colonial players still in residence, Oxford will be able to put even a stronger overseas flavour into its team than it had last season, when it had six or seven South Africans and a New Zealander. It is possible, though, that Osier will not he able to take up his residence at Oxford until too late to play against Cambridge in the 1930-31 season.-’. Aucklanders Foiled. . Collecting footballs as souvenirs of games is a growing practice among Rugby teams concerned in important engagements. The British team left New Zealand with quite a Stock of

“pigskins” collected in different parts of the Dominion. R. Jennings, the Cornish three-quarter, had four in his bag. Now the habit has spread to provincial sides, and as the whistle blew in the Auckland-Hawke’s Bay match at Napier there was a wild rush by the Auckland players in an effort to secure tho three footballs in use during the game as mementos of Auckland’s first win on a Hawke’s Bay ground since pre-war days. But the Hawke’s Bay Rugbv Union officials, anticipating something of the sort, had taken up strategic positions along both side-lines just before the whistle blew. In the ensuing scramble Hawke’s Bay won by three to nil, says an exchange. THE TRAVELLER. COOKE AND THE SHIELD. Wellington, is the fourth team to hold the Ranfurly Shield that A. E. Cooke has played for —first Auckland, then Hawke’s Bay, then Wairarapa, and now Wellington. Cooke was.the star player in the Wairarapa side last year, and he and Mill, as they did in the Hawke’s Bay side, formed a very dangerous combination, as many visiting sides found to their cost. Cooke went to Wellington early this season, too early to be included in the side to play the British team, and has captained the Hutt side during tho season. Referring to what he calls the “pre-sent-day tactics of A. E. Cooke,” a South African writer says: — “It is reported that ho kicks ov6r the heads of his opponents and by fleet following of the ball, secures possession again or else tackles the defender, ball an dall, for the forwards to sweep it further downfield. Cooke is described as ‘uncannily accurate’ in his kicking, and it is said that scientific kicking, combined with fast following forwards, won many matches for Wairarapa during the time Cooke was there. He has now gone to live in Wellington, where it may be expected that his club team will develop ft slyle of back play of its own.” A GOOD RECORD. CYRIL BROWNLIE’S RETIREMENT. After the Hawke’s Bay-Auckland Rugbv gam© at Napier Cyril Brownlie gave away his football boots with tho remark that he may not need them again. If he really has retired he can do so with the satisfaction of having served his province and his country well on the Rugby field (says an exchange). Inspired by the success of his elder brother, Laurie Brownlie, he entered the game in 1922, and, though a little crude in his _ field play, ‘soon attracted notice by his great strength and exceptional pace. He represented Hawke’s Bay from 1922 to 1927. during the palmy days of Ranfurly Shield possession, and played for New Zealand on the tour of the British lelea and France in 1924-25, the trip to Australia in 1926,’ and the jaunt through South Africa in 1928. After an injury 'in one of the matches against the South Africans he played little in Africa, and retired when he returned to New Zealand. This year he staged a “come-back” in an effort to lead the Hawke’s Bay forwards to success in the Ranfurly Shield match with Southland, and proved that ha still could equal any of the younger players. A man of moods, he played many very ordinary games, hut a big occasion always shook him out of his lethargy, and he never used hia strength to greater effect than when his team got behind. Curiously enough, this easv-going giant was never enthusiastic 'about the gam© in which he won such honours. He thought it good exercise and a manly sport, but, despite the chaffing of his friends, always maintained that golf required more skill and thought.