NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 227, 24 August 1938, Page 15

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

REPRESENTATIVE MATCHES. (By “Front Row.”) With the senior competition now closed and a knock-out competition to commence on Septeml>er 10, there is a breathing space for this grade. Representative matches, however, will make for plenty of activity for the leading players until well on in September. There appears every likelihood that there will be no knock-out competitions for the junior or third grades. The juniors have one match to play, the final, and there are three more matches for the thirds. The fourths, fifths, sixths and midget competitions have now closed. The following are the representative fixtures definitely arranged, while it is understood that negotiations are in train for a third grade fixture: August 27. —v. Wanganui, at Wanganui ; North Island v. South Island University match; Manawatu B representatives v. Oroua for Wallace Cup, held by Manawatu, at Feilding. September 3. —v. Wanganui, at Palmerston North, both senior and junior; Manawatu referees I v. Wellington referees, at Palmerston North. September 7. —v. Auckland, at Palmerston North. September 10. —v. King Country, at Taurnarunui. September 14. —v. Taranaki, at Feilding. September 17.—v. Wellington, at Wellington. ' „ , , September'2l. —B team v. Hawke s Bav Colts', at Feilding. September 24.—v. Hawke’s Bay, at Palmerston North N. A. Mitchell’s Residence. A report that N.. A. Mitchell, the captain of the All Black team in Australia, had been appointed to a position in Dunedin has proved to be premature. He has not yet arrived , at a decision as to where he will reside. Like R.. M. McKenzie, who is unable to take the field against Wanganui on Saturday owing to injuries he received in Australia, Mitchell was unable to play for Otago against Canterbury in the first inter-provincial match after his return.

Impressive Record. One of the older playing members of the Hawke’s Bay team now in the South Island is H. L. Bradley, who plays five-eighth. He has figured regularly in the provincial teams since the 1932 season. His goal kicking is accurate and to the present he has scored 218 points in 60 games for his province, a particularly fine record. All Blacks’ Points. The points scored in the All Blacks’ tour of' Australia were: For, 279, against, 73. A Wellington writer states: “It was claimed that this was the best scoring record of any New Zealand team visiting Australia, but that claim was wrong. The record aggregate for a tour 'stands to the credit of F. D. Kilby’s 1932 team, which in ten matches scored 308 points. Its account, however, included one loss. The 1938 team played nine matches.” A Good “Gate.”

The gate-takings at the Otago-Can-terbury- Ranfnrly Shield match totalled £SOO, representing ail attendance of ten thousand. This was a big gate for a Wednesday. Ranfurly Shield 'Match. Four years ago, when Hawke’s Bay last carried out a tour of the South Island, the team bore back the Ranfurly Shield. Rugby enthusiasts in the Hawke’s Bay are wondering now if the present team will take the Shield from Otago. The tourists played Canterbury to-day. The Hawke’s Bay team in the 1934 fixture was: J. Vartan; E. G. Apsey, E. Evans, C. Smith; L. Bradley, C. Le Quesnc; L. Clothier; C. H. Rolls; S. T. Reid, E. R. G. Steere (captain), W. R. Collins, 11. Mataira; W. M. Miller, T. Skittrup, A. Kelly. Fine Record.

With the selection of Logan Cameron as centre-three-quarter for the King Country Rugby team, it gives him the distinction of having represented King Country at football, cricket, and hockey, while lie has also been light-weight boxing champion (says an Auckland writer.) He is a brother of K. Cameron, who played for the North Island Rugby team this year, and who lias done good service for King Country during the past two seasons. The Camerons play for the Otorolianga Club, which has this season won both the championship and knockout competitions in the sub-union. Caustic Comment.

When the Springboks arrived in Australia and New Zealand last year, one of the things their spokesmen said was that it was not their object to win matches. They were playing the game for the game’s sake, and all that sort of thing. Happenings in the course of the tour did not tend to confirm this claim, says the New Zealand Observer. Fanie Louw was the captain of the Transvaal team against the British side recently, and his tactics in the second half must have shocked all lovers of good sportsmanship, foi—when the British team were three forwards short, on account of injured players having left the field, and were able to pack only five men against the Transvaal eight, he insisted on taking scrums for line-outs at every opportunity, even though Transvaal were leading and eventually won by 16 to 9. J. Sacks (who was in Palmerston North with the Springboks) in the Johannesburg Sunday Times, records that when Louw “rubbed it in” by taking scrums against the depleted British pack, “several of the British forwards protested, but Fanie’s policy was to use every advantage in ruthless fashion.”