A FINE REPRESENTATIVE

Northern Advocate, 10 July 1925, Page 4

A FINE REPRESENTATIVE

With the match that they played at Wellington on Wednesday the 1925 representatives of the New Zealand Rugby Union completed their very successful tour, and .they are now,, dispersing to their A very warm welcome should a vait the! one reprei tentative of North . Auckland,,. Mr "Bunny" Finlayson, for he has proved in every yv.&y worthy of the distinction the selectors conferred'upon him when they, chose-him to be one. of the, wearers of the All Bla,ek jersey. His record is a quite Temarkable one. He has played in every match ot the tour, and on each occasion he has been mentioned as a player of conspicuous merit. The Press Association reports that in the final match he "was the best forward on the ground and describes one of his scoring efforts a- a magnificent piece of play. His friends and admirers in this district probably are not surprisod to learn that he has made good, and moft of them, no doubt, had sufficient faith in him to expect him to shine among the chosen of the Dominion. But it-is no easy task for any footballer to win the highest honours in a New Zea-

land representative team, and in doing as he has done Mr Finlayson has achieved a personal triumph, which en- j titles him to the sincere congmtula- ■ tions. of his fellow-citizens. In achieving that triumph he has scored more j than a personal success. He h as done j a service to the district which' he has j so brilliantly represented. We, may be I sure that the gentlemen who select New Zealand teams will now pay more at- I tention to North Auckland than they have done in the past; they will be keen to discover other players of similar calibre to Mr Finlayson's, and we may hope that the North Anil not dis- j appoint them. The awakening of out- i side interest will be advantageous to

Rugby in the North, for as its players gain experience in wider fields the standard of play will be improved and the game will make progress. Moreover, the North may benefit in other respects. The ''tall young Whangarei forward" of whom the newspapers, have said so much must have done something in the way of making Whangarei known to people who previously were scarcely aware of its existence, and we may expect some of them to come and see for themselves what this Northland is that can produce so fine a footballer. Mr Finlayson has done wei> indeed.