RUGBY FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20238, 24 April 1929, Page 18

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

OPENING ON SATURDAY.

WEALTH OF FULLBACKS.

THE TCpR OF AUSTRALIA

The 1929 Rugby season in Auckland fcill be fcomihenced on Saturday next, lhe main attraction so far as the senior competition is yfconcerned will be the meeting between Ponsonby and Grammar Old Boys. This is the fifth year in succession that these two teams have been drawn to meet in the opening match of the season. University, last year's champions, will not play Ponsonby until the last match in the first round. > The club'fo'otball should bo good this year. • On paper, Ponsonby looks to have the strongest team. The acquisition of new forwards may mean that three or four good m®n will be acting as emergencies. It' will be a great pity if such proves the case, as there are other teams which, can 7 well do with the services of forwards who may be compelled to act as spectators week by week. A visit to the various training grounds last Saturday showed that many promising juniors' of last year were receiving a trial. Especially was this noticeable in the Grammar Old Boys' senior fifteen, which played, a friendly game against City. The /inside backs combined exceedingly well and stopped many threatening forward rushes by sound defence. Strong in Forwards.

The Grammar Old Boys' vanguard. will be a force „to be reckoned with this season. The' Knight brothers and Batty were conspicuous on Saturday and seem to* have benefited by the spell during the summer season. A junior player who showed up prominently was a younger brother of /W. Batty, who should make u name for himself in the Rugby world. • Auckland is well served by a wealth of fullbacks at the present time, all worthy of'representative honours. "With Paewai, Bush, Butler and Matliieson all offering, the selector, has by no means an easy task in making his final choice. . D. Cleverly, the Ponsonby fast bowler, who showed promise as an all-rounder, was .seen iji a practice game at fullback on Saturday and performed so well that it would not be surprising to see him filling that role for. Grammar Old Boys this season.

H. T. Webb, who plays cricket for the North Shore senior eleven;, had the misfortune to injure his back at practice on Saturday. The luck of the game is clearly evident in'Webb's case. Last season he played third grade for North Shore at •Rugby, and, although participating in seven senior games as well, went through the season .without an injury. Good Wing-forward. As usual, College Rifles will be weak in the forward line this season. The team may be strengthened by the inclusion of a younger brother of J. H. Parker, the 1924 All Black wing-forward. Parker .■will be in Auckland shortly and if he decides to st*ay here will take up the game. He also plays wing-forward and in many respects his play resembles that of his elder brother. He is about the same build and is exceptionally fast. He played several games for the winning Old Boys' senior fifteen. in Christchurch during the 1926 season.

' J. Nelson, who played for tlje Linwood \ Club in Christchurch, has removed to ' Auckland, and it is understood he will be •playing for Technical Old Boys. He is a good type''' of forward. . / It was persistently rumoured some little '■.time-.ago that S. R. Carleton, the New Zealand centrc-threequarter, who toured South Africa last season, was coming to reside in Auckland, but nothing definite has been arranged so far. Tour to Australia. The annual meeting of the Now Zealand Rugby Union will be held in Wellington on eral routine a remit from Canterbury protesting against the earliness of the New Zealand team's tour of Australia this season may give rise to a good deal of disCanterbury's argument is that club football will be interfered with too much. It.is a sound business argument from the point of view of the Southern province, as the gate takings at Lancaster • 'Park each week average a good deal more than anywhere else in New Zealand.

The Wairarapa Rugby Uniou has decided that its representative team shall not travel this season except to play home and home matches. This is rather a hard and fast rule to adopt, and it may be the means of the union being cut "out of the future itineraries of tours by the major unions. Auckland will be very disappointed if Wairarapa does not return the visit paid last year. The New South Wales Rugby Union has paid Mr. S. S. Dean, chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union, a nice in inviting him to visit that State when the New Zealand team travels over there a little later on. Mr. Dean v/as able to give the Waratahs an enormous amount of useful advice in connection with their tour Home in 1927, and it as no doubt byway of appreciation that the invitation has been issued. Mr. Dean Accepts Oiler. Mr./ Dean has decided to accept the «ffer, which will be welcome news to New Zealand followers of the sport, as well as to-those on the other side of the Tasman. He will bo able to do a great deal of good in connection with the reorganisation of the game in Queensland »nd also 'in Victoria. Mr. Dean's visit lias nothipg to do with the management of the 411 -Black team. He is going purely as a guest of the New South Wales ,1-nion.

The announcement of (lie names of players likely to form the party in tho English/team to tour New Zealand next, season revives an early interest in tho Jour. Several of the names iiro familiar to New Zealanders, but tho best known, of course,/is 4hat of Wakefield, the famous [English captain.

The preliminary steps toward mapping out tour for the English team aro being taken by Mr. S. 8. Dean, who is going to be a. strong advocate for four test matches—one in each centre. Whon the All Blacks' tour of South Africa was arranged there were many people opposed to the idea of having four test matches, but- it. proved a happy institution so far as New Zealand was concerned. Four test matches woiild bo ideal for New Zealand, as there would then be no inter-provincial jealousy such as has existed in relation to past tours.