RUGBY NOTES

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1832, 17 April 1907, Page 39

RUGBY NOTES

(By "Harpastum.”)

Tli-e St. James Glub’s new senior team »eems a, very fair- one. The forwards, who average over 12st in weight, include O’Brien, the Marlborough rep., Klee, exrArtiliery senior, and four of last year’s junior representative team, viz., Manning, Bruoe, Moffatt, and Wright. The backs are somewhat light but fast, and handle the ball fairly well. O’Leary, by the way,- will not be able to play for St. James for a few matches, but will join the club later on'. One fault of the team is that the members are generally some- " what young and inexperienced, but they are making up for this by consistent training, under, the able tuition of Harry Roberts. Full musters are the rule at the gymnasium. Another good thing about this club which I have noticed in past seasons is that “"the men are not easily discouraged by defeat.The Marten Football Club.has twen-ty-two > vice-presidents. Dufty, the; well-known goal kicker, will . play fullback for the Auckland City Club this season. Local enthusiasts- will be pleased to hear that Phil. Anderson, the,popular Oriental three-quarter,, has found that ho will be able to play, for the black and whites this year. The Grafton (Auckland) Club closed the year with an excess of assets over liabilities of £466. I hear that Tyne, the Canterbury and South Island wing-forward, is in Wellington, and. that he may play, for Poneke. During the Easter holidays a, scratch team from the St. James Club visited Nelson and’ Motueka. At the former town they played the- Albion Club, runners-up for- the local championship, and defeatetd them by six points to % nil: The Albions, however, marked their hospitality by knocking out four of the red and whites. At Motueka St. James beat the Huia Club by three to nil.; ■ (Scobie McKenzie, the Auckland three-quarter, will probably take up his residence in Wellington shortly. There is little change m. the Oriental team this year. The forwards, who include A. Lile, the Goldfields representative; should give a good- account of themselves; At the annual meeting of the Taranaki Union* Mr F. T. Bellringer was elected president. The union decided that clubs pay 10 per cent, of net gate takings at all matches to the managing body. Tho-St. James. Club now has a membership of ; about 140, 45 having joined this. year Muoh ; thought has been expended ■rt at various • times on the question of the best way of dealing with players put off; the field. Suspended men have not always been fairly, treated, especi- i ally in the case of. younger players. I amj, of course, alluding to Rugby Unions, throughout, the colony, and not to any particular one; "Well, tion has been made to me which I comniend to the consideration of all governing bodies.: It is that all cases of players who have been ordered off the field, or whose suspensions come / up for any reason, be heard anebefetermined by the ~Appointment Board in each district. This would be the fairest tribunal,; for- it represents the Rugbyddniour/-the referees, and the for such a, task? Glasgow, the Taranaki and “AllBlacki’ forward,. will play for the Star Cluhj Invercargill, this, year: The Horowhenua Riigby Union had some- trouble with referees last season. Several- wrangles occurred as.: to who/ should referee for certain matches, and* on some occasions- no, referees were ■ available; At, its recent annual: meeting . the union decided?, that the tee for the- appointment! of referees - consist of two members; of the ■ Referees’ , Association; one member of the Management Committee, and. two -senior captains; - ENGLAND v. IRELAND. Our London correspondent, writing on February Bth, says:—“Poor old England” sustained her second defeat in the Rugby internationals at Dub- ' lin last Saturday, at the hands of the Irish fifteen. The respective; scores were two goals (one from a mark) and three tries to a penalty goal and two tries, or. 18 points to 9: The. Englishmem did a little better than when Wales cut them up so badly at- Cardiff , hut never looked like winning on (Saturday. It is true that their forwards eventually wore down the Irish pack; but by that, time the mischief was done, and Ireland held a winning lead: The main cause of England’s defeat- was the poor play of the halfhacks, and the lack of! sound centres in the three-quarter line. Neither ’Pickering- nor Shewring was able to eope with the iinpetiious' rushes of the Irish forwards, who played with the brilliant darevdevilry for which Irish, football i» famous. The home team’s: half-baroks, especially were much, too deiwff- fws-; the opposing halvesj Jagov and? Peters, while Basil Maclear, as um»d, dietfaguiilwd hewn-

self in the three-quarter line. At halftime Ireland were 14 points to nil, having had much the best of the game. “England woke up a bit in the second spell, and good work by the forwards was.- presently rewarded., with, a. try, while a few minutes later Picker-. ing kicked a capital penalty goal. Caddell responded with a try for Ireland; but England were not beaten yet. A great run by Shewring carried him right to The Irish fullback, and Imr-ie, taking a neat pass, raced over and scored what was the best try of the afternoon. England’s effort had come too late, however, to save the match.” IRELAND v. SCOTLAND: F.some peculiar reason, the Irish Rugby fifteen never take, tho field against Scotland with the same confidence that they, display against Wales and England (writes our London- coxrespondent on March Ist). And the result is that they generally lose their matches against the wearers of the Thistle, especially when the game is played in Scotland. So it happened on Saturday at Edinburgh, where the Scottish team defeated the Irishmen by 15 points (three-goals) to 3 (a penalty goal). The Vj si tors had the helix of the wind •in the- first spell, and went off at a great pace. They were well countered, however, and the penalty goal .which fell to them twenty minutes after tlxo start was their first real scoring chance. It proved their only score, and thus the Irishmen have to be bracketed with the South Africans and the Welshmen in having failed to cress the .Scottish line. They were still three points ahead at half-time, but in the second spell Scotland made the pace, and began to press. Then the Scottish three-quarters got in motion, and a score seemed imminent, when Mao lear bowled over Walter, and, falling, gripped . Purves by the heel when the Londoner looked a scorer all over. It was a wonderful tackle. At length Munro sent Maclcod away, and the winger,, kicking across, enabled Sanderson to dash up, and score between the posts. Geddes easily converted. Ireland resumed; with tremendous energy, and there was fierce work near the Scottish line. Once Thrift was all but in, Walter just getting him in time. Spiers and Scott led Scotland to ,midfield. Here Walter intercepted a pass meant for, Parke, and set off,, closely attended by Purves. On nearing Thomson the ball - wasrtraijsfered to the xvinger,, who. raced over, for Scotland’s second try. Geddes was again equal to the occasion, and a goal resulted. At this juncture Scotland was making all the running, the forwards applying themselves with tremendous eagerness, and. the backs showing greatly improved- form. Following scrummaging, close-to the Irish line, Frew dashed- overt - and Geddes placed another goal. In' the closing minute Walter raced away, and had only a yard or two to go, when Ma clear * with, a mighty effort, brought him down. Tho victory, was the most, decisive recorded by Scotland at the expense of tlxe-siltbE country this football generation. ORDNANCE SHIELD CONTESTS. Tho semi-finals and finals for the Ordnance Shield were played at the Athletic Park-on Saturday, Permanent Artillery being victorious. The attend- • amce of the public /was fair, there being no charge for ! admittance. Some good football was witnessed at times, but -the play was chiefly amongst the forwards. A good struggle ensued on No. 1 ground, between the Petone N avals and Wellington Navals, the -city men proving much better than was anticipated., Their team was much stronger than was expected. The sides were well matched, the Wellington forwards being a trifle cleverer, while the Petone hacks were superior to their opponents. Petone kicked off and pressed Wellington, but a forward rush relieved the latter. A .few minutes later a nice passing rush between the suburban backs froxp between half-way and the Wellington twenty-five ended ia May scoring an unconverted try near the. corner flag. For the next ten minutes the ball travelled up and down the field. Harris, then cleverly marked near the Petoxxe twenty-five* and Gilchrist placed a nice goal. Petone 3, Wellington 3. The first twenty minutes’ spell ended without any further score. The teams then changed ends, and settled to again without any interval. The Petone backs again took the offensive with a neat bit of passing. Ferguson took an unsuccessful penalty kick at the Wellington goal. Even play followed until time was called, with both sides equal. Another spell, of ten minutes, was then agreed om This: also proved fruitless, so another ten miuptes’ play was started. The spectators were now greatly excited* and plaudits, and shouts of en- . oouragement were frequent. A few ■minutes after beginning Petone foroed ■ Wellington, hut the latter relieved; A long- kick from half-way was fumbled fjtyj: the city full-back, and the Petone forwards- were- down on him at onee. Recovering cleverly he started a nice

1 rush to tho Petone twenty-five, but long punting relieved the latter side. From close- play -between half-way and ■ the suburban twenty-live Gilchrist broke away with ball at toe, and scored a fine try underneath the posts, ixis shot..at goal, was unsuccessful, and the game-thus ended in favour of the Wellington Navals by 6 points to 3. Air Tom Quinn refereed. After a short interval the winners again took the field, to play Permanent Artillery in the final. Tho latter team wero quite freslx, as the Submarine Minors had defaulted, and the wearers of tlxo red, white and blue jerseys had done little but watch tho struggle between tho Navals. Tho Wellington men, however, made a splendid struggle with tliei; much heavier and more experienced opponents, aixd well earned the unstinted applause which the crowd gave them. Artillery kicked off and took tho ball into the Navals’ twenty-five. A penalty kick relieved tho latter, but tho soldiers returned to the charge and Skinner got over the line, with several men hanging on to him. Tho ball appeared to be held, and did not seem to touch the ground, but the referee awarded a try, much to the dissatisfaction of the spectators. Gillespie kicked a nice goal. Artillery . continued to press, and Collerton headed a rush to the Naval line. The full-back, in stopping, was hurt, and had to retire, another man taking his place. For the i*emainder of the spell the ball was chiefly on the Wellington side of half-way. About a minute after beginning the second spell the Nava4s were forced. Fine play by the Navals took the ball to the Artillery goal-lino, but. Porter, full-back, saved by mnxxing out of bounds a few yards from the line. Navals still pressed. A few moments .after, Ready, Artillery wingforward, fell on the ball as an opponent kicked it, and received the kick just between his eyes. He immediately collapsed, and was carried off the field. Shortly after resuming a loose rush by Artillery from tlxeir own twenty-five forced the Navals. An exchange; of marks ended in. Taylor having a shot at the Naval goal, without success. The .bell rang with the scores—Permanent Artillery 5, Wellington Navals 0. The .Naval team, which contained, only two senior men, Gilchrist and Griffiths, tho remainder being third-class, with a few juniors, deserves much credit for its plucky stand against such heavy foes as the Artillery team, in which were those weighty players Gillespie, Brenchiey, Lile, Collerton, Skinner, and others. In fact, if the Navals had not had such a strenuous struggle with the Petone men beforehand they would ' probably have beaten the soldiers. ! Ready, the injured man, was removed to tho barracks, being examined by Dr Temple Perkins en route. Last night die was reported to have almost recovei-ed. SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. DRAWINGS FOR FIRST ROUND. - Following are the drawings for the r “'-first round- of the senior Rugby championships, commencing on Saturday next. Nine teams have entered, consequently one gets a bye each Saturday : April 20th— Melrose v. Poneke. Petone v. Wellington. Old Boys v. Athletic. Oriental v. St. James. Victoria College a bye. April 27th—Victoria College v. Melrose. Wellington v. Poneke. Old Boys v. Petone. Oriental v. Athletic. , St. James, a bye. May 4th— Victoria College v. Wellihgton. Old Boys v. Poneke' Oriental v. Petone. St. James v. Athletic. Melrose a bye. May; 11th— Victoria College v. Old Boys. Melrose v. Wellington. Oriental v. Poneke. St. James v. Petone. Athletic a bye. May 18th— Victoria College v. Oriental. Melrose v. Old Boys. Poneke v. St. James. Petone v. Athletic. Wellington a bye. May 25th — Victoria College v. St. James. Melrose v. Oriental. Wellington v. Old Boys. Poneke v. Athletic. Petone a bye. June Ist Victoria College v. Athletic. St. James v. Melrose. Wellington v. Oriental. Petone v. Poneke. Old Boys a bye. June Bth i Victoria College v. Petone. Melrose v. Athletic. Wellington v. St. James. Old Boys v. Oriental. Poneke a bye. , June 15th— Victoria College v. Poneke. Melrose v. Petone. Wellington v. Athletic. Old Boys v. St. James. Oriental a bye,

THE OPENING OF THE SEASON. Tbe season will be opened next Saturday. Senior matches will be played: at tho Athletic Park and- at Petone, but interest will centre chiefly in the city ground, whero a sort of opening in state? will be held. The enterprising management committee of the Wellington Rugby Union has secured the services of the famous Besses o’ th’ Barn Band. The Besses will play, before the matches are started, during a : specially arranged interval: of twenty minutes between the spells of play, and. after the games are- finished.. Tickets for the matches will be procurable at all sports depots.