RUGBY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8740, 23 May 1914, Page 14

RUGBY.

(By “Full-back.” ) Tiro inter-island match will taka ■place on Juno 20th this year at Athletic Park and from the fifteens that participate in it the New Zealand team for Australia will bo selected.! The latter will leave on July 3rd. , On June 3rd Wellington will meet Parata’s Maori team. liter all, there seems a possibility that R. Roberts, the New Zealand) centre three-quarter, may be seen ml action in Auckland this season. He is l 'now recovering from a recent opera- 1 tkm, and has not quite decided on his future movements, but members of the Marist Brothers Club are sanguine that ho will be assisting them next week, says the “Herald.” His name appeared in the senior team selected' for Saturday. Downing has, during the past few days, decided to return to Auckland, and telegraphed his intention of tak-i ing the held lot Marist Brothers. J. O’Leary, Auckland’s popular custodian, has not yet finally decided whether he will play this year. He will probably announce during the coming week whether ho is to be an oldtimer or not. ■ If he decides to place himself on the retired list, he will cause a vacancy which should be hard to adequately fill. , A Taranaki scribe complains that practically the whole of July and August. will bo taken up by the Australian tour by the New Zealand team. It will mean that the Raufurly Shield matches will probably have to be played in Taranaki, should the shield remain there, during September, as it would be impossible for Taranaki to successfully withstand attacks of the shield if deprived of the services of the quota which will be away with the New Zealand representatives in Australia. It may bo argued that other unions will be in the same predicament. Possibly they may, but the effect on them will not be so serious, particularly on those unions which only con tribute one man to the New Zealand representatives. Stating that Taranaki will have a quota in the New Zealand reps, savours somewhat of counting chickens, etc., but in the past Taranaki has always proved its worth in this respect, and judging by the calibre of its players in last year’s Dominion teams, should do so again. The team having to be chosen early before the provincial contests have taken place, will largely be chosen on last year’s performances. It will be interesting to know if correspondence between New Zealand Rugby Football Union and the South African Rugby Football Board with regard to the proposal of a “Springbok” team touring the Dominion in 1915 will be reopened this season (remarks the “Sporting Star” of Johannesburg),’ which goes on to add:—“The New Zealand invitation for a team this season had, of course, to be refused, but it is understood that the Dominion authorities were informed that if the request was renewed for the following season, it might not be turned down so promptly. It is, of course,' South Africa’s turn to receive an oversea team, but the New Zealand invitation came first, and it is understood, tacitly, at any rate, that exchanges of visits between the two countries should rightly commence with the South Africans visiting the Dominion. . And, to my way of thinking, there is no serious reason why they should not. It will, of course, be argued that it costs South Africa a considerable sum to fit out a team whose absence detracts from fhe game daring the local season, to make thousands of pounds for the country they visit. But’ what is wrong with the arrangements being made on the financial basis of the visits of the ‘All Blacks’ and first ‘Springboks’ to the British Isles? On such terms—if the tour included a few matches in New South Wales—the tour would bo bound to prove a big financial success in all the countries affected.”