RUGBY

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12247, 19 September 1925, Page 17

RUGBY

lIE New South Wales team lias been on tour in New Zealand. “Tour" is the right word, for the Australians have seen a lot of the country, and, it seems, done more travelling than was needed. Their halt-ing-places on tour have been, in order, Wellington, Palmerston North,

Ureymoutli, Dunedin, Christchurch, Hawera, Masterton, Gisborne, Taumarunui, and Auckland. And next week they go to Whangarei!

To-day the Australians will meet New Zealand in the only Test match of the tour,and unless they are superhuman they will be stale, travel-worn and weary. And they have to meet a fifteen which ranks arnon" the very best teams that have worn the Silver Fern. If the Australians win, it will be 9 remarkable achievement, but it is not to be expected. • • • • In all the towns in which they haTe played, the Australians* play has been distinguished bv fast and clever back play. The backs Have done nearly all the scoring, and this shows that their forwards have stood up to the work much better than they were expected to do. What a game it would have been if they had met Wellington at Athletic Park! • • • • New South Wales have played eight matches to date, and their record rends as follows:—v. Manawatu-Horowhenua, 20-8; v. West Coast-Buller, 32-14; . v. Otago-Southland, 22-17; v, CanterburySouth Canterbury, lost, 22-13; v. Tara-naki-Wanganui, 13-11; v. WairarapaBush, 38-8; v. Poverty Bay-Bast Coast, 11-3; v. Waikato-King Country, 19-16. Summary: Matches won, 7; lost, 1; points for 16S; against, 99. • • • * • An analysis of the scoring of New South Wales indicates where their strength lies, and also their styla of play. Out of 168 points, 165 have been gained by tries and conversions. The remaining 3 points were gained by a ptnalty kick. Of the 41 tries they scored, 30 were gained by backs, and 11 by forwards. Tom Lawton, vice-captain of the team, has 35 points to his credit, from 3 tries and 13 conversions. E. J. Thorn, the captain, is third, with 2 tries, 8 conversions, and 1 penalty goal. Law ton and Thorn have done all the successful kicking. • • • * • Bowers, the 23-year-old winger, has scored nine tries, and Morrissey, the centre, who is 22, has scored six. Ford, who is only 18, and a forward, has scored four, and Beid, who is 20, has also scored four. Beid is one of the full-backs. • • • « * The team's only 'defeat was at Christchurch, and is hard to explain, although it is said the visitors were tired after much travelling. Still, Canterbury, in spite of their failure on tour, are a strong side, and with forwards like Stewart and Gerard, from South Canterbury, they were much stronger. • • # • # Whatever the result of the game to* day may be, this can be said about the men from New South Wales: They have won seven matches out of eight against strong teams; they are young—only five out of 29 are more than 25 years, and 12 are under, 21 —and in the next few years they are 'going to make a side which will test the best New Zealand will get together. And next time they come to New Zealand they should be given.less travelling to do. • * # • • A. C. Hanan, who played on the wing for Otago on Saturday, is a product or Wellington College, where he gained his cap in 1921 as a five-eighths. This is his first season as a wing three-quarter, and it is significant that he won a place in the representative team straightaway. • * * * The Otago team, which has just completed its tour, is., remarkable for the number' oT its young pi aye rs. 'The toiir, although almost a succession of reverses, should do a great deal to raise the standard of football in the province. In the Wellington game they showed plainly that they lacked experience, but they have still their best football days in front of them* and the lessons they have learnt against such teams as Hawke's Bay and Wellington will no doubt be taken to heart. They will stand them in good stead when thev venture forth again. • * * * Grenfell is to play hi* first representative game to-day. This player has shown more promise than anv of the other backs that have joined the.senior ranks this year, and his elevation to the first fifteen of the province is well deserved. Grenfell played full-back for Wellington College during the seasons 1921 and 1922. and in 1923 was shifted up to centre, which position 'he. has filled in the Old Boys' team and will fill today. - * m * • There is a critic writing for a southern paper who has never yet had anything good to say about the selectors of the New Zealand team-or any other team for. that matter. Whenever a national side is announced his parochial pen suggests radical alterations. Hie latest suggestion is that Townsend would do better than Mark Nicholls in the five-eighths position of the All Black team. Wellington fans saw these two playing opposite each other last Saturday, and there is no doubt that Townsend has a long way to go before he is in the same street, as Nioholls. The writer goes on to suggest other changes, and altogether his articles brings to mind three lines of Tennyson. An infant crying in the night, An infant erving for a light. But with no language but a cry • * • • There is more in the art of <!ofenc» than simply endeavouring to tackle the player opposite. The Otago backs have yet to learn this. When it comes to tackling on Saturday they did thoir job well, but when it came to falling back when one of the opposition had kicked high for a follow up they were all at sea. Had they been familiar with this little trick of the trade the score against them would have been smaller. * * * « Bramweli is the half-back chosen for the Wellington touring team this season, and he should do well. Ho was behind the Wellington College scrum in 1918, when Mark Nicholla and F. Ward wero five-eighths, and after leaving College 'he played for King Country. This is his first year in Wellington senior foc^ball. The honour of leading Newport Rugby Club will fall next campaign upon Harold Davies, the popular “vice” for two seasons. Davies secured his Welsh Boys* cap in 1913. He reached the zenith of his form in 1922, when he was selected to play for Wales in France. Two years later he got an other chance, playing as a centre-threo-nuarter against Scotland at Inverleitn. Further honours came to him in the same year (1924) when he played for the British Rugby team in South Africa. * * * * Don Wright, the Auckland half-back, sustained a broken rib, which necessitated his retirement halfway through the first spell of the Hawke's Bay-Auck-land match. Wright will have to stand down for several weeks now, and it is possible he may not turn out again this season. Steve Donoghue now flies to race meetings. Only recently lie made the trip from Paris to Lewes in 11 'plane. With all the honours of the French Oaks, and with the cries of “En avant, Steve!" still fresh on his ears, he mounted an airplane m Paris in order to fulfill engagements on the Lewes course. Something went wrong with his time-table. When the machine.landed Donoghue lost .no time in getting off and 'mounting a policeman's horse which was standing by. lie sped to the paddock, hut was ton late to ride. He was in plenty of time for the 3 o’clock race, in which he rode Purler. He also took part in the 4 o'clock event, on Vr Bumble. Both lost Then Steve weighed out for bis air plane, and at 1.2 C precisely flew away.